Get On, Clip In, Fall Off

Minor irritations

Well, I'm back from foreign, where I attended the wedding of Sabine and Gabe in the quite lovely Maximilianskapelle in the Neues Schloß, Oberschleißheim. There was lots of food, the bride looked (of course) fantastic, the groom looked (of course) efficient yet slightly shellshocked, and a good time was had by all. It was a shame I couldn't stay longer than I did, but work and such meant that it had to be a weekend trip.

Being a weekend trip, this meant I didn't have an excuse for a train trip to Munich and instead had to resort to that second-best of all travel mediums - flying. The flights were okay, but I have to register extreme irritation at the cartoon in the "for people who think they're important businessfolk" section of BA's in-flight magazine. An Important Man In A Suit says "I've found the solution to all my IT problems - just reboot until it's fixed!" while, predictably, repeatedly kicking the guy who's trying to fix the errant machine in the backside. Ah-harharhar. Of course, if you want to add any more stereotypes, the IT guy is of course nerdy and goofy-looking and wears glasses. Nice to know that IT professionals are considered worthy of respect as an important and essential part of the company infrastructure, eh?

And then the train journey back from Gatwick was a trip on a stopping train formed of a knackered old South Central 4-CIG which reminded me of how much better South West Trains have looked after the interiors of their older stock than the other companies who use them. The journey from Gatwick to Clapham Junction stops at or passes lots of grim-looking, graffiti-ridden stations where various generally sour-faced, miserable-looking people got on and off before reaching the somewhat brighter lights of Croydon, whereupon it traversed some wasteland in the middle of a big junction before dropping me at Clapham Junction. A shiny new South West Trains Class 450 took me the rest of the way home, with only a brief visit from a beggar working his way down the train with the I-only-need-a-few-quid-for-a-hostel routine disturbing the peace.

So - great weekend, depressing journey home. I have taken my revenge by spending today working on a few business ideas while watching my way through far too many episodes of The Prisoner and admiring my shiny new laptop bag made by the alarmingly trendy Crumpler.