Escalator

Having spent a great evening, enjoying the company of Bambla, Phat and a large smoked chicken sandwich - we headed back through the mall, to find our cars.

Hemingways Mall is on a lean diet.  Escalators to and from unimportant, unused parts of the mall... like the parking lot, are switched off after dark.  Escalator temporarily stairs. Sorry for the convenience. (Hedberg)

There were two escalators, an up and a down.  The down escalator was on.  Technically, we could have used the 'up'... since it was infact a Swiss flavoured stationary, but we headed for the mobile down.  Only to be met by a man running up the down.  A rebel, excersizing... apparently... and enjoying is right to shun convention.

In fairness, it was after 9... if you're looking for a thrill in East London... or anything open, you have to work with what you've got.

Corenza C

I took a sick day today.  Things took a downward turn on Friday when I woke up with a scratchy throat.  Far be it for me to whine, after a weekend of feeling below average, I'm definitely on the mend.

I've had great success in the last few encounters with sickness by allying myself with Sinumax.  This time around, I took Cath's advice and went with Corenza C.  C for vitamin C I think.  Thing is, I had all this time on my hands, and my experience with this new pill was unlike the heart pounding, highly strung pseudoephedrine induced Sinu-coaster... so I wikipedia'ed the active ingredient in Corenza.  Phenylephrine.

It seems to have risen to prominence after 'they' discovered that pseudoephedrine can quite easily be reduced to crystal meth.  Thus its become subject to regulators and drug companies have switched to phenylephrine to sidestep them.

However, time being aplenty, I then googled 'How much does crytal meth cost', and someone suggested around $100 a gram.  While my 120mg Sinumax tablets cost about R35 for 10... and thus using ridiculous extrapolation, pseudoephedrine is about R40 per gram.

So maybe drug companies just did the figures and discovered there was a 'premium pricing' alternative, which in many cases is subject no legislation... hard as society may try.

Potato and Leek

Last night's soup evening with another cell was another capacity extending moment.  I'd scheduled a double batch of Potato & Leek after work and a stop at Spar... and then I offered someone a lift.  All with a 7pm deadline, in Abbotsford... which in local terms is a full-on roadtrip.

It would have been fine, except we don't really do kitchen equipment at May Street.  So my two and a half litres of soup was being transported in a 2.5l pot.  You do the math.  Simple division should suffice.

I set off with my 2.5L Potato & Leek G-meter.  It was an eye opener.  Each remotely sharp bit of braking was punished with a slap of soup onto the tray.  Mighty good call on the tray.  I imagine that spilling that much liquid potato would be literally the 5th or 6th worst thing you could spill in your car; beaten only by paint, motor oil, a barrel of pilchard juice or the full contents of a government officials' bladder.  After a staff party.

Learners License

I hit the home straight today.  The last step to getting me back on two wheels legally was Learners License; the Trilogy.

I feel like I'm an old hand at it now, but things got off to a rocky start.  The examiner walks you through 4 demo questions, just to make sure everyone knows how to do a multiple choice test.  More on that later.

Question 1:  What is the most important rule on the roads?
a) Dont break the speed limit
b) Be careful and courteous at all times
c) Keep left as far as is safe.

She prompted her class for the answer and I confidently said B, while literally everyone other person in the room said C.  C was correct.  It was a little awkward.

Fortunately I prevailed.

I chatted to a father - waiting for his son to write, while waiting for our marks.  He proudly told me his son had been driving around that morning by himself.  Sans-license.  I should probably have a problem with it, except some people who passed needed help understnding how multiple choice works... so I'm going to let it slide.

Stuff

I watched a skit by a comedian called George Carling once.  It was called Stuff.  I suspect it was a little on the foul side, but he made some good points.  Humans collect stuff.

Following a recent windfall... of stuff... from Dad's house. I went to Game to source some plastic chests to replace the haphazard box collection (aka cockroach funfair), in my garage.

While I was at the shops (Game), I noticed a lady pushing a trolley down the aisles.  She clearly wasn't an employee... but, she was wearing a bright pink top, pushing a bright pink trolley in Game.  I was "this close" (thats pretty close, Kietsphat) to asking her if she worked there.  It would have been epic.  Sensitivty caught me unfortunately.

I found the plastic containers (black).  The sticker on them said "Addis... Our black is green".  George made a great point in another skit... he said, "We worry we're killing the world with plastic... the world isn't going anywhere... We are!"