Wet t-shirt

Well, as I think I said in my last entry, I am now officially without a job for the first time in my life. It is depressing. I went to a few agencies today hoping to get some tempory work, but no one sounded very hopeful. This time of year is traditionally flat because everyone goes off on holiday and industry slows down apparently. Well I guess it's not time to worry yet, and my wife is standing beside me, even when I am feeling like a crap father and husband with no means of supporting his family.

Tomorrow however is my birthday. Apart from the fact that I will turn 39, yes 39, which is also depressing, I am hoping it will be a good day. The parents are apparently going to show up with some smoked trout for lunch, which is no bad thing.

This summer has been so hot and humid, it's almost like being back in Taiwan, but without the air conditioning. We had a torrential downpour on Saturday which trapped us in the town centre. We had walked into town in bright sunshine, but the heavens opened as we arrived and we were left without even an umbrella. It peed down for hours and turned Swindon into one big wet t-shirt contest. Though, being Swindon, all the contestants were overweight, foul mouthed, smoking a cigarette, and sporting tattoos.

I'm currently reading "Rama II" by Arthur C Clarke and Gentry Lee. It's a sequel to the Clarke book "Rama", published in 1973. I read Rama when I was about 14 years old (that would make it about 1981) and I didn't even know there was a sequel. I can't really remember much of the original, but that is not an obstacle. I found the book in a charity shop for £1. What a bargain! It's not written well, but the plot is good. It's been so long since I read any Clarke that I don't remember whether I rate him as a writer or not. I do remember being something of a fan in my teens, but it was definitely for the insight rather than the literary style. I'm enjoying it anyway.

I want to make a quick mention of a blog that has been making headlines lately La Petite Anglaise is a fairly ordinary blog about home and work life. It is written by a British woman living and working in Paris, bringing up a young child. It seems that the lady in question, who has never used her real name or identified her employer on her web page, has been fired for gross misconduct because the blog brought the company into disrepute.

Of course, that fact that neither author of the page, nor the firm in question were identified made a few people wonder quite how it can possibly have tarnished this firm's reputation. But management claimed that a picture of the author on the page was enough to identify the company!?

Of course, now that this case has hit the headlines the company has been identified by the international press as "Dixon Wilson", and readership of the web page in question has multiplied wildly. Didn't they think of that before they made the decision to sack this woman. Didn't anyone sugest having a quiet word with her about deleting anything contraversial?

The firm is now being sued by the author of the blog for unfair dismissal. And I leave you with this thought. If I go into a pub and say to the barman, "damn I need a beer. My boss is such a prat!", could I possibly find myself in the same position?