Date   : Fri, 19 Aug 2011 07:38:23
From   : mark@... (Mark Usher)
Subject: [BeebSoc] It's the thought that counts

Was quietly sat at my desk in my home office yesterday - which you can
imagine has not an inconsiderable amount of things that Rick's Mother would
certainly not approve of. My significant other came home, and interrupting
the serenity, she proudly announced that she had bought me a present, and
whipped from behind her back something akin to a feather duster.

Of course, mildly but pleasantly surprised I smiled and said thank you. At
which point she continued to explain, it's really good - you will be able to
clean along all those shelves and between all the computers you have. It's
better than the old feather ones, because it is nylon and uses static
electricity to pick up all the dust.

Now, I am sure most people on the list will be grinning and quite able to
point out the problem here. So what do you do... smile nicely and accept and
never use - thus leaving it as dusty as ever - only for her to come along
and do me a good turn - wiping out half my collection in the process.... or
try and explain why static electricity might not be such a good idea around
microelectronics and aging disks already struggling to stay in existence. I
opted for the latter, and somehow I think I am going to have to wait until
Christmas for another present...

Perhaps just a lock on the door...

-M