by Fern Shaw | Mar 11, 2015 | water cooler
March actually isn’t an unlucky or ‘bad’ month at all. It’s just that peskily prolific Shakespeare whose line it is that’s responsible for the month’s bad reputation.
We’ve all heard the saying, ‘Beware the Ides of March.’ The actual quote is from Shakespeare’s tragedy Julius Caesar (1599). The warning is uttered by a soothsayer who is letting Roman leader Julius Caesar know that his life is in danger and he should probably stay home and be careful when March 15th, the Ides of March, rolls around.
That said, the quote does reflect actual history because on March 15th, 44 BC, Julius Caesar was violently murdered, stabbed 23 times by a mob of senators who were led by his protégés and supposed ‘friends’ Cassius and Brutus.
Moving swiftly on from all that gore, there’s actually some cracker things that have occurred in the March month. Here’s a soupçon:
2 March 1969 – Concorde, the Anglo-French supersonic airline, roared into the skies on its maiden flight. The aircraft will travel at twice the speed of sound.
5 March 1936 – The British fighter plane Spitfire made its first test flight from Eastleigh, Southampton. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine the aircraft will enter service with the Royal Air Force in the next two years.
7 March 1876 – The Scottish-born inventor, Alexander Graham Bell, patented the telephone. Look where that got us!
10 March 1886 – Cruft’s Dog Show was held in London for the first time – since 1859 it had been held in Newcastle. More recently the venue has changed to the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham.
27 March 1871 – Legalised warfare – England and Scotland played their first rugby international, in Edinburgh; first blood to Scotland. Och aye!
30 March 1856 – The Crimean War between Russia and Europe was brought to an end by the signing of the Treaty of Paris.
Obviously there’s a lot more that happen(ed)s in March, but it seems to be a very fly-ee type of month, what with the Concorde’s maiden flight and the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine powered Spitfire being introduced! I always wanted to fly on the Concorde, but that’s another story entirely.
So, take heart and regale your co-workers this March with your spiffy general and historical trivia knowledge. You’re sure to be the toast of the water cooler circuit.
by Fern Shaw | Mar 11, 2015 | Water, water cooler
‘You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.’ Have you ever wondered who comes up with such expressions or idioms? I often do.
Keeping matters pet friendly (aha aha) and water related (because that’s what we’re about – us here at AquAid, dont’chya know) you’ll find quite a few animal / watery idioms around. My task was to establish whether they are all true or where they originated from.
The horse/water idiom might possibly encapsulate the English-speaking people’s mind-set better than any other saying, as it appears to be the oldest English proverb that is still in regular use today. It was recorded as early as 1175 in Old English Homilies:
Hwa is thet mei thet hors wettrien the him self nule drinken
[who can give water to the horse that will not drink of its own accord?]
What’s even more interesting is that this particular proverb or idiom also applies to dogs. Dogs, you ask? Yes, dogs, I reply. It wasn’t until recently that I found out that dogs don’t sweat. They can pant or drink water to cool themselves down but they can’t do both at the same time and even if they’re too hot and you offer them water, they often won’t drink it – ergo you can also lead dogs to water but you can’t make them drink. I haven’t tried this out with cats, but then, they’re cats. Rather don’t go there.
I’m aware that this expression has another meaning, actually pointing at human behaviour, but I quite enjoy the literal sense too.
A fish out of water – Not feeling at home where you are. Okay, that one’s easy.
Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water – When you’re making a change, save what matters to you and dispose of the rest. Pretty self-explanatory, but were you aware that there’s a bit of bun fight about the literal meaning of this idiom? Apparently, there’s an e-mail doing the rounds about proverbs in the 1500’s and this one meant that as an entire household bathed in the same water, the water would get so murky that it was entirely possible the baby went out with the bathwater. Not true of course.
To drown in a glass of water – To be easily discouraged. I honestly hadn’t heard of this one before. I will suggest though that you don’t take this literally when refilling your glass at the water cooler. Your co-workers may get the wrong idea and label you a bit of a twit.
Blood is thicker than water – Family is more important than anyone or anything else. This idiom has always creeped me out slightly. Still not sure why. Perhaps it comes from watching too many vampire movies?
To pound water in a mortar – Making vain attempts. This I can identify with, except mine involved making a well in flour and pouring water in to make pizza bases. The dam broke, the water flowed out and I was left cleaning up sticky, yeasty, wet flour from every available kitchen surface. Thank you, recipe from Jamie Oliver, not.
by Fern Shaw | Mar 9, 2015 | Water, water cooler
Here’s some bamboozely info. to bandy about at your next network at the office, home or school (hopefully at school, you’re not networking as yet, but just chatting to your mates) water cooler – just what are indigo and violet and is there any difference between the two?
