Stephen Farrow

Writer, reader, grammarian, shower singer, theatre addict, news junkie, eyeball-roller. European. Powered by Vimto. Love language, hate sushi. 
Void where prohibited. Cannot be successfully delivered to your location. Please think responsibly.

2025-06-15

We perhaps shouldn't dwell too long on how a few bits of grated carrot ended up in my hair. Apparently I grated the carrots for the carrot salad a bit too enthusiastically.

2025-06-15

...and this, I assume, is the blog post that led to him being refused entry to the US. There is *nothing* here that should provoke that kind of reaction from the US authorities:

kitchencounter.blog/p/on-the-d

2025-06-15

“Clearly, they had technology in their system which linked those posts to my Esta … a long time before I took them down,” he said. “Because they knew all about the posts, and then interrogated me about the posts once I was there.”

Right now, the USA does not deserve international visitors.

theguardian.com/australia-news

2025-06-15

とても怖いです。

BlueSky post from Mondo Mascots:

@mondomascots.bsky.social - Psyche Delhi-San, the trippy mascot of Koenji Shopping Street, has glowing eyes and a protruding tongue. 

[picture of Psyche Delhi-San - an unusually trippy-looking Japanese mascot character with a turban, glowing eyes, a goatee, plump red lips, and a protruding red tongue.]
2025-06-15

Yep, still looks like he's doing a poo.

BlueSky post from Middle Age Riot:  

@middleageriot.bsky.social SUPER DUPER MEGA FUN FACT: The senile old motherfucker fell asleep at his own parade. 

[picture of Velveeta Voldemort watching that ridiculous parade yesterday with his eyes closed and a face like a slapped arse]
2025-06-15

Mary Beth Lacey could kick RoboCop’s ass.

Threads post from an entity that calls itself @therealdudja:

RoboCop isn't available, Can you name another fictional Cop?
2025-06-15

Sing along to Münchener Freiheit’s “Keeping The Dream Alive”?

Headline from the Manchester Evening News: “Aldi customers humiliated after being asked to do one thing at checkout”
2025-06-14

Sometimes you just need to go basic.

(Note to Americans: this is not a pie.)

On a chopping board in my kitchen, waiting to be sliced, a plate-sized homemade cheese-and-tomato pizza - not a margherita, I didn't have any basil leaves - fresh out of the oven.

And it's definitely a pizza. Not a pie.
2025-06-14

Tonight on Duolingo, vomit. Lots and lots and lots of vomit.

Duolingo German question.

Translate this sentence:

"Ich musste mich draußen übergeben."

Answer:

I had to throw up outside.Duolingo German question.

Translate this sentence:

"Tim übergibt sich manchmal, da er ein Kind ist."

Answer:

Tim sometimes throws up because he is a kid.Duolingo German question.

Translate this sentence:

"Yes, I threw up."

Answer:

Ja, Ich habe mich übergeben.Duolingo German question.

Type the missing word:

"Weißt du, [blank space] du dich übergeben hast?

Missing word: warum

Meaning:

"Do you know why you threw up?"
2025-06-14

Oh shit.

Cartoon by Fablenaut.



An anthropomorphic cat is holding a takeout cup of coffee.

The cup of coffee speaks:

"Hey this is your coffee speaking. Should I make U anxious or want to take a dump?"

The cat replies:

"Wait, those are my only options?"

The coffee cup answers back:

"Too late, you're getting both lol."
2025-06-14

Dame Julia McKenzie WHEN?

Headline from the Independent:

West End star Elaine Paige ‘astonished’ to be given Damehood

Sub-headline

She became an overnight star in the 1970s with her portrayal of Eva Peron in Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hit musical Evita.

[You're astonished, Elaine? You aren't alone.]
2025-06-14

Unbelievably, there are still millions of people stupid enough that they believe this is a news channel:

Threads post from Fox News.

@foxnews 

Today is President Trump's 79th birthday — and he's sharing the spotlight with the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday parade. Watch the celebration live on FoxNews.com!

[truly ghastly .gif of Velveeta Voldemort standing in front of an animated Stars and Stripes with naff computer-generated fireworks going off around him. Caption: "Happy 79th Birthday President Donald J. Trump]
2025-06-14

For King Hell.

Tweet from a dribblingly stupid account called PatriotTakes.

Caption: "Trump for King" banner spotted outside White House

Picture: Washington DC. Two generic MAGA idiots - khaki shorts, baseball caps, no discernible intelligence - standing in Lafayette Square in front of the White House holding up a red-white-and-blue flag that reads 'TRUMP FOR KING. KEEP AMERICA TRUMP. LONG LIVE KING TRUMP OF AMERICA!'
2025-06-13

@ItsThatDeafGuy Way east of me, but I bet most of Kent has had a very noisy evening.

2025-06-13

Whoa.

Screenshot of a Blitzortung.org live lightning map from about five minutes ago, centred on south-east England and north-east France. It shows a very dense concentration of lightning strikes stretching from somewhere around Dieppe, on France's northern coast, across the English Channel and Kent up to the southern end of the coast of East Anglia.
2025-06-13

Duolingo just gave me the finger:

Duolingo German question.

Select the correct image.

German word: der Finger

[picture of a mirror]

[picture of a bridge]

[picture of a hand with one finger extended] - highlighted as the correct answerDuolingo German question.

Translate this sentence

[picture of Junior, a Duolingo character - a young boy with blond hair, wearing a light blue hoodie and blue shorts]

"Ich sehe nur einen Finger."

Answer: "I only see one finger."
2025-06-13

@feld Then that, I'm afraid, says something about American consumers. Aldi is everywhere in the UK, and we all know it's a German chain.

And that's not the only jaw-dropping part. Why on earth would a supermarket *in Germany* carry American products, or label things in English?

2025-06-13

Probably should have done this when I went out to the shops earlier...

Cartoon by Tom Gauld, from the New Scientist.

Two people in full hazmat suits, complete with breathing apparatus, walking down a corridor. One says to the other, "Actually I work in the accounts department, but I have terrible hay fever."
2025-06-13

[blank stare]

Post from the subreddit r/ShitAmericansSay  "while in Germany | found an Aldi. The Aldi is nothing like an American Aldi" 

Original post:

[screenshot of a post to Threads]

 While in Germany | found an Aldi.. this Aldi is nothing like an American Aldi. | saw some of the same products.. but nothing American & or anything written in English "l was Lost" 

[picture of a presumably American woman standing outside an Aldi Süd store somewhere in Germany]

First response:

you know ALDI is a german store? and in any capacity... why would be something writen in english in germany?

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