Most people call it a 'take away box'. I have always called it a 'tofu box.'

1. People who want to follow you as you work through to the answer
2. People who want to know the answer straight away

This causes much frustration in report writing because each type of reader thinks, ‘Obviously, you need to give me the “so what” first’, or ‘Obviously, your report doesn’t make sense unless you build it up from strong foundations’.

Type 1 people

• Scientists and anyone with Dr in their name
• Public servants

Type 2 people

• Lawyers
• Architects
• Chiefs

I used to write Type 1 reports. Then one project involving lots of lawyers turned me into a Type 2 report writer. This has worked well for me recently, as I’ve been working with architects and urban designers.

Right now, though, I am now turning a Type 2 report into a Type 1 report because the client is a scientist plus a public servant. Sadly, we actually want Type 2 people to read this report but can’t say no to the Type 1 client body.

(There is a halfway house on this — long executive summaries. But it’s not a perfect solution.)

This reminded me of a discussion I had with Damjan. I have a gut reaction against what I consider to be invasive procedures to make people look better. In this, I include teeth straightening through braces, skin lasering/abrasion and even some of the teeth whitening with heavy duty UV.

I can’t explain why I don’t approve of these procedures. Part of it is that I’m judging people for being so concerned about their appearance.

Yet, I too like to look nice. While some people spend thousands on orthodontics, Botox, upper face lifts, liposuction, I will over my lifetime spend thousands on gym memberships, make up, nice clothes, hair cuts.

For some reason, I would be more critical of someone spending hundreds on Botox than I would of someone spending hundreds on a miracle cream. I think, perhaps, my understanding of risk my be affecting my perception.

I expect, though, that Botox is very safe now. Would my feelings on this be different when it gets to the point that you can buy Botox in the department store and inject it yourself, the way you can with teeth whitening kits?

I think I need to re-evaluate my views on surgical cosmetic enhancements and orthodontics that are relatively safe and inexpensive. Either that or come down harder on make up and weight loss programmes.

I believe I’m still a stair climber of escalators in the Underground. However, I can’t provide the evidence. I now walk to work so there is no Tube behaviour to cite.

I wrote in my last stair climbing post:

‘I’ve finally bitten the bullet and resolved to take the stairs to the fifth floor, where my desk is at work. I did it every day last week. I hope I can keep it up…

‘I’ve avoided taking the stairs because (I know this sounds weird) I felt embarrassed walking past the crowd waiting for the lift. I felt especially embarrassed if someone in that crowd knows I work on the fifth floor because they, too, work on the fifth floor. In that context, being a shown to be a stair climber seems self-righteous and snobbish.’

Since that post, I relapsed and started taking the lift again. I couldn’t get over my embarrassment.

However, there has been a development. For the past 6+ months, I have climbed the stairs to the fifth floor every day. I have discovered a set stairs at the back of the building, hidden away so that I can do my shameful stair climbing in peace.

There are 90 steps all together, enough compensation for a third of a square of dark chocolate.

Please don’t think the worst (or the best, depending on your point of view). What interests me is the way they dress. Time and time again, I find that girls dress like each other.

It seems to me that the girls don’t realise this. They probably think they’ve made their own fashion decisions. ‘After all, I’m wearing teal with white polka dots, and she’s wearing dark grey.’

‘Ah,’ I think, ‘but you’re both wearing dresses with belted waists and that go just above the knee. Same shoulder pads, same sleeves.’ Those were the two girls I saw today on Camden High Street.

Last weekend on the way to the post office, I walked behind a trio of girls. The two on the left wore light summer (different coloured) shirts over long dark shorts. Although their sandals had different details (flowers on one, gold rings on the other), both were flat heeled and strappy. The two girls even had the same type of over-the-shoulder handbag — puffy black bags with shiny chain straps.

The third girl was interesting. She was different. While the other two had high pony tails, she wore her hair short. Her handbag was big and pink — practical but stylish in its own way. She wore a dress.

She seemed to be her own person. I admired this.

But who knows? Maybe the three of them were on their way to meet a short-haired friend in a dress holding a big practical yet stylish handbag.

Would you vote for me?

The finger is healing nicely. It’s at that itchy stage, which signals that the body is knitting itself back together.

I have been wondering if this cut has changed my fingerprints. Where do fingerprints come from? What layer of the skin is responsible for these whorls and loops? How deep do I actually need to be cut before there is slash across my fingerprints?

I have some friends who work at London Olympic Park site. The security is tough. You can only get in if your hand print scan matches a print stored in the database.

My friends were telling me about one woman whose hands expand in hot weather and shrink in cold weather. On a cold day like today, she sighs and factors in the extra time it will take to get on to site. Her cold-shrunken hands always fail to pass the security test.

A a man who works at the site has no fingers. This stumps (ha ha) the hand print scanner, so his security clearance is based on a retina scan.

This seems unnecessary to me. Surely a fingerless hand (a palm?) is a unique identifier? Seems much more secure than scanning a common garden-variety fingered hand.

Often, I’ll see people chatting and having impromptu meetings around the communal tables. Occasionally, though, there is no chatter. Everyone is quietly tapping at their keyboards.

Even when it’s quiet, there’s still a lot going on. The activity is all mental.

Still, seeing rows of consultants working hard in their virtual cubicles reminds me of battery hens hard at work.

London’s neighbourhoods are beautiful right now. However, I do feel sorry for the street sweepers. During the rest of the year, they’re clearing up litter, dog poop, pavement pizzas and cigarette butts. Now, on top of their usual duties, they fight an unwinnable battle with leaf litter.

The sweepers fill their rubbish carts with red, orange and brown, and the next day, the trees have re-layered the roads and footpaths.

The sweepers’ only respite is winter, when the branches of deciduous trees are exhausted and bare.

There is one other thing about the leaves that makes me worry.

You see, when leaves fall and naturally decay, the nutrients go back into the earth. At the same time, carbon dioxide is released. This doesn’t contribute to climate change because when leaves grow back in spring, the tree re-absorbs the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

What I worry about is that all those leaves collected by all those street sweepers will go to the rubbish tip. This must happen because the sweepers are still picking up litter. No one is going to separate the leaves from the litter.

In a rubbish tip, the rubbish is stacked in layers and capped every night so that the rats and pigeons don’t make a mess. This means that organic material like leaves have no oxygen. Instead of decaying (aerobically) and releasing carbon dioxide, the leaves will decay (anaerobically) and release methane.

Methane is a more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Over the next two decades, this methane released will trap 72 times more heat than carbon dioxide. Even after a hundred years, methane is still 25 times more potent than the same amount of carbon dioxide.

I wonder if anyone else has been thinking about this.

When you have a Wikipedia entry, you know you’ve made it. Made it to where, well, that’s up to you.

‘We need a witness to our lives. There’s a billion people on the planet… I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you’re promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things… all of it, all of the time, every day. You’re saying ‘Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness’.’

(movie quote)

Well, move over, marriage. For the successful and notorious, Wikipedia now offers a viable alternative witness to a life partner.

(This is a strange blog entry. I guess things I think about are like that.)