The Official Nonsense Thread

[Caspin]

Well that was an exciting trip. Hilary Mantel and David Suchet were both staying at my hotel. I had breakfast and dinner WITH POIROT! (Well, in the same room anyway).

Unfortunately my travel woes continued on the way home, as some poor soul jumped in front of a train further down the line and threw everything into chaos. I did make it back, but two hours late. If I had known I'd have been tempted to get out at Banbury and go to watch Marine get pasted!

[Minty]

Dinner with Poirot, sounds like a good name for a film!

Sounds lucky you never got off at Banbury, as Marine would only have made you cross (badum-tish!)

Some bright spark got the idea that the firm should experiment with "hot desking" to increase productivity (ie. too many spending time chatting to colleagues, the theory being if they sit next to strangers they'll get on with their work more). Chaos now reigns as whenever there's a problem, no one knows where anyone is. Complete shower of puddings!

[Caspin]

(18-11-2014 09:16 AM)Minty Wrote:  Sounds lucky you never got off at Banbury, as Marine would only have made you cross (badum-tish!)

Noooooooo! I hate hot-desking. No thank you. It looks as though that might be happening to us soon, as we are supposed to move office in the spring, to an office that will be nicer than the current one but with fewer desks than staff members (by quite some number!) so suddenly all the things normally banned or frowned upon, such as compressed working hours or working from home are suddenly likely to be encouraged! I don't really care where my desk is but where the hell am I going to put my potted plant - carry it round each day until I find a corner of a table to work from?

I am resting at home today. Or at least that is what is meant to be happening, but in reality I cannot stop hoovering and tidying and generally dashing about. Never mind.

Went last night to the Royal Albert Hall to watch a one-off concert by Goldfrapp. It was a really amazing show. What a beautiful voice. There was the band and an orchestra and also a choir. Apparently that will be their last gig "for some time". It sold out very quickly - in fact it brought down the RAH website about half an hour after they opened for sales, so I feel very lucky to have got a ticket.

Right, go and put my feet up for a bit.

Edit to add:
"Shower of puddings" is by far the best expression I have heard in a long time!

[Minty]

I have now been at four different desks in a week. Each desk had to be cleaned (as the last occupant, or probably last ten) had never bothered to clean it once, & the PC switched off at the mains because they'd left themselves logged in (& in one instance couldn't be bothered coming over to log in to log themselves out properly in order to allow others to log in). If this causes them subsequent probs, don't care, coz I'm at the end of my tether with the under 30s in that place. They're as ignorant as they are indolent, & if buck passing became an Olympic sport they'd be gold medalists.

I console myself with the prospect of the tiny tears should Hearts beat Rangers on Saturday & the Orc hordes hopes of automatic promotion vanish, along with the last hopes of funding to prevent them going into their second administration.

I spoke with a lovely woman of 102 today who said she felt ashamed as this was the first year she had failed to prune back her trees as she felt too tired this year. It was the vision of her at 101 balancing on wobbly step ladders to cut back her branches that made my previous household repairs last summer seem chickenfeed by comparison. Wouldn't it be wonderful to reach that age & still be fit enough to do all the things you wanted to do? There's meant to be a place called Raynham in Norfolk full of 90 year olds still working on the local estate.

Trying to get some enthusiasm up for Far Cry 4, but failing.

[Ollie]

(20-11-2014 11:48 PM)Minty Wrote:  Trying to get some enthusiasm up for Far Cry 4, but failing.

Have to agree with you there Minty, a much as I'd love to be in love with Far Cry 4, it just seems like a simple "meh" cash grab. I don't know but Far cry 3 set high standards and this just doesn't seem to be matching it, just looks like I've already played it, but in a different setting. :/

In other news I started my Year 11 VCE prep program today and only have next week left of school for the year. so yay!

[Caspin]

Hello boys

VCE prep, Ollie? Where has the time gone? It has flown!

Minty should be chuffed at the Hearts result. Good stuff. Hopeless situation for Marine with another loss away from home today, perhaps inevitable after the sudden termination of the contract of one of our better players this week (due to him apparently breaking club rules). They won't disclose the circumstances so it remains a mystery to me. I don't think we will be scoring many more goals without him.

In defence of the under 30s, the ones in my department are lovely and on the whole very hard-working. If I amble into the office and ask for any sort of help, in general a bunch will jump up, ready and willing. Seeing as we are running out of desk space, perhaps we should send some up to you! I was a little taken aback, however, when chatting to one of them last week and learning that he had not watched Father Ted when it was on because he had been too young. Crumbs.

I do hope someone will go and help that elderly lady with her garden. It would be lovely to keep your health and your marbles to such an age. That's why I took up yoga - I looked at my mum and my gran with their terrible arthritis and decided to try to retain as much flexibility and strength as possible to save myself from a similar fate. Time will tell if it will keep me snipping shrubs at that age.

Went to see an unusual version of Henry IV on Friday. It was compressed (both plays I and II were squished into two hours), an all female cast and set in a prison. So, a bit odd. I quite enjoyed it, some bits were very amusing. There was a girl sitting opposite, though, who sulked throughout and looked such a pouty little madam. Sometimes the audience are more entertaining than the actors.

