30 November 2015 (Monday) - Parsnip Dalek & Cauliflower Sheep

After two bad nights I slept well. I was rather pleased about that. Over brekkie I watched a rather awful episode of "Dads Army" then had a look-see on-line. Checking out the Internet it seems that several people watched a program on telly last night about the last flight of the Vulcan XH558 bomber plane. Over the years many of my friends have raved about this plane. And (as always) I am in a minority of one. I've reseached and looked-up, and I can't see any reason why this plane should have attracted such interest. I can't find anything of historical importance with which the plane was involved. I have asked before, and just had "you don't understand" shouted at me. Which is a fair summary. I didn't understand then and I don't understand now.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not decrying this plane in any way. I just have no idea why it is so popular.

As I drove to work the pundits on the radio were talking about the United Nations summit on climate change. The general consensus seemed to be not so much trying to stop global warming but arguing about just how much global warming the planet can realistically cope with. Expert opinion seemed to feel that a two degree rise in mean global temperatures would just about be manageable and so that seemed to justify everyone pretty much doing nothing to stop carbon emissions.
There were still some politicians actively denying the entire concept of global warming...

There were also calls for there to be a twenty per cent tax on all sugary drinks to try to stop kiddies from becoming quite so fat. The idea was that the tax would not be at all unfair as there are always non-sugary alternatives. For myself I drink the sugar-free alternatives as I actually prefer the taste but that doesn't stop me being fat. Personally I would think that this would scupper the scheme but apparently not. The pundits on the radio wheeled on some shrieking harridan who ranted that such a tax worked in Mexico where it reduced childhood obesity by six per cent. And to give both sides of the argument equal air-time the pundits then wheeled on someone from the CDSD (Council for Drinking Sugary Drinks) who pointed out that the Mexican government had actually abandoned their sugar tax as they had found that it hadn't worked.
The shrieking harridan didn't like that. She seemed to know that the tax had been abandoned, and seemed to think that it had been abandoned as a personal affront to her.

I stopped off at Morrisons before work. I got some fruit, I got a paper packet of coffee for a fraction of the price of a glass jar (thereby doing my bit to save the environment). And I got a new ironing board cover. I shall use that in a day or so. It will be something to which I can look forward with anticipation. (Never a dull moment in my life).

I got to work shortly after 8am. Three quarters of an hour earlier than I needed to be there, but I am usually a little early. I have found that I can either get to work early and read my Kindle or I can leave home a little later and spend half an hour stuck in queuing traffic burning petrol. And sometimes (just occasionally) being at work early means that if there is a problem with the early shift I can step into the breach, start work early and therefore go home earlier.
That's what happened today. Result!
The bank's "disputes team" phoned me as I was working. I didn't hear the call, and so on seeing a missed call I rang them back. My request to them was quite straight-forward; stop all payments to Genes Reunited for the simple reason that I've not used teh website in years.
The chap to whom I was speaking was (to be frank) a total cock. He said they could do nothing to help because I hadn't answered their initial call. He went on to say that even if they did stop the payments and cancel the direct debit that wouldn't stop payments being made in future. He then pretended not to be able to speak English any more, and after a few seconds the line went dead.
Oh my piss was boiling. I phoned back and a nice lady answered who sorted the problem in less than fifteen seconds.
It would have been so much easier if she or someone else who spoke English had answered in the first place.

An unexpected early start made for an unexpected early finish, I hoped to be able to drive home before it was completely dark. I hoped in vain.
Once home I ran "Furry Face TM" round the roads then I spent a little while whittling a parsnip. My employer has organised a competition to build a nativity scene made out of vegetables. A team from my department is seriously up for this. The creation of various nativity characters has been assigned to individuals and it falls to me to make the Christmas Dalek out of a parsnip. It came as a surprise to me to find that not that many people had actually heard of the Christmas Dalek. I thought everyone had heard of it; it made its way to Bethlehem by following "Yonder Star".
Mind you in retrospect I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting the Christmas dalek to look like. But whatever it was, I think it has turned out to be something of a disappointment.
On the other hand Hannah's cauliflower sheep are excellent.


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