Friday 13 July 2012

Danny DeVito and Dairy Milk

What a great week it's been for me. It started last Saturday with a trip to the theatre to see 'Sunshine Boys' with Danny DeVito and Richard Griffiths. They were in the play, not watching it with me. I was in the company of my husband and friend who had booked the tickets.
While waiting for my friend outside the Savoy theatre, Danny DeVito came out into the street just a few feet from us and was signing autographs and  having his picture taken with fans. I like that. He's been here in the UK for weeks, performing in the same theatre for a long time and still took time to say hello to some fans minutes before he went on stage. I didn't get an autograph. I'm British. I didn't like to bother him. I did get his photograph though. Id' post it to prove it but apart from being inept at anything technical, why would I lie to you?
The 'Sunshine Boys' was fantastic and if you can, I'd recommend that you go to see it. It was hilarious.
Following that, it was a busy week at work with a short trip to Scotland in the middle of it. A one night stay forced me to take advantage of the local bars. I regretted it the next day. Too little sleep, too much red wine and an early start are not the best combination. I took comfort in my 9.20pm flight back to Gatwick.
Shame it was three hours late. I did at least get a £3 voucher. Of course, as you'd expect, I spent it wisely on Dairy Milk and TicTacs. I didn't squander it. It was the box with two flavours. I know that a fool and their money are soon parted.
Getting home at 3.30am on Thursday, I didn't really feel much like waking up and going to London for the Society of Authors New Members Lunch as I'd planned. I eventually rolled out of bed, an hour later than I'd planned, ate a bar of Dairy Milk on the train and for lunch had a glass of white wine. I would have talked to more people when I got there but it had already been a long week. I got to talk to a handful of people and really would have liked to talk to more but I ran out of time. I did meet some great people.
The only low point came on the tube on my way back from lunch. A completely incoherent announcement was made five or six times. After sitting passively for twenty minutes, from the endless talking, I think that there was a problem with the tubes. I'll never know what it was.
The things that went through my mind, apart from my lateness to an afternoon appointment was that it's really lucky that the UK is not hosting some sort of major international event in the near future, such as a world famous sporting event. It may cause embarrassment. I rest assured, as should you, that if such a thing were to happen, there would be bountiful security. If those in power were to be mad enough to sack, let's say troops and make police officers redundant, they would surely make sure that a private security firm were fully fit to handle the situation.
Luckily for me, the only sport I like is rugby, I don't live or work in London and I love to read fiction. Good luck our beautiful capital city.

Friday 6 July 2012

Saving the planet one overpriced carrier bag at a time

Anyone else get fed up with supermarkets and food departments within larger stores charging for their plastic carrier bags?
Shopping used to be something I really enjoyed but I tend to put it in the 'too much hassle' category these days. I get fed up stopping to look at something on a shelf or clothing rack only to find someone coming from seemingly out of nowhere to push in front of me to examine the article I had paused to peruse.  Perhaps I'm being too kind when I say that these people probably aren't consciously thinking about tearing the item from my hand but they can't help themselves when they see something someone else has. It's how advertising works after all.
The best thing about people's predictability is that causing a distraction further along the aisle is just too easy by announcing, "Wow, this stuff's all 80 per cent off." Bound to cause a stampede so you can return to looking at the items you wanted to look at in the first place. It's a given that you feel a bit of a fool if you're shopping alone but it works a treat.
Oh yeah - the carrier bags - there was a point. How is it that in the same shop, I can buy a £2 pair of socks and get a free bag but if I spent £20 on wine and lasagne, I have to pay 5 pence?
I'm all for saving the planet and minimising waste but two things come to mind here: watching Springwatch, I saw that landfill sites were now a haven for wildlife and they can't be built upon because they're landfill sites. Result all round I say.
Secondly, if these stores were so bothered, wouldn't they turn the lights off and give you a pair of night vision goggles as you went through the door?