Lazy

Posted: Thu 28 November, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Domestic, Health, Introspective, People, Personality, Public Transport, Shopping, Thoughts, Travel | Leave a comment »

Over the years, one thing I’ve said many times is that in some ways I’m lazy. (And it’s true – plus I’m almost certainly lazy in many, many ways)  However, in some circumstances my laziness actually results in extra effort/work.

Technically and pedantically I know it’s not laziness per se, it’s more a “can’t be arsed to wait” aspect which probably also matches up to something else I’ll be writing this week.

Anyway, as an example of this, I say I’m lazy when I can’t be bothered to wait for a bus or a tram/train (particularly when I lived in Manchester) on short journeys, so I’d rather walk. I simply don’t get why people would wait for a tram from Piccadilly station down to Piccadilly Gardens (or indeed really any tram stop in Manchester) when you can walk it in the time it takes for the bus/tram to arrive.

When I go shopping, I can’t be arsed to wait for a parking space right next to the shops. I’ll park further away in the car park, walk in, get what I need, and leave. If it’s been a quick shop, I’m sometimes in and out while the same damn car waits for a space right next to the store.

Indeed in general I can’t be arsed with hunting for parking spaces right next to where I’m going. I’m just as happy parking further away where there’s plenty of spaces and just, you know, walking a bit further.

But then, I’m lazy like that.

Wrapped Up

Posted: Wed 27 November, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Commuting, Domestic, Driving, People, Work-related | 2 Comments »

Sorry, I know there’ve been a few ‘commuting-related’ and/or ‘driving-related’ posts this week, but for some reason it’s just how my brain’s working.

Anyway.

As things get colder and darker while commuting, as well as the things with headlights, I’ve also noticed another weird  thing of late – particularly among colleagues when arriving/leaving the office.

They’re all wearing their coats (and in at least one case, a hat as well) while driving. And I don’t get that. Most of these people are driving at least 15-20 minutes, and in some cases much more. There’s other people I’ve noticed doing the same, but they work for different companies etc., so I’ve no idea how far they drive.

OK, they might be getting into a cold car. (I suppose) But – to me, anyway – it’s better to warm up the car a bit, let the heater do it’s thing, and appreciate a warm car. Then when you’re getting out, put on a coat/jacket/whatever to keep that warmth in while you’re walking to the office.

Surely if you keep the coat/jacket on while driving, you don’t feel the benefit of it when you do get out into the cold? And you keep the car colder, because you don’t need the heater on, so it’s all a bit counter-productive.

Or have I (as usual) missed something relevant?

Maladjusted

Posted: Tue 26 November, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, Commuting, Cynicism, Driving, People, Thoughts | 2 Comments »

As the nights have drawn in, obviously I’m driving home in the dark.

It amazes me how many people drive with either one headlight out (and in some cases both, which utterly baffles me) or really badly adjusted lights.

There also seems to be a newer trend for people driving on dual-carriageways and motorways with their full-beam headlights on, and refusing to dip them.

To me, lights at this time are just one of those essential things, and I try to make sure that they’re as safe and sorted as possible. I just don’t really get why so many other drivers don’t seem to think that such things are important.

Pay and Display

Posted: Sun 24 November, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Customer Services, Driving, Parking, People, Thoughts | 2 Comments »

One aspect of living near Milton Keynes is that – in comparison to many other places – Milton Keynes is pretty damn great for parking. There’s lots of spaces, although the massive majority of them are Pay and Display. (for overseas readers, this involves buying a ticket for a period of time, and then showing it in the windscreen of one’s car) The rates are pretty decent – again, in comparison to many other places – and it’s easy.

Apparently there are 20,000 spaces – including 12,000 that charge 40p per hour, and another 4,350 ‘premium rate’ ones (which are right next to the shopping centre on all sides) at £1.40 per hour.

As well as the normal machines, there’s also now the ability to pay via mobilephone/smartphone using services like RingGo. (or alternatively pay by phonecall with a credit/debit card) It’s easy to do, and – I assume – most people would expect to pay to park, particularly if they live anywhere near-ish.

