by Fern Shaw | Mar 17, 2014 | Water, water cooler, Water Coolers
I’ve been known to disembowel clocks that tick (not disarm ticking clocks – that I leave to the brave people of the Bomb Squad). I’ve also run around strange houses and tightened taps almost to the point of stripping the thread because I cannot abide what I call ‘Lazy Person Water Torture’. I recently saw an episode of some series where the main protagonist takes a golf club to a dripping tap and then his wife repairs the tap – how’s that for an equal household!
Now you know what to do when it comes to your water cooler having a dripping spigot – you just call us.
In these other instances however, I’m not quite sure what remedy to suggest. Have a gander:
When a truck carrying construction glue collided with a bus in Chengdu City, China, it dowsed the street with its sticky contents. Firefighters tried – unsuccessfully – to remove the glue by diluting it with water guns and some observers even were stuck in it. The adhesive was finally dissolved using chemicals.
In the past few years, honeybees have spilled onto highways in Montana, Canada and California, where 10 million to 16 million angry buzzers responded by stinging firefighters, police and drivers. Honeybee hives are regularly shipped to farms around the country to pollinate crops, since colony collapse disorder has decimated local bee populations.
Apparently, years ago, there was a lot of mackerel transported from Devon and Cornwall to Grimsby in tipping trailers and a few times the locking catches were not strong enough and the loads ended up on the road where the truck drivers parked for their rest. On one occasion a car stopped sharply for no apparent reason and the fish carrying lorry stopped just as quickly and the fishy load came over the lorry and into the car.
While it may not grow on trees, money has flooded public streets on multiple occasions. In 2004, an armoured truck crashed on the New Jersey Turnpike, spilling $2 million in coins. In 2005, another truck caught fire in Alabama, spilling $800,000 in quarters. And in 2008, a driver on his way to the Miami Federal Reserve fatally crashed, spewing $185,000 in nickels.
And, my favourite:
In 2000, millions of the popular LEGO plastic toys went for a swim when a ship hit by a rogue wave dumped a container full of them overboard. The beloved blocks have now bobbed through the Northwest Passage to the shores of Alaska, one scientist calculates.
I have this vision of remote mini communities somewhere in the world who now have brightly coloured homes due to this. But that’s just me.
Perhaps you won’t feel as bad about mistreating your water cooler after reading about these rather epic spills. That said, be nice to your water cooler! They do after all, keep you hydrated rain or shine.
by Fern Shaw | Mar 17, 2014 | Charity, Guest Blog, Water, water cooler, Water Coolers
Help in Hearing, an independent, family-run business in Buckinghamshire, have assisted countless people with their hearing over the past 14 years.
They offer a variety of services from a free hearing test at their hearing clinics as well as a free online hearing test to many hearing-related issues.
They also believe in extending their values through to their Corporate Social Responsibility and through their contract with AquAid in having water coolers, have been donating monthly to The Africa Trust.
In doing so, these donations to The Africa Trust have been used to build fresh drinking water wells in areas in Africa where it is needed most, like in schools and villages.
As a result of these donations, Help in Hearing will be having its very own Elephant Pump built in Africa.
The Elephant Pump is a water well that is a modified version of an age-old Chinese rope pulley system and it is built with the assistance of the people of the area who are then taught how it works and how to repair it using local materials and parts.
This is essential to ensure clean and safe water is part of their daily lives.
We, at AquAid, are looking forward to being able to present Help in Hearing with photos of their very own well in the near future.
by Fern Shaw | Jan 27, 2014 | Water, Water Coolers
Photo: Mike Hollingshead
I have had a life-long fascination with tornadoes. Forgetting for a moment the absolutely devastating effect they have on life, limb and property, I think they are amaaaaazing. Just recently I tried my second ditch attempt with loved ones about my burial service and what I’d like. It bombed almost as badly as the first ditch attempt.
In a previous blog about dams, I mentioned 007. It is precisely because of one of his movies that my aversion for cremation set me on the alternative path of how my earthly remains are to be disposed of. Don’t blame me, blame 007!
The first idea involved a leaky wooden boat, bows and arrows, a beach, sea and fire. The second idea is some brave person travels with me to Kansas in tornado season; drives me as close as dammit to a raging tornado and leaves me there. This will then fulfil my dream (hopefully) of me finally being able to see the inside of the funnel. I would imagine that if I am in the correct path and I am swept up, I’ll probably only have seconds (if that) to have a look see – after that I’ll be toast.
Anyhow, as it happens no-one I know is too keen on this idea either. Perhaps I can speak nicely to the storm chasers when the time comes.
What are tornadoes you ask?
Tornadoes are rotating columns of air formed in intense thunderstorms. If the vortex extends from the cloud all the way to the ground, then it’s officially a tornado. The funnel cloud is an actual cloud; the low pressure causes the air to expand and cool below the dew point. However, a tornado can exist without a funnel cloud; if the air is dry enough, the only visible sign of a tornado might be a small dimple in the base of the parent cloud. The lower part of a tornado funnel can also consist of dust and debris blown up from the ground.
The dew point in case you were wondering is the temperature below which the water vapour in air at constant barometric pressure condenses into liquid water at the same rate at which it evaporates. The condensed water is called dew when it forms on a solid surface. Now you know.
To think that little ol’ innocent dew could be responsible for such wracking ruin is quite something.
So as if it’s not bad enough to be rejected outright by the loved ones, I was told at the office that no-one’s prepared to participate in my storm chasing demise.
But then, that might be based on my mentioning that I’d like to use our Orio Water Cooler as a tornado test dummy. It might have been, can’t be sure.
by Fern Shaw | Jan 27, 2014 | Water, Water Coolers
I was galloping around the internet (translation: pulling up pages every 5.8 seconds as opposed to my regular speed of 20.3 seconds) when I came across a site about dams. Dams, you ask? As in the females in the animal world?
