Rant on...............

........... as I type this on my trusty work laptop, I glance to the side and see my nice new mouse, which I purchased last week in our local computer house. 'Why?' I hear you ask 'have you bought your own mouse, when you are on a works machine' It's a long story and it goes something like this...........

I once had a very nice desktop computer, complete with all the bells and whistles you could have. It had a photosuite, it had a soundcard. Hell it even had GIS, which was very very useful in my line of work. But then it was decided [not by me, I can tell you] that a laptop would be more suitable and the desktop was moved elswhere, along with my precious GIS. So now I had a laptop, OK but I really needed that GIS to do my job. So I asked for a set and was bluntly told that I did'nt need it. well, excuse me but how can you you go from using a program to not needing it in one day, when the job is exactly the same? But I digress.

There was no mouse with this laptop, only one of those nipple things, which was uselesss. So I found an old mouse and hooked it up, and it was good for around 18 months, but then as is often the case with these things, started getting a bit cranky. So I asked for a new one please. I had to go to planning IT not central. Ok. can I have a new mouse please. Yes, I 'll get one to you this week. That was before Christmas. Since then, nothing. So, a couple of weeks ago, I asked again. Oh sorry, I'll get a new one to you right away. So, a couple of days ago, when a plastic bag with a mouse in it appeared on my desk, I was happy. This lasted about a minute when I discovered that not only did the mouse look a bit old style, it would'nt function either. Opening it up gave me a view of so much crud and fluff and bits I'd not seen before.

To say I blew my top was an understatement. I fired a snotty email off to the guy responsible in which I gave vent to my frustrations. I have yet to receive a reply or a new mouse. I'll keep you posted, but for now I'm using my own.........