The blurring of the seasons

One of the things that is great about the UK is its weather – no honestly! We have very varied seasons, recently they have become even more ‘varied’ which in some way is worrying, but in another way it confirms why we are like we are – life is varied so we are a varied race. We have set dates and times for things – some based on religion and some on the seasons – we know where we stand.

So good so far – but then the world of marketing gets involved. I am talking Cadbury Creme eggs here – I am old enough to have been ‘in at the start’ of the Creme egg ‘thing’. I also love them and can eat an obscene quantity if given the chance! In the early days of their availability (the 70′s) they appeared in the shops at Easter at the same time as all the other Easter eggs came out, which seemed sensible?

However I see now (in fact it has been this way for a number of years) that Cadbury Creme Eggs are available now – in fact they appeared on Boxing Day this year in my local COOP. They also make an appearance at Halloween as ‘screme’ eggs!

We all have to make money, but this is really pushing things and to my mind rather ‘devalues’ the product. I am sure they sell a huge quantity of the eggs between Christmas and Easter, but perhaps they are no longer ‘Easter’ eggs?

 

Twelfth night – when exactly is it?

This is a question that has caused a great deal of consternation in the Dare household – my wife loves Christmas but is always keen to get the decorations down by twelfth night (it is bad luck not to apparently). However, this week while listening to Radio 4′s ‘Today’ programme (the only radio show to wake up to) they kept referring to twelfth night as being the 6th December – but as my wife has pointed out to me this is actually at least partly incorrect!

It all dates back to how the world viewed things in the old days – and a day was considered to start not at 12 midnight but at sunset the evening before – hence twelfth night actually starts on the evening of the 5th December. You would therefore be OK to take down your tree and decorations by sunset on the 6th – but we won’t be – it’s the evening of the 5th December for us!

You have been warned – if it’s not down yet you have until sunset tonight!

 

I am getting old!

I have another birthday rapidly approaching, which is probably why I keep relating current ‘problems’ to how it wouldn’t have been an issue when I was a kid! Let me explain;

My car has Xenon headlights that give an amazing light and also steer with the car – sounds a bit flash but they are brilliant and I make no apology for them (or the puns included within this sentence). This week I had a message appear on my dashboard to tell me one of the low beam bulbs had failed (not difficult to spot in the dark, but the message confirms it!). So, on arriving home I got the manual from the car to see how to replace the bulb – shouldn’t be too bad – or so I thought.

Is the one on the right really better?

In big red writing it told me it wasn’t something that I could do and it had to go to the garage to be sorted – not a great start, but a call to the garage confirmed they could sort it for me. However, on arrival there the lamp had lit again, and no issue could be found!

Now when I was younger and cars had bulbs that anyone could change we didn’t have this sort of problem! Are things getting just too complicated, or am I just getting old?

In reality the cars in the 70s and much of the 80s were rubbish (apart from my 205 GTI) – unreliable, made of rubbish materials, and lots of things failed – but I can dream!

 

Call centres – time for another option?

I have recently had cause to speak to a call centre in the Philippines – it services T-Mobile and has the usual very polite and friendly staff that one gets in all call centres. So what is my problem? If the service is friendly and helpful why complain?

Well friendly is all very well, and in my experience the staff are always very apologetic (I only appear to call if there is a problem) – my issue is that they all work from scripts that don’t usually answer problems – they just deflect them! I find that the only way you can get a resolution to a problem is to ask to speak to a manager, and in effect escalate the issue – which is always a major issue for the staff member you are talking to!

I realise that call centres can work for very basic issues – like “how do I do this on my phone” or “why won’t this work on my phone” – but as soon as you throw them a “curved ball” the system can’t cope and they just end up being even more apologetic and friendly!

So why can’t the call centres have an option when you ring up (and they have lots of options!) that is for people like me who only call when they are forced into a corner? The option could be something like this;

“Press 4 if you are at the end of your tether a want to kill someone”

It could work and actually save time at the call centres as well!

 

The Queen of the East Midlands

In real terms I am a relative newcomer to Nottingham and the East Midlands – I arrived in 1980 as a student and have never left. Nottingham has always been described as ‘The Queen of the East Midlands’ in my time here, and I would have to agree – it is a great city (and stands above its neighbours in my opinion).

In recent years the young pretenders (Derby and Leicester) have done their best to catch up and pass Nottingham – new shopping centres and general improvements have helped. Nottingham has also managed to shoot itself in the foot by totally missing the boat on the Broadmarsh redevelopment. The damage this has done to our city cannot be underestimated and in time the main culprits will become known and will most likely pay for their lack of action.

So it is great to see in this last week that Nottingham, not Derby or Leicester has the most ‘desirable’ residential street in the East Midlands. The attractiveness of the street is based on average value, it is still a long way behind top UK values, but is a sign that Nottingham is still the place to live in the East Midlands!

The street in question is Valley Road in West Bridgford – average values over the period January 2007 and October 2011were £810,000 the figure is lower than last year when the average home in the street was priced at £823,000. The figures come from a Lloyds TSB report that reveals the most expensive streets in the UK. Perhaps unsurprisingly the 40 most expensive streets are all in London and the south east, with Egerton Crescent in Kensington and Chelsea taking first position with an average house costing almost 10 times the East Midlands level at £8.14 million!

