Month: August 2001

Beer tonight with Arron, Paul F, Simone (for the very last time! sob! wail!), Joel, Mich, Phil, Gary, Bek and the very gorgeous Celine. Tired now, so bedtime (and yes, I know I didn’t blog the second thing that was on my mind this morning, and I possibly never will).

Blogger is two today. And Grayblog will reach the grand age of one in just a few short weeks – celebrations (of some description) are planned.

I’m trying to get myself a new mobile phone, getting rid of the old pay-as-you-go one and getting one on a contract. And it is very complicated and confusing – thank god for the comparator at Carphone Warehouse. I’ve narrowed the choice down to Orange Everyday 50 vs Vodafone Leisure 200, and I think Vodafone may have the edge.
UPDATE: just checked Genie. Free SMS is *very* tempting.
FURTHER UPDATE: and KJC are offering a pretty good deal too.

Two things worked on my mind this morning as I walked to work – here’s the first (I’ll blog the second one later):
Opposite my home is a house where three girls live. I say girls mainly because just about anyone female and roughly my age or younger is a “girl” in my book – it’s not meant to be derogatory or anything. Anyway, I guess two of them are in their thirties, the third a little older, perhaps her early forties – all three are attractive and apparently single.
This morning, as I was leaving, I saw a ParcelForce driver delivering a large box with what looked like Damart in large letters on the side. Somehow, I wouldn’t have thought of these people as the sort who wear Damart’s products, which got me thinking about preconceptions. I mean, I think of these three as typical single thirty-something girls sharing a house. I’ve no idea what they do for work or whatever. I’ve never even spoken to them in the two-and-a-half years that I’ve lived there. They seem to go out quite a lot, and I’ve seen a parade of fellas going to and from their front door.
Which got me thinking: what do they think of me? That bloke who lives on the corner, always wears black, seems to go out quite a lot, has a different woman around every other day (even if it is just Sarah or Fi or whoever), the one who really needs to repaint his windowframes.
Have you ever thought about the sort of image that you project?

This is being blogged here and there and people are suggesting that it is wrong. I have to say that I see nothing wrong with it at all – we don’t all want to drink Coke with our Big Macs, but we might drink some other drink if only we were offered one. It’s a simple case of suppliers (in this case, restaurants) reacting to changing demand from their customers. And, yes, they can satisfy the needs and wants of their customers (i.e. needing a drink with their meal and wanting something other than Coke) whilst fulfilling the organisation’s objectives (i.e. making more money) – everybody is happy. So what’s the problem?

In the village where I work, we have a shop called “The Trading Post” which sells cheap and cheerful food and junk. They do a nice line in cheap crisps that have about two weeks to go before their “use by” date, Marks and Spencer jam that failed the cut, and packets of sweets with packaging in strange languages. Which is why I am currently chomping my way through a pack of Fruit Pastilles labelled as “Frutips” and with Chinese writing all over the pack. Although they are marked “Made in UK”, they don’t taste quite the same as regular Fruit Pastllies. It’s hard to describe, but the flavours are slightly more acidic, the green (apple, allegedy) ones tasting slightly coconut-ish and the red (strawberry, or so it says) ones tasting of…um…well, I’m not sure! The ingredients list isn’t helpful. Clearly the regulations in Hong Kong (where these sweets were originally meant to go) are less stringent than in the UK, as there is not so much detail. But I like them anyway.

TFF week 1 score: 39 points. Not a bad start.
AFF week 1 results delayed until next week as Andi is overwhelmed by the number of people taking part.

Beer tonight with Joel, who works his last night on Friday (everyone should be there) and will be sorely missed. The music in W2 is certain to get worse, as well as the service. Good luck with the end of your degree, mate.

Feeling a little better now. All pointless paranoia as usual.

Busy busy busy today, working on the principle that a busy mind doesn’t have time to wander off on to subjects that shouldn’t be worried about. If only that principle actually worked in practice.