Driving Thoughts

Posted: Thu 5 September, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, BMW Drivers, Charm School, Commuting, Cynicism, Driving, Fog, People, Thoughts | Leave a comment »

A small selection of questions and thoughts from the drive in to work this morning…

1)  Look, if you’re driving so slowly in a car that trucks are pulling out to overtake you, maybe you should speed the fuck up, or get off the bloody road.

2) It’s foggy. So why are so many people driving

  1. without any lights at all or
  2. without their foglights on?

Usually it only takes a tiny piece of mist and they’re all in use, but this, with visibility of fuck-all-squared, there’s loads of people without lights. What the hell?

(And on a side note, bloody hell, I’m glad I’m not involved in this lot in Kent!)

3) Relatedly, why is it that once the fog clears up, you fuck-knuckle bastards leave your sodding foglights on ?  They’re there for a reason, remember to turn the cocking things off when they’re no longer necessary

4) Why is it that so-called “professional drivers” (articulated trucks, delivery stuff, coaches etc.) usually end up being the most dangerous ones on the road?

5) If that’s how you drive, Mr Driving Instructor, then I truly fear for the skills of your pupils.

6) If you can’t steer/handle a shopping trolley, it really scares me to know that you’ve arrived here by car, and will be driving home. Jesus.

 

Exhaustive

Posted: Wed 4 September, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Commuting, Driving, Green, People, Thoughts, Work-related | Leave a comment »

I don’t know why I’m seeing this more often – it’s not like I’m driving more, have had it happen to me, or anything similar – but while I’ve been commuting the last couple of weeks I’ve noticed that a lot of cars seem to be having problems with their exhausts.

So far there hasn’t been a day where I haven’t seen at least two or three with fumes coming from the exhaust, and at least one a day with major-league smoke and crap.

Maybe it’s more about being on slower A-roads that make the engines work harder, I don’t know. It’s just an oddity that I seem to have noticed a lot more this last couple of weeks.

Retribution

Posted: Fri 23 August, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Business, Change, Charm School, Cynicism, People, Work-related | 4 Comments »

In a small dose of retribution, coupled with a bloody huge dose of schadenfreude, today I’m working back at my ex-employers.  They’ve had some problems, and there’s no-one there who can fix them, so I’m going in to get it done.

Needless to say, having been told that they didn’t need my skills any more, this is all very funny.  It also massively illustrates to everyone else in the office what a complete bunch of twunts the company (or at least the people driving the company) truly are.

This has all made me very happy, and very amused.

Wasted Afternoon

Posted: Tue 20 August, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, Agency Idiocy, Customer Services, Cynicism, People, Travel, Work-related | Leave a comment »

Despite having agreed to a contract, I had one interview that pre-dated that acceptance, and rather than piss people off by saying “I’ve taken a contract, so cancel the interview”, I’d decided to still go.  The agency in question have been a ‘mare, asking me no less than three times to confirm that I was going. (and no, they’re not aware of the now existing contract offer) On each occasion I’ve replied to the original interview confirmation, with the relevant agency recipients copied in.

I went to the interview today in the company’s Northampton office, got there in plenty of time, waited outside reading my book (Well, Kindle, but same thing) and went in on time. Only the person I was meant to be seeing wasn’t there. No worries, they said, we’re sure he’s on his way. We’ll call and check.

I waited quarter of an hour, and in that time got a call from the agency. I ignored it – no way am I taking calls while I’m waiting for an interview to start.  On this occasion, maybe I should’ve done.

Anyway, the person I’ve been dealing with in the office comes back in, and explains that actually I’m supposed to be meeting them in – um – Coventry. Even better, I’m not the first person this has happened to with this agency, I’m the second.  To do it once is a fuck-up. To do it twice is to be a fuckup.

Needless to say, once I got out of the office, I went ballistic at the agency, who really don’t quite know what to do with themselves about it. If it were someone else involved, I’d probably laugh. (And come tomorrow, probably I’ll laugh too)

In the meantime though, it’s been a totally wasted afternoon, and has necessitated a complete reorganisation of the interview – not just day and time, but also location. It’s now on Friday, late afternoon, near Heathrow. Yep, late in the day, just before a Bank Holiday weekend.  I suspect I may just be cancelling that one, once all the contract paperwork is through and completed…

Driving Through

Posted: Wed 7 August, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, Driving, People, Thoughts, Weirdness | 2 Comments »

My local supermarket is on a small(ish) retail estate, and there’s also a McDonalds in the area, with a full “drivethrough” (sorry, “drivethru” *spitting noise*) option. Every time I go past it, there’s something that boggles my brain.

I don’t understand the drive-through option.  Well, that’s not true – there’s one particular aspect of drivethrough behaviour that I really don’t understand. I get the whole “grab food while driving, and continue going” concept, that’s fine. For now we’ll gloss over the whole road-safety aspect – after all, if it’s dangerous to use a mobile phone while driving, surely it’s equally dangerous to be eating a messy burger – but I get the concept.

What I don’t get though, are the people who use the drive-through, and then park up to eat their ‘food’. What’s the reasoning? If you’re going to do that, surely it’s just as easy to take a proper break, go inside, sit at a table, eat, and then leave to go back on the road.

What’s the logical process for getting food, and then sitting right outside the premises (I refuse to call it a restaurant, sorry) to eat them?

Yet every time I drive past, there they are – people doing exactly that. They’ve bought at a drive-through, and now they’re sat in the car park to eat it. It truly makes my brain bleed.

Body-Image and Vanity

Posted: Thu 1 August, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Health, People, Television, Thoughts, Weight Loss | 1 Comment »

On Channel4 this week there was a really good documentary(ish) with Alex Brooker about male body image, called “My Perfect Body”

It’s interesting to see how the perception of men’s bodies has changed over the last few years, and particularly a lot of men’s self-perception of their bodies, and particularly the assertions that a man isn’t ‘successful’ if they’re overweight, don’t have a six-pack stomach, etc. etc.  In a lot of ways I think the programme was right, that a lot of men do ‘value’ themselves by way of their bodies, and that this is (at least to a degree) related to advertising/marketing, and those images of male perfection.

The other interesting side to it was about male vanity, and the surge in male grooming, ‘metrosexuality’, and even how male groups react to each others bodies; the basic answer being that men are (in many ways) bitchier to their friends than women are to their friends.

Personally, the whole vanity thing isn’t something I’ve ever been prone to. Yes, I currently want to lose some weight – but that’s more for health reasons and the like, rather than wanting to be thin/’successful’/’desireable’ and all that pap. Realistically, I’ll never be some 14-stone super-fitty, and honestly I don’t want to be.

I find it fascinating how the whole ‘group think’ perception seems to work, but I’m pretty immune to it. I wonder sometimes if that’s because I’ve never really had a whole group of male mates, and never been inculcated into that type of setup. I don’t know.

I’m not going to worry about it – part of my whole self-image/self-perception is probably more easily described as “This is me. Like it, don’t like it. Your choice”.  In general, I’ve always found that seems to be a fairly healthy self-image, and it certainly causes me a lot less stress than a lot of people in the documentary…

Children and Racism

Posted: Thu 25 July, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, Advertising, Charm School, People | Leave a comment »

This video is really interesting…

Basically, Cheerios released an advert in America that featured a multi-racial relationship, and – unsurprisingly – a lot of people complained about it.  The video below shows the ads, and then the reactions of some young children to it, and to the ‘controversy’.

If nothing else, it gives us some hope for the future, where America will possibly become less racist.

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