Mikes weather bits & Photo Blog: Do you have a selfie stick? & All done for xmas

Apparently we in the UK are way behind in adopting the Selfie stick although if you want one it had better be quick because the wave of tweets proclaiming "if you have a #selfie stick i officially hate you"is coming along as well! - - -
The coolest selfie stick I have seen was when i climbed Ben Nevis back in the winter of 2013 with a couple of friends

Adam our guide balanced his camera on his ice axe and took the pic above - - - cool

UK Students are being told they cant train as nurses but the story tells of the NHS hiring foreign nurses, even without a formal English language test? - - - of course its all to do with "cash" £70k to train a student in the UK and it takes 3 years, for that they can hire 3 foreign nurses at £23k wages a year - - -

Obviously a slack news day at the Express today, a plea to house dogs and something we all should know about, pension policy/fund fees are a con

I skipped out of the Fun Factory yesterday in the knowledge that i don't need to clock in again until Boxing day! Its strange, to me at least, that my next shift pattern starts on Christmas day and in order to keep the "books straight" i have to officially book a days holiday on that day, even though the shop is closed!?

Even yesterday the tide of shoppers included the usual suspects! It amazes me that wives will send their husbands shopping for some of the Christmas fayre without "briefing them" where or sometimes what things are!

One colleague, "lets call her Ashley" was looking a little "down in the mouth" working near the spice rack so as i was checking part of the Free From display we are responsible for I asked why. Some "lady" shopper had asked if we had "Juniper Berries" (in the spice rack) poor old Ash had no idea and must have mumbled an apology and attempted to look for them. The "lady" went off on a tirade about "surely you must know what they are!" before flouncing off to another part of the shop.
I quickly located them explaining to Ash that it was essential to try and maintain a sense of humour at this particular time, this was noticed by another shopper and she nodded in agreement.

Ash was determined to catch the "lady" and clutching the Juniper Berries jar was about to, "give chase" I cautioned she might not get a favourable reaction and if not to make sure she said a sickly, "have a nice day" if she didnt! A couple of minutes later a beaming Ash re-appeared and confirmed she had administered the "sickly" farewell - - - Result! - - - you have to ask why the "lady" didn't spot the item in the rack anyway - - - hey ho
On the other side of the coin another "lady" was just that!, when she asked for mince pies in a bright red box and then said "or have i lost the plot?" my grin and reply of "yes madame the plot has been well and truly lost" had her in hysterics! - - -

My new camera arrived yesterday so I will be giving it a road test today then its off to see No 1 daughter (the elder) for lunch tomorrow. After that i reckon its all free wheeling down to xmas day!