Hugely busy day. Now watching United on my phone while socialising and watching riding in the sunshine.
Out for dinner later.
And there’s a real danger that I might forget to blog.
So here you go. This will fill any chance of a gap.
More tomorrow.
I’ve been going to the same hairdressing place for several (or more) years now. But no more.
The service has been slipping a bit for a while – nothing really bad – just not as good as it was.
And in retrospect, while the signs were there, I kept going along because there was no one thing that was bad enough to warrant moving elsewhere.
Until today.
A mess up with the online booking system. My stylist running so late that they called me over an hour ahead of time to make another arrangement. But then my original guy was free the entire time I was there and the new guy they gave me was running 20 minutes late. The lady washing my hair fresh in from her smoke break so her breath and hands smelt of fags. The new guy trying to sell me stuff the whole time – NOT FROM THE SALON – FROM HIS HAIRDRESSING SIDE HUSTLE. This included (but was not limited to) prescription drugs that he gets “direct from the supplier”.
Breaking off regularly from his work to chat with colleagues, friends, a passing spaniel called Keith. Michael Jackson’s worst hits (Invincible (2001)) loudly on the music system. A rather poor haircut.
Thankfully, I have the good looks to carry it off.
Wax instead of gel. Rushing me out so he could get his next client in just 15 minutes late.
Ms Fag Hands and the actual haircut itself were enough grounds to find somewhere else but overall the whole experience was just horrible today. I couldn’t wait to get out and I can’t wait not to go back.
I think once you’ve worked in a service industry and dealt with the public, you understand that not everything is going to go right 100% of the time. But you still do your best. You’re still professional, right?
And I’m really not a needy customer. I just want the basics done right, and I know from personal experience that that salon can do it.
Or… it could.
Onward and upward. But just not there.
Somewhere else.
Spotted online the other week. This:
Clever.
Still, while it might be a steep learning curve, I’m sure it will all end well.
Oh. Oh dear.
Actually, even since I wrote the title, they’re already becoming less mixed.
Because while these guys are very cute, all I can hear is their parents constant honking.
And as my regular reader will know, Egyptian Geese are far from my favourite birds.
Perhaps in an effort to prevent immediate slaughter by means of distraction, their chicks are quite cute. However, Mum and Dad are understandably very protective, which makes them even more unpleasant to be around: now they are noisy and aggressive.
And has it even worked? The neighbourhood Whatsapp group was abuzz with “six ickle chicks” messages earlier, but when I dutifully went out to get some pics, I could only find three. Have the others been sequestered away somewhere for safekeeping, or have they already been eaten by the neighbourhood cats? The one that tries to hang around about under our bird table would be my main suspect, and I would fully support a full-on anserine attack on it, whether or not any accusations of goosecide can be proven.
In the meantime, the next few weeks seem very likely to be full of goose noise.
Joy.
Just the other day, I was saying about just how good some of the stuff on Youtube is.
Here’s another example.
I’m not a fan of New York or films. I’ve never been there, and I don’t watch them. But this was just a very clever way of sharing the recent cultural (movie) history of the city, and I even got most of the references.
Beautifully made – the video and the map – again demonstrating the talent and innovation that is out there, even on such a small channel. He got me to click the Subscribe button.
And no surprise to me that one of the first commenters was Casey Neistat: similar vibe right there. And that’s a recommendation if ever there was one.