Monthly Archives: August 2017

Have a Break

 

It was on one such break this week that I made a discovery. Taking a sip of Lady Grey, I clicked on one of those links you always try to avoid. “Seventeen things you didn’t know about Japan”, it said. One thing they didn’t know about me is that I love Japanese things, and another is that I am always looking for decent ways to procrastinate.

This is where I discovered that while we have milk, dark and white chocolate KitKats, Japan has benefitted from over 300 different flavours. Plus, out of all of those, the most popular one was Soy Sauce.

Other flavours have or do include: baked potato, cough drop, corn, European cheese, green bean, hot Japanese chilli, Miso soup, red potato, rock salt, sake, vegetable juice, and wasabi.

They should have just done an article about the seventeen things I didn’t know about KitKat – like the name being similar to the good luck phrase kitto katsu, meaning “you will surely win”. So, from its launch in 1973, bars have been given as good luck or thank you gifts and embraced by the nation.

But, according to Flavour Boss, one group of people who aren’t winning are non-smokers. Apparently, in their survey, two-thirds of non-smokers are miffed that they don’t get the equivalent of smoking breaks, while 80% of people responding were unhappy that smokers were allowed breaks at all.

It is difficult to argue against the fact that breaks freshen up employees. If it works for car drivers then it seems logical that taking five minutes away from a terminal or desk would do the same for someone beginning to feel a bit jaded. Walking about helps the circulation too, combatting the dangers of a sedentary life.

Many employers state that there’s a cost involved in having people wandering about instead of concentrating on their work – and, to avoid complications, have banned smoking as well as vaping.

 

But, given the new position taken by the UK government, will employers reconsider allowing vapers to vape in offices and work vehicles? The UK’s war on vaping is pretty much done and dusted (bar a few dissenting voices), the only trouble is whether too much damage has been done to vaping’s reputation over the last few years.

At one point in time, being able to vape at work was one of the main reasons behind people taking it up. Are you still allowed to vape at work? Do you think your employer encourages smokers to switch? Would you eat a wasabi KitKat?

 

*Japanese KitKat image borrowed from Japan Centre, where you can purchase some wonderful yet incredible Japanese KitKats

 

The SV Multipurpose Tool

 

Oh, it’s just a smudge on the car’s windscreen. The panic is called off and we all breathe a collective sigh of relief. But then some fool turns on the radio and it’s not tuned to something with music. The air fills with noise about hurricanes and missiles and war and politicians. You can fumble for the central locking but that’s not going to help.

Run, run for home as fast as you can. Don’t let traffic or farmyard animals slow you down, you need to feel the comfort and tranquillity of your little bubble – the happy place where the outside world can not intrude.

You’ve left you door key in the car? You fool. What kind of idiot does something that stupid? You’d better hurry up to come up with a solution because that’s a pair of people in smart clothes walking down the road and they look like they want to give you a copy of something looking suspiciously like the word of a god in a booklet. Or get you to order expensive vegetables, delivered to your door. Or sign you up for window cleaning. Or take out a monthly direct debit, donating spare cash you don’t have to give to animals you can’t cuddle. Quick.

Good plan that was, popping next door is a masterstroke. You can both sit down share a cup of tea and chat about what new juice you’ve tried recently. Oh, and would you look at that? Her husband has only gone and made some wonderful cakes. Phew. A day that started with so much promise suddenly looked like it would be one you’d not forget in a hurry. But it’s all golden now; pick up that mug and sup down the nation’s favourite beverage because there’s nothing more British than a tea

Oh no, simply using the word British has sparked the neighbours off, and their opinions would grace septic tanks and sewage treatment plants better than landing on your delicate ears. Make your excuse to leave the table, any excuse.

Well, I suppose thinking about sewage might make some people want to go to the toilet, but it’s hardly ideal as you are still stuck in the house. Oh you have to be kidding me? Seriously? You’re going to do one of them in somebody else’s home? I don’t care if milk always makes you do that, it’s so inconsiderate. What the flip do you mean “it’s blocked it”?

No – NO! I don’t care what you’ve read on the Web or seen on TV, hurling faeces out of a window is possible the most bizarre thing to do under any circumstance.

But at least, now we have the new SV Multitool, if you did do that you’d be able to rescue the situation. We’ve taken the concept of the hammer and made it a 21st-century device. Our range of hammer multitools means that no matter the emergency – changing a radio station, opening a locked door or rescuing an errant turd – you will always have the correct hammer to hand.

No need to thank us, ‘being helpful’ is what Stealthvape does.