UPDATE: I just got promoted to the main Wired GeekDad page here!

I have written a brief obituary to the BBC staff newspaper (actually printed on paper for 75 years) Ariel, which will now only appear in a digital format.

Read it here.

http://terminallydisappointed.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/ariel-an-obituary/

I am very pleased with the response from Swizzels Matlow and the way that they dealt with this issue. On the surface you might think that I was simply bribed by an enormous parcel of sweets but this is not the case. Their letter went into great detail to explain what they had done with the hair in question (something to do with science it seems) and what their ongoing quality controls are (something to do with magnets and hair nets). I am confident that while there is a slim possibility that a hair may one day enter a Swizzels Matlow product there is no possibility that anything metallic (magnetic of course) will ever be found therein.

Because I didn’t want to appear greedy or in any way take for granted the generosity of the sweet settlement that was reached between Swizzels Matlow and myself I sent the following message to them to say thank you.

Hello,

I thought I’d drop you a quick line to say thank you for the package of sweets that arrived in the post a week or so ago. More importantly I appreciate your detailed letter regarding the incident with the hair in the Dip Dab. I am confident that this was an isolated incident and certainly won’t let it ruin the relationship between Swizzels Matlow, myself and my dentist.

Once again, thanks for your response.

MISTERSNAPPY vs. SWIZZELS MATLOW

CASE CLOSED.

I have just opened one of your Swizzels-Matlow Double Lollies Dip. I was quite enjoying a bit of retro sweet goodness when I happened upon across a sugar encrusted long brunette hair, not the sort of thing you expect to find in an item of confection.
I am positive that this object was already in the packet before opening for two reasons, firstly I caught it on the lolly after several dips. It was evenly covered in sherbet, not what I would expect if it had just dropped in. Secondly, and more importantly, the last time I had a hair that long to drop in my food was in about 1992, things have been a little thin and cut short up there since then.
Being a man of a certain age blessed with a sweet tooth I am quite a fan of your sweet products but I feel a little disappointed on this occasion to find that the quality doesn’t live up to the qualityI expect from Swizzels-Matlow.
I have place the aforementioned item in a plastic bag and am storing it just incase you require any evidence of my claim. I trust that you will consider my complaint carefully and find a way to restore my faith in the quality of products and cleanliness of your production line that might, say, involve a large box of sweets or a voucher of a reasonable value.
Feel free to contact me at the details listed above if you require any further details of this awful incident.

Yours
Simon (40)

*UPDATE*

‘Lost in the post’ isn’t a phrase that you hear that often but it seems that my delightfully crafted message that was submitted through the Swizzels Matlow website went missing. I subsequently emailed my linguistic gift to them and got the following reply almost immediately.

My beautifully crafted complaint seemed to have been lost on them but I will be sending them the offending item in their SAE for examination. I trust that they will do a full DNA test on the hair but will have to excuse the sticky lolly enclosed.

I will await their results with baited breath, toothpaste and floss.

—–

Dear Simon

Thank you for your e-mail received today.  We are very sorry that you have had cause for complaint about the Double Dip you purchased recently.

Unfortunately we are not in receipt of your original e-mail, however, in order to progress this matter as soon as possible, could you please forward your full mailing address so that we can send you  a Freepost envelope for return of the product for a thorough investigation.

Please be advised that on completion of these investigations we will respond to  you in writing.

We look forward to hearing from you in due course.

Yours sincerely

SWIZZELS MATLOW LIMITED

I’ve had a shower but not completely unpacked or caught up with sleep. Here are the photos from the weekend though…

After a few changes I am finally on a train bound for Paddington. I’m attempting to write this here blog entry from my phone seeing as I have access to power and were getting more 3G signal the closer we get to London.

