by Fern Shaw | Feb 18, 2015 | Water, water cooler
So it started like this … (I’m tempted to say ‘and that’s how the fight started’) … but that wouldn’t be correct. Or true.
It wasn’t a fight. What it was was the seemingly endless discussion about whether to go camping or to not go camping.
Whether camping was simply the best, cheapest way of getting away from it all or just some centuries’ old nomadic instinct from our predecessors which insists that you lug your household around to shivery destinations, I’m not quite sure.
The facts are you get 2 very different camps (ha!) when it comes to camping.
As you may have gathered, I fall into the no-camping-are-you-insane category.
I will relate just one story to you and perhaps you’ll understand why.
I went camping alongside a river with a boyfriend. It was an impromptu, rash decision fuelled by copious amounts of liquor the day before we ventured out. Due to work constraints, we arrived at the self-designated campsite after dark and parked on the sand at the river’s edge. Dinner was to be a potjie (or stew) which is traditionally made using water, seasoning, vegetables and a meat, no packet sauces or any other cheats aloud. Slight problem was we had no water. The river water was pretty churny and brown and we weren’t taking any chances. We proceeded to use the red wine we’d brought with us as the liquid base for the potjie. Only problem here was that the intense heat from the cooking fire meant that the liquid burnt off pretty quickly. Suffice to say that we ended up some hours later (the whole idea of a potjie is that it takes hours to cook (the originator of the popular ‘slow cooking’ that’s all the rage nowadays?) with half cooked, half singed meat, crunchy vegetables and no wine. It didn’t help that we were ravenous!
The camping didn’t get much better post dinner either. A friend, who ran river rafting expeditions from where we were camped, decided to creep up on us wearing a ski mask. With the sound of the river rushing by us didn’t hear him until he leapt out from the river bank – all 6ft.2 of him – and screamed at us. The following morning, deciding to depart from our rather ill-fated excursion, we discovered that the van that we’d driven in had sunk down into the soft, damp river sand and was stuck. An hour later armed with much choice language and two planks, we finally managed to extricate ourselves and head off back to civilisation. No-one could have been more relieved than I was.
I have since then had the occasional pleasant camping trip, but whenever the 2 camps set up (ha!) around the water cooler and tales of for and against start up, I’m sure this story has swayed more than a few undecided. Don’t say you weren’t warned.
by Fern Shaw | Feb 16, 2015 | water cooler
Charity can often be a word bandied about but with no real meaning behind it.
If there’s one thing I’ve discovered about AquAid it’s that you’ll find tons of individuals throughout the AquAid network that aren’t just committed working professionals, but they’re really dedicated to raising funds for those less fortunate than themselves. And not just for their fellow human beings, but for other beings too.
One such individual is Scott Barnbrook.
A lot of you may know Scott as the Regional Manager of AquAid water coolers or perhaps for his role as National Sales Manager. You may also know that AquAid have always been involved in contributing to sustainable charities. What you may not know is that Scott is also one of the largest independent fundraisers for the Birmingham Dogs Home.
Scott has, to date, raised a cracking £2,612.02 of his £2,500.00 target, of which all proceeds go towards helping to fee
d the dogs at Birmingham Dogs Home. The home also manages the Sunnyside Dogs Home at Wolverhampton.
One of the many events that Scott participates in to raise funds for charity is the Tough Guy – the most recent being the Winter Tough Guy that took place on the 1st of February.
According to Scott, “This Tough Guy saw me get frozen, electrocuted and cut in the name of charity – in truth I’d rather be watching TV with my hand in the biscuit tin but we all need to try and help others.”
If you’d like to find out more about donating to Scott’s chosen charities or just more about the charities themselves, you can visit Scott via Just Giving.
Well done, Scott, we’re bark aloud proud of you!
by Fern Shaw | Feb 16, 2015 | water cooler
In case you were thinking that fidelity only applies to us humanoids, think again. All of these water loving/living creatures pretty much mate for life:
- ALBATROSS – Other bird species can boast about their monogamous relationships, but albatross display a unique patience and persistence when it comes to stoking the flames of romance. Young albatrosses learn from older birds how to woo their mates using an elaborate system of preening, pointing, rattling, bowing and other sweet dance moves. After they learn advanced wooing, albatrosses may ‘dance’ with many partners until they find the right one – but once they select that perfect mate, they’re boos for life.
