Sunday. Except no Sun.

 - and no daughter, either.  She's off with her boyfriend.

ITEM THE FIRST

Bad puns aside, tomorrow is Midsummer's Day.  What's the weather forecast?  Let me guess without checking - cloud, wind, rain.

<checks BBC website>

Yes.



I think bad weather must have driven us to acquire an empire overseas.  It's no coincidence that the places we conquered were sunny and hot, surely?  Britain never tried to conquer Norway (and it's only a hop, skip and jump over the North Sea) because it is Cold And Snowy.  No.  We sailed around the world and got ourselves settled in India - which by reputation was sunny and hot, with interesting cooking.  And along the way we got lots of Africa - again, sunny and hot - and America.  Which is mostly sunny and hot.  I think the conquerors got a bit too enthusiastic and carried on too far north and thus we acquired Canada, and then nobody else wanted to take it off our hands because it is - join in on the chorus here - Cold And Snowy.  What is the very definition of A Tropical Paradise?  The Caribbean.  Who conquered the Caribbean?  Us Brits.  We even snaffled Caribbean islands the French had gotten to first, because the French have the Riviera to fall back on after all, and us islanders cannot console ourselves with the thought that Brighton is on a par with Bermuda.  Then there's the Antipodes.  Australia is a giant baking-hot blue-skied sun-filled hot-spot, and you can always nip next door to New Zealand to cool off in summer.

So there you have it:  Connolly's Interpretation of Colonisation and Conquest.

The Rest of the World watch out - two miserable summers in a row, if we get to three those British SAD* genes might get triggered ...


* No, not "Seasonal Affective Disorder" - "SEIZE AND DESTROY!"


ITEM THE SECOND



USDAW advised, in one of it's online communications, that employees ought to beware of posting their opinions about work on social websites.  This is a real issue and I have known people who were dismissed due to posting negative stuff that was subsequently discovered by their employers.  The implication is that posting negative material can get you sacked.

What about positive posts? 

I like my job.  It's a challenge and forces me to think, with different situations and scenarios on a daily basis.  My response to colleagues looking for work elsewhere was "They'll have to carry me out of here in a body-bag!".  I like the people I work with - clever and diligent.  I even like my managers and am sad to see one moving on into a secondment role away from our team.  Now, if this post ever comes to the attention of my employers (and I have been scrupulously vague about who they are) will I get big fat  cash bonus?

Probably about the same time our weather improves. Well, got to go - that zombie novel won't write itself.

Pip pip!