No, not those dams, dam dams (ahahaha) you know, large, usually man made reservoirs of water that usually keep cities and towns in water.
This water wonder (pictured above) is the:
Contra Dam
Location: Ticino, Switzerland
Height: 220m
Length: 380m
Impounds (water source): Verzasca River
The surface area of the dam is 44,500 m2
This magnificent venue was used in the 1995 James Bond film, Golden Eye, where 007 jumps from the top. Do you remember that? I certainly do. My dad was an avid movie goer and 007 topped the list of must go sees.
Anyhow, I digress. Back to the main event.
Dams are pretty incredible if one thinks about it and pretty daunting from another perspective – all that water held back by tons of concrete and some pretty nifty engineering. Don’t judge, but it’s always been a bit of a bother to me that concrete is so porous and you mix it with water and then…. it becomes solid. When it meets water again, why doesn’t it crumble or return to its sludgy state? Never been able to figure that one out.
The water from AquAid doesn’t come from this dam though. It would be nice to think that it did (all that glacier run-off) but it doesn’t. Have to keep the carbon footprint in mind ye know.
That said, our water’s nothing to sneeze about – all sourced from three different locations around the UK.
Our water coolers (if you’re using our bottle fed that is) are then kept supplied with said delicious drinking water to keep you and team well watered and bright eyed and bushy tailed.
(I won’t be standing at the base of any dam though, that whole concrete thing still freaks me out).
by Fern Shaw | Nov 25, 2013 | Charity, water cooler, Water Coolers
The Bupa Great Birmingham Run is the biggest half marathon in the Midlands.
‘Formerly known as the Birmingham Half Marathon the event was first staged in staged in 2008 and in 2009 also incorporated the World Half Marathon Championships.
England’s second city is the perfect stage for the event which attracts competitors from across the UK and around the world.
In 2012 Kenyan Micah Kogo won a thrilling sprint for the line ahead of Abera Kuma to set a new course record. Kogo, who dominated the race almost from the start, breasted the tape in a time of one hour and 17 seconds to deny his Ethiopian rival victory by two seconds with World record holder and pre-race favourite Zersenay Tadese third in 1:01:06.
On a very misty morning, Kogo – after losing the previous month’s Bupa Great North Run by a second – made amends by smashing the course record of 1:01:29 set a year ago by the legendary Ethiopian, Haile Gebrselassie.
The women’s race saw Sara Moreira taking total control in the last three miles to notch a runaway victory ahead of Ethiopia’s former World Half Marathon champion Berhane Adere.
The course takes in some of the city’s most iconic sights including the Bullring, the Cadbury’s factory in Bournville and Edgbaston cricket ground. Live music from ‘bands on the run’ keep you motivated every step of the way and thousands of supporters turn out to cheer finishers across the line on Broad Street in the heart of the city centre. ‘
Our Scott Barnbrook, of AquAid Birmingham, is quite the individual when it comes to participating in events for charity and/or improving his health. A recap here.
Good on yer, Scott, for competing in and finishing this rather marvellous and historical marathon!
Remember though, whether you’re running or exerting yourself in any kind of strenuous activity, you need to keep hydrated. This means drinking water. If you’re just zooming around your cubicle at 36 revolutions p/m, that also counts.
For any water cooler requirements, contact Scott at AquAid Birmingham, he or his team will be happy to help.
by Fern Shaw | Nov 13, 2013 | water cooler, Water Coolers
Even though AquAid have ensured from Day 1 that the water coolers that we supply are of tip top quality and are supplied to the customer in a manner that is most practical to the customer’s requirements, life is such that water coolers can have off days.
As we know, anything that has a mechanism can play up and they do. While researching water cooler fails, I happened upon some accidents of the more unusual variety. As you may by now know, I’m all for the slightly off the beaten track incidents – they just really appeal to my sense of funny. Be warned, some of these are not for the faint of heart:
Molasses spill
A molasses pipeline in Honolulu Harbour, Hawaii, was pumping the syrupy substance onto a ship when it sprung a leak, dumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of the goo into the ocean. The sugary fluid, which sunk to the bottom, killed thousands of fish, attracting sharks and other scavengers.
The Hawaii spill is not the first molasses mishap. A truck in Wagontire, Oregon, swerved to avoid a deer in 2008, spilling hundreds of gallons of molasses over the highway. And in 1919, during the Boston Molasses Disaster, a tank carrying 2.5 million gallons of molasses burst, flooding the city’s streets and killing 21 people.
Whale guts
In 2004, a whale carcass exploded while being transported from a beach where it died to a laboratory in the Taiwanese city of Tainan, according to BBC News. Gas build-up inside the decomposing cetacean was thought to be responsible for the explosion, which took 13 hours and 50 workers to clean up.
Rubber ducks
In 1992, 29,000 rubber duck toys, being shipped from China to the U.S. company The First Years Inc., washed overboard in the Pacific Ocean, the Daily Mail reported. Some 10,000 of the duckies floated northward, while the remainder took a southerly route. They have washed up in Hawaii, Australia and even the Arctic.
Honeybees
In the past few years, honeybees have spilled onto highways in Montana, Canada and California, where 10 million to 16 million angry buzzers responded by stinging fire fighters, police and drivers. Honeybee hives are regularly shipped to farms around the country to pollinate crops, since colony collapse disorder has decimated local bee populations.
I suppose, in this sea of rather grisly and sticky accounts of spills and mishaps, it’s nice to know that should your water cooler malfunction to such a degree, the worst thing spilling will be water – really not hard to clean up and no sticky, messy residue.
Just remember to keep that weird worker in IT from trying to suck the water from the carpets – it’s just really not done.