- BEAVERS – Beavers stay together for the kids. Not only are these loyal creatures faithful to their mates, but they’re also devoted parents. Dads don’t just go off to build dams and whatnot while moms stay at home raising the kits; both male and female beavers take an active hand in bringing up their offspring. And once those kits reach about 2 years of age, they go off to find true love of their own, and the beautiful cycle of monogamous beaver love continues. And, yes, baby beavers are called kits. That in itself is a cuteness overload.
- FRENCH ANGELFISH – French angelfish make such perfect couples that it would embarrass most humans. Not only do these fish stay with their mates until death, but they spend fully half of their time swimming side by side. Not only that, but when French angelfish couples come together again after time apart, they engage in what’s called “carouseling,” circling round and round each other. When was the last time you and your other half were so happy to see each other that you both literally spun around in the pure bliss of being together?
- PENGUINS – Penguins are often cited for their monogamy, but as cute as it is to imagine the same pair of penguins waddling around flipper-in-flipper for eternity, the truth is that they are only serially monogamous, which means pairs usually stay together for one breeding season at a time. Exceptions to this are not uncommon, however, and some pairs are known to seek each other out again and again over many seasons. In fact, a particularly devoted couple of Magellanic penguins tracked by scientists have been observed to return to each other every season for 16 years, and are still going strong. Now that’s love.
- SEAHORSES – If albatross relationships are reminiscent of fairy-tale romance, seahorses might be considered the swingers of the sea. Many seahorse species will bond with a mate, but that bond often lasts only through a single breeding season or until a more attractive female comes along. But, monogamy in this case is useful since it can be hard to find fellow seahorses due to poor swimming skills and low densities. There is evidence that the longer that partners are together, the more successful at breeding they become and the two are able to produce more offspring per brood. One species of seahorse does appear to stick with a single mate for life: the Australian Hippocampus whitei. Practice makes perfect!
- SWANS – Swans are often used as a symbol of romance. First of all, they do that adorable thing where they crane their heads together, their graceful necks creating a heart shape. It’s perfect for greeting cards. On top of that, swans are famously monogamous. How sweet! They really love each other. But only to a point, it turns out. Newer research shows that ‘divorce’ can sometimes split up longstanding swan couples. Evidence suggests that the reason behind such events is that a couple may find themselves unable to breed with each other any longer. It’s not a fairy tale, but sometimes practical matters trump true love. Happily, swans are mature, and divorced couples may still live closely and cordially with each other, even with their new partners.
So there’ll be no more of using the excuse of ‘animals don’t mate for life’ for a lot of you fidelity challenged – you’d better, in the words of Nat King Cole, ‘Straighten up and fly right, Straighten up and stay right …’ Of course, if none of this applies, you can always amaze and wow your mates at the water cooler with your knowledge or; for huge brownie points, your Valentine? ♥
by Fern Shaw | Feb 9, 2015 | water cooler, Water Coolers
I was idly sitting on Ollie’s desk (a colleague), pretending that his having a new desk top water cooler (the Aquaid-400-Desktop-Water-Cooler no less – nothing but the best for ol’ Ollie it would seem) didn’t make me green with envy – I mean, what’s he got that I haven’t? – swinging my legs and acting all nonchalant when my cartoon vision brain flashed some images at me. No, no Cyanide & Happiness (do yourself a favour and look the strip up), visions of raining destruction and mayhem down on unenviable Ollie, but how very weird ‘O’ words are.
Think about it. ‘O’ words (and by ‘O’ words I mean words that begin with an ‘O’, not words that contain an ‘O’ – catch up! catch up slowpoke!) are just, well … odd. More than that, a lot of ‘O’ words just sound strange too or; their meaning is strange.
Some prime examples:
Obsidian – A hard, dark, glasslike volcanic rock formed by the rapid solidification of lava without crystallisation. say it aloud – Ob-sid-eean. Doesn’t is just sound mysterious and mercurial and other wordly?
Onomatopoeia – This means the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named (e.g., cuckoo, sizzle).
Odd – Such a short stumpy little word and often used to describe much bigger things deserving surely a larger, more eloquent description. e.g. saying that Jack the Ripper was ‘odd’ just doesn’t quite cut it (sorry, very bad pun).
