Dragon Dining and Customer Confusion...

Spyyk was doing the "I'm not touching" stare at me this morning. It's a specific GLARE that means you have to turn over and tell him to sod off, then stick a book in his line of vision, or it keeps you awake. Don't keep axolotl in your bedroom, they get in your brain.

It's been a strange week. On Sunday, I figured that the dragon sleeps under his UV all week, so a few hours out wouldn't do any harm. So on went his leash, and we hit the city! He settled happily in the top of my rollneck shirt as we wandered a couple of shops, much to other customers' fascination. We got held up at the gemstore for about half an hour, as he got shown around to nosy people, and then meandered into a cafe so he could have a sleep on me to warm up and I could read my book and sup hot chocolate. (As it was getting bloomin' cold out!)

When he emerged at about 5pm, we wandered off down to Cafe Rouge - the same place my family took me to when they were down. Stuck my head in, checked it was ok, and the dragon and I dined. They even gave him a free little salad, much to the amusement of several other diners. I had to keep putting my fork down to talk about him to young children that kept queueing up by my table... He loved it, and they loved him.

Once he'd promptly ignored his dinky salad, besides licking it a few times, rendering it inedible (sorry Kyle, I love ya, but not yer bug-munching dragon spit) and I'd finished my dinner, we headed on out to the Coeurs de Lion - the smallest pub in Bath. Well. He went down an absolute STORM in there. I had to turn down the free drinks, I'd already had two and wanted to get back to my bus-stop safely, but he's certainly good as an ice-breaker. (Especially when he's busy licking menus... Strange beast) He also discovered he dislikes lemon slices, and has a surprisingly human reaction - pulling faces and backing off.

Pointless item of the week:
"Handmade to order in solid 9ct gold -inlaid with a diamond, includes a solid gold swivel clip to attach to your dog`s collar. A unique, personal gift to your best friend." At a whopping £249! Ooer. I mean, I've heard of spoiling your pets, but isn't that a little extreme? I wanted something nice for my dragon's leash, so I just bought him a nice jingly bell in green to match his ribbon. It was a massive 15p! http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/poochieamour/product/733_solid_gold_dog_charm_with_diamond
Work has been it's usual fascinating self, customers are a whole different species. My favourite customer confession this week has to be the bloke that stored his money in the microwave whilst he went on holiday. He came back, forgot it was all hidden in there, turned it on... and of course, the metal strips inside the note caused a spark. He'd come in with a little bag full of charred scraps and ashes.

This new "chip and pin" causes lots of confusion with customers too. One was particularly spectacular; firstly mistaking the pen holder for the card reader, and trying to work out how to insert said card. I was very tempted to stay quiet until they noticed the pen sticking out of the top, but I just don't have the heart to be that cruel. So I laughed, and pointed to the reader instead, much to their embarrassment. Hehehehehe. Oh, but it gets better! The customer put the card in backwards. I told them to take it out, turn it round. So they took it out, and turned it a full 360 degrees - thus putting it back in backwards again. No. Take it out, turn it towards YOU. So the customer took it out, turned the chip the right way round... then put it in upside down. Riiight. Take it out, turn it the other way up. So the customer turned it so the chip was down, but in backwards. I could have hit my head on the desk. "Put the card in, so that the chip is downwards, and facing you." After a couple more attempts - we got there.

I did get free pizza on Wednesday however, and free drinks last night, courtesy of the company. But then I got stuck in the torrential rain. For 30 minutes, as the bus continued not to arrive. So there we all are, lots of people hiding by themselves under umbrellas, and myself with mine. And being the sort I am, I ended up sheltering an Asian lad, a French girl, and a bloke from Poland called David under it too. Well, I'd hate to have been stood without a brolly in THAT rain - it was literally bucketing it down. All those other selfish people not sharing their dry-space, and myself with my tiny little umbrella... (Not sure where the photo's from, but happy to reference if someone finds me the source.)

Quote for today: "ohhhhhhhhhhh snake think has grass in her shoesssssssssssssss, her mums got the bluessssssssss but then she found outtttttt she`s going to heaven; cos she aint 5 foot twhooooooooooo... she`s 4 foot eleven!" - the remarkable lyrical qualities of Mikey Guitar.

indigo _ blue _ fish @ hotmail . co . uk