Month: October 2014

Britain Needs A Pay Rise

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7:25am
So after getting up at 4:45am this morning in a panic because my phone had not charged and I thought I’d slept through my alarms, we have now picked everyone up at York and Castleford and are en route to London.

Lots of cheery enthusiastic faces for this time of the morning!

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9:40am
We’ve just left Watford Gap Services (for tea and toilets) and are on our way. Destination: London. Plenty of low paid workers geared up to campaign for a pay rise after seeing the price of the coffee at the services!!

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11:40am
We have made it to Embankment and are just setting up our banner for the day! It’s surprisingly warm for October, just hope it stays dry!! Lots of activists it seems with angry messages to send politicians and business leaders!

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12:13pm
AND WE’RE OFF!

1:45pm
We’re still going, just coming up to Piccadilly. The atmosphere is quite peaceful for a protest.

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2:20pm
We have arrived in Hyde Park where a vibrant crowd have formed. Speakers are on the stage delivering the key messages of the day and lots of hungry protesters are lining up for some food. The weather has held out, on a surprisingly warm and windy October day. The TUC estimates about 70,000 have turned up today!

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5:02pm
The rally ended some 45 minutes ago and all the happy campers have gathered on Park Lane to board the coach. I’ve waved them all off and they’re headed home (I’m staying in London a couple of days). Special thanks to Reece and Steven for carrying the York TUC banner!

For more info about the day, see britainneedsapayrise.org!

Peeling a banana this way WILL make your life (slightly) better

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After chatting with Jamie about how to peel bananas tonight I think it important that everyone understands just how wrong they are getting it.

watch people jump

open from the wrong end

I am not always entranced by new ways of doing things, or new technology. I am resistant to the lure of novelty. I am often fatalistic about people’ slow adoption to change. But sometimes, it is obvious that a different way of doing things is simply better.

Why does it not always take root? Test case (sorry to those who have heard it before): Peeling a Banana.

When I was young, I was taught how to peel a banana. It consisted of grabbing the stalk, and tugging at it until the skin split away. It was sometimes a bit tricky, and occasionally squashed a very small section of the banana. But it was all I knew. I was happy.

One day, someone showed me how monkeys open bananas. (I think it was Ben James at BBJ, himself a fairly simian character). Being generally respectful of the…

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