Like many of you out there, I’m required to routinely file expenses with my employer.  We use an on-line expenses system which on the whole is very efficient, but one of its quirks is that it demands that a town or city is specified for each and every line on the expenses claim.   In many cases I admit that this is perfectly sensible, but for some claims there are items where the location is either completely irrelevant, or in some cases it’s simply none of the company’s business.  Private company car mileage is one such example; where I go in my own time is my business provided that I pay for my private mileage and don’t fiddle the system.  I therefore feel no need to put  a valid location in the box, but the system won’t let me file the expenses claim without doing so.  Highly irritating!

So what should one type into the box?   Should I be unimaginative and use my home town for each of the items where the location is irrelevant?  No, that would be be far too boring.  But today I found an answer to the dilemma, and at the same time I found what is perhaps the best website in the world.  It lists all of the names of towns and cities in the world which have stupid or rude names.  Henceforth,  I shall in future be submitting expenses claims that feature just some of the following:

Duck End, Essex
Fan-Y-Big, Brecon Beacons, Wales
Twatt, Scotland
Fattiehead, Scotland
Little Snoring, Norfolk
Pratts Bottom, Kent

And if I stretch my imagination even further, I could use places which are not in the UK. I wonder if one day I can visit a part of the world which will feasibly allow me to include the following:

Bald Knob (New South Wales, Australia)
Balls Falls (Ontario, Canada)
Long Dong, China

There’s even an utterly unspeakable town in Spain called C**t, and a dubiously named Austrian town called F**king.  No, I’m really not joking!  Oh my goodness I hope that we’ve got some customers in these places, because I’ll be arranging a visit just as soon as I am able.

If you’d like to join in with the fun, you can find the full list here.

I’m generally not a fan of flash-mobs, because in general I tend to find that they cause a lot of problems.  Rather sadly the events are often arranged by “organised” protest groups with the sole intent of voicing an utterly pathetic political message, but in reality they just cause unnecessary and unforgivable inconvenience to the general public.

However when it’s done properly, and when the aim of the exercise is simply to provide entertainment and happiness to the masses without causing anyone any problems, then I absolutely love it.  One of my favourite groups is the New York based team “Improv Everywhere“.  Some of their ideas are nothing short of strokes of genius, and I think that they are one of the best sources of public entertainment out there.  It also serves as a reminder to me, showing what a group of volunteers can do if they put their minds to it.

One of IE’s most recent missions was to create and perform a musical number in the café section of a shopping mall.  The result was just superb, and the looks on the faces of the crowd is fantastic.

This video clip was just too good for me to miss out.  If you’re a cat person then you’ll love it…