What kind of message is this?

[Calv]

Yesterday was the first bus rally of the season so we took the bus to the Brooklands racetrack (as was) for the day. We sell mugs from a stall during the day and several of our passengers were with me behind the stall. During the afternoon we observed the usual bus rally TV doing his rounds. (He has been mentioned before on this board). Yesterday he wore suede knee boots, grey tights and a flowery pelmet skirt which must have only just covered his modesty. (Bet it was draughty!) A jacket and long wig completed the look. He received quite a few comments from others of our group such as "look at him over there" etc. His was by far the shortest skirt I saw during the day. The question is "do you think his look was acceptable? I'm all for fashion freedom but cannot decide whether I am in favour of his style yesterday, or whether he should have toned it down a bit? What does the team think?

[terayon]

what the heck are you talking about? what is a bus rally? /me is confused

[Calv]

Terayon, surely you have buses in Canada, they're big things with seats and windows and you would normally get on one to travel into the city

When the buses have served their purpose taking people into the city they are redundant and most will get broken up for scrap. I'm not sure about Canada but here in Britain there are several which get bought by museums, or others like myself and restored to their former glory, just like old cars.

With me so far... So that other people can see our buses that we have restored, we organise a get-together - which is called a rally. Not only do lots of buses arrive there, but also people come to look at them, ride on them and take photographs. The Rally I went to yesterday was organised by members of a London Bus museum, dedicated to preserving old London buses.

Hope this makes sense. I didn't realise what I had written wouldn't make sense to you in Canada - 2 more countries separated by a common language

Below should be a picture of my bus, taken at a previous rally 2 years ago.

[IHeels]

Well answered Calv, all I can say this was another classic display of inept literacy skills by Terayon. Think he needs a new english teacher. Inga

[Firefox]

Oh well, let's not be too hard on each other. I have a hard time deciphering some North American expressions at times, but I sure learn quick To return to the original question, if the guy was doing what made him happy then that's fine. I tend to base my dress on what I like and what is socially acceptable. That includes at work or anywhere. I can honestly say that wearing 4-5" heels of a type which matches my dress causes zero problems. Maybe his outfit is the same, but if anyone pushes boundaries too much you run the risk people wont take you serioulsly. Perhaps you were looking at it from the point of view that such more outrageous behaviour may well reduce your crediblility with your more stylish free wave dressing, Calv. I'm not quite sure where you are coming from on this one.

[Laurieheels]

My only concern would be the short skirt and if he bent the wrong way. I am sure they were full tights, but who knows what one would see. Often when I wear a short skirt I am conscious to make sure nothing shows, if you follow me. So long as this person did the same thing, I think it would be okay. Withe a short skirt, follow the Roman advice... Semper Ubi Sub Ubi. (And I mostly figured out about the bus rally. It was obvious that it was people bringing together a number of buses for enjoyment. I still enjoyed the explanation, it provides more insight)

[Firefox]

Romanes eunt domum... always where underwhere? Ever heard of a "shoe rally?" It's wear(sic!)people bring together a number of pairs of shoes for enjoyment. Definately to be tried sometime, I have been to a couple and they were cool.

[terayon]

On 2002-04-08 14:56, IHeels wrote:

Well answered Calv, all I can say this was another classic display of inept literacy skills by Terayon. Think he needs a new english teacher.

Inga

i dont think thats true at all...we both speak "english", but in two entirely different ways, here in canada (or US for that matter) a get together or meeting would never be called a rally, a rally means a large gathering of people to support a fund...ie an AIDs rally where they raise money for AIDs research...you call soccer football, i call it soccer, and football is an entirely different (and very fun) sport...you call a guy a bloke, i call a guy a guy

many differences...

also what does "the usual bus rally TV guy" mean?

[Laurieheels]

Exactly, Fox. No free shows for anyone in this world. Shoe rally. Do people wear each other's shoes or is it just a place to show off? Does each person wear one pair and that's it, or do the participants bring a number of pairs? Shoes are so small compared to a bus. Hey, maybe the shoe rally could be on the bus used in the bus rally? And then the bus can drive to a pub! No?

[Firefox]

"The usual bus rally TV guy" = "The transvestite type person who often turns up on the occasions at which we bring together a number of buses for enjoyment" In England we call the game everyone plays both soccer and football. We also call a man both a bloke and a guy, and we can also call a women guys. As in "hey you guys (m+f)." We've been quite heavily influenced by global culture though the media and the internet, so the English we spoke 30 years ago is quite different or what we speak now. In shoe rallies each person brings a number of pairs and we all try out each others. So far we have had them at HiLucs, and Xaphods. Luckily we can all fit size 41 with one or two exceptions. Up till now, no buses involved, but as you point out, L, buses are much larger than shoes and much more expedient vis a vis the pub transportation requirement. So if we ever hold a shoe rally at Calv's, guess who I vote will be providing the bus and the driver _________________ Believe in your right to wear what you want <font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Firefox on 2002-04-08 21:51 ]</font>

[Calv]

What on earth have I started with this post? Firefox: If I drive the bus then I cant have a drink or wear heels The usual bus rally TV = The same guy usually turns up at various bus rallies. I mentioned this on the board previously and Francis responded "I think I know who you mean" What point was I trying to make? The fact that this bloke, guy or whatever was wearing such a short skirt as to be almost showing all his jewels. As he was obviously a bloke in a dress/skirt should he have been wearing anything so short? To Terayon - I think I've already apologised for assumptions I made. I must admit though I do find it interesting the difference in interpreting the same language between countries. So Terayon - do you have old buses or cars in Canada and do people meet up to show them off to blokes in very short skirts or anybody else interested. Also when others around me were saying " look at him over there" should I have leapt to his defence or kept quiet as I actually did - My own thoughts are that his skirt was too short and should have been longer, but then as Firefox said he wasn't hurting anybody and from what I saw everybody left him alone. When I've seen him at previous rally's he has bought some mugs from our stall so definitely gets points there.

