Today (Sunday) we're sending our best birthday wishes to Rob Lowe who is responsible for our machine sales processing. Rob, whose dad Tony works in our stores, joined us in May and his presence in the office has certainly broadened our outlook on life. University educated Rob's interests range way beyond our usual comfort zone of X Factor and football and we now have wide ranging debates on topics as diverse as religion, politics and history and I will miss that when we retire in eight weeks' time. Rob is extremely conscientious in his attitude to work and I am sure that he will have a great future at Instanta after Marion and I have gone.If you get time to read this on your birthday Rob I hope that you have a wonderful day.
And Rob was not the only conscientious one here at Instanta as we recovered from the complete computer failure that hit us on Wednesday morning. It appears that when we moved a shelf in the computer network cabinet a box was knocked over. But it wasn't just a box, it was something to do with the power supply and it caused a power spike that took the server out. After thirty six hours sans computers we were back up and running late Friday morning and I would like to thank everyone in the office and stores for going out of their way to get things back on track and for working flat out throughout the day without any breaks in order to return us to normality. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed and were greatly appreciated. Every cloud has a silver lining and ,whilst I was not exactly overjoyed at the accident that caused £5,000 worth of damage, I was relieved to see that our insurers advise us that we are covered. Our first claim of any size for as long as I can remember.
Whilst Rob's arrival in the office has certainly increased our range of conversation there's no escaping the fact that X Factor is still the number one TV show to debate - Strictly comes nowhere near. And with costumes like that worn by Sinitta on Saturday's show it's hardly surprising. Dressed as some sort of Barbarella/warrior queen character from a teenage comic strip I imagine that the young boys in the groups that she was judging had difficulty in concentrating on their singing whilst Diva Fever were dying to know where they could get an outfit like it. We find out the final twelve tonight. At this point last year I had already tipped Joe as a likely winner but this year's choice is going to be much more difficult. I think that we can rule out all of the groups and most of the over 28's but there are three or four amongst the girls and boys who look good. Cher Lloyd,my favourite from the auditions, went down with a sore throat in last night's show and would not make the cut if judged on that performance alone but, as her auditions had more hits on YouTube than all of the others put together, I think that she will survive. I think that the top four will be Cher (most original girl),Gamu (best voice girl),Paije (best voice boy) and Matt(most original boy). I won't be putting any money on until the first live show.
On a more serious note, have you noticed the proliferation of suicide in the news recently? A couple of weeks ago there were the strangers who killed themselves after meeting on the internet and then two sex workers who apparently set up copycat deaths together soon afterwards. Yesterday I read of the director of the company who gave Northumbria Police the taser that was used on Raoul Moat, and later found not to be approved resulting in the company's license being revoked. And in the news last week was talented eighteen year old musician Tyler Clementi who leapt to his death from the George Washington Bridge after his roommate secretly taped a video of the young man indulging in gay sex with another student and then posted the tape on the internet. I spent a couple of years as a Samaritan so know a little bit about the mindset of the suicidal. It is a hugely complex subject but what struck me about each of these cases was the impact of the media - both digital and traditional. The two strangers met via the internet and the copycats discovered the chemical recipe online. The director's company was all over the press and the young mans private life was broadcast for all at Rutgers University to see. Without the web would some of these at least still be alive? I have said on here that the internet is the most important tool in life today but it is time that we all think very very carefully about the potential consequences before we press the publish button. And is there not a good case for an increased Samaritans presence on the web? I notice that there are a fair number of Samaritan branches on Twitter but perhaps a worldwide permanently manned Twitter account might benefit those who have suicidal tendencies and are internet aware.
And I can't end with a jolly video after that although I hope to brighten things up tomorrow with news of a new Instanta baby if I get a photo.
