Daily Snapshot

Clearly some very wise people out there saw their opportunity as snow brought the UK to standstill. About 40 people were forced to take refuge in a pub overnight after heavy snowfall forced some to abandon their cars on impassable roads and spend the night in The Bear Inn in East Sussex. There are certainly worse places to be stuck than at a pub, but joking aside it does show parts of the community coming together and helping each other out and I think this year more than in previous years, that will be relied upon.

No reminder needed for those waking up in the UK today that all of a sudden it is absolutely freezing and it is going to stay that way for the next week or so. Luc in our Paris office has said that they have been warned to expect electricity outages and that people are rushing to buy camping gear! Reminders of those toilet-paper-hoarding days back in the deepest darkest depths of the pandemic.

BrewDog, the controversial brewer who seems to make headlines everyday has been forced to retract an advertisement due to the fact that despite the messaging Guava flavoured beer does not contain one of your five a day – who would have known?! ‘Because alcoholic drinks did not count towards a person’s ‘five a day’ we concluded that the claim was misleading’ said the standards authority sadly whilst a BrewDog spokesperson confirmed their beer was not a fruit or a vegetable.

Close the markets and please bring me a Bailey’s on ice…it must be Christmas eve! Without doubt one of the hardest Snapshots in my very short illustrious snapshot career. Fanfare today was provided by the Redburn Christmas Jumper Competition which had a bit more excitement and certainly more drama than the Equity complex. There was also a healthy debate amongst the team but sadly it was generated when asked which direction ‘North’ was, which resulted in furious pointing to various windows in the office.

Christmas approaching and it is important to remember its not all about presents! A survey has shown that whilst presents (62%) still tops the list of what Children were most excited about, but 59% were looking forward to time off school, half were looking forward to eating Christmas dinner, while 48% were looking forward to playing games with friends and family so make sure you get a pack of Monopoly Deal, don’t burn the potatoes and it’s sure to be a lovely holiday.

A disappointing day to be a Scotsman in London as a trip to the shops yielded no sight of a Haggis for the evening in celebration of St Andrews day. I will continue to search on as I’ve invited a few friends round to tuck into my humble collection of Whisky and did say it would be accompanied with the Scottish delicacy. Hard to find time to catch up with people as December calendars get filled at a rapid rate and as I get older (and wiser) sharing is one of those things that gives me a lot of joy.

A deep sigh of relief for many businesses across the UK as productivity levels amongst staff likely to see a significant pick-up between the hours of 10am and 3pm as the last of the early World Cup group games are behind us. 8 whole hours of uninterrupted football has thrown up some of the strangest results in recent memory but that is what it is all about.

A lot of debate this weekend in the Morrison household centred mainly around when is the right time to put a Christmas Tree up and why we haven’t done it yet. A quick walk yesterday morning confirmed that I am clearly behind the curve but it was 10 degrees, we’re in November and I just wasn’t in the Christmas spirit so it’s on hold for now.

It’s a bit like a kindergarten in the Redburn office at the moment. You know the form. Everyone starts off all healthy in September and then the next few weeks are spent finding out just how many variants of influenza there are in London. The Kent crew bring their strain to the Essex types who get the Chelsea mob coughing and spluttering. Only us North Londoners sailing through unscathed of course. We don’t let illness get in the way of the day job. No no no.

Just the news people needed heading into the winter – The hosepipe ban in London is officially over having started way back on the 24th August. Sadly the Petunia’s, Marigold’s and Carnations are well and truly dead on my patio and washing the car is certainly out of the question in these arctic conditions but alas, your hosepipe is now your prerogative.