[Francis]

well I'm in accordance with Firefox and Calv. maybe the guy should have worried about the wind picking up have driven cars, tractors, vans and a minibus, but only cars in heels. so can't help on the bus driving

[terayon]

calv: although ive never seen a "bus rally", there are over 2 million people in toronto, im sure some of them collect old buses...i know a few people who collect old cars like ferraris and stuff...seen a lot of them, there are anual car shows here..never seen buses shows though...

[Laurieheels]

The onlt old buses I have seen in Canada were converted into Fish and Chip wagons. Maybe I don't get out of the city much. Maybe people here are too into the new and don't care enough about the old. Blame it on oil executives with money to burn. That's what I do.

[Francis]

It's nice to see older vehicles on the roads as it shows that some people are preserving a small slice of heritage transport. I shall be attending a rally soon called Cavalcade. It's a local rally, but attracts large numbers of traction engines, buses, steam driven wagons and, even, steam driven fairgrounds! The beer flows, everyone has fun and, if the weather turns bad, we all get muddy! All part of the fun!

[Charlie]

The young learn by asking questions of the more experienced. That's OK. That's how I got to know everything. Charlie

[Highluc]

In Belgium we consider a Rally to be something of a more competitive driving event. cfr: rally of Monte Carlo. It is a gathering of either modern or ancient cars that have to run against a fixed realistic timetable over public roads. Static gatherings do not fall under that category or name. While old cars are popular here, trucks and busses are scarse, the only exception is the numerous clubs of WW2 military vehicules. I have a few old time cars but only use them in private, never in club gatherings or rallies. It's just like my heels, I don't need the support or admiration from others to savor the flavours of good things in life. Call me a lone ranger but I don't care.

[IHeels]

In Australia, a rally, can be a car rally in the form of a race, ie Monte Carlo, or a fun thing where people drive around showing their vehicles off etc. Generally the term rally refers to a gathering an example where cars etc are not involved would be a union rally where people are trying to resolve an industrial matter. I don't think it would be any different in Europe, especially the UK. (Tip, we Aussies underneath it are actually very English, just we speak with a different accent.) Inga

[Bubba136]

Big Yawn! - In my travels around the UK I've heard as many different accents and definitions for the same "word" as I've encountered here in the USA. Since we are truly an international community, we should define the terms before we open our mouths.

[Firefox]

In the UK, rally = car race + historic bus gathering + charity fund raising event + other meanings too (eg Make new stand(battle) or exchange of strokes(tennis) ) I'd interpret depending on the context. I think I'm pretty much bilingual with main USA and English words. There are several hundred common ones which are different, but if you use the internet a lot you can switch easily. There are only a couple of US words I hate. Gotten = got/get(Eng) and Math= Maths(eng)

[Laurieheels]

Was there not some international language called Esperanto being flaunted at one point? Not that it would do much good at a bus rally. I think we should just try to find a middle ground, and we should sometimes choose our words with a bit of care. I feel that the international aspect of our community should not force us to wonder about the use of a certain word, but rather see us respect one another by trying to find a common means of expression. Of course, it is a foolish dream, but if we try, we may get a little bit of what we need.

[Firefox]

Esparanto died really. Not enough people took it up. It seemed to be largely based on English and Spanish. As far as I remember, if something was a noun, it always ended in -o like caro treeo tableo dogo cato etc. It seeemed to be a bit tedious to me, no wonder it never caught on.

[Francis]

I guess we can all start learning Klingon then Just joking!!

[Laurieheels]

We could start our own language. Our own slang. Others have done this in the past, based on sports or music, so why can't we?

[Calv]

Don't agree I'm afraid. There is more than enough globalisation (or americanisation) going on at the moment, so we should keep our idiosyncracies and language differences. If anybody doesn't understand they only need to say and an explanation will be forthcoming. We do need to be aware of differences and not shoot anybody down for misunderstanding something we take as read. That way we all learn something, although I suspect anybody posting in latin may well be translating much of it

[Firefox]

Sorry Calv, we've rather perverted your usual TV bus rally bloke thread

[Debbie(HK)]

Nothing changes Carry on with your buses Calv! Debbie

[Laurieheels]

On 2002-04-12 20:30, Calv wrote:

Don't agree I'm afraid. There is more than enough globalisation (or americanisation) going on at the moment, so we should keep our idiosyncracies and language differences.

I didn't say we should make everything here global, I think we should be unique. Just a language for us, not the rest of the world. let's create a sub culture and spread diversity!

[Jeff]

We could use a language like the Smurfs do.. You'll get phrases like: What a heeltastic shoe! I heeled to the mall to shop for shoes. Oh, that dammed computer. It heeled again! I will write you a heel-mail later on.

[Calv]

Currently smurfing the net No problems about the diverse subjects covered in this thread. Taking a step back and considering the original subject, as we are advocates of free style dressing here, then I have no real right to be critical of his style. I suppose really if you are going to wear a skirt may as well make it a short one and be done with it. At least he was getting no aggro from anybody else - they are all too busy getting excited about the buses