Let me tell you how re-seller partnerships work!!!

We have recently been asked to do some work for a customer that we don't have the in house capabilities to do. The customer in question really likes us and wants to engage us as the prime contractor, so we have gone out to the market to try and find a partner whose services we can re-sell. There are many out there who can do it, and the re-seller model for this is well established.

We have been in discussions with a number of companies, but there is one in particular whose attitude has amazed me. What's more, the company in question seem to be quite desperate to get the work, as they have sent a number of emails chasing up a response. However, they just don't seem to get the way a re-seller relationship works.

When it comes to pricing, we asked them what their rate to us will be and their response was, to paraphrase, “This will be largely shaped by the rate you sell to your customers”

Largely shaped by the rate we sell to our customers!!!

In other words, you tell me what rate you have sold to your customer and only then will I tell you how much I will sell my services to you for. Or, put another way, once I know how much you have sold to your customer, I will tell you what I think is a fair profit for you to make.

Well, I'm sorry guys, but it just doesn't work like that.

What we sell to our customers for is none of your business. We sell to them at whatever rate we want, add as much or little mark up to your prices as we like and are under no obligation to disclose to you what we have sold for. This is just the way it works in this game! We have plenty of relationships with other companies who sell our services on in exactly the same way.

In addition, in this sort of relationship we need to work with “knowns”. We need to know what the bottom line price to us is, all the time. We need a specific price list based on how much the company are prepared to sell to us for, not one that floats around based on how much we sell for. Again, this is just the way all other re-sellers work.

So, in this instance we have engaged a one man band who does this sort of thing day in day out. All his work come from companies like us and he knows exactly how to work with them. He does not care how much we sell him out for, he does not disclose who else he works for or what he does with them. What's more, when he does work for customers, he always does so under the auspicious of being an employee of the prime contractor and never tries to poach any work direct. He keeps very busy and, in fact, says he can pick and choose who he wants to work for. He is very easy to work with and does not consume lots of time or effort in our dealings with him.

Asked what price he will charge us, he gave a straight, simple answer. £300 per day.

Now, that's someone we can work with and keep busy and paid!

A potential sub-contractor yesterday...

An idiot bids disruptively

I'm going to take advantage of the fact that I'm probably just shouting into the dark here, so I'm going to have a bit of a rant!

DISRUPTIVE BIDS!

Twice this year I've been asked, nay forced, into doing what has been termed (by the persons asking) “a disruptive bid”. Now, dear reader, let me define a “disruptive bid” for you. A “disruptive bid” is tendering for some work which you have absolutely no chance what-so-ever of winning, at such a ridiculously low prices that the company who ultimately win the deal are put into an embarrassing and uncomfortable situation. It is also claimed that said “disruptive bid” will put the disruptive bidder in a more positive position to win work from the client in the future.

Let me, however, further define a “disruptive bid” insofar as I see it. It's something that other people can't actually be bothered to waste their own time doing but are quite happy to waste other people's. Its something that, if it were so genuinely important, they would have done themselves. In my experience a disruptive bid is nothing but something that disrupts my own time!

In essence, its the anathema of what salesmen like doing. They like putting effort into winning deals which are winnable, whilst adding value and providing benefits to their customers. Not putting effort into something they KNOW is a complete waste of time, resource and energy.

I also question the psyche of a disruptive bid from the clients outlook. Looking at things from their perspective, I'd think to myself, “Is this the sort of company we want to forge a long term relationship with, if this is the way they behave?” In one example, I've been asked to submit a bid AFTER the closing date for submission of the tender, and probably after the date the order has actually been placed, at a price lower than the expected costs of the winning bidder, and for what? Some very questionable value of future orders.

From the clients point of view, there's a phrase a friend of mine would use to describe this. He'd say it's like pissing through someone's letter box, then ringing the bell to ask them how far up the hall it went!

They'd say “They know the tender has closed. They know the order has been placed. They know the likely costs, but here they are submitting a quote at much lower costs than the ones we have ordered at. So, what will this do but potentially make us look very stupid?”

