I was very happily watching an old Avengers episode the other day – one filmed btweeen 1964 and 1967, so around 1966. That in itself is not the news . . . . what I noticed in the ‘London’ headquarters of a fantastic global ‘money market’ was a water cooler bottle on a plumbed in platform. How about that! I had watched that episode hundreds of times in the last two years and never noticed that feature before. It must…
We really have had some amazingly awful weather this winter. The same as the previous one actually. It makes the job of keeping everywhere clean and tidy so much more of a challenge. Just when we think the worst of the blustery weather has departed, it comes rushing back. Not only does it batter the fences and bins etc. it rips leaves off the shrubs – they’re not supposed to shed foliage, it’s meant to be growth time. The mess…
You never know where the romantics are lurking around in a large office. There’s the ‘gods gift to women’ lethario who hangs aro und the usual meeting places . . . . near the coffee machine for example. The office water cooler is the best place for conversations and to get life’s most richly needed resource – especially in the heat of the office. So this one’s well known for his dated chat up lines and corny one liners. He’s…
Well you can do some things a little too enthusiastically at times. Taking the office colleagues to a friend’s lunch party to celebrate another successful year in business always sounds a grand idea. Everything starts off fine. Pleasantries are exchanged between the guests – a bit of networking goes on as a warm up to the sit down lunch and raucous fun later. Luckily for the guests, the hostess had brought in a professional office cleaning company – just as…
There are good times to be told by your landlord the keys are now available for your bigger office and could you please move in, like now . . . . . and there are some bad times to be getting that message. This happened to a young couple I know. They had asked to be given first choice when the next door, more palatial suite of offices came back on to the rental books. This one had a kitchenette,…
It feels really strange to be talking now during a very cold snap in the beginning of autumn. We’re at the point in the year when it’s too cold to have the heat off but it can get rather stuffy if left on. This is then the time to sort out cleaning up outside – getting the outside water supplies cleaned up and the water butts covered so they don’t freeze up. Knowing how to look after the outside tap…
Deep in this autumnal period, we hardly ever question where our next bottle or glass of water is going to come from. Miraculously we turn on a tap and hey presto, the liquid simply pours out and we either drink it or store it away in the fridge for later. Very rarely, before this blisteringly hot summer, did I ever give very much thought to how it comes to me and it is really only now, after seeing the problems…
Oh my goodness have we had the strangest hot summer known to anyone in this country since records began. Of course, they’ve had exactly the same experience over on the Europea continent, Greece, Cyprus and all the holiday hot spots. Pun intended. I went on a coach trip to Germany a few weeks ago. The coach was beautifully appointed, with air conditioning, ice cold drinks for sale from the onboard fridge . . . we also had to make several…
There was a time when it was considered safer to drink the local home made beer than to drink the water in some towns. Such was the disgusting state of our water system and the lack of plumbing to and from houses. I was watching a programme the other night on how the marvel of soft toilet tissue came in to being. We were also shown the very first water closets and the various models inbetween to the fantastic all…
Golly gosh it has been the hottest spell of dry weather that I can ever remember. I was around for the 1976 heat wave and I remember having to endur water rationing and being urged to share baths and only use ankle deep water. I also remember that we had problems with vermin getting into the very low water level in pipes and yuk, gives me the creeps just remembering the problems. We have definitely had a longer spell without…