Posted on 02/14/2011 1:05:03 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
It is the ultimate accolade for a keen vegetable grower – a 73-year-old has been told not enter his village gardening competition because he is too good.
David Stirzaker has been asked by the organisers of the North Cadbury and District Horticultural Society, in Somerset, not to exhibit his produce at its annual show, because his impressive record at the event is discouraging others from taking part.
Mr Stirzaker – who has won 12 cups at the show in just four years, for his prize-winning carrots, parsnips and tomatoes – has pledged to take the matter to the Royal Horticultural Society.
"This is my hobby and I have been supporting their show for four years. I find the request very insulting – it is a competition so I would have thought it is down to other growers to try harder if they want to beat me," he said.
"I want nothing more to do with the society. I won't be showing there again and I have told them that they can come and collect their trophies."
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Bump!
Perhaps the NCAA should follow suit and ban the UConn Women’s Basketball team from the NCAA Tournament.
My thoughts exactly. Offer him a position of honor, and maybe a special spot for him to exhibit.
Maybe they could just give prizes out, say, like they do the Nobel Peace Prize (for things they might do, or hope to do, or wish to do, or what the people would have them do but that they can’t, won’t or can’t be bothered REALLY doing — just to be fair).
I just can’t see jealousy as near enough to envy to be on the same coin. They share neither motive nor result, unless result is measured in relative terms. Envy is what Zero’s Communist followers feel when they support his want to punish the producers. It is Communism... trickle up poverty. Jealousy is what I feel when I work an extra shift to afford that thing that Mr. Jones has sitting in his driveway. Jealousy never strays from the bounds of human freedom. It may not be the holiest of motivations, but it gets the job done as a way for us to see “examples” of what we would like to have. Yes, it’s certainly not holy, but neither is it a deadly sin.
How about... jealousy is a worn and shiny coin, while envy is an old beat up piece of paper money, which had been used for something unnatural? :)
Ridiculous. If their shows are anything like American gardening shows, everybody goes home with plenty of ribbons. I used to show daffodils, and they give ribbons for form, size, color, anything you can think of, in every possible category. My daffodils were never particularly stunning or rare, yet I have a whole box full of assorted ribbons in every color. Yeah, the Real Winner gets an actual trophy, but it’s damn near impossible to go home empty-handed. These runners-up are Sore Losers and lazy to boot.
Looking at that picture, there may be an even worse angle to this: Sturzaker was the only male to win last year, and maybe the ladies who run the horticultural society wanted to keep the contest female-only.
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