Oy vay!

I'm mildly concerned that this blog is, at least for the next few weeks, going to consist of entries that rant about the incompetence of the candidates in the current series of the Apprentice. Oh well!

This week's most cringe-worthy fiasco involved Jenny and Michael trying to buy a kosher chicken at a suq in Marakesh. Although the other team successfully managed to find the Jewish part of the sprawling market, their team decided to try a Muslim butcher, happy to assume that any prayer would magically make it kosher!

To add insult to injury, Lee also demonstrated a sad lack of knowledge about other cultures: upon hearing the call to prayer, he described it to others as a call to fasting.

At this stage, I could hardly take any more of this depressing show of ineptitude. But it was worth hanging in there to see Jenny fired (and Jen too) as well as... Michael crossing himself. Absolutely classic! That guy has serious identity issues. He certainly isn't any good Jewish boy that I've ever seen.

Cable Guys

This morning, I arrived at the station just gone 8am as 'usual' only to be told that there were no trains running since some of the signalling cables had been stolen (!). I've heard of this practice before but never been bitten by it. They didn't know how long it would be before services would resume but, at the very least, it looked to be at least a few hours' delay.

I feel like I should be mad about this; stealing signalling cable is not only a huge inconvenience to a huge number of people but also (presumably) a significant safety hazard. Certainly such a blatant show of inconsideracy would normally annoy me. But, for some reason, it didn't. I'm wondering if this is because its effects weren't so direct for me. Okay, yes, I couldn't get to work but I like working at home. I think if I had been stranded on my way back from work and unable to get home easily, I would've been a lot angrier.

Muppets

I don't understand. I really don't. How did the current cohort of contestants get into the final few for the Apprentice? What does this say about the people who didn't get through? Tonight's task was making cards for a new event. How we laughed at the obvious irony of the idea of wasting paper sending environmentally-friendly 'please be green' cards/sermons. How did a team of supposedly intelligent people not see that this was a truly bad idea? An alternative explanation of course is that they are intelligent and they are just keen on giving the others ropes to hang themselves. So the choice is between two possibilities: they are embarrassingly, offensively stupid or they habitually screw each other over. Either way, what a wonderful recommendation of the business world, eh? In the case of Jenny, I think the verdict is clear; after coming up with the ground-breaking concept in the first place, she then had the absence of mind to say that she is trying to be more environmentally friendly these days by sending less cards. I despair. I really do.

Door Kicker

So, in the middle of kickboxing training, while in the toilet getting some water, one of the kids who also trains in the class comes in. He kicks the door to the cubicle. I said in a semi-playful voice that he knew that he shouldn't do this. Well, when he had kicked the door, I had been drinking directly from the basin tap. Instead of just saying a simple 'sorry', this kid (who must've been no more than about 7), turned to me and said that I shouldn't be doing what I was doing (drinking from the tap). I then had to clarify (to a 7-year-old!) that while my drinking might be naughty, it doesn't cause any damage whereas his door kicking does. Thankfully, he didn't have any response to this apart from looking a bit narked. I don't know. Kids of today, eh?