17 Mar 12 Having dinner with Andy and Suzie
Kids going nuts. Brain in meltdown. Urggggghhh!
27 Aug 10 Christian behaviour Part 1 – Love thy Holiday, screw thy family
If you ever need to organise a religious ceremony, you might find out how little religious spirit all your church-going relatives have. Knowing that we don’t love our neighbours, we are learning that our brother-in-law (apparently soon to be made Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire – though I imagine he needs to screw over the existing one first) has a bit of the twat about him.
The story begins…
John the Baptist was doing river ducking on people who were old enough to know what they were getting into and big enough to hit him back if they weren’t up for it
So the kids decide they want to be Christened (in spite of my best heathen efforts). I’d put my foot down when they were born saying that it was a decision they could make when they were old enough. I have always been a bit confused about the child dunking ceremony. The Bible has John the Baptist doing river ducking on people who were old enough to know what they were getting into and big enough to hit him back if they weren’t up for it. But these days the Church tends to make sure any vestage of freewill is not available to the dunkee. Which I find bizarre in another way, since most of the questions that priests cannot answer about God, heaven, sin, belief, creation and all the other catechismal cataclisms, that prove their entire existence is a big fairy story, are universally answered by puffing out the chest and saying ‘That’s because God gave us freewill’. (Don’t even get me going on the inconsistent triad, Plato, the ontological argument or anything St Thomas Acquinas had to say about this, because it all amounts to no one having a clue. But the church invented a get out of jail card for awkward upstarts like me. It is called Freewill).
The further readings of David Hume, Anselm, arguments from design, cosmology and other remote parts of the county library have not really been factored in
Anyway, young as they are, the further readings of David Hume, Anselm, arguments from design, cosmology and other remote parts of the county library have not really been factored in by them. The big book with colourful pictures has as with and the big smiley lady with the dog-collar – and it all looks like nice songs, no one being nasty and good fun, so the Yateslets are signing up for it.
Your arse belongs to God or is it Santa (they look very similar, hairy, grey, big white beard, naughty list, angels/dwarves)
Baptism is a type of marketing. It is banned in any other walk of life. Imagine at three months old being, signed up by Lloyds TSB, or enrolled into the Labour Party. Mind you it doesn’t take long before you are ‘burgered’ by MacDonalds usually with complete disrespect for your parents wishes because some other kid has an E Number birthday celebration at the shrine of Ronald MacDonald. The point being that, like MacDonalds, your religious choice is designed to be made for you before you know whether you are a rock, a plant, a mollusk or anything else. It makes sure that whatever else, you are a Christian and your arse belongs to God or is it Santa (they look very similar, hairy, grey, big white beard, naughty list, angels/dwarves) although only one of them is an anagram of ‘Satan’.
Stay away from the spawn of the devil, namely: Catholics, Presbytarians, Unitarians, Seventh Day Adventists, The Osmonds and Tom Cruise
I guess Baptism is indoctrination. It is a ‘water mark’ that says, “You’re ours, your parents have made this decision for you, and this means that by circular reference you now have to ‘honour your mother and father’ so don’t go believing those pagan Jews, Muslims and Buddhists. And you really need to stay away from the spawn of the devil, namely: Catholics, Presbytarians, Unitarians, Seventh Day Adventists, The Osmonds and Tom Cruise.” In our case, we purposely didn’t make the decision for our children, they went all Jam and Jerusalem on us via the local C of E primary school.
We are organising a bloody event that we would not choose to go to if we were invited
So, carrying the burden of our childrens’ freewill amply about our shoulders we go about defending their right to it by organising a bloody event that we would not choose to go to if we were invited.
Carolyn spent weeks sorting out a mutually suitable date for the kids, the vicar, and three sets of god parents (you have to have three), two sets of grand parents, two uncles, two aunts, a mixed bag of cousins, two children, two parents and God of course, who we are assuming will have some kind of divine version of Microsoft Outlook and will have received an invite from the vicar. All the humans are scattered across two countries and five counties and God of course from an entirely seperate plain of existence.
And the date was thus carved in stone, money paid, paperwork completed, party organised and everyone knew where and when they were supposed to be. Until Bobby Skittle (my brother in law) goes into arrogant fuckwit mode (actually these days that is his only setting – arrogant fuckwit bordering on boorish bore).
