Retirement

[ahinton]

Looks like you've retired already, Cali!

That would appear to be twice in fairly rapid succession, then!

Scottster's only done it once as far as I know, although it seems not to have made any difference.

Given that he'd apparently take advice (if he thought that he needed it) from lawyers, doctors and other professionals provided that they're not financial advisers, I wonder whose advice he'd take about the order of the middle movements of Mahler 6 or whether he'd ignore that of everyone who might come up with any on the grounds that his guess is as good or better than theirs!...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Look here, everyone. I was the one who introduced the planetary dimension to this thread, but please don't use it as a weapon to beat other posters with.

(Oh dear; I've ended a sentence with a preposition.)

[ahinton]

It seems to be a planet whose air completely lacks grace of any kind.

So all air and no graces, then; sounds about right to me.

I sometimes envisage Tipster's eventual encounter with St Peter at the Pearly Gates - in which I presume he believes:

St Peter: And what did you spend you life doing, Tippster?
Tippster: Arguing with people.
St Peter: And what did this arguing with people do for you?
Tippster: Oh, it made me feel good - in the end there's nothing better than knowing you are always right!
St Peter: But what good did it do the people you were arguing with? - an important entry qualification here.
Tippster: Oh at least as much good as it did me, I should think.
St Peter: What makes you reach that conclusion?
Tippster: Well, it would have made them feel good because the way I presented my arguments was to twist their responses to my points by for example changing the subject midway through my pretend-reasoning, and thus confuse them. They had to give up, in the end.
St Peter: But... how did that make you feel good?
Tippster: By always being able to outwit them.
St Peter: Is being able to outwit other people the way you now feel able to justify your argumentative existence?
Tippster: Well that's the only way to survive in that world - and I succeeded.
St Peter: But, what if everybody was to adopt such a strategy for surviving?
Tippster: But they do, don't they?
St Peter: (Sits down in despair, head in hands)

(cont.)
Tippster: Well, come on, answer me! I asked you a legitimate question, after all!
St Peter: Look here, that's not how we behave here; all such conduct must be permanently abandoned before entering.
Tippster: But how can you be as certain of that as I am certain that you're wrong about it?
St Peter: Why does it matter? Another characteristic that is essential for all who come in here is humility, which your preternatural self-assurance evidences to be in very short supply.
Tippster: Do you know why these gates are pearly?
St Peter: There you go again, changing the subject mid-stream! What concern is that of yours, anyway?
Tippster: My concern is to dispense pearls of wisdom, whether before swine or forum members or indeed saints like yourself.
St Peter: Mine is to give you some advice - and I know how you love taking advice! - and that is to consider whether you would feel sufficiently at home in our non-confrontational environment or whether you might care to consider warmer climes?
Tippster: I know the correct order of movements in Mahler 6; I doubt that you do.
St Peter: Tippster, you are a Scherzo first and foremost and it's now high time you Andante-d off; please do not call again, for in this house there are many mansions but also many would-be entrants seeking to reside therein.
(Sits down in despair, head in hands, once again)
I used to love this job, but the pleasure's really wearing off, so I wonder if it might be time for me to retire from it; the trouble is, now that I've sent Tippster empty away, from whom would I seek financial advice about my pension arrangements?

[ahinton]

Look here, everyone. I was the one who introduced the planetary dimension to this thread, but please don't use it as a weapon to beat other posters with.

But do you think that the member whose lucubrations prompted you to do so might be suffering from asteroids? (if so, it would be a pity unless he were prepared to seek a GP's advice and treatment)...

(Oh dear; I've ended a sentence with a preposition.)

As someone (not a financial advisor, incidentally) once wisely urged a prisoner about to be released and desirous of getting engaged to be married, "never end a sentence with a proposition".

I've run out of coats.

[Padraig]

I've run out of coats.

Need a cheap loan?

[ahinton]

Need a cheap loan?

Thanks, but no thanks; I've got the money for one already. I just need some professional advice (or Tipps, as it's sometimes called) as to where best to get one!

[Padraig]

Cheap coat, then? I know where there is a certain lorry. Tip tip nod nod

[P. G. Tipps]

Need a cheap loan?

[Nick Armstrong]

Looks like an afternoon after a " working lunch" to me.

If only !!!

Just fell asleep musing in which galaxy it is that Planet Tipps and Planet Hinton endlessly orbit around one another, presumably held in position by the leaden gravitational pull of their equal and opposite wits

[P. G. Tipps]

Ah-hah but I had no little FUN, Caliban!

Apologies to everyone ... I'll now leave you all to your slumbers.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Ah-hah but I had no little FUN, Caliban!

No small relief to read this - I sometimes wonder if it distresses you when we all queue up to bang our heads against your wall.

[Tony Halstead]

No small relief to read this - I sometimes wonder if it distresses you when we all queue up to bang our heads against your wall.

On the other hand maybe it pleases Mr Tipps to think that we all 'queue up to bang our heads against' his wall...?

[Beef Oven!]

No small relief to read this - I sometimes wonder if it distresses you when we all queue up to bang our heads against your wall.

Hmm. I'm sitting on the fence on this one.

[ahinton]

Just fell asleep musing in which galaxy it is that Planet Tipps and Planet Hinton endlessly orbit around one another, presumably held in position by the leaden gravitational pull of their equal and opposite wits

Well, I'm not surprised that you drifted off when musing on that (and I have no doubt that I'd have done the same), but we surely don't orbit around one another, let alone endlessly, do we? Perish the thought! I might have an idea where his tea planetation is were this true and, as I admitted earlier, m'lud, I really don't!...

presumably held in position by the leaden gravitational pull of their equal and opposite wits

This doesn't convince either, actually; space is endless, supposedly, yet I'm at wit's end when I read some his self-argumentative vacillations. Gravitational pull? Just a gravitational wave good-bye would do! - which reminds me that he might have another (or a hidden) life as a deci-hertz interferometer, methinks.

Anyway, I don't wish to appear dogmatic about any of this, as I really cannot be sure; perhaps I'll consult my financial adviser.

In the meantime, I think that we should all extend due sympathy to St. Peter...

[ahinton]

Ah-hah but I had no little FUN, Caliban!

When you were supposed to be engaging with a serious subject. I see.

Apologies to everyone

Accepted.

I'll now leave you all to your slumbers

Cali's evidently already begun his...