A Quick Pint...

Despite the title, it's an alcohol free post in all senses; the content doesn't discuss it (from here on) and the writer hasn't had any since last Saturday (and that won't last long either).

I had an appointment at the blood donors for later on this evening, but as I happened to be passing and the car park seemed empty, I thought I would see if they could squeeze me in early. Although officially they were just about to close the afternoon session, they very kindly agreed to sneak me through as the last donor before their break.

Now I don't mind waiting around there and they usually don't keep you too long. Sure, I'm not a big fan of sitting around doing nothing, but the potential end result of my donation far outweighs the importance of anything else I would be doing with that time.

I'll spare you a blow by blow account but I walked in there just before 4:00pm this afternoon and little over 30 minutes later I had registered, been tested, given my donation, downed a coffee and a couple of Club chocolate biscuits and was on my way back home. Never in my 39 pint history can I remember getting through so quickly.

So what else was I supposed to do with the time I'd saved other than come on here and encourage you to do likewise? You know my opinion on the matter by now: if you can't donate that's fair enough. If you can but just don't want to, you should be ashamed of yourself. If you want to find out where your next nearest session is so you can make a donation, click on Billy below...

No news is no news...

Well we are getting ever nearer to the end of the 90 day consultation period at work and today they have announced that they intend to close the plant a couple of days before Christmas.

Effectively that means that many of the employees will now all finish on that same day. Some will be required to work on for a while afterwards but as yet they haven't determined who that is going to be and how long they will be needed for.

Indeed, some have decided not to wait, forego the pot of gold at the end of the "rainbow" and have already been fortunate enough to find employment elsewhere.

For now though, my plans remain unchanged - I fully intend to sit tight and claim my rightful reward for enduring 14 years there and will not start looking for anything new until I have a clearer idea of a finishing date. I may find out as early as next Tuesday or maybe not until much later on in the year.

It probably wouldn't hurt to have a clearer idea about what I want to do when the time comes. As of right now, I still have absolutely no idea...

Trichological tale...

Ever since that fateful day about 6 years ago when I had my head shaved in the pub for charity, I think I've only ever paid for a haircut once or twice since, preferring instead to cut my own. Fair enough, I'm into my second pair of clippers, but I'm thinking that as I'm saving about £7.50 every other week, they have pretty much paid for themselves.

Whilst giving my self a once-over at the weekend (I could probably have phrased that better) one of the teeth fell out of the attachment comb so having finished my trim, checking carefully that I hadn't left any rogue black stripes, I set about finding a replacement.

Unfortunately, it seems that everywhere only sells the attachment combs in full sets of six, a little wasteful for me as I only ever use the 3mm attachment. So I rang the Remington Help Desk, where the automated voice gave me an alternative number if I was looking for spare shaver or clipper parts. The company at the end of the other number advised me that they were only available in sets of six, but she could sell me a set at a discounted price (plus postage which then worked out about the same!). I politely declined.

Not exactly angry, I thought I would give the Help Desk another quick call just to share my experience with them as I'm sure it is a quite common problem. To my surprise, without my even having to prompt, she happily told me that they always have spares about the office and would gladly pop a couple of replacements in the post to me free of charge.

So there you have it a happy post, with a little good news twist in these times of recession. Oh and of course, if you find yourself needing to buy a set of hair clippers, make sure they are Remington...