Like a Boss

I’ve been watching Undercover Boss for a fair while now. Just how thick are some of these people? Obviously, people are going to see it; including colleagues as it’s promoting their business within the public domain. But the amount of corporate strategies that they abandon clearly shows that these individuals have no sense of corporate teamwork. Another thing is that all of the colleagues seem to be always involved with a medical battle fighting cancer. But I think that the strangest one of all goes to Gigi’s Cupcakes, with the CEO’s remarkable sexist comments about needing a man to do the heavy lifting. This comes from a hypocritical single mother who has abandoned all family ties (though she does learn from the experience of others during her time undercover so it does show that sometimes the boss has to change too). It’s amazing to see how they struggle in the most menial jobs; which causes them to invest towards the end of the programme.   

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

After going into a high street bookshop and asking which book by Jane Eyre would I like to order, I gave up and ordered it on-line. It’s a tale of a naïve orphaned girl who wishes to remain in her cocoon but is forced into boarding school by her aunt. Here we witness her rebellious spirit turn into a questioning one; not for educational purposes but to learn more about the world around her. When she leaves school and enters the servitude of Mr. Rochester, she is almost shy and becomes totally obedient to the events placed around her, with her rebellious spirit gone forever. This is why Mr. Rochester’s manner easily confuses her and is able to keep his secrets from her very easily; from hiding his identify to his mad wife in the attic. But the best thing about Jane Eyre is that it’s a book of action; unlike other Victorian novels where the plot is merely of the gossip of others; Bronte actually creates novel experiences for her characters to react to.

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Meeting the Top Beer Crew

I’ve met the Top Beer Crew! On our tour through Birmingham, I was introduced to Kevin and his team who make films about beer! We met in the Post Office Vaults where I enjoyed a golden ale called Autopilot from the Wingtip brewery in Hampshire. They’re based in Solihull and travel round the country to document excellent beer. I probably wouldn’t be able to keep up with them though. The pub itself is quite small, and is modelled in the style of a beer café; but its one room can make things very cramped if you’re not lucky enough to get a seat. But they do have an extensive bottled beer menu, which is what the Brummies threw themselves into as soon as they got there. But I thought the strength was a bit too much considering this was only our second stop. While I was here, I also tried a Shunters Pole from the Muirhouse Brewery in Derbyshire. Both beers were in better condition than than its sister pub, the Wellington.

Captain Correlli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres

Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a beautiful tale of love in a time of conflict; and there are great moments hilarious created from the stubbornness of the characters. After a large focus on the political picture of war-torn southern Europe (where there is a great monologue from the Duce of Italy), we are introduced to Pelagia and her father, and of their Greek traditions in Cephallonia. The novel solely focuses on the little people, of how no-one wants to fight the war and that it is forced upon all parties. Bernieres uses a combination of both first and third person narratives to tell his tale; so that we gain an understanding from all perspectives, and learn of their forbidden love, heartbreaks and ambitions. There are some great scenarios such as the unexploded mine, but also some tragic moments like the shooting of the Italian prisoners. The story ends with a heart-warming reunion of the lovers after so many years; albeit with its moments of comedy.

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West Midlands Burns Crawl: The Wellington, Birmingham

After informing the organiser that I was running late, I found out that the crawl wouldn’t be moving on for a good hour, which gave me time to catch up in the Wellington with a half of Jard from Fyne Ales. When I learnt that the next pub was just down the road at the Post Office Vaults, I thought it was hardly an inspired route of Birmingham, but dove right in and met my fellow crawlers. I tried to stay out of rounds as there were some heavy drinkers about, and didn’t to have to want to keep up. I also decided to stay at the low end of the beers, so my next beer was an interesting gingerbread mild from Riverhead brewery in Nottingham. These beers were ok, but probably weren’t being shifted enough which affects their beer quality, which is a shame as there were fourteen other beers to choose from. 

How old is my laptop?

As I concluded my investigations of my aunt’s computer, I started wondering just how old my machine is. It freezes at times but catches up slowly; and does have to re-load the odd web page every now and again but it’s battling through. The annoying thing is the screen, it just attracts so much dust, and also it’s very hard to see it in direct sunlight. I may need to get a blackout blind fitted, but when you compare it to other machines, it is considerably worse. So I started to google ways to tell how hold your machine is. Now the geeks out there have got really picky; are you looking for the date your bought your machine, the date that it was born, the date of each component; or the most user friendly obvious; when was it first turned on? How dork are you guys out there? I was told to check the receipt, check the BIOS file, run command prompts that loaded and vanished before I could read them, and check the hard drive properties. Eventually, I remembered that one of the first things that I did when I got my computer was to copy all my files from my old machine to the new one, and I checked a few of the photo folders which I knew to pre-date the machine and got the date from when I created the folders. So I’ve had it new from the shop for six years, and I don’t really care how long it was from the factory to the shop because I wasn’t using then.

It's survey time!

It’s survey time for the Good Beer Guide, and my plan was to pop over during a quiet period, ask the staff if all the details are up to date, sup a pint then catch up on my blogging. As soon as I walked through the door, I saw a couple I know having a meal. I waved to acknowledge them then headed straight for the bar, but then they came over and invited me to join us. So as soon as I’d finished questioning the staff, I headed over to watch them finish their meal. But they were very accommodating, and once they’d finished swapping food (which was quite an odd order, steak and mash with scampi and a corn on the cob) we got each other up to date. Before I left, I headed over to the bar once more to get a quick snapshot of their regular beers and cider and made a mental note of their prices.