I watched another episode of “Pure”
as I scoffed a bowl of tropical fruits granola. Both were rather good.
I then peered into the Internet in the
desperate hope that something exciting had happened overnight. It hadn’t. Someone
I don’t know had posted something I didn’t even try to understand to LinkedIn,
but the highlight of the Internet this morning was a minor squabble on one of
the Facebook Lego pages in which people were making utterly ridiculous boasts
about how fast they could make certain Lego sets. Sets that they didn’t
actually have and so were in no position to make those boasts.
I posted a little something to the
Facebook ”Extreme Dishwasher
Loading”
page to rattle a few cages, and set off to work.
As I drove to work the pundits on the
radio were talking about the Chancellor of the Exchequer's latest brainwave. He
announced all sorts of things yesterday including a bung for employers. For
every worker that comes back from furlough (for a few months) the
employer will get a thousand pounds.
The general opinion of those with an
opinion to offer was that this seemed to be money down the drain. I'm no
economist, but if a firm's position is that precarious that they aren't sure
whether or not to take someone back, then that bung won't come anywhere near to
covering the expense of taking someone back from furlough anyway. Will it? And
if they intend to take someone back anyway why give them money for doing so?
There was also talk of the plan to offer
everyone a half-price meal. It sounds good in
theory. In practice, who's going to go out for dinner early in the week in
August? Thinking about it... I might. It's something for nothing, isn't it?
The shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
was wheeled on and (like me) she found fault with what had been proposed
without offering anything tangible in its place. It's quite easy to do.
There was then quite a lot of talk about
what fun metal detecting can be. The idea was floated that you spend a few quid
on some metal detecting gadget, wave it about and within five minutes you would
have unearthed the lost treasures of the Incas.
But then they brought on some dull chap
from the Guild of Spoilsports who took great pains to explain that you can't go
randomly brandishing a metal detector without permission, mentioned that you*could*
find a small fortune in gold, but if you did then you were legally obliged to
give it to the nearest "Dull Museum Of Broken Pots", and
finished by saying that respectable detectorists look down on those who sell
their finds for financial gain. Looking back the bloke speaking seemed intent
on sucking all the fun out of it. Such a shame.
He mentioned some website on which all
the stuff found is registered but it was a
disappointment. There was a lot of talk about where you can't go brandishing
your metal detector, and very little talk of the riches that might be found
I got to work. Unlike yesterday it
wasn't pouring down, so I continued my exploration of the local area. There's
quite an extensive housing estate out the back of the hospital. I've found one
or two places to put film pots under rocks, and there are endless lamp posts
onto which I am sticking bar-codes on a daily basis.
As I walked I saw a squirrel. This one
was as bold as brass; utterly unfazed by my watching his antics. My dogs would have gone mad.
Work was work. As I was doing my thing I
had to look something up... the interactions of malaria with the human red
cell membrane - blah blah blah.... and
then I came across something new to me. "Superoxide dismutase"
which has multiple forms; the most common of which are SOD-1 and SOD-2. I
immediately envisioned these as the elder brothers of Dr Seuss's "Thing
1" and "Thing 2" and spent much of the rest of the
day sniggering like an idiot. For some inexplicable reason no one else felt
that SOD-1 and SOD-2 were absolutely hilarious…
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