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Original poster

This clap for Captain Tom idea

776 replies

User133847 · 02/02/2021 20:44

I've just seen a lot on social media about this clap for Tom on Thursday at 8, similar to the clap for the NHS.

I'm a bit ambivalent about this. The one organised the other week was a damp squib and nobody got involved. The weather is still dark and cold (it wasn't in the summer when the pots and pans were out for the NHS). However, for a nation in mourning at Tom's passing, perhaps this could help really bring the country together on Thursday.

OP posts:
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15
Graciebobcat · 04/02/2021 07:39

My FB seems blessedly free of this sort of nonsense this time, even the people who were harping on about the efforts of their road last time were suspiciously quiet and there was nothing on the street's whatsapp. People have really had enough of this shit.

BoredBeforelEvenBegan · 04/02/2021 07:45

The Daily Mail (of course) has started a campaign for a statue today and has helpfully included a picture of what it might look like.

I'd only just managed to turn myself the right way round after all those FB pics but it looks like I'm about to cringe myself inside out again...

This clap for Captain Tom idea
Pimlicojo · 04/02/2021 07:48

I lit a candle for Captain Tom on the day he died but didn't join in with clapping. It just felt mawkish and unnecessary to me.

Yesterday I was listening to the radio and one of his grandsons phoned in; a son of his other daughter. He spoke very movingly about his grandad and said that he wouldn't want a lot of fuss. He was charming and polite, and kept talking about him as if he was still alive which was sad but understandable.

I don't think we should lose sight of the fact that Captain Tom was a decent and kind man who didn't ask for any of this.

It's not the same as when Diana died in my view. I'm just a little younger than Diana and when she died suddenly it was incredibly shocking. A beautiful young mum, in the prime of her life, a princess - it just didn't seem possible. There was a collective sense of disbelief, and it reminded us of our own mortality. Things did get out of hand though. I remember going to Kensington Palace to see the flowers (I was nearby anyway) and there were people sobbing and wailing. It was bizarre.

zippyswife · 04/02/2021 07:51

Clapping for Captain Tom is the maddest thing in the pandemic so far. It was like I'd entered an alternate reality watching Boris, Nicola, the NHS come out to clap for him. Truly baffled by it all. I actually feel a bit angry about it.

YanTanTethera123 · 04/02/2021 08:11

Ffs! Just watching BBC news and staff at Paddington clapping the GWR Captain Tom train as it pulled in 😳😳😳
The world’s gone effing mad.

YanTanTethera123 · 04/02/2021 08:12

Wtf would anyone clap a bl.... train!

BoredBeforelEvenBegan · 04/02/2021 08:21

@YanTanTethera123

Ffs! Just watching BBC news and staff at Paddington clapping the GWR Captain Tom train as it pulled in 😳😳😳 The world’s gone effing mad.
Bonkers.

No doubt someone will be along shortly to say that not supporting clapping a train is disrespectful, though.

OliveTree75 · 04/02/2021 08:28

@YanTanTethera123

Ffs! Just watching BBC news and staff at Paddington clapping the GWR Captain Tom train as it pulled in 😳😳😳 The world’s gone effing mad.
Absolutely nuts!
ImsorryWilson · 04/02/2021 10:10

"clapping the GWR Captain Tom train "

I'm proud to be on this thread of sanity and also proud not to know what in fuck's name a GWR Captain Tom train is.
I trust you guys not to clutter my head by enlightening me, I'm busy sweeping nonsense away as it is....

AuntieStella · 04/02/2021 10:12

I think the BBC coverage has been extensive enough

JaimeLeeCurtains · 04/02/2021 10:19

Covid-19 is now running parallel with a social contagion of virtue signalling and fear of being cancelled, whether it's over clapping and saluting Thomas the fucking tank engine or people creaming themselves over the brave & stunnin.

TheChip · 04/02/2021 10:22

I think the word hero is just being thrown about a little bit too much at the minute and so many people want to sit in that category. Even though the true meaning of the word hero has been lost.

stairway · 04/02/2021 10:25

The Diana death behaviour was extremely embarrassing for a nation known for our stiff upper lip and I felt sorry for the royal family during that time. It’s just sheep mentality though. It’s the same thing with this captain Tom thing, yes he was a sweet elderly gentleman but he was no more remarkable then anyone of his generation. The war generation were all pretty remarkable with their resilience and fascinating stories to tell. However if you don’t join in with the hero worship or question the rationale behind sending a 100 year old half way across the world during a pandemic you are considered a troll.

vera99 · 04/02/2021 10:31

He was obviously a sound guy with guts that basically walked around his garden with a cheery temperament and opened up the hearts of the British people at a time of national crisis. And that's where this plaster sainthood needs to stop.The vaccine scientists and tireless front line health workers are deserving of equal and maybe even more gratitude. Captain Tom would be the first to concede enough is enough.Less is more imho now.

cantmakealifeofit · 04/02/2021 10:32

9 months old, but goodness gracious me

OliveTree75 · 04/02/2021 10:37

@cantmakealifeofit

9 months old, but goodness gracious me

Wtf Grin
covetingthepreciousthings · 04/02/2021 10:50

That train video GrinGrin

CandidaAlbicans2 · 04/02/2021 12:00

Covid-19 is now running parallel with a social contagion of virtue signalling and fear of being cancelled, whether it's over clapping and saluting Thomas the fucking tank engine or people creaming themselves over the brave & stunnin.

😆 @JaimeLeeCurtains (great username!) Ah, I do love MN at times, and this thread is a beacon of light in the batshittery cave of wank.

ImsorryWilson · 04/02/2021 12:12

I have never had so many posts I wanted to quote in one thread.

But I am totally stealing Mr Bennett.

username44416 · 04/02/2021 12:16

@BoredBeforelEvenBegan

The Daily Mail (of course) has started a campaign for a statue today and has helpfully included a picture of what it might look like.

I'd only just managed to turn myself the right way round after all those FB pics but it looks like I'm about to cringe myself inside out again...

Please God, no.
ImsorryWilson · 04/02/2021 12:18

can the statue be sort of like the Mary Wollstonecroft statue so we can all have a heated debate?
I think that would help.

vera99 · 04/02/2021 12:19

Could the estate of David Bowie possibly release a tweaked Space Oddity (elton is probably at a loose end and has first dibs given his Candle effort before) Ground control to Captain Tom sort of thing...

Wrongsideofhistorymyarse · 04/02/2021 12:21

@vera99

Could the estate of David Bowie possibly release a tweaked Space Oddity (elton is probably at a loose end and has first dibs given his Candle effort before) Ground control to Captain Tom sort of thing...
Ugh.
ImsorryWilson · 04/02/2021 12:22

vera99 Grin but no no no.... Grin

Puzzledandpissedoff · 04/02/2021 12:26

Nothing on my road either - so I was amused to see a neighbour's FB post this morning, insisting that "everyone was out" and that she'd "led the clapping"

How does anyone lead clapping anyway? Stand on a box? Bark like a seal to encourage the less enthusiastic? Chuck a few fish?

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