Polystyrene Mice

Back when I worked in the lab I once had a lunch of curry in a polystyrene tub. After I had finished eating it I threw the tub in the bin. Later I found it had been nibbled. I was some type of rodent, must have smelled the curry sauce and thought the tub was food. I think it was orignally a baked
potato with curry. I wouldn't be surprised if the mouse turned up later on all swelled up.

A smilar thing once happened to my daughters mouse. It chewed the velvet curtain and was later found dead.

Bus Pass

I need to renew my bus pass. I can't believe that there are so many options, there must be 20 or 25 different types available. There's a cheap rail one which covers zones 1 and 2 but the one I'm currently using is for Birmingham and the Black Country. There are bus passes available which work for the private operators but where we live we're covered by the normal service.

Holiday

I'm back from holiday. We went to the Costa Dorado near Barcalona. This brown on my arm is suntan not rust.

It was just me and wife on holiday. It makes a change because the last few years our son come with us.

We had a tropical storm while we were there. We saw lightning over the sea but there was nothing where we were, then it hit us during the night.

There was lots of road construction going on. They were straigtening winding roads. At one place they were building a road on the top of a big embankment. They were laying about 10 inches of tar - more than they use here. You can see why our roads don't last long. I could see where water had run down the side of the embankment in rivulets. This was before we had the storm. I don't know how stable the embankment will be in the long term.

This was a big toll road - there were 3 or 4 toll stations from Barcalona. They were wide roads. They've got more room there for big roads like that. I was a passenger for a change. Normally i've driven when we've gone over there.

I brought sweets to work, put them in the kitchen. They came from Barcalona. That long street, La Rambla. They had all kinds of shops there and the statues, mime artists. I would stand behind and pull a face when someone was taking a photo. There were 2 of these next to each other and when one had money put in their tin the other would make faces at them.
One kid went up to one to have photo taken and they started moving. It scared the kid, who ran crying back to his mum.

There were animals being sold outside along the street. Canaries and things labelled as Russian hamsters.

Travel Plug

I needed a new travel plug for our holiday tomorrow so I went to Superdrug to look for one. We used to have a suitable plug but I think we lent it to our daughter when she went on holiday to Turkey. We haven't seen it since - she probably left it in the hotel room. It is the sort of thing which would be easy to miss, accidently leaving it plugged in. When you pack all your stuff away to come home you could accidently leave it behind.

I looked in superdrug but they didn't have any. They said they only sell them during summer so it must obviously be winter now. I managed to find one in Maplins instead.

The pack contained two plugs. One with round pins and another with flat pins. I think the flat one might be for france but the other one should work for us in spain. There are only two pins on the plug, there isn't an earth pin, but the one with the round plugs has a metal strip where the earth pin fits. That must be for anything which needs earth. The french don't seem to bother, they obviously don't care whether they get electric shocks or not.

Dogs

We're thinking of getting another dog. Our son isn't at home during the day any more now that he's finished college and got a job. We leave the radio on for dog to listen to so she doesn't get lonely. The trouble with having 2 dogs is that you could come home to a ruined house if they decide to go on the rampage. The dog weed in the house once, in the kitchen diner. Thankfully she chose the right place, the kitchen end where we have tiles. The other end was carpeted.

Nice to see you...

There was another car parked in our space in work, so the van had to stay in the wrong space again. The trouble is that this means someone else has to park in the wrong space as well, like the deck of cards effect. No, I mean domino effect. I knew it was some kind of parlor game. Like that tv programme with Bruce Forsyth. You get nothing for a pair.

We've got a new kettle in the kitchen in work. This one won't last long either. It's toggle switch. It needs a rocker switch. The toggle switches break much more easily. We've got one with a rocker switch at home and it's lasted for years.

M.O.T

I had to take the company van for it's M.O.T while its usual driver was on holiday.
It passed although I don't think it should have. I think it's got a faulty handbrake. The van can still move with the brake on.

I drove to work got to the reserved parking space we have for it. Another white astra was already there. I had to park in the next space. I had to go to reception to tell them that I had parked in the wrong space so they wouldn't try to clamp our van.

The garage had free drinks machine, it was only the powdered drinks with the machine to add hot water but it was better than some places which make you pay.

I'm not sure which van is parked in our space, I can't read registration from the office, cant make it out through the mucky windows.

Floppy Kettles

My son was in Manchester. He's back home again now. He went with his boss to the warehouse to pick up some computer bits for these controllers that their company makes.

My car was in the drive behind his. I had to move it otherwise I would have to get up at 7:30 to move it first. We've got a double length drive, the only house in our area to have one. It's good for new a house. We've got an area next to the drive to turn round. Some houses have a wide shared drive which isn't as good. You get the households with more cars and it causes trouble.

We've lost the kettle in the kitchen in work. The switch went floppy. You had to use the wall switch to turn the plug off or the kettle would keep boiling.

