Paris Transport

I took the pictures below on a business trip to Paris last year some time, and they've been sitting in a folder on my computer since. I thought the contrast generated by the juxtaposition of the two is nice.

Female Chauvinism

Yay! The bad old days are, if not entirely behind us, at least dying slowly like a second-rate soap character. Although sexism has not been entirely eradicated, we're not doing too badly.

Except perhaps not as well as I had hoped. You see, and let's be quite frank these are isolated cases, it still lingers on in the hearts of some. My line of work brings me into contact with plenty of 'old boys', whose attitude to women would lead to the bachelor life if they hadn't already subjugated their wives when it was all the rage to do so.

What surprises and annoys me is that a female associate of mine is just as bad as any man, continually stereotyping in a rather strident voice about all the men in her life. It wouldn't be quite so galling if she didn't spend a large proportion of the remainder of her time moaning about how she, as a woman, never gets taken seriously in a male-dominated sector.

Does she realise that if she doesn't give respect she won't receive it? Why should she be treated equally if she's unwilling to extend the same courtesy to others? Hmmm.

Lick the link!

My mind subconsciously inserted the 'c' at first, but it's much better when you realise what it actually suggests...

Perhaps it's a new form of interactive advertising. Mmm, taste the engine oil and the burning rubber. 

A sad, sad day...

News reaches us of the passing of a legend. 

At the age of 5, one of the twin Italian police Lamborghinis is, alas, no more. Adopted by the Polizia di Stato ('Polizia') in 2004, the Gallardos, painted in traditional powder blue with white stripes, patrolled the motorways just for a lark, really. Although it was suggested - through the inclusion of a defibrillator in each vehicle - that there was some serious intent to their existence, everyone knew it was all a massive publicity stunt.

All that came to an end for one of the plucky pair, however, on a dark, wet, treacherous road near Cremona, northern Italy. Though details are hard to come by, reports suggest that the Lambo may have been the victim of carlsaughter: it swerved to avoid a vehicle which strayed into its path, before ploughing into a row of parked cars.

No longer will the Polizia awake to the sight of the Lambo. The garage will remain cold and empty. 

A moment's silence, please, for the passing of a legend... 

Giant Reindeer Terrorises Covent Garden!!

Seriously, this thing was enormous. It was eating children whole. The discarded umbrella of its last victim can just be seen at the base of the pedestal it has mounted in order to chew people on the rooftop terraces.

Huge government/media hush-up about the whole thing. I'm going into hiding immediately after this post - once they know I've let the truth out, I'll be extraordinarily rendered... rendited......... rendicated... Whatever.

Rumour has it that it escaped from a government gene splicing facility, and is a chimera of deer/lightbulb/topiary parentage. 

Three random photos

No theme here, just three things I've photographed in the last day...

A rainbow over a thing (?) in Birmingham:

Jen's birthday candles - yep, they're different colours. Chemistry rocks.

An Aston V8 Vantage out of my office window:

My cup(board) underfloweth

One of our kitchen cupboards really does look like this. I built a pantry and now there's nothing in the cupboards! The Vegemite is mine (yes, I'm Australian, no, it's nothing like Marmite), and the Nutella is Jen's. 

Anti-bullying Campaign - so near yet so far...

Tricky ground here, very thin ice. But it's my blog, so let's dive in.

Listening to the radio in the car on the way to work this morning, I heard a trail for an anti-bullying campaign Radio 1 are running at the moment. It's great that they're taking their social responsibility so seriously. I really hope it has an impact on one of the worst features of our society. Bullying is evil, and those perpetrating often don't realise the impact they are having on the lives of their victims.

My concern comes from the advice which is usually wheeled out during these campaigns. The focus is almost invariably about what you as a victim might be able to do to stop the bullying. I hate to break it to the hard working campaigners, but the reality is that there is often very little that the victim can do.

Take, for instance, the nugget of advice chucked into the trail on the radio. 'Just be yourself', it said. I can tell you right now that 'just being yourself' is one of the prime reasons people get picked on. I was 'just being myself' when I went to secondary school. I got off lightly compared to those who commit suicide in the face of the relentless abuse they receive, but it took years to rebuild my confidence. I still suffer occasional outbursts of rage, the origins of which can be traced fairly precisely to those times when I was victimised.

Other suggestions, such as ignoring the bullies, really don't work. Once they have a target, they will pester and pester and hunt their victim until that person cracks. It doesn't stop until they've got what they want. This isn't a movie where the plucky underdog can utter a few choice witticisms and throw the bullies off their back. The real world doesn't work like that. In the real world, they keep going and going until you can't take it any more. Then they carry on.

The only way to eradicate bullying is to eradicate the bullies. I don't know what it is these kids don't get at home, but something in their behaviour has to be modulated. There is always a reason someone is a bully at school (or anywhere else, for that matter), and our attentions must be focussed on dealing with those issues. This way not only do we help the victims, but (and just as crucially) we help the bullies become human beings again.

I think it's great that Radio 1 would dedicate so much time to such a worthy cause, but I can't help feeling that they've got it horribly wrong.

If you're a victim reading this, I can offer one piece of advice. It served me well; perhaps it will help you. Find something that is yours, something they can't take away from you, something they cannot destroy, no matter how hard they try. Keep it safe, keep it from them. Share it with those you love and trust, even if that's your dog or a stuffed toy. But keep it from them at all costs. My 'thing' was my imagination, the world behind my eyes into which I can retreat so easily. Without it, who knows what might have happened. That thing will be your anchor, the thing that gives you strength. In the dark moments, think of it. It will be a lighthouse.

If you've read this far, thank you. 

Legend in the building?

There's a Post-It note stuck to one of the coffee pots upstairs. Says "D.C." on it. The only feasible explanation for this is that David Coulthard is in the building. Someone that important would need their own coffee pot. 

Three small things

1) Egalitarian coffee: the coffee packet says "for all kinds of coffee maker". There's a wonderful inclusiveness there. "Hey, you! Even though you're ugly and you smell, you can still make coffee with me!"

2) Only Fools and Horses: why do I have OFaH snobbery? Why do I automatically think less of someone who finds it funny?

3) Apple flavour: I've tasted any number of apple flavoured products - they all taste the same, and yet none of them taste of any variety of apple I've ever eaten.