More later…
10 Aug 10 Stoke City seek Graphic Designer. Take the advice of a senior designer, don’t apply
Stoke want a Graphic Designer. There is a side to me that would drop my senior marketing and design management role and take that job. Or at least there was until I read the ad. Those of us who have trekked for many years along the design career path will all warn against jobs advertised like this. Let me translate:
There will be no bounds to the variety of shit shoveling
Job ad: We require an artworker with design flair who is VERY good at the following:
Translation: Artworker = shit shoveller. Design flair = shit shovel in a pretty way.
Job ad: Producing spot on, accurate work for: press ads, print material, online work and Keynote presentations when needs must.
Translation: There will be no bounds to the variety of shit shoveling you will have to do *NB, the mention of Keynote suggests that this is a job on a Mac, so PC only users probably need not apply.
‘Deadline’ will be everyone else’s favourite word
Job Ad: Working under pressure, getting things sorted pronto.
Translation: ‘Deadline’ will be everyone else’s favourite word, as in ‘We’ve been thinking over the last couple of months about this situation and we’ve decided that a 48 page prospectus is what’s needed – have it ready by Friday – that’s a deadline’. This phrase always means someone has been sitting on something for weeks, not having done anything about it and will then rush out a crap brief and will shout at you to get things done last minute. They will then blame you because it is impossible and is bound to fuck up.
Job Ad: Top communication skills with all members of staff.
Translation: Mind your Ps and Qs around everyone else, no matter who they are.
Job Ad: Supporting the marketing team.
Translation: No decision making in this role – just do what you’re told
Most people’s chairs will be worth more than your design kit
Job Ad: Having an eagle eye for detail.
Translation: Everyone else is shit at spelling, but it’s your fault if you don’t spot their mistakes.
Job Ad: Working with Quark Express 8.0, Adobe CS3 Suite, Keynote, InDesign, Photoshop, Flash.
Translation: The software is years out of date, which means the hardware is even older. Most people’s chairs will be worth more than your design kit. This lack of investment in your position is a reflection of where you sit in the order of things.
Job Ad: Being flexible and nice.
Translation: You know what, sometimes one of the administrators will want you to do something really demeaning, like lick, stick and stuff envelopes. You will do this and smile about it too.
Key skills include:
Job Ad: Extensive knowledge of – Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, Flash, Microsoft Office Suite and Dreamweaver.
Translation: You will be competent with the software tools of a Graphic designer and know how to use the other stuff on the computer as well, including advanced multimedia and animation in the form of Flash and also Dreamweaver, the industry standard web design package.
Job Ad: HTML/coding experience, with the ability to create mini sites/custom HTML newsletters and then update content.
Translation: You will also know how to do Web design at a coding level. You clearly don’t have to be a qualified web design, because a qualified web designer costs a lot more in wages. What we are looking for is a fully experienced web designer – spending at least 50% of their time on this, but we only want to pay bottom of the scale graphic design rates. So you will have spent lots of time acquiring these highly sought after skills, which we want to harvest, but we have no intention of rewarding you for that aspect of your work in any equitable way.
Job Ad: The role involves a split between web and print design, so a good knowledge of both is highly important.
Translation: As above, you are actually required to be a web designer and a graphic designer as well but we only pay you for the cheaper skill set.
If it all goes wrong. That’s where you fit in
Key Tasks/Responsibilities:
Job Ad: To work well as part of the Marketing Team, producing artwork for all club departments and some external partners when required.
Translation: Just about anyone, inside the club or in fact outside the club will be able to tell you what to do.
Job Ad: Will work alongside our in-house design agency, providing them with all information and artwork they may need, and to give support where needed and vice-versa.
Translation: They do the creative stuff and have all the power in terms of strategy and direction. The in-house agency guys, however, have none of the responsibility if it all goes wrong. That’s where you fit in.
Job Ad: The successful candidate will need to manage a hectic workload, prioritising as you go and sometimes finding quick but successful solutions for projects that require a very fast turn-around.
Translation: Everyone dumps lots of problems on your desk that they can’t solve and it’s your fault if you can’t solve them either. It doesn’t matter which order you do it all in, someone will always be on hand to tell you to drop everything and give them priority.
Your the indian, everyone else is a chief
Job Ad: Be able to take direction well, whether that is working form a detailed brief, or if you are given a task to do that requires you write your own.
Translation: Just do what you’re told and don’t argue, if someone gives you a duff brief, then it will be your fault for not being psychic and you will be labeled an idiot for not using your initiative..
Job Ad: Open to feedback from colleagues, managers and also from our external agency, and must be able to take this on board to produce something better.