From my point of view, disruptive bids are more like an idiotic pouring of money down the drain.

In case anyone out there is listening, I won't ever be doing anymore disruptive bids........ever!

Some money being poured down the drain, earlier today...

Diary of a Badminton "player".

I've done something tonight which I haven't done for 31 years, that involves whacking; and I loved it!

No, you dirty minded reader, that's just rude!!! I've started playing Badminton!

Its been a long time coming. Apart from the 31 year gap, I planned to start two years ago, bought my bat one year ago and eventually got round to starting tonight and a lot has changed in that time.

First of all, the rules have changed. The whole scoring and serving process is different. I can't remember how it used to be and, frankly, I can't even work out what it was tonight. I was just happy to be led, told from where and when to serve, what the score was and just get the shuttlecock back over the net. There seemed some relationship between what side to serve from and the score, but I can't work it out yet. It will come though!

Why? Because even though it has just been two hours, I know I'm addicted. I now know what virgin golf players feel like when they become obsessed with the game. Tonight I was so annoyed with myself for missing the shuttlecock, air blasting shots, serving out. Each time I made such a mistake I WANTED to do it again straight away to do it right next time. I wanted to go on and on, trying to get better. To not make stupid mistakes again. The amount of times my opponent lobbed the shuttlecock, tempting me to smash it, when all I did was swing wildly and miss. I even suffered the ignominy of having the shuttlecock land and bounce off my head, like a comedy clown!

The next thing that has changed is the bats. I bought mine for £10 at Sports Direct and thought, that'll do. One of the guys tonight let me feel his bat (dirty reader, stop it!) and it was amazingly light compared to mine. What's the betting that this time in 3 weeks I'll have gone out and spunked away £100 on a top of the range lightweight titanium shaft (dirty reader!!!).

The other thing that has changed from my school days is that the game seems a lot faster. I suppose as a spotty teenager, we never really got up any pace but man, last night, some of them were really fast, mobile and powerful. My games seemed fast, but watching the speed of the other matches was bewildering. The people were very competitive as well. All of them very nice, but my, they went straight for the jugular. Even though I was struggling, there was no sympathy, just humiliation! It really made me question and reappraise my own killer instinct. When I'm fully up to speed, like my opponents today, I'll show as little mercy to the novices. It will all be part of the learning experience for them.

The other thing I learned was about “focus”. I'd often heard commentators, especially in Tennis, talking about a player loosing concentration during a game and this having an impact on their performance. I'd never quite understood that. How could it happen to a professional athlete? Now, I'm not putting myself in that bracket, but it did happen to me tonight. Half way through one match I found myself drifting off, thinking about girls I guess, and that turned out to be my worst game.

So, now I'm just looking forward to seeing how bad my body will be feeling tomorrow morning, oh.....and that ebay search for a new lightweight bat!

a 'cock being missed earlier tonight.

Do you really think I'm that much of an fool...

A few months ago I got an enquiry from a prospective customer for a product we re-sell on behalf of another company. The organisation in question had some very rigorous requirements and were very diligent in asking lots detailed questions. Over a number of days they were constantly firing emails to me asking if it did this, if it did that, HOW it did this and HOW it did that etc. As they were based in a Country a long way away (for the sake of illustration, lets just imagine it was Australia), all correspondence was conducted via email. I didn't mind putting the time and effort in answering these questions because there was a decent (not great, but decent) order waiting at the end.

Then suddenly it all went quiet...

I left it for a week or so and then emailed them asking where they were with things and what was happening etc. and got a very vague answer back from them saying other priorities had taken precedence.

Then it all started again. A whole load more questions and ultimately a request to arrange an (urgent and free of charge) evaluation for them, which we duly obliged.

A couple of weeks later I emailed asking how they were getting on with the evaluation, only to be told that they had not got round to installing it yet and would let me know when they had and what their thoughts were.

I forgot about things for a while, only to be reminded about it when we started getting requests from other companies for pricing to quote the said organisation. At that point I decided to contact them again to ask what the hell was going on! I had given them all this help and now, it seemed, they were asking all and sundry to quote. They replied saying it was just their purchasing department having to go through the motions of getting three quotes. At this stage we were not duly worried because we knew what price we were quoting the other companies.

