Assorted Observations

Friday, July 7, 2006 at 10:23PM

It’s been difficult to get back into the swing of work, but I’m slowly clawing my way through. Jetlag has been much worse on my return than on the European end of the trip. I’ve also been concentrating on my parental duties, as my Significant Other is taking her conference trip. Playing with your son is much more fun than doing niggly administrative tasks. If you’re awaiting an email reply from me, it should be coming in the next few days. The delay is nothing personal – the queue is rather long right now.

The promised observations:

• When you speak to a radio presenter on the telephone, it sounds eerily like you are talking to a radio.

• If you buy your coffee on campus, pricing varies from place-to-place. Now, despite the fact that Plush Fish (the sushi place), Chill Out (the rice paper rolls and juice place) and Café Suave (the place in the commerce courtyard, near the Ballieu Library) are run by the same people, the price you pay extra for your fairtrade coffee differs from place to-place. This week I have paid a 30 cent premium for faitrade at Plush Fish and Chill Out but only 10 cents at Café Suave. This could be either a subtle marketing exercise (their selling fairtrade coffee is a recent innovation) or an error in the programming of their cash registers, or something else entirely.
  

• For more on fairtrade coffee on campus, check here.

• The pricing for the fairtrade coffee is on top of the base of $3.10 price for my medium skim milk flat white with no sugar. It is a mouthful to order, saying ‘a medium skim milk fairtrade flat white with no sugar, please’, but that’s the way of the world. At least I don’t order decaf.

• That makes ordering coffee as complex as ordering a metcard. Try remembering a ’10 trip, 2 hour, zone 1, full fare metcard’ each time you need one. I’ve never managed to get it right. Today I asked for a ‘2 trip, 10 hour, zone 1, full fare metcard’ which would not be the same thing at all. I’ve had some long tram journeys, but none have been 10 hours.

• Maybe I should order my metcards over the internet. (They promise to mail them to you for free.) That way I’d not have to embarrass myself in front of a flesh-and-blood human being.