FF – Plug Gate
Here is my story for Friday Fictioneers, the 100 word challenge hosted by Rochelle with a photo this week by C. E. Ayr.
I did think of a dark story to do with the take over of jobs by machines, but in the end I went for this ridiculous little news story.
To read the other stories, click on the blue froggy.
Copyright C. E. Ayr
Excerpt from The Daily Prattle
The inquest into the “PlugGate” incident on Britain’s railways, which last April caused 745 deaths and millions of pounds of damage, closed today.
The coroner heard that the new Automated Railway Signalling Equipment (ARSE) system was deactivated when contract cleaner Mrs Moira Dimple, 47, unplugged it as she, in her own words, “needed somewhere to plug in my vacuum cleaner, dearie.”
National Rail has reassured customers that such a disaster could never happen again as they have “invested in loads of Sellotape to stick over the plug sockets”.
This reporter remains sceptical and will be taking the bus.
Speak to me - I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Click for a random post!
Woohoo!
I totally didn't win!
Share Your World
Friday Fictioneers
draliman on life 
*chuckle*. Well done.
LikeLike
Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it!
LikeLike
Delightful! Thank you for the chuckle. 🙂
LikeLike
You’re welcome for the chuckle 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Must have been a real arse who designed the system. With the inevitable price rise of sellotape, this reporter wonders if collusion was afoot! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ha, someone’s indubitably on the take 🙂 But to be fair, Sellotape’s the only sticky tape I’ve ever been able to rip without using scissors or my teeth!
LikeLiked by 1 person
There’s a great scene in “The Money Pit” where Shelly Long unplugs something so she can use her hair dryer and there’s one of those domino events. Hilarious. If you haven’t seen the movie, it is one that every home owner should see. This really reminded me of it.
LikeLike
There’s also a Red Dwarf episode where they’re in the middle of an emergency when suddenly all the consoles go dead to the sound of the Cat’s hair dryer 🙂
“What, unplug my hot wax unsightly hair remover?”
“Yes, unplug your hot wax unsightly hair remover!”
“Unbelievable. A space ship five miles long and they don’t fit enough plug sockets in the scanner room.”
(Apologies for misquotes, I can’t be bothered to Google it.)
I saw “The Money Pit” years ago, and also the film I imagine it was a remake of, “Mr Blandings Builds his Dream House”.
LikeLike
I’ll take the bus too, great laugh. My idea from the prompt took a similar, if less hilarious, direction.
LikeLike
I’m glad you liked it! I shall be reading your shortly.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think ARSE would make me take the bus too… but I think that they have a similar system for redlights
LikeLike
ARSE is sadly everywhere these days…
LikeLike
Nice find : Automated Railway Signalling Equipment (ARSE) 🙂
LikeLike
It took me ages to think of a suitable acronym involving a derogatory word when suddenly this rather obvious one popped into my head!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well done!
LikeLike
LOL Yes Minister comes to mind 😀
LikeLike
Ha, yes! I’m sure Sir Humphrey would have put a stop to it, though 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
i love the dry sense of humor. you did it again. 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks, I like dry and dark humour 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a fun and funny piece. I love the Sellotape solution. Oh, yeah, that ought to work! Delightful.
LikeLike
What could possibly go wrong? 🙂
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
LikeLike
I’m pretty sure ARSE could be brought down by a charging cellphone as well. After all, there’s apparently only one plug, and bring able to check in on Facebook is the priority….
LikeLike
Where presumably you would find many posts warning about travelling on the rail network due to multiple unexplained signal failures…
LikeLike
🙂 And yet not so farcical int his day and age.
LikeLike
Sadly no! My house (mid-1970s) doesn’t have nearly enough plug sockets (certainly not enough to be plugging in stuff like vacuum cleaners).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Ali,
Sounds like the new system is a bit of a pain in the…Nicely done. Made me laugh from start to finish. Thank you for that.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Dear Rochelle,
You’re welcome for the laugh 🙂 I’m glad I went for the comedy story rather than the dark(ish) one.
Ali
LikeLiked by 1 person
Smiling all the way to the station, now I am glad I missed my train🙂
LikeLike
Good job you stopped on the way to read my story 🙂
LikeLike
Wonderful. I love the Daily Prattle. And I’d take the bus, too.
LikeLike
It’s everyone’s choice for a good read 🙂
The bus is going to be busy for a while.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good bit of prattle here. I hope they shove such signals up the …. Great dry, laconic humour here. Loved this end to end.
LikeLike
I hope so too – never was anything so aptly named.
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
LikeLike
And that’s happens when you put an ARSE in charge of something important …
LikeLike
It happens a lot 🙂
LikeLike
ARSE. 🙂
LikeLike
Bollocks, I guess I’m swearing more this year too 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yay!! 🙂
LikeLike
Hahahaha! I have a feeling things like this has happened in the real world. Scary!
LikeLike
I have a feeling they happen all too often!
LikeLike
Hahaha!
LikeLike
Oh, I really like this! It’s so true to life. Have you ever read the account of WHY the lights all went out in Massachusetts? It goes back to a replaced wire in a Canadian substation… 🙂
Good job here.
