It was one of those job interviews you just know is going to be a disaster before you start. The office where it took place is literally down the road from I live, an upstairs premises with only a single door on the street to mark its presence and a source of confusion as you wander back and forth expected something more impressive.

Having found the door (I always have trouble with doors - Douglas Adams fans please note) I noticed the gloomy staircase with a carpet left unwashed since the middle ages. There was no reception desk on the first floor. Instead, a dingy set of rooms off an undecorated hallway, toilets in view, and coffee-making equipment left with copious signs of use.

Sigh. Well I'm here, so lets get on with it. The man sat behind the first desk in the only room showing signs of human habitation blinked as I entered. I hope thats because he was impressed.

"Here," He said, handing me a great pile of paper and a pen, "Fill these in, you can sit over there."

Right you are then. I hate forms. You never have the information you need to complete them and they always ask for information in a random order with boxes ridiculously small for the task. No matter how careful you are you never fill them in 'correctly'. I don't the intention is that they actually read or use this stuff, rather its some strange intelligence test. Perhaps the point is to throw the paper back at the guy and say "Sir - these forms are a travesty of incompetence and poor layout, compounded by aesthetically challenged conception, made even worse by the hideous quality of paper upon which they are printed"

Ok, maybe not. Then I notice the waiver for the European 48 hours-a-week working limit. I'm not signing that! Plus the man was most insistent on seeing my passport, and he kindly told me I can come back at a later time with it. Why do I get the feeling I'm going to get into an old pick-up truck filled with silent mexicans every morning as I head out to the melon farm?

Pic of the Day

Not a great pic but it captures the coldness we're suffering right now.

Cold Snap of the Week

It appears Britain isn't the only country suffering cold temperatures. Fifty five people in India have died as temperatures plummetted. Apparently this is the worst cold snap in thirteen years. What next? Predictions of Global Freezing? Well, for the next few days anyway.