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Kettles and fridges

I bought a kettle last night, or at least Anne did when she was in Tesco. Uhuh I hear you say?

The new trefor.net offices (room 18 in Sparkhouse Lincoln) are in a managed offices building purposely built for startups. It’s great fair play. The only thing is that in finding one’s feet (if one may express it in that manner) one finds the little idiosyncrasies (I had to check the spelling of that word) with one’s accommodation. At least they are things that you have to get used to (slipping back into the vernacular).

This little idiosyncrasy is that the kitchen doesn’t have a kettle. I saw someone wandering along the corridor kettle in hand and thought oy oy, nicking the kettle eh? No as it turns out. Everyone has their own kettle. Fair enough.

Yesterday was my first day in the office. I bought a cup of tea from the caff downstairs. It cost £1.65 or something similar – large one of course. Not sustainable though. This is a start up for goodness sake. At umpteen cups of tea a day we’d very soon be going back to the well for refinancing. I’d rather keep the funds for beer.

For the rest of yesterday I contented myself with drinking water from the recycled cardboard cup that the caff had given me.

Today on the way down to work – it’s a 30 minute walk from my house – I’m expecting the pounds to drop off – I stopped off at Tesco Express and bought a pint of milk and a box of PG Tips. When I got in I made a cup of tea. In yesterday’s cardboard cup. I forgot to get a mug.

Later on I’ll pop out to Debenhams and treat meself to a new mug. You can do that when you work for yourself you know 🙂 ! It’s only round the corner. Handy.

I did wonder what the etiquette for leaving milk in the fridge would be. Will it get nicked if I leave it there? Others seem to have taken the risk so I’ve scribbled the letter T in biro on the lid and put in in there. What’s the downside? 60p? I could always pinch borrow someone elses 🙂

kettleAside from the mug buying decision I think I’ve also just about decided to invest in a small drinks fridge for the office. The sort with Budweiser branding etc. I’m not a Budwiser drinker but it looks cool enough (pun not intended – it just slipped out). That way I can also keep other forms of liquid in the office at the correct temperature.

The inspiration for this was Sir Terry Matthews who has, or used to have a drinks fridge in his office. V civilised I’d say. I’ll keep you posted re the fridge and the mug. I know it will be of interest. I’ll also have to get some trefor.net branded mugs done at some stage. We will have to get the megamug competitions going again.

Just to finish off on the right is a photo of the current brewing setup.

ttfn.

Trefor Davies

By Trefor Davies

Liver of life, father of four, CTO of trefor.net, writer, poet, philosopherontap.com

8 replies on “Kettles and fridges”

That’s a strange/interesting set up – you would think a kettle would come as part of the shared kitchen ‘kit’.

In another post you mentioned VAT – why have you decided to register for VAT (if that’s what you’ve done) as a startup operation?

Well that post was about as interesting as watching a kettle boil/tea brew [Joke] (well I am trying to keep on topic)

I bet you’d find a cheaper mug at Tesco or by harnessing the resources of the Internet.

Seriously though I look forward to reading your blog for many years into the future and it turns out to be as profitable a venture as your last endeavour.

“I saw someone wandering along the corridor kettle in hand”

I wouldn’t be able to cope seeing that – I’d buy a kettle and donate it to the shared kitchen just so that I wouldn’t have to be continuously reminded of how small-minded people are.

Surely one of the key benefits of a shared office environment for start-ups is the “shared” part? If everyone furnishes their own little world and scuttle in and out only when they have to, it would be a pretty desolate place to be.

I think I’d prefer the “silicon roundabout” style business incubators where each startup gets desks in a large shared space rather than a cell with a door. http://www.campuslondon.com/workspace/

Aled

While I’d agree the silicon roundabout idea only works where the products and services are related, he could be colocated with a company that has improved the widget used in a beer can or designs wallpaper, you don’t know.

I’m surprised the owners of the building havent put a hot water geyser in the kitchen as then there would be no kettle required and no associated hygiene issues with a shared kettle which might be why each have their own.

Some former colleagues used to use and then dump spoons in the sink in our kitchen area at work and even saw one pick up and use one to stir a round of teas he was making (so glad I’ve always just drunk tap water at work)

I did one lunchtime find myself compelled to clean the mountain of spoons in the sink as it bugged me somehow.

I quite like having my own office though. It is shared with one other startup company that I am also involved with as Chairman and I expect that in the near term there will be three of us there plus a hot desk.

As far as VAT goes it’s so that I can claim VAT back on expenditure. Although this is not going to be that much, as the outgoings are mostly going to be staff costs, I do anticipate spending quite bit on travel.

Finally regarding mugs I did buy a couple of cheesy ones in a boxed set in the Debenhams sale. Originally £16 down to £8. Four quid is still a lot to pay for a mug when all it has to do is hold hot drinks several times a day but I’ll post a couple of (mug) shots tomorrow so you can see them 🙂

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