12 January 2011

More Money Wasted on a Banker

It seems that the Lloyds Banking Group has at least two million pounds more than it needs.

Just think what good could be done with that.  Four hundred thousand mosquito nets to protect children in Africa, perhaps.  That's just one idea.  I'm sure the money could be put to good use in Haiti, for another.

The bank has come up with a much better idea: let's give it to someone who has absolutely no need of it. What can possibly justify a bonus of TWO MILLION POUNDS?  Is this not an immoral waste?  Even if the banks don't want to do some positive good, what about them clearing up the mess they made instead of leaving us, the British taxpayers, to pay off the deficit caused by shoddy banking?  We even own a huge part of Lloyds, for goodness sake.  Don't they owe us some reparation?

What is the bonus for?  Doing a good job? Didn't Mr Daniels buy HBOS and get Lloyds into debt in the first place?  If he's done a good job in recovering his failure, give him a couple of grand and do something useful with the rest of the money.  £2k is a much bigger bonus than I'll get - £2k bigger, in fact.

Our government has shirked facing the issue, of course, telling us, 'Bankers may move to overseas banks if we don't let them have their bonuses.'  I have two things to say to that:
  1. How dare the bankers hold us to ransom?
  2. Given the mess they've made, who would want the spoilt brats?
Of course, we have no idea what Mr Daniels intends to do with the money.  He may give it away to worthy causes.  Good for him if he does.  I'm not holding my breath.

10 January 2011

Another Adventure in DIY: Undoing What I Did Myself

Our downstairs toilet has been a little on the sluggish side for a while now, sometimes requiring many more than one flush to avoid offending its subsequent users.  Yesterday, it decided it had taken enough of our crap and refused to work.  Fortunately, its strike-action, which amounted to filling up on flushing and only very slowly emptying itself, was instigated without vast quantities of unsightly contents in view.  Unfortunately, no amount of coercion could force it to cooperate.  It looked like time to get the drain-rods out.

On arriving home from work today, I kitted myself out with old clothes, overalls, wellies and rubber gloves and then, dreading what I might find, I lifted the inspection hatch.  On the up side, the very obvious blockage just happened to be where the drain ran into the inspection chamber and it looked like I wouldn't need to use the drain-rods (or clean them afterwards).  On the down side, there was a great wad of poop and paper lodged behind the piece of loose concrete that had given rise to the offence, and I was going have to get my hands in there.

I'm not sure what we will do if supermarkets and department stores abandon the use of plastic bags completely.  I used one to line my bucket so as to avoid having to clean it, and one on each hand as an extra barrier between skin and dwang.  I reached into the drain and transferred one large, double-handed scoop of poop into my bucket, and then a second.  There was a third but it must have taken fright because it broke free and slithered away along the drain and out of sight.  I had my beloved running up and down the stairs flushing both toilets to make sure that the fleeing dollop made it all the way to its demise in the septic tank without getting lodged anywhere else.

Satisfied that the blockage was cleared, I replaced the hatch, changed out of my still-clean protective garments, and washed my hands several times, just in case.  Purely as a precaution against anything noxious I may have inadvertently ingested, I disinfected my inner self with a couple of glasses of red wine and a shot of Glenmorangie.

The facility has now been restored to normal service, having being tested fully...

01 January 2011

Happy New Year!

Wishing you all - whoever and wherever you may be - a very happy and peaceful 2011.