Remember the Ashes? Nope, neither do I. I have bigger worries: what am I going to do with the TVs we had installed throughout the building to watch this momentous event?
I thought it was a jolly nice move of mine, prompted by the wish to keep the staff happy, and bitterness at not getting a ticket to our corporate box at the Oval. But now it’s all over, and the only people left hanging out of windows and climbing on to the rooftops are good old-fashioned English burglars.
So here’s the problem: do we remove the TVs and create the perception that we are taking a benefit away from staff? Is such a perception offset by the fact that we simply can’t have staff getting their daily dose of Neighbours at 1.30pm (or the Episode for the Unemployed, as I like to call it).
I know we’re not alone on this one. Apparently, the TVs at the TUC conference were tuned in to the cricket rather than the more traditional main hall. And the financial centre of the UK (the City of London, not the petrol station forecourts) was eerily peaceful during the final day of the test.
But solidarity aside, what am I to do? I would put them into storage ready for the next Ashes, but Channel 4 no longer has the rights and we would have to pay for the damn satellite subscription.
