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Another lie-in and another lazy day and I am almost back to feeling like a functioning human being for the first time in two years. We walked to the nearby playground with my daughter and was reminded of the fun of jumping in every puddle and the novelty of finding them covered with ice and also what fun you can have as a child with your own shadow. I have not really looked at my shadow in anything but a superficial way for over 40 years, but Phoebe is amazed by hers and made me remember how intrigued I used to be by mine. She knew it was the same as her, but tried to catch it out as if it was merely copying her. but the shadow kept up.
And at the playground I took a chance and came down the slide after my daughter. This was slightly risky as the slide had a cover for most of its length and there was a good chance I would get trapped inside this and have to call out the fire brigade. But I made it through. Though was disappointed by how unslidy the slide was. I more or less had to push myself down. And again Phoebe took delight in the smallest things, reminding me that the world is more full of wonder than horror. There was a tiny little hillock in the playground, which I joked was where the bad children of Hertfordshire had been buried. It did look like a little barrow. I thought this was quite a useless attraction for a playground, but I was dead wrong. Because what could be more fun than running up and down a small hillock? Very little when you’re 22 months old, I discovered. I have been pretty spoiled with maybe a fortnight of kicking back with my family and not doing much of anything that might be called work. It’s just putting off a shit load of stuff that needs doing, but hey, it’s a new year coming up and I should have at least a month of not drinking and doing some exercise, so hopefully my brain will be overflowing. Hmmm, we’ll see. 2017 has some exciting opportunities work wise. Let’s see if I can fail to fuck it up for once.
Most annoying or probably disgusting advert campaign of the Christmas period for me was the We Buy Any Car one. In it people attempt to justify selling their cars for less than their market value by claiming that the time saved is more important than the cash. Which is debatable on many levels, but seems a bit sickening when it’s about people selling what is in all likelihood their most valuable possession. Taking a leaf out of the book of Donald Trump the ads are full of people saying that selling something for less than it’s worth makes them smart. And yeah, sure, if your earn thousands of pounds an hour and it takes you several hours to sell a car, then you might be stupid not to sell it quickly and cheaply. But otherwise…? We Buy Any Car are obviously trying to address people’s worries about their company head on, namely that the reason they buy any car is that they will buy them at a level that allows them to make a profit. You could (and should?) get more elsewhere. Really the company, whilst not being outwardly obnoxious as the loan sharks, is taking advantage of people because they are desperate for the money. Because no sensible or intelligent person sells things for much less than they are worth. Even if it means they get to spend a few more hours with their family. Because whilst that’s important, so is having money to keep your family alive. Having a fictional wife tell a fictional husband that he’s been intelligent for giving away something valuable for less than it’s value does not make that true.
Just sticks in the craw a bit. You know.
