EDitorial ± 22-Jan-2003

Footy, Filing & Feedback

Veering down memory lane again, there was once an ad on telly for Treets, those choccy covered sweets that were, I think, a bit like Revels (both brand names are RIP, I suspect). A holidaymaker was sneaking a bag of Treets into a foreign country, and the swarthy looking customs fella held up the pack and said "Ees what? Trees?" - you have to pronounce this in a thick Iberian accent.

Playing squash years later with an old friend, we'd always refer to a score of 3-3 as "Trees", with that same dodgy pronuncation. Pathetic, I know. To cut to the chase, and not before time, there are "Tree" diverse items this time around.

--- Footy ---

Attended my first ITFC game of 2002/2003 on Saturday against the once-mighty Preston North End, name-checked stars of Wallace & Gromit's Soccamatic short. Wasn't even my idea: father-in-law was a PNE fan from birth, back in the days of Tom Finney. Who was indisputably a better player than Stanley Matthews, apparently.

Fab view from the new Greene King stand

F.I.L. hadn't seen PNE play for years. As it happens, The Lillywhites last visited Portman Road in 1968, said the local paper. And as then, Ipswich came out on top, though 3-0 was a tad flattering, although the Northerners were beset by injuries & suspensions. Thankfully.

Good to be in the vertiginous Churchmans / South / Greene King stand, and in the top tier too. A snip at £24 per ticket, not. Come on you blue boys!

--- Filing ---

Regular readers, ahem, will know that I'm currently resting, i.e. between employers. One consequence of this is that I've got Time On My Hands (TM).

And I've not been (that) idle. Things are getting seriously sorted. First one kid's bedroom, then another, and now putting stuff away. Invested in a pair of small-ish filing cabinets pre-Christmas. Spent a not unpleasant day earlier this week trawling through the overstuffed "To Be Filed" box, ending up with piles galore. But I was sitting down for hours, boom-boom!

I hang suspended on your words
Yeah, you leave me
I hang suspended on your words
— The Boo Radleys, I Hang Suspended

Those lyrics come to mind due to the large number of A4 suspension files now usefully employed. Unlike me.

--- Feedback ---

Had to mention this last item, even though I've used the word "pathetic" once already.

A tiny moment of triumph was mine last week when I hit a feedback rating of 100 on top web site ebay. This means that I've had bought or sold items from 100 unique users on ebay, and they've been good enough to leave me a positive message (usually along the lines of "Smooth transaction - cheers!").

Tricky to convey this sense of achievement to a non-ebayer, but after a while you tend to be driven by the little number that always appears after your user id. And as you do more business, that number should increase. Get enough feedback, and you get a little star!