rusting on the inside

when i first started to at work in February 2009, i remember that my colleague showed me around the building. There really is not that much to an office park - especially mine. "Here is the bathroom, here is where you park, here is your desk, here is the kitchen" blah blah. At some point during the mini-tour of the kitchen, in between being shown where the mugs are and where to find the ever-elusive teaspoons, i was warned not to "ever use the wall-urn due to the fact that if you looked very carefully, you could see that there was a certain level of oxidation where boiling hot water had caused there to be impurities on the tip of the tap that dispensed (and thus contaminated) the water." ... her advise to me was simply to "use the kettle"...

it seemed ridiculous but i kept my mouth shut - it was my first day after all.

some time recently, while waiting for something in the microwave, i just felt an urge to peek into the kettle. turns out that the element at the bottom of the kettle is in pretty bad shape and is FAR more oxidised / corroded / pollutive than the tip of the tap of the wall-urn.

and then i learnt these lessons:

• sometimes it really is possible to notice the 'speck' somewhere else and become content with the 'log' that we don't even know exist in our own lives.
• sometimes what me make a fuss about really doesn't matter - we have all been drinking hot water for years without incident.

and so i am left wondering about the things i warn people about that i am guilty of practicing without my knowledge, and if the things that we sometimes get hung up on really matter for anything.

on that note, it is time for a cup of coffee and to get stuck into the numbers...