Do as I say, not as I do...

There are few things more frustrating than seeing hypocrisy in action. While everyone is guilty of it from time to time, there are some instances where it really should be avoided.

Parents should at least attempt to lead by example, rather than issuing strict dictats which they then proceed to ignore.

When managers criticise a team for failing to adhere to departmental procedures, they should make damn sure that they themselves are sticking to those procedures...

*sigh*

Any other hypocrisies that should be avoided?!

Summer is here!

It is official. Summer is definitely here. Not only was it the Summer Solstice yesterday, but Wimbledon has started. Cue the strawberries and cream, the jugs of Pimms and the harsh shrieks and grunts as tennis balls connect with rackets.

Excitingly, there are British hopes this year. Not just the talented, but occasionally inarticulate Andy Murray, but the young Laura Robson. Hopefully they'll both do well. Fingers crossed I get a job and am unable to watch every match...

Update: Bad luck Laura...

Good service and unemployment

Well so much for having internet connection.  A certain British telecommunications company (I name no names), having connected our phone line, decided (in their great wisdom) to cut us off.  They apologised, admitted it was their fault and then told us it would be 3 weeks before we could be reconnected...

Customer service?  You must be joking...

We are, in fact, due to be reconnected on Wednesday. O2, our internet provider, have been very helpful and hopefully the internet will connect as soon as the phone line does. 

It really shouldn't be this difficult, although I must say it has been Llyando who has done a lot of the phoning, rather than me.  As you know, I'm not very good at being assertive.

In other news, I'm now unemployed.  My contract came to an end and the organisation I was working for couldn't keep me on.  So, I'm spending my time searching for a job.  Any job.  Really any job.  So if anyone out there wishes to employ me, please let me know!

Otherwise I'll have to be a kept woman while continuing my bid for world domination through blogging...

Still breathing

Yes, I'm still aliiiiiive! 

Apologies (again) for the lack of posts.  Not enough internet time, plus I'm looking for a job.  So every lunch break I spend my time trawling the net for exciting jobs rather than blogging.  Shameful, isn't it?

Anyway, thank you CorfuBob for your kind offer of posting things for me, but I'm just going to let you all stew for a bit.  Seriously, nothing exciting has happened anyway.  Apart from my car dying.  And going to watch the Six Nations battle between England and Scotland at Twickenham.

I have a few days holiday coming up, so I might have a chance to post then!

Bye for now....

Quote of the Day

I don't mean to imply, incidentally, that absolutely everyone who takes their clothes off for a living is desperate, miserable or exploited. That's the cliche, but really - can you name a profession in which there aren't people who are desperate, miserable or exploited? Which would you rather do? Strip for a camera now and then, or work full-time in an office sitting beside a perspiring Coldplay fan who spends each lunchtime getting bits of moist cheese-and-onion crisp in his goatee and chortling over his Facebook messages?

Charlie Brooker

Fearing Fire

I’m a pyromaniac. I admit it. I love things burning. Lighting matches and candles, bonfires and barbeques, incense burners and lighters. I love it. The smell of a log fire, the flickering light of candles, the crackle of incense on hot charcoal. It gives me a little thrill every time.

So I was more than delighted to be offered the chance of fire-training at work today. We had an excellent instructor who used to be a senior fireman and now specialises in fire safety and prevention in historic buildings. We watched some truly horrifying films on how quickly a blaze can spread and how apathetic people can be to a fire or a fire alarm.

And yes. We got to put out real fires. I did three – two in a ‘waste paper basket’ (water and CO2 extinguishers) and one in a pan (with a fire blanket). Hugely exciting. I want to do it again.

More important, though, was our instructor’s point that people aren’t afraid of fire any more. And the more I think about it, the more I think he’s absolutely right. Fire is our friend. We light fires in our houses every day and think nothing of it. But if your smoke detector goes off, what’s the first thing you think? Fire? Or do you think: ‘someone’s burnt the toast again’?
When the fire alarm goes off at work, how many people just sit there, assuming it’s a false alarm. I know we did when our went off last week. And we’re on the top floor of our old building with one narrow, winding staircase between us and the street.

End of the world/weekend

Why, oh, why do Monday mornings have to happen? Can we not just skip straight to Monday afternoon? Or how about Tuesday? Wouldn’t the world be a happier place if we went to bed on Sunday night, dreading Monday morning and instead woke up and it was magically Tuesday…

There’s something about that moment of dread as you drift off to sleep: ‘No, no, damn it! Must…. not… sleep… must… postpone… Monday…’ There’s that little knot in your stomach, that utter misery of the weekend being over. Even if your weekend hasn’t even been that great (and for the record, my weekend has been pretty close to perfect) you still don’t want it to end. And it has nothing to do with your enjoyment of work/school/uni/retirement/other existence.

I think I know why. It’s about control. Well, it is for me anyway. I love having the flexibility of suddenly deciding to read my book for half an hour. Or go shopping. Or stay in bed. Or have a drink. I don’t like being told what to do. Yes, I’m a typical woman. Stubborn as hell, and for no good reason.

So what I really dread about the week (other than not being able to be in a small village in Hampshire) is not being able to do what I want, when I want. I’d happily work into the evening, take 30 minutes to wander around Hyde Park, 5 minutes to do the washing up etc etc. And you know what? I’d probably get more work done…

Or perhaps not. Perhaps what I really want is a 6 day week – 4 days working, 2 days off. Much better.