Saturday 21 April 2007

And another .....

And whilst in ranting mode - why not another!

What is it about HR 'Professionals' that makes them want to treat everyone like children?
If they want to control children with silly rules, why did they choose the HR profession rather than the far more suitable one of teaching?!

I have recently been engaged in discussions about a plan to introduce to my place of work a 'Drug and Alcohol Policy' - whoopee!! I thought - free samples!!

But sadly not - the intention of said 'policy' is not to give us all a chance to sample these delights but rather to ensure that we don't sample them, at all - or certainly not within 240 hours of working, being at work, going to go to work or anything else to do with work.

Unless, of course, you are in a senior position - in which case you can get as blathered as you like, any time at all.

Now, as a clown, I realise that there are time when a little (and certainly a lot) of alcohol is not appropriate - there is nothing worse than a drunken clown in a custard pie fight: they keep missing and that can be dangerous for the lovely audience.

But once one hits a certain age (and I think I hit it all too long ago) one realises this without having to have the helpful advice of an HR Professional to point it out!! And one controls ones behaviour. If not, there are already a battery of 'helpful' policies and procedures that can be brought to bear.

But this, it seems, is not enough for the HR Professional - if it's drugs and alcohol that we want to control, it must be a drug and alcohol policy.

I am looking forward immensely to further discussions on this lovely topic.

a little rant

Why are there so many more immortals on our roads these days? Why have they all suddenly got cars to go whizzing about in?

As a regular commuter (by car) I am amazed at all the clever stunts that these gods can get up to - speeding down the inside lanes of roads, under-taking other cars, with complete reckless abandon for their well-being. Even those with little immortals strapped in the back of the car seem to be able to do it.

As a mere mortal, I have to be constantly aware of the dangers of driving: never getting too close to the car in front, lest it should suddenly stop; not taking one (or sometimes two) hands off the wheel to fiddle with my hair or do my make-up or use my phone; never weaving in and out of cars, in the hope that I will arrive at my destination 1.2 seconds sooner than I might have done by the stupidness of driving safely. But obviously if you are an immortal, none of this matters.

Time was when immortals kept off our roads - preferring to float about on clouds, or sit on the top of Mount Olympus sipping nectar. I wonder what happened? It certainly makes the daily drive more interesting, if a little more scary - but that is a small price to pay for the company of immortals.

Unless of course, these are not immortals but are actually extremely stupid ....... But no, that would be silly!

Friday 6 April 2007

'nuf said

So, it seems simply having a blog is not enough - one has to post to the dam**d thing as well!
Being an extraordinarily busy performer it is tricky at times to find the space to compose suitable entries.

Take last week as an example - 7 nights spent slaving over a red-hot sound desk, balancing microphones, firing off sound effects, all so a large number of people I scarcly know can strut their stuff on stage in a piece of 'theatre' that I was no closer to understanding the purpose of by the end of it than I was at the beginning. Z'ounds! Bethink me 'twas too much sirrah!!

And the marked improvement in the weather means I can't even use rain as an excuse to avoid the garden.

Ah, well: at least it all keeps me off the streets - making them much safer for other drivers.