Effective learning

It's the lectures, classes, seminars and meetings where you leave with your head swimming with new concepts that seem just beyond your grasp that you learn the most from. Those situations that you leave the room fully understanding the subject never grant you with deeper insight - it's always the ones that make your head spin that herald the dawning of a new understanding.

Colourful cars

I'm very much a function-before-form kinda guy - after all, I'm an engineer. So if I were to buy a car, the colour would be very low down on my list of priorities. However, I'm certainly not going to say that I wouldn't care. Even I can see that there are times when it matters. But it would appear that not everyone appreciates this. Specifically, if you buy a large estate car and you decide on buying it in black, be aware that it will look like you're driving a hearse. I've seen quite a few hearses recently (I think I'm currently living near a funeral director), and I can tell you, all black estate cars look like hearses.

Air rage

Flying budget airlines is a generally awful experience. There's none of the glamour or special treatment from the golden era of air travel left. But by far the worst thing about flying budget airlines is that it really brings out the worst in people. Everyone becomes even more selfish than usual and seems to want to screw each other over just because they can. It really doesn't help foster faith in human nature.

Relative seediness

I was watching trash TV last night - a programme on Sky Three about Britain's dodgiest pubs - and there was a bit about a pub that had strippers at lunchtime. There's something about it happening at lunchtime that makes it so much seedier than people going to a strip club in the evening. I wonder why that is.

Perceived sizes

Most of you who know me will be well aware of the fact that there are some things that really screw with my perception of size - most obviously the pint-and-a-half glasses at the Cricketer's Arms in Oxford, but also other things like Arul's umbrella and the unbelievably cheap Asda barbecue we had at Imperial this year. The latest addition to the list is the act of pitching a tent indoors. If you have a tent, try it - your tent will never have looked bigger!