LikeLike
Ha! Those Canadians, eh? 🙂
I’m glad you enjoyed my story!
LikeLike
Here now. Quit that, eh! 😉
LikeLike
You didn’t let me finish – “Those Canadians, eh? Wonderful people!” (I just read your “About” page)
🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for visiting my About page — I need to update that! — and for thinking us wonderful people. Even if we don’t always install the right-size wires for the electrical current. 😉
If I may make a suggestion, you could install a LIKE button for comments. (You have to click something in the General settings somewhere.)
LikeLike
I expect it was a metric/imperial mishap 🙂
I did the comments “like” thing! I’ve looked for it before but only in the “classic” dashboard. I checked out WP support and found it somewhere else – in the “sharing” buttons page, not in the “comments options” section where I’ve looked before. Thanks for the advice and push to actually do it 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I see you’ve successfully installed the comments LIKE button. Rats! My diametric diabasical defuser must not be working right. You were supposed to click on the button and the power would go out all over your city. 🙂
LikeLike
Diametric diabasical defusers are funny like that. Never do what you expect.
I was hoping the power would go out too. I was at work and a power cut is always a good excuse for a little nap 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
My new cell phone is like that, too.
Always keep a flashlight in your desk at work. Even during power failures one may need to find one’s way to the loo.
LikeLike
I have torches stashed everywhere! Plus my phone and watch both turn into torches when required 🙂
LikeLike
Ha, ha. That’s great, Ali. I have a terrible feeling it could actually happen again. I’d take the bus also. Great humor writing. 😀 — Suzanne
LikeLike
I’m glad you liked it! Lots of people are switching to the bus, I think.
LikeLike
This is simply brilliant.
Thanks for the laugh.
LikeLike
Thanks, I’m glad you got a laugh out if it 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for the much needed laugh. Excellent
LikeLike
Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it 🙂
LikeLike
LMAO! A for Arse, of course! That was a hoot and a half!
LikeLike
I’m glad you liked it! I was slightly worried in case there was no such such thing as “Sellotape” as a brand in America, and also conscious of the fact that “arse” is the British equivalent of “ass”, but everyone seemed to understand my Brit language 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I use arse all the time, but then again, I am Canadian…😉
LikeLike
Ooh, I didn’t know that you’re Canadian. I’ve learned something new today 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
😊It’s why I’m so likeable, Alistair!😉 hee hee hee…
LikeLike
🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
…as if things aren’t bad enough on Southern right now! Timely, amusing, stickily clever. Other brands are available!
…when I grow up! My tale.
LikeLike
On the plus side, Southern trains were not affected as none at all were running on that fateful day!
LikeLike
Hahah- loved this one!
LikeLike
I’m glad you liked it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Funny, funny, funny. What more is there to say. Well done
LikeLike
Thanks, I’m glad you liked it!
LikeLike
I take the bus and never take my *…* into that train again 😀 Great writing, Draliman! Pawkisses for a Happy Caturday 🙂 ❤
LikeLike
Very wise choice 🙂 I’m glad you liked it!
LikeLike
It is a good thing they did not go with the “Invisible Tape.” You have a brilliant mind!
LikeLike
I only hope they stuck enough on. Thanks 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was searching for a lighter story for this week and delighted to have found it here.
There are layers if entertainment in these 100 words Ali; from your ARSE to your title (or vice versa).
LikeLike
I’m glad I went with the light story rather than the dark 🙂
I’m glad you enjoyed it, thanks for such a lovely comment!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I will join the long queue of people that thoroughly enjoyed this story. ARSE indeed!
LikeLike
With an acronym like that, they should have known something was going to go wrong…
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
LikeLike
Ahh…this makes me miss the days when I took the train in the UK every day. No, actually, it doesn’t. 😜
Glad you decided to go with the funny rather than the dark story! Then again, a lot of your stories are funny AND dark.
LikeLike
The rail system has never been right since it was privatised 😦
This one would have just been dark. I’m glad I went for the funny as well 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wonderfully amusing, Ali. I think I’d be taking the bus as well!
LikeLike
Until ARSE gets control of the traffic lights too…
I’m glad you enjoyed it 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
This really made me laugh. Love the acronym ARSE – very appropriate
LikeLike
They should have realised when their system ended up with that acronym that something awful was going to happen 🙂
LikeLike
Oh laughed my Automated Railway Signalling Equipment off reading this story! So typical!
LikeLike
I’m glad you enjoyed it 🙂
LikeLike
🙂 Another funny one (as usual, of late). I wrote a story recently about the PRAT Institute (obviously a humor piece), but I don’t think the publisher I sent it to got it. Well, at least they rejected it. Anywhooo, good on you for making people smile (or snicker or laugh), Ali. Pleasant Thursday to ye!
LikeLike
Some people have no sense of humour. The PRAT institute already sounds like fun!
A pleasant Thursday to you too 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for the follow. A similar kind of incident happened in a hospital in my hometown, where life support had been unplugged for charging a vacuum cleaner.
LikeLike
Oh boy, that’s awful. They’re supposed to be plugged into special clearly-marked sockets as well.
LikeLike