Time for some curry nomnomnom

[Minty]

Curry!

Felt horrible all weekend, so Hearts beating the piggy eyes made up for it. How only one of their players was sent off is a mystery, they set out from the start merely to kick Hearts off the park, knowing we've so few players & can't afford injuries. Luckily it backfired on them & Holt's strike was as sweet as anything done all season. 3 key players missing, & we still beat them.

At work yesterday there was a HUGE row between a manager & a staff member, which escalated into senior management being brought in, which led to meetings where the warring parties went from one office into another office, which led to memos through the whole office. The reason? Someone had been eating a yoghurt at their desk & had been threatened with disciplinary action. Mountains out of molehills.

[Caspin]

Mmmmmm, curry night has rolled around again already! Chickpeas tonight.

Hope you are feeling better this weekend, Minty.

Why is eating a snack at your desk so serious a crime? I can't imagine seeing someone eating in the office and feeling the need to do anything at all about it. Someone should try levelling up and tucking into a sandwich - they'll probably call the police!

I had a weird week of appointments and work. I didn't have energy for anything else and was glad I didn't have any theatre or anything else planned for the evenings. Somehow I find I have agreed to do a work event tomorrow as well, on a freaking Sunday, which now seems almost impossible to fathom. Oh well. It will be the same exhausting round again next week, with the added horror of the office Christmas lunch on Friday. Unbearable. But then that will be done for another year so I will soldier on with my air hostess smile painted on. I have never felt less festive but I don't want to be a killjoy and ruin the fun for all the youngsters.

I watched the new Star Wars trailer a few minutes ago. It looks OK. I quite like Star Wars. It's out in December so that will be something fun to watch during the Christmas break.




I thought this was a hilariously ugly vehicle! People don't seem to like the new cross-shaped lightsabers. I don't really mind them, although it doesn't seem very practical to design a sword with a hilt that could damage rather than protect your hand.

[Minty]

That Star Wars vehicle looks like a carpet slipper.

It's finally happened, their lunatic hot desking policy has led to a wave of illnesses, & this time I didn't escape. I've been off ill since Thursday afternoon when I worked through my lunchbreak turning various colours & told them I was off home to see the doctors, which was the subject of a 3 hour battle with my (you will remember new) doctors.

I f**king hate what the NHS has become, I really have.

Went to the surgery straight from work, to ask for an appointment (phonelines perma engaged over the two trains home), get told to give them my mobile number so the doc could phone me. I refuse to give them my mobile, as my home is five minutes walk from the surgery, so all they have to do is embargo the call for ten minutes tops & I will get it on my land line.

"But the doctor will want to phone you right away & you'll miss it."

"Even though I'm telling you to ask the doctor not to call until after a set time, leaving them the rest of the day as they please to call?"

"That is correct."

"If they want to talk to me right away, why not talk to me in the surgery? I'm here after all."

"Because you cannot have an appointment today."

"I'll sit here and wait all afternoon until they have the time to do so. I've nothing else to do because I'm too ill to work."

"You can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because you cannot have an appointment today."

"OK then, I'll give you my mobile number & sit here & wait for the call if you really think it is going to be instantaneous."

"You can't do that."

"Why?"

"You aren't allowed to have your mobile phone on in the waiting room."

So I was supposed to either stand outside & freeze to death waiting for a phonecall that could be anytime between then & their closing time at 7pm, or I could walk home & hope the mobile didn't ring somewhere outside where it got very noisy when I was already having great difficulty talking.

I elected to bolt for home, & was back up the road five minutes flat, only to find the ansafone flashing. No message left, but I 1471ed it back to the surgery - one minute after I left the practice at 2.30pm!

Calling back the surgery, the receptionist was very smug that the doctor had indeed called as had been warned, but said she would get her to call again. Which she did - at 6.30. She said I needed an antibiotic by the sound of me (yes, given an antibiotic without a physical examination - & this is the same NHS that whines about "overprescription" of them?). Just a pity the last chemist locally shut at 6pm.

Next morning, get prescription, within two hours are flushing hot & cold, go to bed, get up at four to have a cup of tea, go back to bed until Saturday morning. The weekend was only marginally more active. It's Monday & this is still not for the shifting. Sorry therefore for my lack of posting.

[Caspin]

I'm very sorry you feel so awful. Take it easy, won't you. We seem to have another round of The Sore Throat going round the office again. I swear we should all be immune to it by now, but no, here it comes again.

I know what you mean about the GPs. Having not visited mine for the best part of the last decade, when I did recently need to go I could not believe how hard it was to get an appointment. I concluded that it is only possible if I work from home, so that I can phone at the magical time of 3.00 pm, after which the doctor phones you back (so best to be at home anyway unless you want to discuss your possibly very personal health concerns in the workplace), then if they offer an appointment I can dash down there and not miss out on such a golden opportunity. Otherwise I don't see how it would work. Fine for me seeing as it's OK for me to work from home occasionally, but what about others who cannot? Or what about people who have struggled to summon the courage to call the doctor but then give up when faced with such hurdles.

As a microbiologist I am enraged at the handing out of antibiotics without even a proper consultation, but I hope they work for you anyway. Tea and hugs for Minty.