Why I don't buy Fairtrade

I know I'm going to get a few rants from people for this post, but I don't really care. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the principles behind Fairtrade... but I can't help thinking that there is a HUGE flaw in the majority of the products that I've sampled - which is simply that they just taste like crap. I've no idea why someone would expect me to pay more money for lower quality products (in terms of taste that is). However, I do realise that taste is a very personal thing and so I'm willing to admit that perhaps I'm in the minority here.

The end result though is that I steer clear of most Fairtrade products now - I just can't be bothered with the hassle of throwing half of each product in the bin. Not to mention the cost and wastefulness that's incurred by doing so!

How old is my brain?

Last week I splashed out a little and bought myself a Nintendo DS Lite. As always, once I had made the decision to buy one, I was impatient to get my hands on it... and ended up going from shop to shop to try and find somewhere that had a non-pink version in stock. No such luck though - I ended up having to order from Amazon to get my iPod-inspired white DS Lite.

My first games on the DS are Super Mario Brothers and Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (a.k.a. "How old is you brain?"). The Mario Bros game was bought because, as a poor and deprived young lad I never owned any of the early nintendo consoles and so had NEVER played any of the Mario Brother's games. Time to rectify that me thinks!

The Brain Training game was bought in error. I meant to get Brain Academy - but being the stubborn git I am (and also because I'm lazy), I've decided to keep the Brain Training game rather than take it back and admit my error. So now I'm training my brain - with the aim of getting the 'perfect' brain age of 20. I'm not too sure on it's accuracy though....

I've been using it for four days in a row now. On day 1, I got a brain age of 42. Oh dear. I didn't check my age on day 2 - but did do the exercises. On day 3 my brain age was 27 - so only a year or so out! Today, my brain age is 20. Does that mean I now have the perfect brain? Or does it mean that I've sussed out the training exercises to the point that I can get a good score most of the time? I'm not too sure... I'll stick with it for a while - if only for the soduko games...

Oh - and if anyone is thinking of buying this brain trainer - one thing I would say is that the damn game CONSTANTLY tries to advertise whenever you use the 'quick' options as opposed to the daily training. I'm not sure why - obviously I've already bought it!

Brain Dead = Dangerous

Every day after work I turn into one of those anally retentive gits on the train who gets up and stands by the train door TWO STOPS before I need to get off. Why? Because everyone who gets off the 18:20 Waterloo to Reading train at the Martin's Heron stop is brain dead. Every single one of them has long since switched off for the day. How do I know this? Because EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM walks the most direct route to their cars/home. Regardless of whether or not it is in the MIDDLE OF THE BLOODY ROAD.


So, I make sure I get off at the front of the queue and at the most efficiently placed exit (in terms of distance) to my car/pick up point. If I'm even one step behind someone then it's all for nothing. There's no way I'll be able to drive out of the station road without having to do some sort of car slalom.

People of Martin's Heron (and thereabouts) - PLEASE WAKE UP!

Floaters

On my way into work I walk across the River Thames - between London Waterloo and Embankment. Last week, whilst making this now habitual trek, I saw what turned out to be a human body floating face down the river.

Lovely.

Anyhow - I stuck around for a bit too long (to rubber neck) - and morbidly watched the guys down by the pier go out and fetch it/him/her. Then I tootled off to work (now late).

What has prompted this post is that I'm a little bit disturbed by the lack of news coverage since then... surely a (presumably) dead body floating in the Thames is news worthy?

Apparently not.

Marmite. Did you know...

You either love it or hate it. But regardless of its culinary properties - Marmite has been found to have a wonderful property. Read below fellow Marmitians.

I am not a red head. I have no ginger-gene. Yet bizarrely I seem to have developed a few ginger-ish side-burn hairs over the last 6 months or so. I try to ignore them, but now and then - when the light is just right - I catch a glint of reddy-gold in the mirror.

Marmite, it seems, can cure this. A healthy dollop of marmite spread liberally across your sideburns and left to 'mature' or 'marinate' overnight can give a long lasting dye affect for weeks and weeks.

Marmite your sins away. Do it.

Dean Gaffney - I'm a celebrity, get me out of here!

Anyone who just missed this on ITV has missed out on what was quite possibly the funniest thing on TV for a long, long time.

It was so funny I was actually crying.

Can't wait till some You-Tubes it.

Death by Umbrella

After only one week of working in London I have nearly had my throat sliced open THREE times....

I have therefore decided that each umbrella-selling store needs to set a policy whereby anyone shorter than me (so that's 5'8" and a half) is banned from making a purchase. Especially if they can't be courteous enough to at least try to move their umbrella out of the way.