The Pooka

It is a confection. In the UK it tends to be eaten only by those who inhabit some of the better addresses in London. I was once allowed to look at one - but it was taken away immediately.

Well I did work with the mentally ill for 10 years but you're right - it is nicer to do it from an armchair. As someone who is irritated by drive-by Sigmunds who can say anything they like knowing it cannot be refuted, I should know better. That 296.6X does not take prisoners. Living with it must be hard work with few days off.

CA. There is a certain element of fantasy and role play about entries here (evidence? well look at the avatars and the names that people give themselves). For example, I have little real interest in Tessa Wyatt and have never stalked anyone. LCR may not even be a member of the minor aristocracy. Some find it amusing, others finds it frustrating that their serious discussion forum has been infiltrated. However, your choice of name suggests (and I may be wrong), that you are grounded in reality - a little concrete even. In which case, it is unlikely that you will appreciate deviation from the avowed intent of naming potential deaths and following their progress. You won't be alone in that. However, for some of us that is as joyless as joining an internet betting shop and we enjoy the peripheral discussion and humour. However, I suspect that there is more to your resentment than you say or are aware of. Whatever, it is fascinating to watch you scent-marking your territory. Indeed it is and well-said, Pooka. Couldn't agree more about the grounded-in-reality folks, except for one queasy afterthought: As I'm sure you realize 'normal' is sometimes just a masquerade, and what we may be perceiving on the internet as a reality based 'concrete' person could be a Jabberwocky with it's eyes aflame dribbling all over a keyboard .... but most likely not of course. Indeed. This whole deathlist stuff may be no more than a dream from which you (whoever is reading) will wake tomorrow to say 'I've just had the weirdest dream ........ '. Prove that it ain't so.

CA. There is a certain element of fantasy and role play about entries here (evidence? well look at the avatars and the names that people give themselves). For example, I have little real interest in Tessa Wyatt and have never stalked anyone. LCR may not even be a member of the minor aristocracy. Some find it amusing, others finds it frustrating that their serious discussion forum has been infiltrated. However, your choice of name suggests (and I may be wrong), that you are grounded in reality - a little concrete even. In which case, it is unlikely that you will appreciate deviation from the avowed intent of naming potential deaths and following their progress. You won't be alone in that. However, for some of us that is as joyless as joining an internet betting shop and we enjoy the peripheral discussion and humour. However, I suspect that there is more to your resentment than you say or are aware of. Whatever, it is fascinating to watch you scent-marking your territory.

Now you really are talking hell, Windsor. Get out of that place as soon as you get a chance.

Windsor, your life sounds a living hell. My pet hates.......... ..... Bono, Mackintoshes Weekend, Jamie Oliver, Kwik-save, Jim Carrey, mouth ulcers, the smell of Body Shop, Man Utd., opera, ballet, Readers' Digest, Little Britain, Mexican food, alco-pops, the Eagles, thong underwear, van Dyke beards, John Humphreys, Claire Rayner, the Academie Francaise, Newberry fruits and Y fronts......... ........I'm just warming up.

The Ausssie cricket thread reminds me that I have twice faced Test match bowlers at cricket and in each case scored runs and didn't get out to them.

Tut tut Godot. I had always respected you as a man of discernment. Cricket is the only sport I know of that you can attend for the day without having to watch every moment, where you can enjoy a leisurely lunch and get as pissed as a .... as a .... well as pissed as a cricket. I regularly take my Irish friends. They understand nothing of the game but have the time of their lives. Not that they remember it.

The late Jeremy Brett (one of the best Sherlocks) was very cruelly sent up by the Sun because he'd dared to have a mental illness.

Clarissa!! Have you really been away? Or have you been operating under a nom de plume? You're too sharp by half, Professor, but that would be for me to know and you to find out....so, are you planning to drop by La Wyatt's mansion with a Christmas gift this year? No. Not at all. La Wyatt is history. I've been a damn fool Clarissa. To be honest we have recently appointed a marketing manager who is the spit of Tessa and 25 years old. Needless to say, I have now set up a working space in the suspended ceiling above her desk and have no need to creep around West London gardens at night! Its good to go straight. As far as Christmas gifts go I intend to use Walnut Whips to express my affection. In Western Europe they represent the height of sophistication. I will keep you apprised of my progress.

Clarissa!! Have you really been away? Or have you been operating under a nom de plume?

You are a ruthless man, Windsor. But who can begrudge you the points?

