How was your day? (Random off topic chat)

Yeah, sorry. When I said "drench your stools in turpentine" I was referring to stripping paint from furniture. Should've been clearer about that.

The morning's been good so far but I only just realised my flies have been undone the whole time.

Luckily I'm alone at home. If I'd been in a crowded office. having travelled there on the train and walked through central London, it might have been a marginally less dull post.

Just started a new job but started halfway through a pay period so at the end of November I will get 2 weeks pay minus the advance I had to take to get through November. No means of borrowing, no credit facilities. Christmas is cancelled.

Vocalzones rock. That’s all!

I do like how educational this board can be. In the breakfast thread I had cause to look up ebly, having never heard of it. Similarly, I had to look up Vocalzone. Given the other things you listed I suppose it was obvious really, but I read it as 'calzone' with 'vo' in front of it and must have additionally turned it into 'volcalzone' and imagined it was a calzone stuffed with chillies. For a few seconds, I actually did think a fiery hot folded pizza might reasonably be part of your throat treatment regime.

I've never been able to stomach Fishermen's Friends, I always found them something akin to little bits of paving stone saturated in distilled wasabi.

There was a high hair at Ant and Cleo the other day. Thankfully not in front of me. Like a sixties beehive but narrower.

I am about to help my mother set up an Amazon Echo. Your prayers and/or painkillers are appreciated.

Usually I can't stand children's choirs - those fluting, piping voices shrilly singing stuff like Lord of the sodding Dance or the cringe-inducing Where Have All The Flowers Gone. But earlier today, a group of primary school kids singing Silent Night in the Inverness Eastgate mall nearly made me well up. It's something that would normally make me shudder a bit and walk quickly on. Hearing their little Highland accents coming through made it more bearable.

It must be December, my co-worker has decided it's time to subject the other residents (me and one other person) of our small enclosed office to her Christmas playlist whether we want to listen to it or not. I'd mind less, but the playlist in question must be called "just basically all the same boring old songs you hear in every shop every Christmas without any variation or anything interesting to jazz it up a bit". I've got my headphones on, but I'm going to lose Whamageddon in no time at this rate (unless I completely lose my hearing all together from headphone over-use, which at this point could be a blessing).

Actually closer to nine and a half when you take weekends and our last-ditch attempts to use up our holiday allowance for the year into account, so fingers crossed for my poor bruised ear drums!

(Although, would it be unreasonable to ask her to take Last Christmas off the playlist so I stand more of a chance of surviving the nonsense seasonal game at least...?)

I'd set aside time yesterday for Christmas card writing and lo and behold they are still sitting unopened where I placed them....