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The great coastal round-up

Hello all. My repeated apologies for the paucity of posts, I've been working every day for the last two weeks and am generally too shattered at the end of the day. My computer time is largely limited to phd and teaching related matters at the moment. this state of affairs probably won't continue (I'm making sure I take some time off over the next couple of weeks, as well as most of january). What work, you cry? Well, I'm currently helping a couple of places out by sorting out their waiting on staff, tidying up the bar / putting various managerial stuff in order / organising booking procedures / training staff / that sort of thing. A short term solution, but an effective one. It's rather enjoyable, if I'm being honest. You all know how boringly evangelical I can get about standards of service, quality of stock and all round enjoyment of the dining experience, so it's good to get the opportunity to put some of these theories into practice with a free hand (which was what I was missing). Come the new year, however, I shall be looking for something a bit more permanent to supplement the teaching thing, so it's gratifying to note that I've got a few options to mull over, more of this later, presumably.

Unrelated matter #1 It is with great sorrow that I report to all fans of Ormskirk weirdness that the council, following the drearily predictable outcry from the lumpen masses, whipped up into something approaching religious fervour by the Advertiser, has withdrawn their planning application for the EIGHT FUCKING METRES TALL BRONZE GLOWING SEED PODS. Local opposition ranged in its reasoning from "we want something from the kiddies" to "it's not by a local designer" (this last complaint being from - wait for it - alocal designer! Who was no doubt acting in the civic interest). Coastalblog is unhappy about the council's decision, and is considering hiring ex-Liverpool F.C. manager Roy Evans to front a "save our EIGHT FUCKING METRES TALL BRONZE GLOWING SEED PODS" campaign, on the grounds that half the blokes in Ormskirk think he's a "Top Bloke", and the other half have had an "interesting time" in his shed at some point. Failing that, I'm reliably informed that Bobby Ball "will work for seeds."

Unrelated matter #2 This morning's execution of Stanley 'Tookie' Williams went ahead after his appeal was denied by Gov. Schwarzenegger with the words "without apology and atonement there can be no redemption." leaving aside the questionable ethics of leaving life or death decisions in the hands of a man whose mind has been irredeemably warped by Hollywood's Black and white Morality for Dummies just say that sentence to yourself in your best Schwarzenegger accent. Brr, eh?

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