Appropriate outfit

When there's a heatwave you will often see men who have shed their T-shirts. However, this may be appropriate attire for the beach it is not as appropriate for the highstreet or the supermarket, but you still see it.

As a woman I would never go topless to the supermarket, or down the highstreet, but then I would not want anyone, male or otherwise to go topless down the highstreet, and especially not the supermarket, but for some reason it seems to be appropriate behavior... for men.

It is, however, inappropriate for young women and the police will intervene.

For their own safety off course!

Big Brother Pride

And this is why Holland have strict laws about children appearing on TV:

A contestant on the dutch Big Brother wants her newly born baby to appear on Big Brother and defends the action,
"I think that my child will be proud of it later"

C'est la Vie

Since this weekend was a long bank holiday weekend, and the sun was shining we decided to enjoy the weather and...

...went to the computer store and bought our 3 year old a mouse and a Fireengine PC game (his choice).

As punishment the sun will be shining all week while we go to work, and when we go away to Denmark to visit my parents this Thursday it will start raining.

Great opportunity for someone to get to master his new toy!

Nottinghill Carnival

I have lived in London, but I have never attended the Nottinghill Carnival. At one point I lived en route of the carnival, but I was working night shifts so slept my way through most of it. I made a point of getting out in time to catch some of the carnival before going of to work one day, but I found it hard to get into the carnival spirit. The glamor. The party. All the smiley faces.

My life was not at a happy point at the time, so for me, the Nottinghill Carnival will always bring back the wrong memories.

Planting a seed!?

In 'A Bugs life' the main ant character uses a rock as a tool to explain how a seed turns into a three. "Pretend this is a seed", "but it's a rock!?", "Well, pretend it's a seed.."

In London a hospital uses a polished rock to enhance its "welcoming and reassuring environment". They paid £70,000 for it!

There's a lot of money in rock polishing.

Spiderman, hippopotamus or court jester

"We like Spiderman. Because if someone has been taken by a hippopotamus Spiderman will hit the hippopotamus and rescue them. Do you like Spiderman Mom?"
Last week my 3 year old was telling me how he had to rescue his girlfriend from the bin-truck, this week it is a hippopotamus.

I miss having an imagination. I hate my unimaginative job. I have 8 days, and counting, to decide whether or not I want to accept the offer of a permanent contract in this box I call mine from 9-5.

I would rather be a Court Jester! ...or even a hippopotamus.

Animal terrorism

Should we condone animal testing or not? Maybe if the scientist started testing on i.e reptiles rather than cute little fluffy guinea pigs? How far are we prepared to go to live longer, and avoid sickness?

On the other hand, if we do not believe in animal testing, how far should we go to stop it? Apparently the animal rights groups have realised that going after the money and the suppliers of animal testing is more efficient, and their most recent success: A Staffordshire farm will stop breeding guinea pigs.

How did they win that fight?

Darley Oaks Farm in Staffordshire has been the target of a campaign of abuse, including death threats to the owners and staff.

So does two wrongs make a right?

Coffee and Cream

Forget de-caffeinated and herbal teas!

"...the natural caffeine in coffee will reduce and heal acne breakouts, with continued use it will fade age spots and reduce wrinkles on the skin, and it calms skin allergies."

So forget about expensive exfoliators and anti-wrinkle creams!

Cigarette break

Most workplaces have banned smoking in the UK, but lighting up is often still permitted, as long as you go outside, which means smokers get more breaks!
When I was a smoker I would probably have 4-5 cigarette breaks a day, which added about 30 minutes to my break allowance, but nobody complained as long as I smoked in the dedicated smoking corner of the carpark.

Then I gave up smoking and what would people say if I took three or four 5-10 minute breaks outside of normal breaktime now? Nothing?

If you want to smoke, do it in your own time, and don't forget to think of the non-smoking employees at your local pub!

"My name is Sparkling, I am an anti-smoker"

Test drive

My ex-boyfriend took me out for a nice publunch today. Well that was the idea anyway. It was pooring down, so the idea of sitting by the river got a little washed away, and the nice pub we went to turned out to have a big old peoples home party booked for lunch, so lot's of dentures, wheelchairs and walkingframes. Not that I have an issue with pensioners, or people with disabilities of any kind, but I don't think that was the setting he had had in mind. But the food was great, and we met lots of nice people!


On the way back we stopped at the Jaguar garage as he needed his front lightbulb changed, and while we waited we had a cruise around the showroom. I wouldn't mind the XK, in any colour, but if it had to be a family car, I suppose the S-type sport might get my heart racing too. I know the price would.

Next time we're going to Porsche and getting a test drive!

You saw me coming miles off, didn't you?

I'm a sucker for a bargain, and yes, if it's two-for-the-price-of-one, I simply cannot resist!

So when my company, who is very safety conscious, offered all staff two-for-the-price-of-one, as well as a discounted rate I had to have one!

Not sure what to use it for though, but I will worry about that later.

