Opportunities » Lunchtime Minute

One minute Town Clerk hunting

opp — Mon, 24 May 2010 12:27:39 +0000

Town Clerks are quite rare. It is very unusual to find more than one in a given town. This lunchtime minute is dedicated to trying to capture one, although unfortunately the hunt was unsuccessful. No doubt this will turn into a series, building into a boxed set.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNQwrDzlml8

Current Town Clerk jobs

One minute busking

opp — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 16:47:40 +0000

Money’s tight and times are hard. So the day after the Budget (?) what could be better than to try and bring some cheer to the citizens by adding a little extra music into their lives. Ok I ideally wanted to raise some cash too -- which I had every intention of donating to people less fortunate etc etc. Came as a bit of a shock then to discover that the milk of human appreciation wasn’t flowing down the High Street in abundance. Next week I really am going to get out there with a much bigger instrument and melt some faces. Incidentally, is it true that if you are technically ‘Morris Dancing’ you don’t need a busking licence?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTIvN_-xie8

One minute remembering Dusty Springfield

opp — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:38:18 +0000

Dusty’s grave always has fresh flowers on it, and particularly on the anniversary of her death on 2nd March 1999. The Opportunities office is a few yards from the churchyard where she is buried, and paying her a quick visit always brightens the day.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=onm6s9HH_mE

One minute listening to a Moto Guzzi V11 Le Mans

opp — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:03:56 +0000

Haven’t been out on my bike for ages thanks to the rubbish weather. Couldn’t resist wheeling it out and firing it up for a minute. Those are Quill cans by the way…. oh and the air temperature was zero, and the bike just started up which accounts for the white stuff coming out of the pipes.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-A7oJwDh8w

One minute testing rocket propelled ducks

opp — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:37:02 +0000

I wonder who else is kept awake at night by the huge range of questions about the subleties of a duck’s palate. So when a large amount of discarded rocket became available in the office at lunchtime, it seemed only right to take it down to the river and survey the local ducks. There was a totally representative sample of 2 groups of ducks, so allowing for picky ducks that won’t eat their greens, sufficient ‘average’ ducks were on hand and participated in the extensive trials. The results are very clear in the video, from which insomniacs will draw some comfort I’m sure. Next week I’ll try them on piri piri chicken, and we’ll see if the fowl find the poultry palatable.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FiuiQmKdRk

One minute waiting for the van

opp — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:26:44 +0000

The daily trip to the sandwich shop is a 3 minute walk the short way, and almost 4 minutes by the scenic route. Since it was raining a bit today, I decided to send the office van for my usual crayfish and rocket baguette + soup of the day.

Suspiciously, the van took much longer than I expected, but hey ho – at least it saved my legs. It was a bit mud-spattered, with a hint of goose poo on the wheels, but nothing too suspicious there I suppose.

I wonder if anyone else has a useful battery-powered toy in their office.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZwIvsE2uv0

One minute making humous at my desk

opp — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:01:31 +0000

Nothing quite like the sound and aroma of a bloke making humous in an open plan office. The resulting dip was delicious, and my otherwise dull afternoon was occupied wiping ingredients off my keyboard, telephone, the back of my co-worker’s monitor, the files, and the shredder. Anyway, you should give it a go.

Anyone else like making Eastern Mediterranean dips at work?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F9HQ205pL8

One minute unblocking the office u-tube

opp — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:25:56 +0000

Next in the this potentially weird collection… the ‘Lunchtime Minute’ video…

The office kitchen sink became blocked -- mysteriously -- could it have been frozen pipes, maybe it was the coffee grounds, or the remains of a high calorie snack? Volunteers to fix it were in very short supply, surprisingly. So I did it, which is unusual since I see my role in the office as creating an environment in which others can flourish and be successful, which doesn’t involve actually doing anything directly useful myself. Anyway, there we are.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAXAn287Swc

One minute with Dusty Springfield

admin — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 13:20:51 +0000

Those of us lucky enough to have a lunchtime* get up to a whole raft of stuff I’m sure. We at Opportunities often do absolutely nothing at lunchtime (except wolf down a load of calories), but that is going to change. Oh yes.

If you ask me (nobody has) a person needs to feed their mind and body mid way through the day – I’m sure it helps focus and productivity in the afternoon. Even if it doesn’t I’m sure it’s the right thing to do. Bit like the whole global warming thing – those who don’t think we are responsible for messing up the planet still ought to make better use of resources and pollute a whole lot less.

So each week, or several times a week, we will post a 1 minute video clip of something we did at lunchtime.

St Mary’s Church is across the road from the Opportunities office, and Dusty Springfield is buried there. Lots of people visit and leave flowers – I went over for a minute at lunchtime.