**Disclaimer: After spending all day wearing what feels like the world’s most uncomfortable headset, I have a feeling that this latest random selection of rants and raves may well be more ranty than usual. I’m sorry! As always, all rants and raves and moans and groans represent my personal views and opinions. And yes, I’m aware we are in the middle of a pandemic, however, I feel that I’m still allowed to have a grumble**

As is customary in my blogs, I’d like to start by saying good morning, afternoon etc to whoever takes the time to read my latest selection of rants and raves. Judging by my most recent blog stats, you will be in a small and exclusive group. I hope that you are all coping with the current situation; I must admit that the novelty of spending 99.9% of my time at home wore off several weeks ago.

As always, I’ve already waffled on far, far too much, so here is my latest selection of rants and raves. I hope that you enjoy this tiny insight into how my mind has been functioning recently.

Rant: Zoom, Microsoft Teams et al

Virtual pub quizzes and informal Zoom catch-ups with friends and family are great fun. Unfortunately, more formal Zoom work meetings are what I’d describe as a chore. I’m not a massive fan of letting work colleagues into my home albeit virtually. My home office can only be described as a dumping ground; my colleagues don’t need to see all my clutter, as for the ‘let’s see the view out of your window’ icebreaker, just no! I’m a complete technophobe so it took me far too long to suss out how to add my own background. It’s a shame I can’t improve my hair, clothes, and face.

[Source]

Like a lot of people, I’m finding that the boundaries between my work and home life are getting a little too blurred at the moment. Unfortunately, the second I’d got more confident using Zoom, my organisation introduced Microsoft Teams so I’m back at square one again. Judging by the comments on Yammer – does your organisation use Yammer? – I’m not the only person finding MS Teams a little tricky. Let’s just say I’m looking forward to the return of face-to-face meetings.

Rave: Jigsaw puzzles

At the beginning of April, I realised that I needed to find something other than watching random videos on YouTube to keep myself busy when I wasn’t working. I wanted something that wouldn’t tax my brain too much. I also wanted something other than reading that would get me away from my office, computer and, most importantly, the news.

Someone, I can’t remember who suggested jigsaw puzzles. Since the beginning of April, I’ve completed five 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles. Judging by the number of jigsaw puzzles that were out of stock on Gibsons last time I checked, a lot of people clearly had the same idea. I suspect the charity shops will be inundated when they eventually reopen.

Rant: Very British Problems

I usually find the Very British Problems Twitter account quite funny. I suspect that I’ve lost my sense of humour a little recently, but I didn’t find this recent tweet funny.

Wondering if the jogger striding towards you is expecting to pass through your body or for you to simply disappear into the air

— VeryBritishProblems (@SoVeryBritish) May 3, 2020

I didn’t have an issue with the term ‘jogger’ although a lot of people did. I did, however, have an issue with the blatant shit-stirring. One of the reasons I’ve not run since the start of lockdown is largely because runners have been on the receiving end of a lot of undeserved abuse online on so-called local community pages.

From what I’ve seen, runners aren’t the biggest problem. The families who hog the pavements and refuse to move over seem to cause more issues for other people. And don’t get me started on the cyclists who seem to think the pavements belong to them.

Rave: Strava Wankers

The Strava Wankers twitter account has been on top form since the start of lockdown. If you’d like to find out more about the origins of the account, the founder ‘Annie’ was recently interviewed by Vithushan Ehantharajah for the Independent.

[Source]

If you don’t already, I’d recommend following Strava Wankers on twitter. It’s amazing how many runners and cyclists blatantly fabricate their training – this is me trying to be polite – on Strava.

Rant: Ugly trainers

When I saw an email from Brooks appear in my inbox on my birthday, I assumed it would contain some sort of birthday message or discount code. After all, I have an online account with Brooks so they have a record of my date of birth. When I opened my email I was introduced to what I have to rank as some of the ugliest trainers I’ve ever seen.

Apologies if you like these trainers, I think that the design is hideous. Brooks usually produce pretty cool looking special editions of their most popular trainers. I love the recent floral designs, and regret spending so much time debating treating myself they’d sold out in my size. I look forward to seeing these ugly trainers in my local TK Maxx.

Rave: My lockdown birthday

This was almost a rant but I decided to treat it as a rave. At the start of the month, I reached the grand old age of 41. My birthday was, quite frankly, pretty rubbish but I tried to remain positive. Mum dropped some presents and cards round – only being able to see her through my kitchen window was hard – and I managed to speak to most of my family and friends. I treated myself to a Chinese takeaway and had a virtual drink with a couple of friends. I tried not to think too much about how my birthday could have panned out, Friday night drinks followed by a hung-over parkrun.

[Source]

Unfortunately, the pandemic has also led to the cancellation and postponement of several family events including a Christening. I didn’t mind not visiting my family as it was the right thing to do. I just wish that more people acted in the same way. Only yesterday, I witnessed my neighbours having yet another party with people who don’t live with them. They have been carrying on as normal for several weeks now and it has got frustrating.

Rant: Hermes

Am I the only person who fears the worse whenever the name Hermes is mentioned?  Please don’t get me wrong, some Hermes couriers are amazing; Sandra who seems to cover my local area most of the time is brilliant. Unfortunately, some Hermes couriers are pretty useless.

[Source]

Let’s just say the mystery of a missing parcel from Brewdog was only solved when Stuart, who’d received my parcel by mistake, contacted me via twitter. It turns out that Stuart received a ‘bonus’ parcel, did some investigative work, and worked out who the parcel belonged to. According to Hermes this parcel is still in transit and hasn’t been delivered.

Rave: Multitasking weather presenters

This rants and raves post is getting a little what I describe as ranty so I’ve decided to end with a bonus rave. I’m sure that everyone has seen this clip of Owain Wyn Evans but just in case.

When they said try working from home I didn’t realise they’d expect me to do the music too @BBCNews @BBCNWT #BBCNewsTheme 🥁 #workingfromhome pic.twitter.com/DVXjDw0l8F

— Owain Wyn Evans (@OwainWynEvans) April 15, 2020

This has reminded me of something that happened a long time ago. When I was 14, I decided that I wanted to be a weather forecaster. Geography and maths were two of my favourite subjects, so it seemed like a reasonable career choice. I’ll never forget the feeling of disappointment when the careers adviser told me I wasn’t intelligent enough. Slightly ironic given I was a straight-A student at the time.

Once again, if you made it to the end of my latest rather random selection of rants and raves, thank you! As always, I hope that my rants were reasonable and that I haven’t offended anyone.

How have you been filling the time? Now that I’ve finished all of my jigsaw puzzles I need a new hobby.

Have you ever had a Hermes fail? They are so unreliable, I almost wish there was a way of finding out which postal services brands use before placing an order online.

---