I blame the rainbow for this particular confusion. (As I type this I imagine a lot of ‘he’ men running (or loping) strongly away to avoid any discussion regarding colours other than ‘Oh, that’s blue’).
It was Sir Isaac Newton who discovered that sunlight falling upon a prism could split into its component colours. This process is known as dispersion. Newton named the component colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
Newton, who admitted his eyes were not very critical in distinguishing colours, originally divided the spectrum into five main colours; red, yellow, green, blue and violet. Later he included orange and indigo, giving seven main colours by analogy to the number of notes in a musical scale. Newton chose to divide the visible spectrum into seven colours out of a belief derived from the beliefs of the ancient Greek sophists, who thought there was a connection between the colours, the musical notes, the known objects in the Solar System, and the days of the week. I’ll be elaborating about rainbows, prisms, spectrums in another blog, patience!
According to Isaac Asimov, “It is customary to list indigo as a color lying between blue and violet, but it has never seemed to me that indigo is worth the dignity of being considered a separate color. To my eyes it seems merely deep blue.”
If a heavyweight like Asimov, possibly the greatest science fiction writer and father of ‘hard science fiction’, has an issue with defining the colour indigo, I’m in pretty great company!
Now that we’ve established that there is a difference, my next dilemma always is – which colour do I prefer? Dark blue-ee indigo or purple shock type violet?
I’d like to say that the answer is simple, but, it isn’t. When it comes to me and colours, I go all weak at the knees and dribble saliva a little. It’s very attractive, of course, but nonetheless true. As with many a good thing in life, colours undo me – it’s as if when I was just a newt in my Mum’s tum, she swallowed a paint box of colours and all that colour got into her bloodstream and it got passed on to me in all of its Technicolor glory.
So when it comes to indigo or violet, I’ll take both please, with a healthy dollop of blueberry on the side.
by Fern Shaw | Feb 18, 2015 | Water, water cooler
So it started like this … (I’m tempted to say ‘and that’s how the fight started’) … but that wouldn’t be correct. Or true.
It wasn’t a fight. What it was was the seemingly endless discussion about whether to go camping or to not go camping.
Whether camping was simply the best, cheapest way of getting away from it all or just some centuries’ old nomadic instinct from our predecessors which insists that you lug your household around to shivery destinations, I’m not quite sure.
The facts are you get 2 very different camps (ha!) when it comes to camping.
As you may have gathered, I fall into the no-camping-are-you-insane category.
I will relate just one story to you and perhaps you’ll understand why.
I went camping alongside a river with a boyfriend. It was an impromptu, rash decision fuelled by copious amounts of liquor the day before we ventured out. Due to work constraints, we arrived at the self-designated campsite after dark and parked on the sand at the river’s edge. Dinner was to be a potjie (or stew) which is traditionally made using water, seasoning, vegetables and a meat, no packet sauces or any other cheats aloud. Slight problem was we had no water. The river water was pretty churny and brown and we weren’t taking any chances. We proceeded to use the red wine we’d brought with us as the liquid base for the potjie. Only problem here was that the intense heat from the cooking fire meant that the liquid burnt off pretty quickly. Suffice to say that we ended up some hours later (the whole idea of a potjie is that it takes hours to cook (the originator of the popular ‘slow cooking’ that’s all the rage nowadays?) with half cooked, half singed meat, crunchy vegetables and no wine. It didn’t help that we were ravenous!
The camping didn’t get much better post dinner either. A friend, who ran river rafting expeditions from where we were camped, decided to creep up on us wearing a ski mask. With the sound of the river rushing by us didn’t hear him until he leapt out from the river bank – all 6ft.2 of him – and screamed at us. The following morning, deciding to depart from our rather ill-fated excursion, we discovered that the van that we’d driven in had sunk down into the soft, damp river sand and was stuck. An hour later armed with much choice language and two planks, we finally managed to extricate ourselves and head off back to civilisation. No-one could have been more relieved than I was.
I have since then had the occasional pleasant camping trip, but whenever the 2 camps set up (ha!) around the water cooler and tales of for and against start up, I’m sure this story has swayed more than a few undecided. Don’t say you weren’t warned.
by Fern Shaw | Feb 16, 2015 | water cooler
Charity can often be a word bandied about but with no real meaning behind it.
If there’s one thing I’ve discovered about AquAid it’s that you’ll find tons of individuals throughout the AquAid network that aren’t just committed working professionals, but they’re really dedicated to raising funds for those less fortunate than themselves. And not just for their fellow human beings, but for other beings too.