I have a rudimentary understanding of ethics so this may be flimsy. Any choice over listing has to include consideration of whether such listing has the potential to influence her adversely. I acknowledge that listing or not makes no difference to her outcome; only to her experience of her final months. The act could hardly be benificent. But then how could it be maleficent? I don't know her but can imagine that a 16 year hasn't the maturity to recognise the black humour that lies behind the DL. In fact, she is going to have her foot flat to the floor just to cope with what's ahead with her dignity intact. To find that people are betting on her death is not something that I think she'd understand or find helpful. So the choice for a lister is: 1. risk being maleficent or non-maleficent to this person at this time 2. decide whether you give a flying F**k even if it is a potentially maleficent act I am fairly sure that anyone listing her will recognise the issues of taste and decency involved .......... but in the end, they may need those points a bit more badly than others. I couldn't list her myself.

Well Godot. I for one have been convinced. And if, as Rebecca points out, there are Dobermen I am sure that the administration of some drugged cutlets will put paid to them (it worked for Litvinenko). Count me in, my man.

It would be nice to think that Bert was, briefly at least, Winged Eel Fingerling. We've got to get into Brinsworth. Bert may be laying down the licks while Charlie Drake does the jitterbug - and we're missing it. Hey Pook, I have a cunning plan. I may have said this before and, if so, I apologise. As a regular at Twickenham on match days it is not unusual that I arrive at the ground in an inebriated state with others who are similarly intoxicated. In the circumstances I might be able to persuade my companions to deviate from the usual ground-to-pub channels in to the vicinity of Brinsworth House where we could sing carols (or rugby songs), depending on the time of year. If we sing well it is not beyond the realms of plausibility to anticipate an invitation in to the bar where Bert, should he be ensconced by now, could accompany us on the guitar. As everyone is in the throws of Jerusalem or Delilah I could slip away from the choir and take a few pulses and blood-pressure readings, thus collecting vital intelligence for future deathlists. I have a doctor friend who, should I get him a ticket, I could take along. Either way he could brief me about the questions I would need to ask Dickie O' regarding the state of his health and mind. I have been mulling this over and as far as I can see it is foolproof. Its good stuff Godot, with some great visual imagery - but possibly less than foolproof. I'd just like you, one more time, to run through the bit where having heard you singing rugby songs outside, they invite you to the bar.

It would be nice to think that Bert was, briefly at least, Winged Eel Fingerling. We've got to get into Brinsworth. Bert may be laying down the licks while Charlie Drake does the jitterbug - and we're missing it.

I once saw Bert Weedon live with the Barron Knights (OK - I was 11). He later played briefly with Captain Beefheart but went mainstream again after 6 months.

Who? regards, Hein Author of Brave New World, Crome Yellow, After Many A Summer etc. Rather well known in an Anglo-Californian sort of way.

......... and, of course, everyone remembers where they were when Aldous Huxley died.

Rebecca!! That's a coincidence because last night I dreamed I went to Manderley............. So that was you out there in the tree, waiting for me to wave? I wish I'd known - I would have brought you out a hot drink. I thought you said it was too cold for stalking these days? I guess old habits die hard, professor... So it wasn't a dream. Your style is curiously familiar, Rebecca!

Sunset Boulevard.

Pet Hate no 1 (in an occasional series). Regional TV. In the South it means you hear news about F*****g ghastly places like Hayling Island or Basingstoke that can have no possible interest to anyone outside of their boundaries. At least its improved on the days when: 1. You tuned in to series 1 of Monty Python only to find that a regional documentary on a proposed marina in Brighton had taken precedent 2. You tuned in to watch LWT's BigMatch between Arsenal and Tottenham (100 miles away) only to find that TVS were showing a 'local' match at Gillingham (150 miles away).

Difficult not to come over as left-brained here. This is a verbal medium and no matter how hard you try your contribution must be linear and sequenced. Otherwise do to understand readers not will attempt any.

Rebecca!! That's a coincidence because last night I dreamed I went to Manderley.............

Dawn, perhaps. But not for a few weeks. Left-brainers need to plan these things carefully. Makes me think, though, Godot. Is it the linearity and clear sequencing that makes trains so attractive to left-brainers? I really don't know. I prefer to kick leaves. Not only am I replying out of synch but I was signed in as a guest. Your right-brain dominance is high (and pretty unusual) Godot. You would be a useful team member on any project, I suspect. As long as someone else is the organiser and planner.........