New Toy

The new netbook has arrived, thanks to a remarkable moment of common sense when the delivery guys left it with a neighbour, rather than me having to head out to Livingston to collect it...

Busy old day, much like the rest of the week, with huge amounts of frustration borne out of a continuing realisation that I'm employed as a skivvy scapegoat whose opinion means nothing until backed up by external advisors, and even then it's the external advisors that get the credit.

Aaaaaaaaaaaanyway, I got out for a wee while today to the opticians. Mind you, when did punctuality become so lacking? 11.15 was my appointment time, and ten minutes later, having studiously avoided the dull golf mags in the waiting area, I got taken in.

Personally I blame the rise of the mobile phone. It's not actually that important to be on time anymore because you can just call someone to let them know you're running late. Okay, so the likes of doctors' surgeries and so on have always run late, but it's now entered the public subconscious that it's perfectly okay to run late.

A friend of mine had a colleague who turned up late most mornings, and every day would blame 'something interesting on GMTV'. Now putting aside the oxymoron of 'something interesting' being on GMTV, the fact that this was accepted as a genuine excuse is remarkable (even more so than my friend being asked to stop coming in so early because it reflected badly on the rest of the team).

Everyone should try this for the month. Make a plan; stick to it.