Danish Pastry

I'm not much of a football fan, but apparently the danes made pastry out of the english in Copenhagen yesterday, and I do like danish pastry, not that danish pastry is really danish.


There are several versions of the history of danish pastry, but basically, all the danes did was to borrow the idea from the bakers in Vienna and make it famous. Hence Viennabread, which it is called in Denmark, is known as danish pastry across the globe.

Supermarket salad-bar forks

Squeezing the last cerial out of the box this morning I realised I could postpone no longer, I had to go to a shop sometime today, and as we didn't have much in in form of lunch either I chose my lunchbreak to stock up.

Lunchtime came up, I jumped in my overheated car, turned the airconditioning to freeze and drove to the nearest supermarket. Bread, butter, ham, fruit, vegetable... I won't bore you with my entire shopping list... a bowl of salad from the saladbar and a plastic fork provided for the purpose. I paid, dropped my groceries in the boot and drove back to the office and parked my car in the shade.


Have you ever tried eating roughly chopped lettuce with a 12cm (4½ inch) long plastic fork?

Does my bum look big in this?

When I was 17 I was a size 10 and then I look in the morror and realise I'm 34 and a size 10 is a thing of the past.

Predictable text

When I got my first mobile phone I never realised how I had managed to live without sms before. Now I have a phone with camera, email, JAVA, and who knows what else. People tell me that I should really get Bluetooth. Apparently it is another of the "How did I live without it?" features.

Wouldn't it be usefull to have another gadget with Bluetooth to go with it I wonder? Where does it stop?

Personally I only really use my mobile for sms, and the odd phonecall. Maybe I am using it all wrong?












Source: BBC News

Waiting for results

I have been ill, which is always great. What was really great though was the job interview I had signed up for on Friday.

I got the agent to call them and try and move it till Monday when I would probably feel better. But apparently that would be too late, as they wanted to make a shortlist for second interviews Monday morning. Fine, I will go today then, tell them to expect me, I told the agent, who called back 15minutes later; As I really wasn't feeling very well they felt it was better I come in Monday.

So I passed the first test I guess. Still waiting for interview results.

Ketch-Up!

In the news today: Ketchup is the latest crime weapon!

They target people who have just been to the ATM to withdrawn money. One person will spray ketchup on you, while a second will pretend to assist you and swipe your purse/wallet.

Next time you see the bottle, ketch-up!

Handkerchief

Green-O-Meter

The last 7 percent would be caused by me not owning a Handkerchief but using tissues.

It's August, why do I have a cold!?

Subject: GATE Gourmet Update2

Due to unofficial industrial action by our in-flight caterers, Gate Gourmet, we are experiencing disruption to catering services on our flights today. Please accept my apologies.

We are doing everything possible to make sure you have the opportunity to obtain food before you fly.

Vouchers will be issued to you at the check-in counter if your flight is over 3 hours or you are a Club Europe customer. The vouchers can be used in the catering retail outlets in the terminal. There are also additional refreshment points available in the departures lounge for all customers on British Airways flights.

As a result of this action we are also unable to guarantee any onboard catering or duty free sales, offer any special dietary requirements, or provide baby food onboard. Drinking water will be available on all flights.

I would like to apologise once again and thank you for your understanding.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Get the best from British Airways at ba.com
http://www.ba.com

Chewing gum yogurt

Being three is great. Everything is an adventure and the world is your oyster. Even going to the local corner shop can provide food for thought.

Last night before dinner we walked to the local corner shop to pick up some yogurts, which in itself was rather un-eventful. We queued at the till, as you would expect in that time of day.

"Mommy, What's that?". "It's chewing gum". "I like chewing gum. Can I have some mom?". "No, we're having yogurt". Children have a nack for spotting sweets whereever possible, and the conversation often goes like this, however yesterday had an added bonus as we left the shop.

"Mom, I like chewing gum yogurt"

"Photoblogs should have good pictures"

Here the Artist... does what she likes!

How to become a recruitment agent

I am, as always when I get bored at work, on the lookout for a new more interesting job. I send off my CV left right and center, and ever so often something interesting comes along.

A recruitment agent will call me in regards to the job I applied for, and right away my mind goes . o O (Which one was that?), but during the conversation I usually manage to get the facts together and remember which job it was I applied for*.

Over the last couple of weeks I have spoken to 4 seperate agents, of which 3 of them was called Laura! So if you want to become a recruitment agent, you know what to do. Change your name to Laura!



* I am quite comfortably employed in a convenient job that pays the bills, so my heart is not racing with exitement about changing.

Why I didn't marry a chef

When I was 15 I wanted to be a hotelier, so when I turned 19 I dated a chef. Breakfast in bed, delicious homecooked meals every night, desserts to die for? Yes! But not good for your figure.

About 10 years later, after I had gambled my life in the hotel industry for years I found myself a nice sensible city worker who couldn't cook, but is very good at keeping me on the straight and narrow road of the 'five a day' diet.