Translation: Your the indian, everyone else is a chief. They will all give you a different reason why they think everything you do is shit. You will have to agree with them to that end. And, while you are the only qualified and experienced designer in the place, you need to get used to the fact that your opinions are not as valid as their own. To put it in a nutshell, they think that are actually better at your job than you are. You will resolve their many conflicting and confusing levels and types of criticism, agreeing with them all, berating yourself for your own shitness and somehow make them all happy in the end.
Qualifications/Experience:
Job Ad:
* Educated to GCSE level
* Higher Education/College/Graphic Design or similar
* Educated to BA(hons) level or similar achieving a 2:1 or higher
* Any marketing experience or education would be advantageous
* Would be preferable to have worked in the industry before in an in-house design role but not essential as all applicants will be considered
* Will need to show quality examples of past and current work (ie portfolio)
Translation: Perfect collection of University education with bags of experience in far better roles.
Job Ad: If you think you can do all of the above please send your CV with salary expectations to DELLA.BIRCHALL@STOKECITYFC.COM.Closing date 20th August 2010
Translation: We’ll pick the one who pitches their salary lowest
this job description spits revenge
This advert says more about the relationship they had with whoever was previously in the job. I imagine they left under a cloud, leaving someone having a truly jaundiced view of designers. And this job description spits revenge. It is written like a spiteful letter to the previous designer.
As a job description, it sucks on so many levels
As a job description, it sucks on so many levels. No decent designer is going to apply based on this ad. They will at best attract someone so poor at what they do, that they will simply perpetuate the vindictive feelings that the management clearly have for people who design for a living.
It does explain why most things produced by Stoke City are so poorly designed. They really should employ a senior designer, based on that designer’s experience and portfolio and then give them a brief to develop a design standard, brief the organisation about that standard and allow them to roll that out across all communications. If they need some junior designers to help, than that is fine, but to employ a junior to do all this is both unfair, unrealistic and will ultimately create poor design and a miserable designer, disillusioned in this role and their chosen career.
27 Jul 10 The bullying behavour of our neighbours, Mr and Mrs Twattock*
Following on from my previous post about the nasty neighbours this entry examines the use of tactics and demeanour to assert unreasonable control over a neighbour – in this instance, us
…all the unwritten sentiment amply stuffed between the lines
So at about 11.30 on Thursday night I do the rounds of the house where I make sure all the doors that are permanently locked are in fact locked. And on the doorstep below the letter-box is a neatly folded piece of lined exercise book paper.
It said, in precis and including all the unwritten sentiment amply stuffed between the lines, that:
How dare you do some garden landscaping without asking us?
We have just got back from our holiday and we felt compelled to stroll into your garden uninvited to make sure you have been behaving yourselves while we have been away. And we are shocked and angered to the core. How dare you do some garden landscaping without asking us if we minded first? I am really pissed off with you because some of the stuff you have dug up is near the fence, between our properties – you know the one we have been pushing back into your property, with a big lump of concrete for the last year, thus extending our border.
We knew you were going to do this you bastards because you had the audacity to talk to another neighbour about it and you didn’t ask our permission.
You are in contravention of the Party Wall Act even though I have no idea what I am talking about
You are in contravention of the Party Wall Act even though I have no idea what I am talking about it just sounds officious and I want to make you think I am going to sue you. And even though your landscaping is nowhere near the party wall I will persist with this hollow bullying, in fact I am going to give you so much shit about this because I am angry.
You must learn that it is not permitted for you to do what you want within the bounds of your own property
I am choosing in this letter to ignore the continual abuse we afford you, namely that:
- we we go out of our way to blank you completely;
- park our collection of over-sized 4×4 vehicles to make it as dangerous and difficult as possible for you to get out of your narrow drive;
- act surly and superior and as antisocial as we can possibly be towards you;
- complain non-stop and blame you for building work that was beyond your control and happened over a year ago;
- act like sorry victims with no regard for others misfortunes
- bad mouth you to any neighbour we come across.
I am, however, choosing in this letter to accuse you of a lack of courtesy towards us because you did not ask our permission to do some work within your own property. I am also ignoring the fact that the work will have no impact on us and we will not be able to see it, other than on our uninvited visits into your garden to have a snoop around.
You will present yourself to me at the earliest opportunity where I shall bollock you to make you stop your outrageous gardening practice. You must learn that it is not permitted for you to do what you want within the bounds of your own property.
Yours etc.