One such individual is Scott Barnbrook.
A lot of you may know Scott as the Regional Manager of AquAid water coolers or perhaps for his role as National Sales Manager. You may also know that AquAid have always been involved in contributing to sustainable charities. What you may not know is that Scott is also one of the largest independent fundraisers for the Birmingham Dogs Home.
Scott has, to date, raised a cracking £2,612.02 of his £2,500.00 target, of which all proceeds go towards helping to fee
d the dogs at Birmingham Dogs Home. The home also manages the Sunnyside Dogs Home at Wolverhampton.
One of the many events that Scott participates in to raise funds for charity is the Tough Guy – the most recent being the Winter Tough Guy that took place on the 1st of February.
According to Scott, “This Tough Guy saw me get frozen, electrocuted and cut in the name of charity – in truth I’d rather be watching TV with my hand in the biscuit tin but we all need to try and help others.”
If you’d like to find out more about donating to Scott’s chosen charities or just more about the charities themselves, you can visit Scott via Just Giving.
Well done, Scott, we’re bark aloud proud of you!
by Fern Shaw | Feb 16, 2015 | water cooler
In case you were thinking that fidelity only applies to us humanoids, think again. All of these water loving/living creatures pretty much mate for life:
- ALBATROSS – Other bird species can boast about their monogamous relationships, but albatross display a unique patience and persistence when it comes to stoking the flames of romance. Young albatrosses learn from older birds how to woo their mates using an elaborate system of preening, pointing, rattling, bowing and other sweet dance moves. After they learn advanced wooing, albatrosses may ‘dance’ with many partners until they find the right one – but once they select that perfect mate, they’re boos for life.
- BEAVERS – Beavers stay together for the kids. Not only are these loyal creatures faithful to their mates, but they’re also devoted parents. Dads don’t just go off to build dams and whatnot while moms stay at home raising the kits; both male and female beavers take an active hand in bringing up their offspring. And once those kits reach about 2 years of age, they go off to find true love of their own, and the beautiful cycle of monogamous beaver love continues. And, yes, baby beavers are called kits. That in itself is a cuteness overload.
- FRENCH ANGELFISH – French angelfish make such perfect couples that it would embarrass most humans. Not only do these fish stay with their mates until death, but they spend fully half of their time swimming side by side. Not only that, but when French angelfish couples come together again after time apart, they engage in what’s called “carouseling,” circling round and round each other. When was the last time you and your other half were so happy to see each other that you both literally spun around in the pure bliss of being together?
- PENGUINS – Penguins are often cited for their monogamy, but as cute as it is to imagine the same pair of penguins waddling around flipper-in-flipper for eternity, the truth is that they are only serially monogamous, which means pairs usually stay together for one breeding season at a time. Exceptions to this are not uncommon, however, and some pairs are known to seek each other out again and again over many seasons. In fact, a particularly devoted couple of Magellanic penguins tracked by scientists have been observed to return to each other every season for 16 years, and are still going strong. Now that’s love.
- SEAHORSES – If albatross relationships are reminiscent of fairy-tale romance, seahorses might be considered the swingers of the sea. Many seahorse species will bond with a mate, but that bond often lasts only through a single breeding season or until a more attractive female comes along. But, monogamy in this case is useful since it can be hard to find fellow seahorses due to poor swimming skills and low densities. There is evidence that the longer that partners are together, the more successful at breeding they become and the two are able to produce more offspring per brood. One species of seahorse does appear to stick with a single mate for life: the Australian Hippocampus whitei. Practice makes perfect!
- SWANS – Swans are often used as a symbol of romance. First of all, they do that adorable thing where they crane their heads together, their graceful necks creating a heart shape. It’s perfect for greeting cards. On top of that, swans are famously monogamous. How sweet! They really love each other. But only to a point, it turns out. Newer research shows that ‘divorce’ can sometimes split up longstanding swan couples. Evidence suggests that the reason behind such events is that a couple may find themselves unable to breed with each other any longer. It’s not a fairy tale, but sometimes practical matters trump true love. Happily, swans are mature, and divorced couples may still live closely and cordially with each other, even with their new partners.
So there’ll be no more of using the excuse of ‘animals don’t mate for life’ for a lot of you fidelity challenged – you’d better, in the words of Nat King Cole, ‘Straighten up and fly right, Straighten up and stay right …’ Of course, if none of this applies, you can always amaze and wow your mates at the water cooler with your knowledge or; for huge brownie points, your Valentine? ♥