As you might well imagine, if you’ve seen the coverage on TV the festival was awesome as ever. This is now my fourth time (if I’d not mentioned it before). And every experience has been different. This time I was helping out a friend recovering from a broken leg and as I’ve mentioned this afforded me a few perks. In no particular order of preference they were: nice camping field, bus to the other side of the site, clean(ish) toilets, an acceptable level of tent security and last but not least backstage access.
Glastonbury has lots of circuitous routes that take you from A to B via the rest of the alphabet. This is partly due to the two main stages and associated production areas being located in the centre of the site. The backstage access makes it much easier to get from say Spring Ground to The Park without doing your charge any further damage. In theory.
There was a stretch of pathway leading to the entrance for The Other Stage which became known as the gauntlet. No amount of sunshine and heat dried this place out. It lay in the shadow of The Other Stage so received little sun and was also possibly the most trudged path backstage. It was awash with a tasty mix of mud and whatever the dairy heard leave behind. It wasn’t the kind of mud that sucks your boots of, more a watered down version that was between 6 and 10 inches deep. I admit to a little schadenfreude when seeing hurried festival goers land squarely on their arses in a pool of Worthy Farm’s finest, but had to restrain my sniggers until I was on firmer ground!
What turned out to be the biggest bonus was the ability to get a pint of cider and some food and sit at a table to eat. Obviously we didn’t do this all the time but after a days’ trekking it’s a nice little treat (and you get to celeb spot too which is nice).
Just so I don’t forget, the bands/DJs/performers I saw this year included… U2 (probably should have given this a miss), oidPrimal Scream (should have seen them in their entirety instead of U2), Radiohead and Pulp in The Park, Chemical Brother (breathtaking and frightening all in one go), Cassette Boy and DJ Rubbish, Infinite Monkey Cage (Radio 4 at Glasto with Brian Cox, Graham Coxon, Billy Bragg etc…), OKgo (shortened set down at John Peel), Wombles (they still got it), Two Door Cinema Club, Biffy Clyro (mon the bif), Eels (by far and away the best beards on site), BB King, Paul Simon (still crazy after all these years) and Graham Coxon (making a better job of it than Albarn and his Gorrilaz).
Regrets? A few. Missing Craig Charles DJing at the Rabbit Hole, Orbital at Arcadia, seeing the whole of Primal Scream instead of U2 (but that’s what iPlayer is for), Morrissey, taking in a movie at the Pilton Palais and spending more time at the weird end of Glastonbury. But you makes your choices over the festival weekend which is what makes the whole experience so different each time I go.
You have to understand that for one weekend in year te biggest city in the west country (infinite money cage stat) springs up for just one weekend. There is no way ou can see or do even half of what you intended. You may be too far from your destination stage, to tired to walk there or just too chilled out at the Stone Circle to be bothered. I know that I need to be braver with my choices, which I was a little more this time. Even after 4 times there is still too much to see and even Michael Eavis said in a talk on Sunday PM there are places that he hadn’t made it too. This makes me feel a bit better although he’s got 35 years on me.
Who knows if this will be my last visit. Mini me wants to go again in 2013 perhaps and I haven’t managed to drag along any of my home mates yet either. Maybe more challenges at Worthy Farm still await me, but until then all I want is a shower.
Next stop Paddington.

First I ventured up to tThe Park to see radiohead. They were a surprise act and rumours were abound that it might be Keane or even Toploader, heaven forbid! It was rammed up there and Radiohead didn’t disappoint. A quick jog back down to the Pyramid via the chip stand and next up was U2. They were OK but not amazing. They trundled through their hits like troopers in the rain. The visuals started out well, looked like they were done by Damien Hurst but these faded out to be replaced by shots of the live show as their set wore on. At least I can say that I’ve seen the live now.

I found a use for the backstage access. Running from The Pyramid to The Other Stage to see Primal Scream. This is where I should have been. They were awesome. A good half hour of jumping about  like a loon followed by the muddy walk back to the tent to dry off and attempt sleep.

Who knows what today will hold…

The karma bank must have paid out though. The train that I got from Paddington was meant to stop and Westbury where we should have changed on to another train to Castle Cary. Joy of joys, it went straight through, no change, no wait and an early arrival at Castle Cary where the fleet of downtrodden coaches awaited to whisk me off to Worthy Farm.

You may not believe this but as I arrived at Glastonbury the sun was shining and the mud was bearable. My boots were christened in mud almost immeadiately after alighting the bus. Now it’s coulded over somewhat and a free orange poncho from Orange, no less, is order of the day.

I met up with a friend who is hobbling around on an achey leg. I’m acting as the Lou to her Andy (although I’m sure she’s not faking it!).I get to wear a pass that says ‘Personal Assistant’ and have got access to some pretty nifty shortcuts and some backstage areas. We still haven’t figured out how best to take advantage of this but I’m sure we’ll figure it out in time!!

After a traditional site walkabout I headed back to the Pyramid Stage to watch Two Door Cinema Club who did not disappoint and am now typing furiously in the Orange Chill and Charge West. The ruour is that Radiohead are the surprise act in The Park at 8.00 so I might have to ditch Morrissey in their favour. The rest of the weekends entertainment is as yet undecided.

We’re getting yelled at to move on now. Apparently I’ hogging the PC (yuk).

It should be a long night.

Launch of STS-1 by mistersnappy

Brian Haw, originally uploaded by mistersnappy.

On the 22nd November 2008 I took a long walk along the Thames armed with my Holga loaded with some black and white film. The Holga is regarded as a toy camera, is notoriously flakey and renowned for it’s double exposures. I took a few snaps along my journey. As the river passes the Houses of Parliament I took a detour to see the peace camp Brian Haw made opposite our seat of government in Parliament Square. I nervously approached him not knowing if he’d be happy to have his photograph taken by another passer by but my request met with silent approval and a feint but gracious smile following my thanks.
Brian was campaigning for the fair treatment of peoples overseas who were victims of unjust regimes and invading forces. I may not have agreed with all of his politics but you can’t help but admire a man willing to sacrifice everything he had and everything he was to fight for what he believed. He remained campaigning from 2001 until recently when ill health forced him to seek treatment in Europe.
Brian Haw died today after a long fight with cancer.

More here.