In response to the celebratory picture of Vogue cover “girls” over the past [whatever] years:
…some guy SOTI grumped:
“Too much cinnamon, not enough sugar.”
I LOL’d.
*The word “girls” was put in quotes because some of the models (Oprah coff coff ) were last seen as actual girls back in the mid-Sixties.
“Dear Dr. Kim,
“About six months ago, a new family moved in next door. They are a little younger than us and don’t have kids. The wife works away a lot, while her husband works from home and has been doing up the house.
“From the moment they met, he and my wife seemed to take a shine to each other. It didn’t bother me at first that he made her laugh, or that she was always popping over to take food. But lately, I’ve noticed strong sexual tension between them. He often makes crude jokes, or uses innuendo.
“Normally, my wife would find this rude or inappropriate. She doesn’t – she just laughs even louder. They do this in front of me, so they’re not hiding it.
“I think they’ve been texting each other too, although I haven’t been able to confirm this as my wife keeps her phone close at all times, and I don’t know her password.
“It feels like they’re intimate, or certainly about to become so.
“I’m not sure what to do. I don’t want to confront my wife and upset her if I’m wrong.”
— Unsure, Suburbia
Dear Unsure,
My old Dad always said to listen to your gut: if it says it’s hungry, get something to eat; if it says it needs to pee, go to the toilet; if it says not to walk through Central Park at midnight, stay in your hotel room; and if it says your wife is bonking your new neighbor, she probably is. And in this case, your gut is absolutely correct — and all the evidence you’ve presented proves it.
She’s fucking him — or very close to doing so. The real question is: what are you going to do next?
I’d suggest having a quiet word with Neighbor Boy’s wife, telling her everything you’ve just told me; let him do the ‘splaining. And when he confesses, which he might very well do, have her confront your wife.
In the meantime, let your phone’s battery run down to zero, and then ask your wife if you can use her phone to make an important call, in the next room. If she refuses, there’s your proof right there.
Oh, and talk to a lawyer soon, so you don’t lose the house and/or kids when the SHTF.
Good luck.
—
By the way: Deirdre has it precisely wrong.
Here’s an interesting thing. The other day I was asked by an old friend from Seffrica where she could find one of my novels on Amazon, so I just told her to do a search for “Kim du Toit Prime Target” on their website. Here was the search result:
Errrr what?
Puzzled, I tried one of the other novels:
No problem there… and likewise for all the other works I’ve published at Amazon.
Then I tried again, using just “Kim du Toit” as the search string, and lo and behold, they all showed up, including Prime Target:
Of course, trying to reach anyone at Amazon who could look at the problem is like trying to decipher the U.S. tax code at IRS.gov: opaque, impossible and misleading. Amazon must be the least-friendly organization on the planet when it comes to this kind of thing.
Anyway, here’s the link to Prime Target, in case anyone is still interested in a story about a government agency spying on U.S. citizens’ private data.
The Daily Mail refers to them as “Rolex rippers” — a cutesy name for thugs who attack and rob people in the streets for their watches:
A spate of luxury watch muggings in London is putting wealthy owners off flaunting their wrist candy — and may be contributing to collapsing demand for high-end timepieces.
The value of secondhand watches, as tracked by the Bloomberg Subdial Watch Index, is down more than 40 per cent since its peak in April 2022.
Major UK retailer Watches of Switzerland has seen its share price drop by 53 per cent this year after announcing it expects revenue to be 10 per cent lower than forecast, while Richemont, owner of Cartier, has said half year sales are down by 17 per cent.
Typical Mail ignorance used as panic creation. The “spate of robberies” cannot affect more than a tiny percentage of luxury watch owners, and while London certainly has a large share of sales of these overpriced geegaws, it’s not enough to account for the dip in Richemont’s sales.
Aside: For those who aren’t aware of the Richemont empire, it includes luxury brands like Montblanc pens, Cartier, IWC, Dunhill and Purdey (!!!). It’s controlled by a South African one-time tobacco tycoon, Johann Rupert, who founded Richemont as a way to get out of the tobacco business.
What the downturn in Richemont sales would appear to mean is that the demand for luxury items is dipping due to economic concerns (not street thuggery) — except that when it comes to individual wealth, sales are trendy within the various divisions within the luxury market. Such divisions include real estate, cars, precious metals, clothing, yachts, watches and so on. And of course, while “fashion” plays a lot in this market, the real motivator for such spending is driven by investment.
Note, by the way, that Richemont doesn’t own Ferrari or Aston Martin (yet), and if Sotheby’s recent auction of “desirable” cars is anything to go by, a larger chunk of disposable income has been channeled in that direction — one 1956 Mercedes 300 SC can buy a couple dozen Vacheron Constantin watches, for example. (I’m also told by sources within the collectible car market that sales are softening there too, but the sales of luxury yachts are still firm, even growing.)
We won’t even talk about real estate prices in the South of France or similar “must-have” destinations like the Gulf states.
Against serious high-ticket items like yachts and resorts in the Greek islands, for instance, Montblanc pens and Rolex watches are pretty small potatoes. That said, however, I certainly wouldn’t risk wearing a luxury watch in London nowadays — although the discreet Patek Philippe is certainly not as noticeable as the chunky Rolexes and Breitlings.
The real story here is not the ups and downs of economic trends or the spending of rich people, but the ever-increasing rise in street thuggery (and not just in London), which law enforcement agencies seem unwilling to address let alone reduce because racism.
I also note that the luxury real estate market in Manhattan seems to be softening, and I’m pretty sure that it’s getting more difficult to sell those $50 million+ condos in an area where increased street thuggery makes London look like a kiddies’ playground.
Unsurprisingly, the Daily Mail talks hysterically about the thuggery (because hysteria is their stock-in-trade), but not a great deal about lenient prosecutors and police inaction. That discussion seems to be more acceptable to conservative outlets like Breitbart News.
…this time with the Son&Heir (I’m in green):
And speaking of a better America, let’s go further into the news:
...clearly, the NYPD cops wanted a bigger bribe.
…
…
...”Why women shouldn’t be employed in male prisons: Reason #1″
...does this mean I won’t get that million-dollar inheritance?
...don’t listen, Don, she’s faking you out.
...substitute “Amazon” and “Record companies” for “Sony”, and you’ll be fine.
...so give back all the fucking money.
...sorry, assholes, but you ain’t no Costco or Sam’s Club.
...hey, if they’re not gonna stand for ours, then we won’t stand for theirs.
#WhitePushback #FuckYouAssholes
...I’d say the pot is calling the kettle black, but that would be rayciss.
...or “best on her knees”, take your pick.
And now for 
And finally:
...aaahh Kelly me old darling, how we’ve missed you on these pages.
And now that our cups runneth over, that endeth the news.