Ruth is stranger than Richard

You know those weeks when you think you couldn’t make up the sort of stuff that has been happening, because nobody sane would believe it? Well this has been one of those weeks.

One of the odder events this week was Gezza Browneye letting fly with his idea of a satirical send up of Finland. We shouldn’t have been surprised of course because this was the same danger to shipping who called Christchurch mayor Bob Parkup a clown. A fair call you might say, but somewhat ironic coming from Oliver Hardy’s double.

Of course the Finns had his measure and according to Finnish comic, Tuomas Enbuske that measure would be three ordinary people.

But on a more serious note; you would have to question the mental capacity of someone like Gezza letting fly with an off the cuff ramble like that just to try and score a point or two over David (the) Shorn. Any half way intelligent person would know that such an outburst in Parliament would lead to consequences that included the boss having try and explain to the Finnish president - especially after he had to mumble a grudging apology to young Bob only a couple of months back following the clown comment.

Another of the stories you couldn’t make up was the ACC privacy breach saga. I don’t expect too many of us are surprised at a government department making a cock-up of such huge proportions – after all this sort of thing has happened many times before. But what many of you might have missed was a much more disturbing admission/boast alleged by Deborah Coddington who reckons Bronwyn Pullar should have just returned the files and let things alone. I can’t find the audio but Coddington claims Mary Wilson interviewed an ACC specialist claimant barrister recently who blithely said he had been receiving wrong files regularly for six years and simply immediately sends them back each time.

So who was this twerp? And is he really a barrister? If so he needs a shake-up because unless somebody makes a fuss about this sort of stuff that results in resignations and sackings, there is no incentive for them to be more careful.

In this same week we had the story of the twit in Whanganui who drove himself to court. Nothing strange in that, you might think until you learn that he actually drove IN to the court, as in up the stairs and in through the front door. He was dobbed in by a member of the public after he reversed out and had another go at finding the ideal parking spot to view proceedings. In explanation he said he was "frustrated with the failures of the system". Hmm – I should imagine after that display they will be more than happy to accommodate him, albeit not in the manner he had in mind.

Meanwhile in the good ol, USA a pilot on a JetBlue flight from New York flipped out in flight. He began ranting about an Iraqi bomb on board and how they were all going down (presumably out of the sky – if not his timing was lousy). Either he was tripping off his face or he had done one loop the loop too many. The co-pilot had to lock himself in the cabin and take control of the plane while three or four passengers had to wrestle the foaming flyer to the ground until the plane landed and he was carted off to bedlam or whatever they call it in Amarillo Texas.

But I was just thinking; how could the passengers be sure which of the two flyers was telling the truth? It could have been a very ugly mistake if the guy freaking out had every reason to and the evil co-pilot was the one who was going to ensure their collective demise.

Footnote

Lovers of the more obscure sorts of music may well recognise the title of this blog. For those who don’t; it is the title of an album by Robert Wyatt, a percussionist, pianist, singer and more who used to be in bands such as Soft Machine, Wilde Flowers and Matching Mole and was a recent collaborator with Bjӧrk. In case you haven’t guessed, it is a play on the old adage, “truth is stranger than fiction.”

And it was a very good title for Wyatt to use because he has had an interesting life. He was born Robert Wyatt-Ellidge in 1945; the son of a BBC journalist and an industrial psychologist. His half brother is Julian Wyatt-Glover; a noted Shakespearean actor who has also featured in many films including one each of the Star Wars, Indiana Jones & Harry Potter sagas. Robert began as a drummer and a pretty good one at that. But like many drummers he liked partying hard out a bit too much for his own good and in 1973 he managed to fall out of a four storey window which put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He gave up drumming for the most part, because he couldn’t use his feet, but simply picked up where he left off with the rest of his music and has continued to record and tour ever since.