Sunday 24 October 2010

Sainsburys coffee bag




Should be a premium product that just works. Isn't.

I had bought these and my girlfriend thinking they were regular coffee bags simply put the sachet in the cup poured on the water, waited a few mins and gave me the coffee explaining that she did not really get the instructions but here you are anyway.

The coffee was great. BUT

I then thought that I would have a second cup and follow the instructions myself.

Firstly you tear off the top of the bag exposing loose coffee granules to the world.

Some escape and go on the floor and on your feet.

Then you do some card folding with the card contraption that is attached to a perfectly good coffee bag that now has a hole in the top.

You then attach this to you favorite mug, but this might not be the right size so you then have to look for one that is.

You then pour your hot water on the funnel contraption you have just made and the water runs through the coffee grounds producing a barely coloured, weak coffee water in you cup.

The weak solution that is supposed to be coffee is a complete waste of time and so you have to unattached the cardboard contraption from the side of the mug and dunk it in the water until you get something that might have some flavour.

Problems
1. Far to complicated first thing in the morning. Who can do origami and not get coffee down themselves when half asleep?
2. The perforations in the bag/filter are too big so that the water runs through the coffee too quickly and so does not pick up any flavour.
3. Using it like a regular bag and just submerging the whole thing just like a coffee or tea bag produces the best coffee.

Monday 11 October 2010

Self Scanning checkout at sainsburys


I had managed to get my 6 items in the bag without setting off any alarms but it was the card reader this time that gave me a problem.

The card reader sits on a hinge that adjusts so that people of different heights can read the screen.
Only thing is that the hinge also allows the reader to move as you are tapping in your pin number so you end up chasing it and bent over trying to read it as it hits its final position which is angled downwards.

Shower Design


Langtry Manor Hotel



On the 21st to the 23rd of September 2010 I stayed at the Langtry Manor Hotel. This in common with other hotels has the control for the shower behind the where the stream of water comes out. So if you want to put the shower on while you still have your clothes on you'll get your arm wet. And if you are already naked to go in you get a cold blast of water first and then have to adjust the temperature while getting wet with either too cold or too hot water.
What is wrong with putting the shower controls to the side, along the wall a bit where you can still reach them from the shower but also reach them from outside of the shower too??
And what about putting the controls at a height where a wheel chair user can reach them.

Tuesday 5 October 2010

Travel Lodge Room lights




As you enter the room of a Travel Lodge at waist height near the door there is a row of unmarked light switches.
Naturally you test them out because you don't know which is which. One operates the main room light, another operates the bedside table light and so on.
And then it comes to the bathroom light which you find doesn't appear to work. The problem here is that the fluorescent light in the bathroom takes a few seconds to glow. So you spend a few seconds flicking the switch up and down thinking that there is no light in the bathroom or perhaps the switch isn't connected to anything. Since the bathroom has no window it is essential to have a light in there.
Luckily there is a light above the mirror so you end up using that to light the bathroom.