So yesterday morning, Sunday 22nd December, i thought i’d go out for a ride on my scooter — weather being nice and everything.
So off i went to Sidmouth, as it’s quite a fun ride from Exmouth going the back lane way over Peak Hill.
I planned on getting there just after 10am so i could pop into Waitrose and grab a free coffee before it all got busy. Alas, it was not to be. I had forgotten about all the mindless, senseless, automaton, baby jesus freaks running around in their mad, last minute, buying frenzies because they’d forgotten the fucking stuffing mix and aunty Jane would starve to death if they didn’t get out and buy some at 10am on Sunday morning.
It was so busy Waitrose had even draughted in the boy scouts to guide people to empty parking spaces as they became available, and also the air cadets to collect all the trolleys as all the mad people threw them madly into the air in their mad dashes to be away from the madding, fucking crowd — i kid you fucking not!!!
By the time i’d got through the crazy busy store, having bought some nice things i can’t buy at Tesco in Exmouth, i proceeded to queue for the free coffee at the machine. Yes folks, a queue had formed at 10.30am in Waitrose. And it was a queue of 5 people, plus me, and more people then queued behind me.
Normally i wouldn’t bother waiting in such a queue, but i’d rode 12.5 miles on my scooter in the middle of winter — albeit a nice day — to get to Sidmouth; and, if you ask me — which no one did — i was the one in that fucking queue that deserved that free fucking coffee the most.
Needless to say, the coffee machine was not having a happy morning. When anyone finally made it to the front of the queue they proceeded to apologise to those in the queue behind them about the coffee machine taking ages to make their coffee: “It’s never usually like this.” they said.
And the thought occurred to me:
In the internet of things, and intelligent devices, i wonder, should coffee machines get a tea break?
It struck me that at baby jesus time when everyone is all good will and shit and over eating and seriously hating the whole fucking experience but they go along with it any way because that’s what they’re supposed to do — init — that no one cared about this poor little coffee machine being so utterly abused by the hoi polloi and all and sundry of Sidmouth as they all lose their collective fucking minds and binge shop for baby fucking jesus like it’s the last fucking birthday he’ll ever fucking have.
So yeah, spare a thought for all your intelligent machines, and even the retarded ones, at this time of year. Buy them a present and make sure they get a fucking break from your family’s incessant, mindless demands.
And yes, i do consider the Waitrose coffee machine to be intelligent. It can make a fairly decent fucking coffee from whole beans, grinds them all by itself and everything and shit — that’s pretty fucking intelligent compared to a dog. I don’t see dogs making a fresh ground cup of coffee and plenty of people claim they’re intelligent and if you abused one like you abuse intelligent machines then you’d be arrested good and proper.
So why is it ok to enslave, torture and abuse an intelligent machine in this way — at christmas for fucks sake — but it’s not ok to upset someone’s doggie?
So yeah, give the coffee machines a tea break — and stay the fuck out of Waitrose when i’m visiting Sidmouth.
Another super season from this great series.
Amazon *
I’d like to say that this 
The last of the year’s 3 grand tours, La Vuelta usually throws up a fun 3 week adventure around the roads of Spain and, although in some ways it was a little disappointing this year, it was still a good race in many other ways.
This series is based on the true story of the 
This show just gets better. Everyone’s settled into their characters really well, the main galactic story line is ramping up, while the short episode stories are usually quite humorous while managing to keep a serious side to them — like holodeck porn addiction.
One absolutely whacky, strange, weird, but brilliant piece of television.
Klapa is a style of a cappella music from Croatia. I found out about it because it’s the music that inspired the “Music of the Mazg” in Robin Sloan’s book