Plastic Analysis

Welcome to a wet and miserable South Manchester where the rain is drizzling down and making my cats wet. You may think this is funny but it isn’t. Off they go outside through the cat flap and spend their time wandering around getting soaked before having a dig in soil and then coming back in, leaving a trail of dirty footprints on the kitchen floor, the windowsills and, arguably worst of all, the clean trousers that I put on this morning. To add insult to dirt, they shake like a dog to let me know how it feels to be outside at the moment. 

The good news this week is that my favourite band of all time, the Canadian band Rush, have extended their tour to include Europe and, in particular, Manchester where they will be playing at the brand new Co-op Arena. There will be a post about Rush coming soon (if you are interested) but the great news is that I managed to get a ticket despite the gig being pretty close to being sold out. Such is their popularity that they have added a second date in Manchester. I have to wait until next year but I already know it will be one of the gigs of 2027 for me. 

Let’s dive into a silly Sunday Stealing survey. 

Silly Survey Questions …

1. Did you/will you have coffee or some other form of caffeine today? 

I will have a cup of decaffeinated coffee later today. I stopped drinking caffeine around 2016 after I realized the effect it had on me. My boss asked me to come in early one Friday to fix something and because I succeeded he decided to reward me with several large mugs of what I can only describe as a nuclear caffeine bomb. I have to say that it tasted delightful but a couple of hours later I was so wired that I didn’t know what to do with myself at all. I’ve heard of the phrase “climbing the walls” but I was more like Spider-man; I honestly thought I could walk on the ceiling. I can’t imagine what I was like to talk to. I decided to eliminate caffeine that very day and that includes in tea. 

There are some places where the concept of decaffeinated coffee is as alien as Mork from Ork. A couple of years ago, I went to Amsterdam for a university reunion and at breakfast in a lovely café I asked the waiter for a decaffeinated coffee. He looked at me as if I had just grown a second head and, in a delightful Dutch accent he said “Decaffeinated coffee? We only have NORMAL coffee!” 

I sometimes indulge in coffee made from decaffeinated coffee grounds when I want to treat myself and that brings back memories of decent coffee from my past. 

I have to add finally that while I like coffee, I prefer tea (the decaffeinated variety). 

2. Who did you last have a text conversation with and what was it about? 

It was to my eldest son who was asking for my sister’s phone number so that he can invite her to a big party he is having later this year. 

3. Are there regular trains in and out of your town/city? 

There are hundreds of trains in and out of my city per day. Manchester has two enormous railway stations called Manchester Victoria and Manchester Piccadilly, as well as several smaller ones in the city centre. I can catch a direct train to most other UK major cities from there. For example, trains run to London two or three times and hour and it takes about two hours to travel the 200 miles between the cities. 

The local light railway or trams, called Metrolink, also has a station at each railway station making it easy for most Mancunians to get to the stations from the suburbs and surrounding towns.

4. Have you ever been hospitalised due to dehydration?

I have never been hospitalised. I drink lots of fluids so I rarely get dehydrated. 

5. Someone texts/IMs you just as you’re about to go to sleep. Do you reply? 

It depends on who it is and whether it is urgent. I will ignore it unless it requires my immediate attention. 

6. Do you grind your teeth?  

No – but Mrs PM does. She has woken me up doing it in the past. 

7. When you listen to music with headphones, do you keep the volume low enough to hear surrounding noise, or do you blast it?

It depends on where I am. I have a pair of earbuds and when I am out walking in the morning, I have it on a very low volume so that I can hear what is going on. However, if I am walking on a main road, I usually turn up the volume a little to lessen the impact of the engines of buses, cars and lorries. If ai am in a park I have the volume as low as possible.

On trains, trams and aircraft, I have the volume a little higher to lessen the impact of the engines of the vehicle I am travelling in. 

In a car, I don’t use my earbuds. 

8. Are you wearing nail polish?

Absolutely not. I have never worn it and I never will (unless for some crazy reason I decide to become a rock star or an actor in my old age – and even then I will only do it if I am paid a lot of money to do so). 

9. Do you have an ice maker in your refrigerator door?

No, sadly. I think it would be a useful thing to have. Mrs PM’s dad has one and in the summer it is quite useful. We (or should I say Mrs PM) plan to have a new kitchen in a year or two so we may consider it then. 

10. Do you have a friend named James?

Yes – I have several friends called James. One of my oldest friends, who I met at university, is called James but I haven’t seen him for about twenty years sadly. Closer to home I have an old workmate who I still keep in touch with called James. 

Oddly both of them insist on being called James as opposed to Jim.  I used to work with a guy called Jim and I used to call him “Jimbo” with the emphasis on the “BO”. Why? Because one of the first things he said to me was “Don’t call me Jimbo!”. It’s an unwritten law amongst a lot of blokes that if you react negatively to a name or a nickname then that name will stick. I discovered this to my own cost many years ago and occasionally I have to deal with old friends who still call me a nickname from a few years ago because I objected.