27 October 2006
This is an e-mail the company manager got today from someone in the office:
"Hi
I just wanted to let you know that I accidentally brought home a piece of company property yesterday which jumped out of my bag when I got home.
When I told my manager, he asked me to find out if you wanted me to bring it back."
It was a mouse....
Eek...
I think it's safe to say that we have an infestation. Rentokil came in a week ago but the receptionists are still shrieking and people can hear scuttling in the ceilings.
My agent called and asked if I thought I could pass for a size 14. The cheek of it.
"Hi
I just wanted to let you know that I accidentally brought home a piece of company property yesterday which jumped out of my bag when I got home.
When I told my manager, he asked me to find out if you wanted me to bring it back."
It was a mouse....
Eek...
I think it's safe to say that we have an infestation. Rentokil came in a week ago but the receptionists are still shrieking and people can hear scuttling in the ceilings.
My agent called and asked if I thought I could pass for a size 14. The cheek of it.
Labels: work
18 October 2006
I just had my first even Mandarin lesson. Wah! Talk about total immersion. It turns out that my teacher speaks very little English - so it's Mandarin or broke. Fortunately, my Mandarin is not so lacking as I thought. It's amazing what you can dredge up when you have to. She also speaks some German, so it may turn out to be trilingual lessons from now on. Still, for £15 an hour for a one-to-one lesson I cannot complain.
Dan shi, xian zhai wo de nao zi huai le...
Dan shi, xian zhai wo de nao zi huai le...
Labels: language
17 October 2006
We had a very peculiar day yesterday. First the fire alarm went off for the first time since I've been there, so we all trooped out and I went to get lunch.
Then, after lunch there was a great mouse infestation and there was great shrieking from the receptionists and much mayhem. In the end they were moved into a different room and the mice had free rein of the basement and entrance hall.
After that all the servers went down and we couldn't access our e-mails or the internet. I suspect that problem was mouse related.
Then, after lunch there was a great mouse infestation and there was great shrieking from the receptionists and much mayhem. In the end they were moved into a different room and the mice had free rein of the basement and entrance hall.
After that all the servers went down and we couldn't access our e-mails or the internet. I suspect that problem was mouse related.
Labels: work
11 October 2006
This post from Eating Asia is the kind of press Muslims should be getting. These are the sort of people who just get on with their lives just like everyone else. I really can't stand the stupid Western press that just makes things worse by sensationalising negative Muslim stories. For instance, the Evening Standard recently had a headline - Muslim Taxi Driver Bans Guide Dog. Well, frankly, I've been banned from taxis because the taxi driver just couldn't be bothered, which is a worse reason if you ask me.
Quiet day at the office. Have started planning Christmas dos and sorting out Christmas cards for the office. How depressing.
I just learnt that a secretary in Mandarin is a 'mi shu' or 'secret book'. That's quite nice, I think.
Quiet day at the office. Have started planning Christmas dos and sorting out Christmas cards for the office. How depressing.
I just learnt that a secretary in Mandarin is a 'mi shu' or 'secret book'. That's quite nice, I think.
Labels: language, politics, work
10 October 2006
I've found the best podcast website for learning conversational Mandarin. It's called Chinesepod and breaks down all the idioms and things that are so hard to figure out and they chat about cultural stuff. The podcasts are free, but you can also pay to have lesson plans and back-up exercises, grammar and more vocab. It's REALLY good.
Labels: language
8 October 2006
A friend of BB's says that his abiding impression of East Dulwich is mothers with prams and people queuing for meat. I've noticed that there are suddenly lots of Eastern Europeans on the bus everyday learning English.
I wonder if the two are related...
I wonder if the two are related...
Labels: east dulwich
6 October 2006
Dull, dull, dull.... that's how work is at the moment - full of inexplicably stupid, inefficient and dull people who think they are the essence of wit, professionalism and intelligence.
I spend most of my life having to deal with stupid courier companies, travel consultants and the bloody stupid secretary whom I am forced to work alongside with. All her redeeming qualities are eclipsed spectacularly by her complete lack of interest in her work and ability to make a mountain out of the minutest molehill.
I was forced to spend 6 hours yesterday fixing a monumental travel booking ****-up that she made as she'd blithely gone on holiday and the travellers are travelling today. They were set to go on a 15 day trip of the Far East taking in Tokyo, Shanghai & HK and she hadn't booked them any hotels for the whole trip so I had to find them rooms during the blummin' Mid Autumn Festival holiday, had managed to book them on the wrong outbound flight (and they weren't booked on flexible tickets) and had left vague instructions with the travel company about their visas for China so that no one seemed to know what was going on. All this, after telling me that she had NOTHING to hand over to me. I hope she has a miserable holiday.
She also had the gall to tell me that I was cheating using words like 'id' and 'erg' in Scrabble because she hadn't heard of them. "Let's change the rules", she said - like she's some grand master lexicographer. "Maybe we should stick to using the Oxford English Dictionary". "They are in the flaming OED...", I did retort, while mentally carrying on, "... you stupid cow... just because you've lost every single game but one that we've ever played...*£@!%^&*". Pathetic.
I had my top on inside out at work yesterday. Had to change hurriedly in the kitchen while I was making tea. Luckily I'd dragged myself in so early that no one was around.
Thank God it's Friday...
I spend most of my life having to deal with stupid courier companies, travel consultants and the bloody stupid secretary whom I am forced to work alongside with. All her redeeming qualities are eclipsed spectacularly by her complete lack of interest in her work and ability to make a mountain out of the minutest molehill.
I was forced to spend 6 hours yesterday fixing a monumental travel booking ****-up that she made as she'd blithely gone on holiday and the travellers are travelling today. They were set to go on a 15 day trip of the Far East taking in Tokyo, Shanghai & HK and she hadn't booked them any hotels for the whole trip so I had to find them rooms during the blummin' Mid Autumn Festival holiday, had managed to book them on the wrong outbound flight (and they weren't booked on flexible tickets) and had left vague instructions with the travel company about their visas for China so that no one seemed to know what was going on. All this, after telling me that she had NOTHING to hand over to me. I hope she has a miserable holiday.
She also had the gall to tell me that I was cheating using words like 'id' and 'erg' in Scrabble because she hadn't heard of them. "Let's change the rules", she said - like she's some grand master lexicographer. "Maybe we should stick to using the Oxford English Dictionary". "They are in the flaming OED...", I did retort, while mentally carrying on, "... you stupid cow... just because you've lost every single game but one that we've ever played...*£@!%^&*". Pathetic.
I had my top on inside out at work yesterday. Had to change hurriedly in the kitchen while I was making tea. Luckily I'd dragged myself in so early that no one was around.
Thank God it's Friday...
