Paul Nero

Why won’t the co-op co-operate?

Paul Nero — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 20:44:43 +0000

Atrocious weather – and no milk in this town for several days. So struggling to the Co-op this morning, I’m delighted when a delivery of fresh milk arrives. But it’s not been unpacked from its pallet by the time I complete my shopping. “I have to check it in, sir – come back in 20 minutes” says the manager, a man normally taken to putting every hurdle he can in the way of customers buying their shopping. Instead, knowing someone wants milk, he proceeds to unpack potatoes. Slowly.

Having struggled through the ice to walk to the shop, which in these conditions takes than 20 minutes, it would be an hour’s round trip to come back for milk. This is a local neighbourhood Co-op with limited lines, not a supermarket. Neither are they rushed off their feet – there’s just one other customer this chilly, icy morning. But the manager is not going to stop putting potatoes on display when a customer wants milk.

So I wait, in hat and scarf and gloves. I watch him. He watches me. And we wait to see who blinks first.

Eventually he relents with a huff, so that I wait only 10 of the 20 minutes before he reluctantly agrees to let me have “just a pint, just this once.”

‘Tis the season of goodwill. And in these wintry conditions, some organisations are going out of their way to help people.

Someone tell the Co-op.

Black Swan

Paul Nero — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 22:42:29 +0000

This is not what it seems: if pretty but oppressed girl “lets herself go” she’ll morph into the beautiful swan and fulfill her (and her mother’s) dreams. But predictable story turns dark. Almost horror. Natalie Portman gives a superb performance. Impressive. Full listing.

That sinking feeling…

Paul Nero — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 20:49:25 +0000

The second of the Royal Navy’s new generation of submarines, HMS Ambush, will have its launch ceremony in December 2010 without actually getting into the water.

Military top brass shouldn’t be too embarrassed. It happens to the best of them. When Isambard Kingdon Brunel built the world’s largest steamship the Leviathan, he couldn’t get it to sea first time round – and he killed several people in the 1858 attempt. For Brunel, it went from bad to worse, though. The ship never fulfilled its fantastical promises and eventually became a floating music hall before being broken up for scrap. For the sake of us all, let’s hope the nuclear HMS Ambush fares better – if it ever launches.