General ramble

I decided this morning that rather than start the working day with my usual cup of lukewarm Nescafé rats’ pee, I would have a latté from the Costa Coffee that has somehow wormed its way into the building lounge area. I haven’t been down there since the latest bout of refurbishment completed, so it was only then that I realised that a) we had a lounge area and b) that Costa had sprouted mushroom-like in the atrium. I hadn’t appreciated either, just what a refit that part of the building has had. I wandered around the staff restaurant -we don’t have a staff canteen any more; we are far too classy for that (hem hem). It looks a lot like the way I imagine a communal restaurant would look like on the USS Enterprise (starship, not aircraft carrier).

It is interesting and probably symptomatic of then way life is evolving around here, that the public areas get glossier and flashier as the office areas get rattier and more crowded. By the time the next building has been emptied and the staff decanted in to this place, we will be in what is essentially a clerical rookery.

In other news, I have enjoyed myself greatly by banning certain unwanted hangers-on from my LJ account. It doesn’t stop them reading the public bits, but it does mean that they don’t show up on my friends list or be able to make comments on my posts. I have not got rid of everyone that’s friended me, but whom I have not friended back; just the ones that are clearly spam or too rude to be bothered responding if I say anything to them by way of welcome. That always irritates me. I don’t even care if someone never updates as long as I have the feeling that there is (or at least was) a person there, not just an application. Interesting to see that the two Russian accounts that appeared have not only gone but completely deleted themselves. I am leaving the third for now, because having looked at the journal, even though I can’t read a word of it, it does seem at least that it fulfils my ‘actual person there’ criterion. So hello, jaisonkrid.

General ramble

I decided this morning that rather than start the working day with my usual cup of lukewarm Nescafé rats’ pee, I would have a latté from the Costa Coffee that has somehow wormed its way into the building lounge area. I haven’t been down there since the latest bout of refurbishment completed, so it was only then that I realised that a) we had a lounge area and b) that Costa had sprouted mushroom-like in the atrium. I hadn’t appreciated either, just what a refit that part of the building has had. I wandered around the staff restaurant -we don’t have a staff canteen any more; we are far too classy for that (hem hem). It looks a lot like the way I imagine a communal restaurant would look like on the USS Enterprise (starship, not aircraft carrier).

It is interesting and probably symptomatic of then way life is evolving around here, that the public areas get glossier and flashier as the office areas get rattier and more crowded. By the time the next building has been emptied and the staff decanted in to this place, we will be in what is essentially a clerical rookery.

In other news, I have enjoyed myself greatly by banning certain unwanted hangers-on from my LJ account. It doesn’t stop them reading the public bits, but it does mean that they don’t show up on my friends list or be able to make comments on my posts. I have not got rid of everyone that’s friended me, but whom I have not friended back; just the ones that are clearly spam or too rude to be bothered responding if I say anything to them by way of welcome. That always irritates me. I don’t even care if someone never updates as long as I have the feeling that there is (or at least was) a person there, not just an application. Interesting to see that the two Russian accounts that appeared have not only gone but completely deleted themselves. I am leaving the third for now, because having looked at the journal, even though I can’t read a word of it, it does seem at least that it fulfils my ‘actual person there’ criterion. So hello, jaisonkrid.

What's in a name?

Having spent years listening to Wake Up to Wogan on Radio 2, I have heard more than my fair share of odd and/or funny names dreamt up by the TOGs as pseudonyms for their letters to the show.

Thus we get Mick Sturbs (author of the perennially popular Janet and John stories), Frances Frogbound, Dora Jar, Curtis E Kerr and - a personal favourite – Sir Jekyll Stockings. These and others are just a bit of a laugh. We should perhaps, pause for a moment and spare a though for the poor sods who have been lumbered in real life. The Daily Telegraph is running an article on a new names survey conducted recently in the UK.

Barb Dwyer: Britain’s most unfortunate names disclosed in new survey.

Pity poor Jenny Taylor (think about it).

What's in a name?

Having spent years listening to Wake Up to Wogan on Radio 2, I have heard more than my fair share of odd and/or funny names dreamt up by the TOGs as pseudonyms for their letters to the show.

Thus we get Mick Sturbs (author of the perennially popular Janet and John stories), Frances Frogbound, Dora Jar, Curtis E Kerr and - a personal favourite – Sir Jekyll Stockings. These and others are just a bit of a laugh. We should perhaps, pause for a moment and spare a though for the poor sods who have been lumbered in real life. The Daily Telegraph is running an article on a new names survey conducted recently in the UK.

Barb Dwyer: Britain’s most unfortunate names disclosed in new survey.

Pity poor Jenny Taylor (think about it).