So why is it that whenever I go to Milton Keynes and park, there are always people who seem to be categorically incapable of using the parking ticket machines, amazed that such machines exist, disgusted that Milton Keynes charges for parking, haven’t got change, or can’t manage to pay by phone? None of it’s really a challenge, but it seems to be for many, many people.

Making A Commitment

Posted: Fri 22 November, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, Commuting, Driving, M1, M25, People, Thoughts, Work-related | Leave a comment »

(No, not that sort of commitment – chiff that!)

Anyway. Having been a contractor for [far too] many years now, I find I still really don’t understand the people who take on a contract that’ll involve a large commute, and then bitch about it, or try and change the pay/conditions of the contract because of that commute.  If/when I take on a commute, I know what kind of distance I’m going to be travelling in order to do it. I’ve usually checked out the drive/travel – at worst I’ve a pretty good idea of where I’ll be going, how I’ll do the travel, and what it’s likely to entail.

A current colleague is coming to the office daily from Essex, via the M25. It’s a 70 mile journey each-way, using the M25 and M1, and should take about 90 minutes. I’ve done longer journeys as a commute (both in mileage and travel time) and it’s roughly the same time/distance as I was doing from Suffolk to London a couple of years back. (That was actually a longer one because I then did about 45 mins on Tube travel as well)

At least once a week this colleague bitches about how bad his commute is, how troublesome, and what a nightmare the traffic is. I know he’s tried to get himself paid for travelling time, or reduce his working hours in order to level out the commute time.  So far, the company has resisted changing anything, because he knew (or should’ve known) what he was letting himself in for – and I really can’t blame them.

With a contract, if you sign up for it, you should see it out at the terms/rates you agreed. I always do. The only time that changes is if the company is crap, or the conditions are not what you were told at the time. If they’d promised to pay for accommodation or whatever, and then didn’t, that’s a reason to change terms/rates. If the job/place isn’t what was sold at interview, fair enough, change things. If the job is simply not quite what you’d expected, grin and bear it.

Contracts are finite things. I can handle pretty much any commute or working conditions for three or six months. If you can’t, you either a) shouldn’t be contracting, b) should figure out your locations and commutes better, or c) should learn to shut up and put up.

Festerous

Posted: Thu 21 November, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, Advertising, Charm School, D4D™, Festering Season, Marketing, People, Shopping, Thoughts | Leave a comment »

ScroogeThis year I’m trying hard to not get ranty about the Festering Season – which is no mean feat, I can assure you.  (I’ve also just discovered that I’ve not used that Scrooge image for nearly three years in a Festering Season post, so welcome back owd fella)

After all, my local Tesco Tosspots had Christmas Cards on sale at the end of September, for fuck’s sake. They’ve had mince pies since August, but I didn’t even bother getting any photos of those.

Since then, it’s just been going on and on. Their tree went up (fully decorated) before Hallowe’en was done.  The foodstuffs have been in since November 1st.

I know shops need to have the time to sell all their festive shit. I suspect that they’re also stretching out the season ‘because of the financial climate’, allowing their customers to spread the cost of the Festering Season over greater time, rather than being crippled in December. I get that, and I don’t mind. (Too much)

It still narks me that everything is so obsessed with materialism, gifts, and the social-status inferred therein. I can’t help it. I don’t like seeing it in the shops for three damn months, or hearing poxy bastard carols on shop sound systems for two months. But it’s pretty much unavoidable – I try to limit my exposure to it all, but there still has to be some, sadly.

But I’m trying hard to not be too ranty about it. For now.  That may change over the next few weeks – after all, there’s still a month to go…

Search Terms

Posted: Tue 19 November, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, Advertising, Cynicism, Media, People, Thoughts | Leave a comment »

Yesterday it was announced that Google and Microsoft (by which they mean Bing) were editing/updating 100,000 search terms linked to images of child abuse. That’s all well and good, except that

  1. I’m sure there’s a lot more than 100,000 terms that could be used/created/combined in order to find those results
  2. I’m also pretty damn certain that the main perpetrators, creators and viewers of such images don’t hunt for them using run-of-the-mill search engines like Google and Bing.
    1. And yes, OK, probably there are people stupid enough to search using mainstream search, but those are the ones that are easy (well, easier) to track down and locate anyway.

So really (as far as I can see) this is more of a sop to the media and government than it is likely to be of any real use or relevance.

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