[blogfocus wednesday] bit of everything today

1. Ellee has tried her Echinacea experiment and ... well ... read on:

Every October, I start dosing myself up on Echinacea to prevent colds and take it every day until February. I have never had more than one or two poorly days throughout the winter.

This year I thought I would wait and see what happened if I didn’t take the herbal medicine. So is it a coincidence that I now have the shivers, jelly legs and a sore throat?

2. Guthrum is shipping money offshore but why?

So why do HMRC need to keep personal banking details anyway ? For what purpose ? Every month I transfer 1000€ to my French Bank account, every month I am asked the same question, what is this money to be used for ?

Every month I am pathetic enough to say 'household expenses', rather than 'and what business is it of yours' or'I am financing a terrorist organisation aimed at the otherthrow of a State that pays good money to 'officials'who want to know what I am spending my money on.

3. Bryan Appleyard takes us back to yesteryear with Tylers:

Yesterday I wanted something rather complicated - basically a bolt, the ends of which had to be sawn off. One of the staff waited patiently for my faltering explanation to end.

He first offered me a length of threaded steel about three feet long, changed his mind, opened a packet of bolts, took out one, checked the size, took it to a vice, sawed, cleaned up, checked, laughed amiably at my lack of the correct expert vocabulary and charged me £1.25.

Everywhere else in over-rich London, people snarl at me and try to gouge me for every penny I own. But Tylers is a shop from the past, a shop undiscovered by management insultants and marketing swine. It is a shop with ethos.

4. Finally, a cautionary tale from Mousy, about a certain wife:

I was walking down the street this morning when I was accosted by a particularly dirty and shabby-looking homeless woman who asked me for some spare change so she could buy some dinner.

I took out my purse, got out five pounds and asked her "If I give you this money, will you buy wine with it instead of dinner?"

"No, I had to stop drinking years ago" the homeless woman told me.

"Will you use it to go shopping instead of buying food?" I asked.

"No, I don't waste time shopping," the homeless woman said. "I need to spend all my time trying to stay alive."

"Will you spend this on a beauty salon instead of food?" asked.

"Are you NUTS!" replied the homeless woman. " I haven't had my hair done in 20 years!"

"Well," I said, "I'm not going to give you the money. Instead, I'm going to take you out for dinner with my husband and me tonight."

The homeless woman was shocked. "Won't your husband be furious with you for doing that? I know I'm dirty and I probably smell pretty disgusting."

"That's OK" I said. "It's important for him to see what a woman looks like after she has given up shopping, hair appointments and wine."