Month: October 2002

As a thank-you for feeding her cat whilst she was away, Sarah has bought me some Cornish Fairings. Nowhere on the packet does it say how many calories they contain, so it must be zero. Right?

Now, is it me, or do these changes promised by UK banks for small businesses not really amount to a whole bunch of beans? They introduced similar changes for personal account holders a few years ago, and I wouldn’t say that much has really changed there, to be honest. I still get the same level of service (less than impressive), have to pay the same (inflated) interest rates on debts and the banks still are incredibly profitable businesses, even in times of economic uncertainty.
But I shall certainly shop around when looking for a deal for my new small business (if it gets off the ground – not counting chickens, etc.). One of the issues I will consider (although after price, I’m afraid to say) is ethical policy, as I intend to write ethics into the new business vision statement. However, before you all suggest them, this crowd will not be suitable.

Rubbish – everyone knows that Chichester is the best place to live.

It’s Hallowe’en. And, unusually, I have a pumpkin to carve, courtesy of Kate.
It’s strange how Hallowe’en is a much bigger thing in the States than it is here. Maybe it is because of the curmudgeonly nature of the English psyche (any trick or treaters that come near me will get a clip round the ear and get told to bugger off), or perhaps it is more to do with Guy Fawkes Night coming so soon after, with its much more interesting fireworks – bright lights, big noise, toasty warm bonfires and plenty of food.
Must check out when the Central School is having its fireworks display.

Visiting the Sussex Ambulance Service site pointed me towards an interesting link: 999 – where are you?. Knowing the problems that our carriers have simply delivering parcels because people do not identify their properties clearly, I can imagine that this must be a real problem for the emergency services.
When I lived in Walberton a few years ago, a place where most of the homes are named and not numbered, the local residents group made a large map that identified all the properties in the village with a comprehensive grid-referenced index and gave copies of it to the emergency services and displayed large versions in the post office and village hall. Strikes me that it would be a good idea for more places to do that.
Perhaps the ambulance folk could make their own instead of spending their time messing about with tinsel?

OK, I’m feeling a bit better this morning, mainly because I’m determined to be more relaxed and go with the flow a little. Because we all know what happens to stressed people.
You know that there is always this debate in the media every year about Christmas getting earlier? Well, I can understand that from a marketing point of view, because if you want to buy gifts and Christmas things and send them to friends and family in Australia and New Zealand (and I have friends and family in both of those places. Not that I’m likely to send them anything, mind you.), well you are already nearly a month too late to send them by cheap surface mail. So shops that put their Christmas goods on display in September are certainly filling a need.
However, the fact that Homebase is packed full of tacky fibre optic Christmas trees and playing Slade seems a little premature. I also noticed that the ambulance crews in Chichester have already decorated their mess room at the station with tinsel and garlands – have they nothing more constructive to do with their time?

BlogWise is a new listing of blogs, organised by location and keyword. Worth a look.

Heads up: Boards of Canada (re)release their new eight track album Twoism on 25 November, on Warp Records. Form an orderly queue.

I don’t feel like a very high priority in a certain quarter at the moment.
However, in spite of this, I can’t possibly feel as bad as IDS must do if he reads the headlines.
So I’m going to have a lazy evening, flopping on the sofa, having a light dinner, maybe doing a little reading and one or two chores.

You see? There’s NO NEED for me to provide tumble dryers when you can get them elsewhere.