Smile for the camera!

After a year of working here, I finally decided to make a page on our website to tell people a little about the hard working office monkeys - in other words, Tony and me. So we took some photos.
Here is Tony, looking happy and a little startled. Here is Tony again, looking ... happy, and a little startled. One would be forgiven for wondering whether I just photoshopped the Big Red L logo into the back ground but I can assure you that they are indeed different pictures. You just have to look closely - really closely. Obviously some time ago Tony discovered his photo face (happy and startledtm) and is sticking with it through thick and thin.
Here we are - Tony seems less startled now; perhaps he has got used to the novel idea of a camera inside a phone. It confused him a little at first - "What is this new fangled technology?!" *
We pose.
And again.

It was jolly fun. To see the page, go here: Tony and Amanda's very own page

*Tony never said this. He is well aware that camera phones are, in this crazy day and age, quite abundant, and was not at all confused by it. It's just hilarious to poke fun at him in any way possible.

Easter Eggs and The Daily Mail

Today one of our Ashford Driving Instructing Jasons popped by with a massive Thorntons Easter Egg - thank you Jason! And then our new instructor Wayne (aforementioned flowers and chocolates bringer) brough a Creme Eggs Easter Egg! I am so happy I am chasing my mettyforical tail. I shall eat all of them myself and then feel a bit sick, but it will be so worth it.

Aside from exciting chocolate, he also brought news - according to the Daily Mail, the pass age is going up from 17 years to 18. We can say catagorically that this is naughty fibs. It's staying at 17; for the time being at least. Driving Instructor for Folkestone Andy was in the office at the time, and as he cynically pointed out, "Isn't the Daily Mail the same paper that said the Pass Plus cost in excess of £300" (it doesn't) "and that a new radical addition to the test is the reversing round a corner manouever?" (an addition so new and so radical that I did it on my test 7 years ago)

To sum up, if you're 17 years old you can take your test (assuming you're ready and your theory is passed, of course), you will have to complete a reverse round the corner, just like I had to many many moons ago, and once you've passed if you'd like to take your Pass Plus (which is recommended as it reduces insurance costs and makes you a safer driver) it will cost half as much as the good old Daily Mail claims.

Flowers and chocolates!

Today one of our new instructors brought in flowers and chocolates! This made me very happy. I think it should be written into the franchise contract.

And it means that 'The Boss' mug that Hayley bought Tony is being used for an even better purpose - housing tulips.

intensives.co.uk

The intensives.co.uk project that we're working manically on has really started to pick up speed. As of this morning we've got associate trainers covering just over a quarter of the whole country. Only just over, admittedly, with 26%, but dammit that still counts. It's all very exciting! Also a little stressful, so we taken to throwing stuff at each other again to relieve the tense atmosphere. Elastic bands take too much time, so now we're just grabbing random stuff off our desks and hurling them round the office. It's surprisingly effective.