Ovoid – Egg-shaped. I suppose egg shaped is an odd (haha) shape and there deserves an odd (ha haaaaaa!) sounding descriptive word.
And my current favourite:
Obsequious – This means to be servilely ingratiating or fawning.
Have you also noticed how the meaning or description of each ‘o’ word is rarely straightforward? Hmm … in an alternate universe I’m sure there’s some bigger meaning, but frankly my dear, my grey matter’s a bit sponged out now.
I’m going to keep things simple, and come up with a new plan of action as far as Ollie’s desktop water cooler is concerned. I’ve always had my eye on the H-Duo, one of AquAid’s newest cool(ers) on the block /desk / countertop, so I’m off to do the obsequious thing with the powers-that-be and see if that’ll score me my own lime green desktop!
by Fern Shaw | Jan 9, 2015 | Water, water cooler
Strange title I know. You’re forgetting my freedom of association powers – ooowee ooowee – again, more fool you.
I initially looked up bubbles, but came across information about water blisters on feet and hands, which are called dyshidrotic eczema, which coloured me surprised – I’m not into all the medical terminology stuff – so I catalogued it under ‘ew topics’.
Anyhow, I looked a little further and established that blisters are not really filled with water but with serum or plasma, as says Wiki:
A blister is a small pocket of fluid within the upper layers of the skin, typically caused by forceful rubbing (friction), burning, freezing, chemical exposure or infection. Most blisters are filled with a clear fluid called serum or plasma.
It gets more revolting after that, mentioning blood blisters and worse, but me, not having the strongest stomach, I zoned out immediately. As I said – ew.
But what about bubbles? What makes a bubble … um … bubble?
I had this idea that finding out about bubbles would make for some light reading and none of this scientific argy bargy – boy, was I ever wrong. Good heavens, its all equations and algebra and weird symbols – not at all what I thought.
I did learn a new word (WORD) though.
Entrain: to draw in and transport (as solid particles or gas) by the flow of a fluid.
To draw along with or after oneself. See below:
In simple speak, a bubble forms for a variety of reasons, essentially; the bubbles form as air is entrained in the water during the pouring process. The key factor here is how fast the bubbles collapse. This may seem a funny distinction, but bubbles are always thermodynamically unstable compared to the bulk liquid because it always costs energy to create them. The only reason we see long lived bubbles is that there is a kinetic barrier that stops the water films collapsing.
I hope that this has eddicated you all a bit. As for me, I think I’m just going to go back to blowing bubbles or making bubbles in the bottled water cooler when I gloomph it or, using bubble bath or …. drinking bubbly … yes, that sounds more like my world.
Blogista Fern out. Word.
by Fern Shaw | Jan 1, 2015 | Health and Hydration, water cooler, Water Coolers
I personally don’t ‘do’ New Year’s resolutions. Why not, you ask? Well, think about it: you put yourself under inordinate amounts of stress (which kind of puts paid to resolutions like, ‘I won’t stress as much’) which pretty much sets the pace for the rest of the year, which means that your resolution typifies the identical behaviour for the previous year. Make sense? It should.
Just in case you misguidedly decide on making New Year’s resolutions, please, Louise, try to make them original – none of this ‘I’m going on diet’ nonsense. ‘Drink more water’ should now, of course, be a given, so none of that as a special effort either!
To get you going I found a few which made me snort with laughter:
*I will find out why the correspondence course on ‘Mail Fraud’ that I purchased never showed up.
*Eat more nice things like sweets, Big Macs, popcorn and ice cream. Eat less rubbish like fresh fruit, vegetables and soy nuts.
*New Years Resolution: do a series of jazz-flute instructional tapes. Maybe I’ll call it “Ron Burgundy: A Jazz Flute-orial.” ~ Ron Burgundy
*My New Year resolution is: 1024 by 968 pixels!
*Learn what the heck “resolution” means.
*Learn more resolve.
*My New Year’s resolution is to be less prefect ~ Jim Gaffigan
and my personal favourite:
*My New Year’s resolutions are:
- Stop making lists
- Be more consistent.
- Learn to count.
However you choose to ring in the New Year, may we wish you a healthy, happy and prosperous year ahead.
