It never ceases…

It never ceases to amaze the Diary just how keen those in the marketing industry are to get dressed up. Take the staff of direct mail company MetroMail in Peterlee for instance. When the call came to raise a bit of money for the RNLI, did they sign up to do the Great North Run? Or swim the Kielder reservoir? No, out came the soft-toy parrots and fake tattoos for a themed “pirate day”. The staff spent October 7 emptying the pockets of colleagues and clients, saying “Jim Lad” over and over again, and ransacking local taverns. What does worry the Diary, however, is the fact that employee Gordon Richardson seemed to have a ready-made supply of eye-liner and ear-rings for his costume, even before the pirate day was thought of⦠Having been involved in more than its fair share of these events over the years, the Diary knows a person press-ganged into dressing up when it sees one, so step forward John Coxon, pictured on the far right. If such an unenthusiastic pose and forced smile (of sorts) isn’t a sign of the I’ll-do-it- but-only-because-everyone-else-is syndrome, the Diary doesn’t know what is.