Last night we had carrot soup. Someone get me a chef!

My fridge is telling me something

Ever since I was a kid I have needed feeding at 12 O'clock, come rain, come shine, or else! So even though I finish work before lunch on fridays I don't make it home in time for the midday deadline, resulting in me getting a little (read: more than usual) annoyed with my fellow road users, so today I thought I would be kind and bring myself a snack. Last night I wrapped up a couple of slices of bread in some tinfoil and put the parcel in the fridge for this morning. Unfortunately for the Learner-Driver in front of me the whole way home (well, some of it anyway) I forgot my little silver parcel in the fridge this morning.

I made it home. Opened the fridge, grapped a drink and my little silver parcel on the way to the computer... It turns out there was more than one silver parcel in the fridge today, the other one containing dark chocolate.

They say dark chocolate is good for the hormones.

Terrorist customer

After 7 years with the same lenses I felt it was time for some new glasses. And conveniently enough my old glasses started falling apart, so I called the optician to book an eyetest.

"We will see you friday at 2.30 then.", the conversation with the optician receptionist ended. When she was struggling to enter my date of birth into their computer system I should have known something would go wrong. When I turned up on the friday at 2.20 I was told my appointment was not till 3.30, and if I insisted on rebooking to a convenient time for me, and if that had to be a saturday, "We're very busy on saturdays, so you have to make sure you turn up". I almost didn't.

I took my test results to the shop where I had found the glasses I liked and ordered my glasses. "We will call you when the are ready, in about 2 weeks". 2 weeks later I had had no call, or voicemail, so I called the store. "Your glasses arrived 5 days ago, but it looks like we had problems leaving you a message". That is why I left them both my homenumber and my mobile number! I collected my glasses and left without saying anything.

I'm a terrorist customer. I spread the word.

Sticky Post

You can have a sticker if you tidy up, eat your vegetables, play by yourself while mommy works, have a lie-in tomorrow morning.

Stickers works for most things when you are three, only not for sleeping late. Especially not when there are promises of going to the big swimmingpool with the slides and the wavemachine to cash in. I can't wait till the weekend!

Who needs sleep when you can have stickers...

Back in the days of VHS

My parents had gone off to Germany for the day on a business trip, and my big brother was babysitting (me).

"We'll be home for dinner", was the last comment they gave us when they left in the morning.

6pm came up, and my stomack was ready for dinner. 7pm rolled by and still nothing. 8pm my brother called my gran. 9pm he was talking about calling the hospitals and police station. By 10pm he had picked up the phone twice to dial the number. Just before 11pm they turned up. "Look what we have bought!", all smiles and excitement, pulling a VHS recorder out of a box.

"Don't they have phones on Germany?" was my brothers only response.

Poor houseowners

According to BBC's Breadline Quiz owning your own home is likely to put your standard of living below the poverty line.


Thank God we do not own our own home!?

It was nice knowing you

Thank you for ordering Dominos. This is your order confirmation - please note your order details in case of any queries:

Your Order Number: 807XXX

Delivery Details:
X
XXXXXX
XXXXXX
XXXXXX

Delivery Date: Tue 02/08/05
Delivery Time: ASAP


Relax, it's on its way.


The Domino's Team.

http://www.dominos.co.uk

It's a win, win?

Work is particularly non-interesting today, so I thought I would have a go, for no particular reason, at joining "The Battle of the Blogs".

Lucky I didn't win! Imagine what kind of precedent that would have set!?

Petty?

Ok, so I have a thing about toiletpaper rolls, but walking through the office today I came across another of my pet peeves; cupboards and draws. Don't get me wrong I think cupboards and draws are excellent inventions, but it is the users that gets to me.

After you open a cupboard or drawer you close it, right?

Wrong! Apparently when going through the motion of closing a cupboard door or drawer some people find it too much effort to finsh the job, and they leave the damn things ajar to walk into/ hit my head on (depending on hight of said unit).

Do the world a favour, next time you close a cupboard door or a drawer, please finish the job!

Don't try this at home

Which probably (who am I kidding, deffinately) means I live a rather boring life. Maybe I should follow either of the recommendations from my favourite un-environmentally friendly fast lane program from BBC last night.

"So, why buy a Ferrari when you could buy yourself a few hectares of grass somewhere in Oxfordshire and get a stupidly fast quad bike-style death machine? You may have to spend between £4,000 and £12,000 buying a vehicle to skid around in, but rest assured it's probably about the best fun you can have in a field. But do be careful, while Jeremy looked a bit dead for a while, he did survive. However, shortly after his doctor told him he had slipped two discs in his back. Coincidence? Possibly not."

"The concept was, drive a Jeep thing at water really, really fast and hope that the wheels can churn through enough water to keep the car afloat. And, fortunately for Richard, who put his neck on the line, it did indeed manage the trip."

I've always quite fancied a Ferrari Testarossa, but maybe I need to reconsider and either buy a field or drive a jeep across a lake?

Which would you choose?