 

Apple crime wave

As a family we have been the subject of what seems like a local ‘Apple crime wave’ – two iPhones stolen from my stepdaughter (on separate occasions) when in town on a night out. Each time the phone was stolen from a zipped bag – so in a very professional manner! Discussions with the police also suggest that this is a growing problem, and despite iPhones being blacklisted as soon as they are stolen to stop them being used in the UK, they are apparently taken abroad, where they can be used – possibly something that Apple need to address?

Our local experience appears to be confirmed by the New York Police Department who earlier in the year highlighted that Apple-related crimes (thefts of iPhones and iPads) were increasing 10 times the 4 percent increase in other crime in the city.

The Police Department recorded 3,484 more crimes than for the same period last year, the increase in Apple product thefts: 3,890!

So watch out where you keep and use your smartphones and tablets!

 

A worthy New Year message…..

If this short film produced by the astronauts on the International Space Centre as a new year message to all humanity doesn’t make you think, or at least bring a lump to your throat, you have no soul……

Click on this link to watch it http://bit.ly/VLeyO9

 

More ‘joy’ with a mobile provider!

I appear to be developing a bit of a ‘thing’ with mobile providers – I don’t know if I expect too much from them, or whether they are just all useless – but they really don’t ‘cut the mustard’ as far as I am concerned!

My latest problem is with T Mobile (Now called EE it appears). My stepdaughters iPhone was stolen and is not insured with T Mobile but via Endsleigh Insurance (who I would add have been brilliant – highly recommended!) To sort out her insurance claim we need two documents from T Mobile – the first to confirm the blacklisting of the iPhone, the second a proof of purchase. One would not expect this to be a problem – it has actually been a nightmare and I have had to resort to emailing the CEO of EE (Olaf Swantee). Rather than explain the story the email is set out below. I have no idea if I will get a reply – I hope I do – but I am not holding my breath!

Dear sir

I am sorry to have to contact you, but I am running out of alternatives. I am attempting to obtain a proof of ownership and blacklisting document for my stolen iPhone which is on contract with T-Mobile (but not insured through yourselves).

I first requested the documents on the 17th December, your call centre in the Philippines confirmed the documents would be mailed to me and I would get them within 5 days. I was also told that one of them would be emailed to the EE store on Clumber Street in Nottingham for me to collect the next day.

On arrival at the store no such email had been received, as I had made a special trip into town I was not amused (and out of pocket due to parking) however I shrugged it off as the documents would be in the post.

Roll forward to Christmas Eve – nothing in the post yet so I rang again. This time I was told that one of the documents was only done the day before (not on the 17th as I had been assured previously). I asked for them to be emailed to me which I was told was not possible – on hearing this I asked to speak to a manager. As it was lunchtime in the Philippines there were none available, so a ring back was arranged between 1pm and 2pm.

As you will probably be guessing now, this call did not arrive, so I called again at around 5pm(hopefully not tea time in the Philippines) again to be told to expect a call back.

You guessed it – no call back again!

As it was Christmas Day and then Boxing day next I did not call again – as no doubt there would be no managers available on such ‘holidays’. So I called again today (27th) and have been promised a call back again as soon as the previous call the manager was taking was complete. That was over 20 minutes ago! All I can assume is that you have many disgruntled customers who have lots to complain about!

Please can you sort this out for me? I am a reasonable man, but this is beginning to try my patience rather!

I look forward to hearing back from you at your earliest convenience.

Regards

Simon

I have received some contact from EE via twitter which may prove fruitful, I will update this as soon as I have more news!

 

How quickly?

By the end of March 2013 China’s Sky City One tower in Changsha City is set to trump Burj Khalifa in Dubai as the world’s tallest building, with a height of 838m. Nothing out of the ordinary there, buildings regularly (well reasonably regularly) trump each other for this title. No, the amazing thing here is its stated completion date, because construction of this landmark has yet to start!

The contractors claim the 220 storey building will be built in just 90 days, at the rate of five storeys a day. The super-fast construction time is possible only because Chinese construction company Broad Sustainable Building will have prefabricated much of the building in a factory before work starts on site. It remains to be seen if they can manage it, but my guess is they will, although quite what the human cost will be is yet to be seen.

The stats for the finished building are pretty impressive – when complete, over 80 percent of the building will be residential, with the remainder accommodating a 1000-guest hotel, a hospital, five schools and offices, so a town in its own right! The tower has also been designed to resist earthquakes up to magnitude 9.

From a property man’s point of view the impressive stats for Sky City One include a floor area of 104 million m², 104 high speed elevators to move people up and down the tower and 270,000 tonnes of steel used in its construction.

Quite a building then!

 

Twitter or 999?

This is an interesting question – should the fire services take emergency calls (currently 999) via social media sites like Twitter? Last week the London Fire Brigade said it was considering such a move, allowing people to tweet emergencies instead of dialling 999.

Previously it has advised against using social media to make the service aware of fires as it is not monitored 24 hours a day. But it has acknowledged that the increasing proliferation of smart phones means they might actually get a swifter response.

First introduced in the London area on 30 June 1937, the UK’s 999 number is the world’s oldest emergency call service. The system was introduced following a fire on 10 November 1935 in a house on Wimpole Street in which five women were killed. A neighbour had tried to telephone the fire brigade and was so outraged at being held in a queue by the Welbeck telephone exchange that he wrote a letter to the editor of The Times, which prompted a government inquiry (even in those days).

In recent large fires in London the fire service have actually asked via twitter and other social media sites for local reports, photos and videos of fires to help them judge their initial response, and apparently it has enabled them to deal with incidents more effectively. So perhaps this is the way forward?

After all, when 999 calls were first introduced to summon assistance everyone apparently said it would never work!