Miscellany

The weekend in Wales was hectic. And long. And in places, stressful. On the Saturday I was in the sort of mood that meant that what I really wanted above all was space. With my Nan and my parents around, and big concerts to go to, that really wasn't gonna happen.

The concert was cool. This year the Liverpool Phil was backed up by *pauses to make sure he gets it right* the Buy As You View Cory Band - a Welsh Brass Band that judging by the accolades it's gained this year could well be the best Band in Britain at the moment.

I'm still not entirely comfortable with the flag-waving aspect of these dos. Waving a Welsh flag around is certainly less ominous for me than waving a Union Jack but there is still a vague undercurrent that I'm really not sure about. It's hard to know where the line between Patriotism and Nationalism lies, particularly with it being such a thin line, but to be safe I'll quite happily steer clear of both most of the time.

We bought (well, I bought, but I bought it with our money and I bought it for us, so the end result is the same) some magnetic poetry to go on the fridge. This is something that we've been meaning to get for a while as a more innovative way of turning the fridge into a noticeboard. Make that noticeboard and playground. Poetic playground naturally. We got the Original set and the Erotic set, which should achieve some interesting results.

A e-mailshot was sent to everyone at work over the weekend, reminding us of the equal opportunities and anti-harassment policies of the company. This email originated in the states, and from the flavour of legalese employed in it should probably only have been sent to stateside employees, but it made interesting reading. It had all the usual attributes that you shouldn't discriminate against such as race, sex, creed, etc. It also had "U.S. Veteran Status", which is where the clue that it was more of a US-only memo came from. However, it didn't have sexuality on the list, so by omission it is implicitly okay to pick on gay employees, provided they're not ex-servicemen who lost a leg in 'Nam.

I know that doesn't follow over here. I know that the UK Company's policy includes sexuality in the equal opportunities and anti-harassment stuff. I don't think it includes U.S. Veteran Status (although I could be wrong ;-)).

I've started work on a new banner. However, a) the sequence is far too long for it to work well in circulation, and b) the content is ascerbic enough that it would probably never get approved in circulation. The work in progress is here if you want a look. I think you'll get what I mean about it being unsuitable when you see it. Except perhaps if you're a reader from outside diaryland, in which case some of it may just make you think "Huh?". Sorry E ;-)

It's 12 days until my brother's Wedding, and I have toothache.