A small trip of our own

With all our kids away, we took a brief roadtrip ourselves into the North of England, just me and R. and our dog L. who got to run around happily everywhere from Easby Abbey to Morecambe Bay. We're back home now, settled in cosily for the New Year and the multi-hazard storm it is to bring us.

Primark's models

Most of the retail clothing stores that we go into display pictures of models who seem to be doing fairly normal things. Primark is an exception: their models appear to have quite an attitude, possibly annoyed to have been bothered by a photographer. Perhaps they aim their clothing range at customers who are unwelcoming and irritable, so they can look at the pictures and think, that could be me if I bought those clothes.

Membership fees for professional societies

I am a Professional Member of the British Computer Society (BCS) who handle accreditation for my Chartered IT Professional (CITP) status. At the moment, I do not much use my membership except for being able to list it on my resumé. The royal charter granted by the Privy Council to the BCS allows them to award such status so, under the established British conventions, I can reasonably use MBCS, CITP post-nominally after my MA (Cantab).

My latest annual renewal fee was £216 and, right now, money is tight. I went ahead and paid it but I wonder how much employers actually notice and care. I used my membership a little more during the COVID-19 pandemic when more talks were broadcast online but, between work and family, I have little time at the moment for interacting with fellow professionals, etc. and even less for travelling to do so. I suppose that I shall see how things stand when renewal next comes around.