Scampi

I got home last night and turned the corner towards the house. I wondered why our car was on the pavement. It was another silver MPV, ours was still in the drive. It was the pool car our son had got from work, he'd left it there while he went up to scotland in his car. It was a vauxhall zafira, 1.8. similar shape but slightly lower than our c-max. This car was automatic, fitted with hands free kit etc. He's got it til he gets his own company car. The car shouldn't be on the pavement for too long. I can move it to my mothers house. She doesn't drive so we can keep the car there. There will be plenty of room.

Last time I drove an automatic was the brother-in-law's car. We were between cars, had sold one but not bought a new one yet. That one was a company car as well. It was leyland but with a honda gearbox, this was a few years ago, back in the 80s. Before the rover 200. Triumph Dolomite. I think that was it.

I got a text from my son in scotland. He's booked into a travelodge and had scampi and chips.

Tesco

We went shopping last night, to tesco. My son has finished college and he's sitting round the house doing nothing so we took him out with us. In the shop he met someone. "Hello joe" he said, my son said "hello richard". I asked if it was someone he knew from college but it was his new boss. It looked like a friend from college, he was only in his early 20s. He asked if my son had ordered his new car yet.

They've got a new Marks&Spencers there as well but we didn't go there this time, we were walking round tesco when this happened.

Donald Duck

I'm sure our driver has a mate in his van with him. When he phones up it sounds like donald duck talking. I think there's something wrong with the hands-free set in his van but he claims it's only when he talks to me, not when he phones anyone else in the office.

Walking Shoes

I bought some walking shoes from Lidl. I saw them advertised so I looked around the shop and eventually found them. They only seemed to have mens sizes up to 9. I chose a pair of size 9 and tried them on. They were too small, my toes went right to the end. My wife managed to find a pair of size 9.5. You don't often get half sizes these days. I discovered the reason they were left behind. The stitching around metal eyelet was loose, the threads were hanging. I bought them anyway and sewed them up when I got home. They are more comfortable than normal shoes. They only cost only £12.50.

I bought a pair of winter boots there last year. They're a good sturdy pair.

Sandwich Projector

I think there might be free sandwiches in work later on. A bloke from further down the corridor was giving a presentation and I had to set up projector for it. It wasn't easy because power leads aren't long enough. There are plug sockets on wall but the projector has to be set up int he middle and the lead isn't not long enough to reach to centre of room. They have extension leads in reception so I had to borrow one from there. They have the 4 gang ones. We used to have some spare in the office but we got rid of ours recently when we moved to our current location. We didn't think we needed them anymore.

I wouldn't hold my breath for those sandwiches. When I walked past the room a few minutes ago he was still talking.

Deliveries

It's good to have friendly neighbours. Our next door neigbour has retired. It's handy for when we have deliveries. We all order stuff off the internet. When my son was at college and working part time he was often home during the day but now he's starting work full time he can't guarantee that he'll be there for deliveries. We can now have things left at our neighbours house. We could ask for things to be left at my mum's house but she lives miles away. My son could probably get things delivered to where he works.

Bus

I thought I'd missed my bus this morning. It is a 20 minute walk and a bus goes past every 30 minutes. But it is the school holidays. The buses are sometimes irregular. They don't change the timetable though. Sometimes I see the bus parked up, while I'm walking. I see them on the other side of the park. Possibly the driver is waiting to leave at the right time. Could be if they're early so they are back on the timetable.

Fire Alarm

The fire alarm in the building is tested every friday at 10:30. The alarm wouldn't switch off once. There was something wrong with the button. Everyone had to leave the building. It must have been a nice earner for the firemen. I suppose they must penalise companies for false alarms because the firemen have to come out each time. It could cause problems if they couldn't get to somebody because of one.

Graduation

It was my Daughters graduation last friday. The ceremony programme is some kind of special edition because it is the university's 40th anniversary. She's in the booklet 3 times. Once for the ceremony and twice for awards she won. One this year one last year.

Sandwiches

Years ago, both me and my wife worked near each other. We would both drive to work. She'd go to work later than me.

One day I forgot my sandwiches. She saw them and dropped them off for me. When the 'package' was dropped off, I got a call from security! The company where I worked handled bullion so they were used to treating deliveries as valuable. It was only a small company. The security was actually employed by the company, not contracted out like usually happens.

84 Emails

Something strange happened on friday. I got 84 emails all at once, most of them were one of those out of office auto reply things. They were from the institute of advanced motoring. One of the emails was from someone asking for it to stop. Some of them contained discounts or offers, eg. for AA membership or tyres etc. They're no use for me. You can't get tyres cheaper than Makro.

Penicillin

I was given penicillin 30 years ago, ampicillin I think it was. It was after my road accident, on my motorbike. My arm was broken and my leg broken in 3 places.

They didn't check whether I allergic to penicillin. I suppose that was the least of their worries.

The arm got torn off my leather jacket. It had double stitching. Maybe not top quality but it probably saved my life