Okay there were a number of things that should have tipped some off that things were not as they seemed, but before that, Toy Soldier's point about being early
Quote:
Originally Posted by Toy Soldier
I'm pretty sure you get bad luck forever if you pull an April fools at any time before April 1st or at any time after noon on the day...
Playing with fire there. You might as well break all of your mirrors and leave all of your shoes on the table right now, it couldn't get any worse.
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In my last missive I reference the infamous Internet Spring Cleaning day jape, (If you have not heard of it
see here) The only way that one would work on the mark would be to run it a few days early. In my one I did not think it would have worked as well if it was sprung on the actual day.
Now on to the bits that were the less than obvious clues as to the nature of the piece.
First of all, so I don't do all the work here, pull up
Google Translate and run Ebrill Cyntaf through it, with detect language on to translate to English. See what you get. In a number of these pieces, that phrase, or similar, is hidden in there somewhere, sometimes as an anagram.
While on the subject of this MP, if you google the name of a real MP, you should at least get their constituency website, or their entry on the main website for their political party. Now I said she was a conservative, so if she had been real you would have got it. Google her name and you will not get anything like that, but you do get some Welsh Language pages, another clue?
Next, the constituency of Downton in Wiltshire. Actually there is such a place, it is actually referred to a Downton Village (
See here for it's Wikepedia entry) Downton was a parliamentary constituency but only until 1832 when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act of 1832. Prior to that Downton was seen as a Rotten Borough (
Read about it here). Downton today is part of the Salisbury parliamentary constituency, represented by John Glen, a Conservative MP, (So I got that one right about the political party holding the seat
)
Next one, if the marks had been taken in, then they would have travelled to lobby against this bill only to find the place closed next Friday. A quick look at the website for the House of Commons
here would show that the House is in recess next Friday!
As for the bill itself? Private members bills are indeed discussed on Fridays, but if you went to the what's on section of the Parliament website
here you would find no reference on that date to any commons business
And of course what is the date next Friday? The most obvious clue
So was any of this real?
Well one thing was, I did indeed sarcastically float this idea to a colleague at work who was going on against Sunday trading, and she did agree with the idea of banning online Sunday trading, I can only assume she did not realise I was being sarcastic. I remember a few years back when we had that ban on taking liquids on to aeroplanes and in a queue at a pizza place I suggested to a guy that as liquids could be soaked into clothing, perhaps, I said sarcastically but with a straight face, that we should all fly naked. His reply was "If that's what it takes"
There are some people out there who are completely gullible and will swallow anything no matter how ludicrous.
Mentioning no names
So I hope this has taught you something, I am a devious little so and so?
Apart from that
Always be sceptical - Always check things out!
So getting back to the original subject of this thread, I come to the position that those of us in Christendom by insisting on these ridiculous Sunday trading regulations have shot ourselves in the foot, and it hardly wins hearts and minds does it if we come across as imposing our beliefs on others. I would also point out, that these restrictions come from the commandment about the Sabbath, but that was actually the last day of the week, Saturday! Sunday is the first day of the week and if you examine the New Testament you will find that of the 10 commandments, only one was never copied into the new covenant, the Sabbath rule.
What those who insist on this "Sabbath" fail to remember is that when gentiles were admitted to the early church most of them would have been slaves, and therefore unlikely to have had special dispensation to take one day off a week.
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In Memorium
Wendy (AKA Romantic Old Bird) 1951 - 2008
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