Chilled Beverages

A new vending machine has landed at my office. It dispenses chilled beverages in cans; orange juice, apple juice, several varieties of cola, something called 'Sprite Zero', Perrier water, we got class in this office. Although I have been known to partake of the odd fruit juice or mineral water, I never drink anything sugary that our American friends might describe as 'soda'. I am however fascinated by the machine.

Up until yesterday morning, obtaining a chilled beverage meant opening the fridge door, removing the can of choice, and closing the fridge door again. Now it has become automated. First one must find the beverage of choice on the vending machine shelf, then enter the associated alpha-numeric code on the keypad. Then, and this is the exciting part, a robot arm thing leaps to the shelf holding the can, sucks it off the shelf and whizzes it to the dispensing chute. And the fun doesn't stop there. The arm sort of tips the can into the chute and it disappears, only to reappear a moment later in a perspex cylinder. Said cylinder then rotates slowly until a little door faces front and a hand can be inserted to remove the can.

All this is of course massively over-elaborate, and in fact not even terribly reliable. A can of apple juice has I notice, already been dropped by the arm into the gutter at the bottom of the machine. It is however enormously fun to watch. I was intending to make a little movie of the thing in action today, but alas, I forgot to bring the camera. I could do it with my phone, but the quality simply wouldn't be there.

I've taken a day off on Monday because the gas boiler is being serviced. I don't know when I will get around to making the vending machine movie. I guess it will have to be Tuesday.

As an aside here, the reason I don't drink sugary drinks from cans is entirely down to image. It seems very un-British to me. That's not to say that there is anything wrong with it. It just seems wrong for me to do it. In the same way, I would never hold my fork in my right hand as Americans do. Even on those few occasions when I have found myself in North America, I have never eaten that way. Some things just don't feel right.

In other news, the IT bod has actually come out of his dark cellar HQ and taken my laptop for a rebuild. This I think was a result of my visit this morning. I lost all dignity and actually begged the guy. It's not in my nature to beg, but these things occasionally have to be done.