Turdus Merula

Quiet day down the river gave the more 'common' birds a chance to show off...

Had to escape the office. Just one of those days. Our finance manager sent an email to our three directors, copying me in, asking one of them specifically for an answer on an insurance question that has been outstanding for some time. He responded, copying everyone in, saying that I was supposed to have spoken with the finance manager clarifying a couple of points. This I was asked to do in November. 24th November. The day I sent him a message with those very clarifications. It gets worse. 10th December our 'fm' had emailed him asking for an answer, and he replied saying, yip, you guessed it, I was supposed to have got clarifications for him. At that point I replied saying I had already replied on 24th November, and this time copied in the 'fm'. So today I replied saying I had already replied on the 24th November and 10th December, copying in the original band of three directors and 'fm'. Some hours passed while he digested this. Then a response came, saying that he remembers those emails, and the 'information' contained within them, but that he meant clarifications on two of the original clarifications which, to even an untrained eye, were perfectly simple to understand.

I gave up at that point.

Then later on in the day got chased up for something that I'd only asked him about that very morning. I get 2-3 hours to answer; he gets 2-3 months. At least at the moment my CV is actually with another company being considered. It's not actually that he forgot I'd answered his query twice that gets me most, it's that everyone else is copied in, making it look like I haven't done my job, meaning I've got to somehow defend myself without sounding 'whiney'. Difficult balance.

The day hadn't really started well, what with taking a longer, more congested, route to work due to the cyclepath being ice covered in a thin film of water. Friction is overrated anyway. And then on that longer route getting a puncture. Still. Better than taking the car or bus. I whistled as I worked on the flat.

So the Daily Wail attack takes a backseat - not that there wasn't material today - the sidebar containing, within a couple of stories, Geri Halliwell looking no different to when he was in the Spice Girls (or if anything better) being slammed for dressing 'younger' than she actually is, and Demi Moore being praised for looking younger than she actually is. And there was a story, and actual article, on an X Factor finalist (as if I'd know who that was?!?!?) because she'd worn a hat. Honestly. They reckoned it was an 'odd' hat, being a black trilby with a flower on the side. I can only presume the 'journalist' involved in writing that gave up on journalism in favour of seeing how many Weetabix they could eat in one go....

There were also the usual 'elf and safety and Muslim/Pakistani/Bloody Foreigner stories. But I am actually beginning to wonder if I can take having to consciously read the Wail every day. I guess it's telling that after yesterday's blip everyone seems to have they're own name for the Wail (Daily Hate; Daily Fail; Hate Mail).