well, we've just had a new coffee machine delivered in the office. Much excitement and milling around. I took the brave step of pressing the button for the first cup.
There was whirring. There was gurgling. And lo, a cup of coffee. Which actually tastes of coffee! unlike the first machine, which dispensed brown sludge.

However the machine has realised its mistake and is now showing a 'Please contact operator' message.

The coffee is actually quite nice though, which makes a pleasant change.

current music: Still Tangerine Dream. Hey, it's a long track, ok?

ages ago we used to have a coffee machine (and this is when I was still at school) where it was possible, for those who bothered to work out the codes, to order

1: Lime flavoured coffee
2: Fizzy chocalate
3: Explosive Tea
and 4: An empty plastic cup costing 50p



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

ah we can get the empty plastic cup, but it only costs 20p. That's progress for you.

Explosive Tea sounds like fun....

Well, the machine is 'fixed'. The coffee now has a more chemically twang to it.

I worked for Yorkshire Electricity for a few weeks. They had a vending machine that produced a hot brown liquid that was not quite tea, and another that was not quite coffee. At least the third one was quite like chocolate.

and the machine now has a large 'out of order' sign on it.

joy.

1 hour, 46 minutes to go.

The only use for 'not quite tea' that occurrs to me offhand would be in the HHGttG Infocom computer game.

There was a bit where having both tea and not tea was necessary to convince a door that you were intelligent so it would let you into Marvin's Pantry.

Odd game, which is hardly surprising.



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"I've often said that the difference between British and American SF TV series is that the British ones have three-dimensional characters and cardboard spaceships, while the Americans do it the other way around."
--Ross Smith

I played that for a while but got frustrated at being killed unless you did the first section in exactly the right order at the right time.

Karen: I can think of an ultra-comfortable front-fastening bra which may suit you very well. It's not pretty, but it's extremely soft and it goes up to serious "goddess" sizes. It's in the Ulla Helen range, and you can find it on David's website (www.doublerainbow.co.uk, in case you missed the original post). Unfortunately I don't know anything at all about Australian sizes, but in English sizes it goes up to a 56 back size and something like a G cup, if my memory serves me correctly. There is sizing and fitting information on the site which should help you convert. Hope this helps.

Ben: have fun, and don't fall off anything precarious.

Dave: repeatedly being killed? What are you, a cat? ;-)



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

Thanks Sarah - appreciate the website and comments.

The other night I woke up and thought "did I write about my breasts and bra usage on a public forum? oh no was it a nightmare?" and felt/feel very embarrassed now. Will go back to reading and smiling to myself in privacy of own home!

Karen: Yes, but it isn't one of *those* forums, so nobody will get confused.

I know there's a high proportion of medical cases around here, so has anybody got any tips for ankle supports? I've turned my ankle, and tubi-grip is already annoying me.



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

Claire says (from the lofty position of SRN ret'd) that all alternative support is even more annoying than Tubigrip, and what you should do is rest by propping your foot so it is higher than your hip (when sitting). This will help reduce the swelling. And if you must walk about, use a stick.



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I am very interested in the Universe. I am specialising in the Universe and everything surrounding it. - E. L. Wisty

Cheers - already doing that, so good to know.



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

And an ice pack would be a good idea, too. (I used to be in the St John Ambulance...)

That's for Ben's ankle, by the way. Just to avoid any possible ambiguity here.



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

even better than an ice pack would be an ice bath...you get better covereage. (As a former semi-pro volleyball player, I've had my share of turned and sprained ankles...you know you've done it a lot when you have permanent black and blue 'scars' about 4" above your ankle bones!)

If you add about 2 trays worth of ice cubes to about 4-5 liters of water, it does really well and should cover you up to about 3" above your ankle. Keep your foot in there for about 10 minutes then out for 10 then back in for 10 then out and keep elevated. You'd be amazed at how much faster it will heal as long as you stay off of it.

FYI, swelling is nature's way of forming a "cast" and keeping the injured joint immobilized. Unfortunately for nature, some quasi cro-magnun stepped out in the snow to hunt even though he was hurt and figured out that cold makes the swelling go away. So since then, human types have learned to push their bodies more than they were designed to be pushed!

It doesn't hurt as much as it did when I bust my knee, so that's a good thing. As for the ice bath - can I come out now? It's bloody cold. My favoutrite thing to take the pain away is alcohol, although that had at least a part to play in getting me into this state!



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

Summer before last, me and loads of others were helping a friend to repair her garden. Eds lives in a particularly steep bit of Sheffield: the road in front of her house is about 20' below the level of the front door, and the road behind her house is level with the roof...There are very few flat bits in her garden.
The back terraces collapsed one day, just as she was in another city, getting ready for a job interview. (Her other half at time phoned to say "Don't worry, but who do we have house insurance with ?").
Collapsed bit of land apparently wasn't responsibility of anyone and builder next door quoted £10,000 for repairs. So on promise of Bar-B-Q, pizza, cakes, nibbles and drinks, her friends turned out in force to do the job over two weeks.
I spent a Sat afternoon carrying rocks, dumping rubble and shovelling debris, being careful about my back and easing off for a while when it started to ache. Brilliant. All that heavy labour and not even any blisters, as I had the sense to bring gloves.
About 6.00, I nipped up to the loo. On the way back, made catastrophic error regarding bottom step and ended up crumpled in small heap at foot of stairs. Took months before right ankle was the same again.

amazing joints, ankles...they enable us to walk yet they seem to be the most susceptible to damage.

Price you pay for evolution, innit? That and a bad back. There is a series about human evolution starting this week on BBC (Walking with Cavemen) which advances the theory that the prime evolutionary benefit of walking upright was that the energy saved by doing so allowed two-legged apes to have sex more often and thus outbreed the other apes.

If using fewer legs allows one to have more sex, I may take up hopping.



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I am very interested in the Universe. I am specialising in the Universe and everything surrounding it. - E. L. Wisty

Aaah so that's where the 7th Day Advent Hoppists come from.

PSD: did you ever actually get your handcart?