The Twattocks*
More later…
(*Real names changed)
25 Jul 10 Nasty neighbours
Don’t you just hate it when someone thinks that whatever you do is subject to their approval simply because they live next door.
“Errr , did you know your house just got flooded?”
As a family we have had our share of bad luck, not least getting flooded out of our house in 2007 and being unable to return until 2009. During that time, the place was initially derelict and then a massive building site for about a year. From time to time we did spare a thought for our semi detached neighbours. They had exchanged contracts to buy their house an hour or two before it actually flooded. The previous owners laid a cheap carpet over the mess and did a runner, not informing the new owners of the flood. In fact our first words to them was something like: “Errr , did you know your house just got flooded?”. They didn’t.
And sure enough, they sold up and fucked off – the best day of our entire experience of living next door to them
The previous family had moved in a couple of years before the flood. They extended their boundaries to maximise its value. In the process they made our drive an almost impossibly narrow channel. They shoved a conservatory near the boundary of the two properties with the windows looking straight onto our garden. They were generally fairly abrupt and not at all concerned about our inconvenience; why should they be? They were just looking to maximise value, sell and leave the pissed off neighbours behind them. And sure enough, they sold up and fucked off – the best day of our entire experience of living next door to them.
The new couple seemed nice enough. But our experience of living next to them started out with us moving out of our flooded and wrecked house. I think I first met them as I was waiting for a lorry to come and take our belongings to a landfill site. Concurrently they were getting out of a removal van to find out that they were moving into a flooded property.
When we did see them, the strain showed.
So we moved out – our place being uninhabitable and they stayed put. As the next two years progressed, we were conscious of their situation. We told the builders not to upset them while they were at work on our house. And sure enough, day after day they became massively upset at the noise, holes coming through the party wall, their wooden floor was wrecked, cracks in the walls and more. The skips outside the property inconvenienced them and tore the tarmac up, noise, noise and more noise. And during this time they even had a baby. When we did see them, the strain showed.
Cheek-by-jowl living was never going to become cheek-to-cheek
And in the year since we moved back into the house, we have found that it clearly has left an indelible mark on their attitude towards us. I get the feeling that they hold us personably responsible. From a rational perspective, this is completely unreasonable, but it has clearly gone beyond that and they are now emotively extracting their revenge for their two years of hell – our hell not really being anything that concerns them. Clearly, from the moment we moved back in, cheek-by-jowl living was never going to become cheek-to-cheek.
Either grow up and act like adults or move out
But it’s all very petty. He wears a permanent scowl and she goes from greeting to whinging within two sentences. They have two (sometimes three) huge 4×4 vehicles plus their parent’s people carrier. As a matter of course they park these so close to our narrow driveway that it takes a three-point-turn to get out. It makes us invisible to passing vehicles. On three occasions passing traffic has screached to a halt as we pull out of our drive and narrowly missed our vehicles slowly emerging from behind a huge block of Mitsubishi military metal 4×4. I think the speeding bus was perhaps the scariest incident – it certainly made the kids scream. We have tried the concilliatory approach, the ‘please could you…’ approach and the ‘okay lets just not let it get to us’ approach. But it is not a friendly relationship, which is a shame really.
I think we could have ignored this pettiness in the hope that eventually they would either grow up and act like adults or move out. That was until Thursday.
06 Jun 10 Jockey Inn, Baughton, Worcestershire – very disappointing
Yesterday Carolyn and I palmed the kids off on a sleepover with friends and in celebration of Carolyn’s birthday booked a table at The Jockey Inn at Baughton, near Earls Croombe In Worcestershire.
We last went there about eight years ago when our eldest son was about a month old in a carry-cot. While we ate, he spent the evening asleep on a spare table. I remember, it was very good. Since then, the pressure of children, money, and time means that Carolyn and I have probably been out, by ourselves, less than once a year.
So with this in mind, we thought – ‘night off, lets have a good meal, don’t want to travel a long way – lets go three miles down the lanes to The Jockey at Baughton’. What a disappointment!
We had booked the table the day before. But we seemed to be met with a hint of surprise once we got there. Still, no problem, there was a table and in fairness, the place was pretty busy. We wanted to order drinks, but no one wanted to take our order. Again, one of The Jockey’s virtues is its bijou cosiness and with a couple locals camped out at the small bar, it is difficult to get your message through.
So we took our seats and studied the blackboards and ordered food. In my case a mozzarella and tomato starter, followed by a rump steak and side salad. Carolyn went for the pork stoganoff; at least she did once we had explained to the waitress what stroganoff was.
