Skins Have Grown Too Thin

The British Embassy in the U.S. had a lovely cake baked to commemorate a special occasion.

What could be more friendly? Come over for tea and a slice, the ambassador might have said to the current occupants of the White House. We'd like to have you in for a quiet little party. Bring the girls, by all means. This is truly a family affair.

To share the masterful confection with the world, the embassy tweeted a picture of the cake. It is a replica of the White House in flour, eggs, and sugar, perhaps covered with a delicious fondant icing and carefully decorated to capture the various architectural details of the actual structure. A pastry chef spent a long time in crafting this cake, and would justifiably by proud of the accomplishment.

And what did the thin-skinned have to say about the cake?

Yes, right. I should mention that a few lighted sparklers were inserted where one might put birthday candles. Sparklers, the wits at the British Embassy tweeted, rather than flames. The cake was meant to commemorate the two-hundredth anniversary of the burning of the White House by British forces during the War of 1812.

It is an event that figures prominently in Katie Hanrahan's upcoming novel, THE SECOND WAR OF REBELLION, which will not be released until the holiday shopping season this year. You'll be sure to look for it, and watch this space for further information on give-aways  and the like.

At any rate, the British tweeted a snap of a cake that looks like the White House, with sparklers blazing, and the next thing you know they are apologizing for what a few humourless individuals declared was an example of poor taste.

For fuck's sake, can we stop apologizing constantly to the few curmudgeons who make a little bit of noise?

It's funny, the cake with the sparklers. It's a joke.

Some people simply don't have a sense of humour. They are unable, for some reason, to see that which is not serious, which is meant to bring a smile or even a chuckle. They take everything at face value, incapable of seeing beyond the ends of their noses. Or beyond the poles thrust solidly up their arses.

Besides, the British lost that war, and to a bunch of upstart soldiers commanded by officers who were not members of the peerage. Ordinary men defeated what was supposed to be an undefeatable force, so if the Brits can laugh about it 200 years on, why not let them have their face-saving stab at humour? It's only polite, to let a nation laugh at itself.