And then it arrived. If you have ever wondered what it is like to have your taste buds removed, I suggest you go to the Jockey and order this selection. I genuinely mean it. There was not a hint of taste in the entire meal. The mozzarella and tomatoes formed perhaps the worst of it. It was devoid of any taste at all – it was just stuff. If I had been blindfolded, from the texture, I would has guessed it was industrial residue and jelly. I know that mozzarella can be a bit like that, but you might normally expect a dressing of oil and balsamic vinegar with a few herbs to tease out the flavour. But not at the Jockey – just beef tomatoes and white lumps and no taste in any of it at all. There was some rather insipid oil on the table – not the rich golden / green colour of extra virgin olive oil, but the wee colour you get from catering packs of cheap olive oil of the non extra virgin variety. No black pepper, just the standard chip shop collection; salt and grey pepper, some acrid malt vinegar plus the cheap olive oil. I experimented with combinations of the available seasoning, but it was not possible to find any taste in the dish.
The Steak and Chips showed up. The chips were oven chips and devoid of taste again. I had really thought that a decent restaurant would either have made their own. You know – cut up potatoes and use one of those chip fryer gizmos. It’s easy. Or I would have been happy some really good ready made chips. But at the Jockey you get really cheap catering pack stuff that you might expect to get from burger vans.
The steak was cooked properly for Medium Rare. The texture was okay, the cut had a bit of stringy fat running through it, but within the bounds of acceptable. It was tender and cooked properly. But there was again barely a hint of taste. I asked for some mustard and pepped it up that way, but it was a very poor meal. The side salad turned up a little late and was more kitchen temperature than fridge temperature. It had all the right stuff in it. it looked quite nice, but warm salad tends to droop when you pick it up and is not something you want to put in your mouth.
I kept waiting for someone to ask “Is everything alright?” or “Are you enjoying it?”. I had mentally prepared the words – roughly to say “I have a little feedback, please take it the right way. We found the food a little lacking in flavour. I think some of the ingredients are not as good as other restaurants in the area and the food preparation feels a little slap-dash.” I wouldn’t have had a rant – I am typically English and I get embarrassed when I want to complain.
In addition, no one offered us a wine list. No one thought to ask us if we would like water, no one really seemed to care very much at all.
By the time we had asked for a wine list, we had decided to skip a desert, finish and go home as quickly as possible. So the entire evening was over before 9.00pm. We had envisaged it might have extended from 8.00pm until about 10.00pm with maybe a twenty minute expedition to the bar for a brandy at the bar .
The two starters and two main courses cost under £50 (obviously with wine it would have been more). On the face of it, that seems cheap. The trouble is, it tasted cheap, the service felt cheap and it was, as I said, a disappointment.
19 Feb 10 What’s the #BUZZ about Google Buzz? Oh look, the Emperor has got no clothes on
You have come across Google Buzz or maybe you haven’t. Anyway it is Google’s answer to Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms, although, I wonder what the question was if Buzz is the answer.
It launched recently to a bit of a viral fanfare and all of us social media maniacs and Twitter pimps toddled on over to check it out. It seems that lots of people are going absolutely unnecessary about it. It will apparently kill off Twitter, Facebook and change the world as we know it. I say ‘apparently’ for a reason.
The problem is that I am still trying to work how Buzz accommodates any need I have. I keep coming back looking at it and thinking, ‘I must be missing something’.
I understand Blogs, LinkedIn, FaceBook and Twitter and they have somehow seamlessly slotted into the way I do things personally and professionally. I can write once on any of them and publish everywhere. I can use things like TweetDeck to get multiple views of Twitter based on friends, interest topics or back-chat. Others use aggregators like FriendFeed or Posterous but they all do variations on a theme – they collect all this etherlution (© Dave Yates, meaning rubbish deposited all over the web) and collates in into a single, manageable distribution and collection point for all you want to cherry pick from these platforms.
So while I detest e.g. FB, I do understand why it is there and I can interact with my contacts on it without having to go on it very often. Similarly with LinkedIn. I quite like it, but I don’t feel compelled to ‘live’ on it. I use it from time to time, but can update it remotely with a range of tools, mainly my Blog and Twitter account.
But again today, I returned to Buzz, looking at it this way and that and concluding that I must be missing something, because lots of people are saying it is great and everything else will now become obsolete. I repeat, I really must be missing something because, for the life of me, I don’t get it, I don’t know what to do with it and I don’t know why everyone else is raving about it.
Oh Look – the emperor’s just gone by without any clothes on.
10 Feb 10 Dictionary of Online Abbreviations
Image shamelessly adapted from toothpastefordinner.com
I know there are pre-existing glossaries out there, but at least with this one I know where it is for reference. Also I can keep adding to it.
Please feel free to suggest any more via the comments box and I will add them to the list
- AFK – away from keyboard (I am gone for a few minutes)
- AFAIK – as far as I know
- ASL – age / sex / location?
- BFF – best friends, forever
- BFN – bye for now
- BIO – going for bio break (washroom break)
- BRB – be right back
- BTW – by the way
- CSAK – Chucking Silently At Keyboard
- CUL8R – see you later
- CYA – see ya (or it could also be: cover your a*s)
- DH – darling husband
- DD – darling daughter
- DS – darling son
- FMV – fair market value (for selling items online)
- FTW – for the win (basically a big thumbs up)
- GG – good game
- IBTL – in before the lock (for when you post a message prior to the administrator locking the heated discussion thread)
- IMHO – in my humble opinion
- IMNSHO – in my not so humble opinion
- IRL – in real life
- KK – OK (commonly used by online gamers to acknowledge that a message has been received)
- LOL – laughing out loud
- MT – mispell (commonly used by online gamers to say that they made a mistake and mistyped their last message)
- NP – no problem/you’re welcome
- NWOT – new without tags (for selling items online)
- NWT – new with tags (for selling items online)
- BNWT – brand new with tags (for selling items online)
- OOAK – one of a kind (for selling items online)
- PICNIC – problem in chair not in computer (apparently favoured by IT support techs when dealing with low ability users)
- PLZ – please
- PLIBT – please let it be true
- PMSL – P*ssing myself laughing (a common UK expression)
- POS – Parents [watching] Over Shoulder
- QFT – quoted for truth (a compliment to another person on the forum)
- RL – real life
- ROFL – rolling on floor laughing
- ROFLMAO – rolling on floor laughing my a*s off
- RTFM – read the f***ing manual (to show frustration at someone’s ignorance of basic knowledge)
- RTM – read the manual
- SCAOMM – Spat Coffee All Over My Monitor (when something is very amusing)
- TBH – to be honest
- THX – thanks
- TTFN – ta-ta for now
- TTYL – talk to you later
- TX – thanks
- TY – thank you
- VFF – very f***ing funny
- W/E – whatever
- WTF – what the f*** [is that all about]
07 Feb 10 Personal Branding – Coming up with a personal business card
Recently I found myself wishing I had a personal business card. It is unusual because I have various business personas for the work I do, but with some of the overseas government work I have been involved in, it is easier for them to buy into an individual, no matter where they come from, than an organisation from another country.
I may never get these printed, but the idea has driven me to think it through and there is probably a white paper waiting to happen at a more general level. In any event, if it never gets printed, at least it has a home here.
Once I started thinking about this I came up with the design shown. As with all designs, I don’t like to over-rationalise it – you hope it will speak for itself. But, briefly, being able to pull out the syllable ‘id’ from my first name, David, is handy. The id is the uninhibited and creative part of the brain. I am a creatively driven designer – I place emphsis on the psychology of design and usability in my work. So a psychological term referencing creativity is a bit of a godsend. The notion of a card being a kind of identity of I.D. is not lost on me either. For those that don’t get the rest of it, the card is my ID.
On the counter side, my surname, Yates, provides the opportunity to pick out the word ‘Yes’. The single most positive term in the language. And all that you want to put across: ‘I can do this’; ‘this is possible’; ‘all is good’; ‘Yesss! what a result’.
I like this for other reasons. I read once that John Lennnon first met Yoko Ono at an art exhibition. The central exhibit was a work of hers with a ladder in the centre of the room. At the top of the ladder was a magnifying glass and very small word painted on the ceiling. When you climbed the ladder, and looked at the word through the magnifying glass, it simply said, “Yes”.
I can’t say I like her music much and I don’t know anything about her art, but this resonates with me, as clearly it did with John Lennon.
So in a nutshell this is all about being creatively positive and so am I.
19 Dec 09 Wonderful, wonderful #Copenhagen
Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen
115 people hit town
To squabble and fight
Over the global blight
Then clink and drink one down
To wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen
Where Barak barracked Jaibao
Then he sailed away
And nothing had changed
Singing Copenhagen, wonderful, wonderful
Copenhagen for me