To my discredit, I again forgot about things until this week when I was reminded when I got an email from said contact asking for technical assistance installing and configuring the software. As I later found out, not only had he asked me for help, he had also logged five (yes, five!) support calls with our help desk. I replied asking him if it was the evaluation he was just getting round to installing. He replied saying he was “not sure” (!!) what he had been sent and was therefore installing. He also asked if we could escalate the support calls he had logged from “Low Priority” (as he noticed they were categorised) to “Urgent Priority”.

On closer inspection of the last email he had sent me, it became obvious that he had been sent a full copy of the code by another company, as fulfilment of a purchase order placed with them by the said prospect! They had even referenced the Purchase Order number in the email!

I had no choice but to reply explaining that not only could we not escalate his calls to “Urgent”, but we could not give him any support at all. I further explained that if he wanted any support, he should contact the company he had clearly bought the software from. I told him that if he had actually bought the software from us, we would have given him the high levels of support we had given him when he was making his initial enquiry, as a standard service.

Why am I so annoyed about this?

Well, apart from the fact that I have clearly been made an idiot of, his Purchasing Department never even contacted me to ask us to quote a price! On top of this, the company on whose behalf we re-sell the software knew we were talking to said organisation about the deal, yet they didn't even have the courtesy to let us know someone else had asked them to fulfil the order for them.

Why does any of this matter?

Well, it does for two reasons.

First, within the software industry, most industries I presume, there is something called “The Channel” and most people treat the Channel with integrity. If they don't, it breaks down. In this scenario my trust in this particular channel has broken down and I personally won't be transacting any orders for them again.

Secondly, and this is aimed at potential customers, to make your decisions you clearly DO need to ask lots of questions and find out lots of things. Do remember, though, that if you take the piss out of people by sapping lots of their time without giving any reward, they will either stop giving help or start asking all sorts of horrible questions that you might not like to answer. Things like, When are you going to buy? Who signs the cheques? If I give you this help will you absolutely commit that you will buy from me?

Some people would say I should have asked these questions before I gave my help and that I'm the idiot because I didn't. It's all my own fault! 

That's a fair point.

What I'm trying to say though, is that customers don't warm to heavy handed questioning like this at the enquiry stage. All I'm trying to do is warn them that if they don't like it, make sure they are open and honest with suppliers from the beginning.

Australian Soldiers allegedly underatking negotiations for a software sale yesterday

Arse...

Let me first declare my interest here. I have none! I am a disinterested observer. I really don't care what Arsenal and Arsene Wenger do or have done. However, I want to comment because it gives an interesting case study and insight into the current state of football and the Premier League especially.

Arsenal have money. Everyone knows this. What's more, everyone knows that Arsene Wenger has been given the go ahead to spend it, but he has steadfastly (I hesitate to use the word “refused”, so lets just stick to...) not done so. This is despite their many fans imploring him to buy and commentators expressing surprise that he hasn't. He has belligerently dug his heels in and done virtually nothing in the transfer market.

While all this has gone on, their peer clubs have spent money hand over fist. New entrants have entered the spending frenzy and are going to frog leap Arsenal, pushing them further down the pecking order. To add insult to injury, they are loosing their star players at a rate of knots. With the transfer window rapidly coming to a close, even if he now wants to, will Arsene be able to buy?

And with that, how much more patience will the Arsenal fans and board display?

A good Manager though Wenger undoubtedly is, I think his time may have run its course.

In traditional Arsene style, while the changes to football have unfolded in front of him, he apparently “Did not see it”!

An arse yesterday...

Amy Winehouse

Okay, here's my take on Amy Winehouse and its not a populist view!

I didn't like her and I think its her own fault that she's dead.

That doesn't extend to being glad she's dead. No-one would want that. But, lets face facts, everyone knew where this was heading and everyone knew it would end like this. She only had herself to blame. She was an idiot.

There were clearly plenty of people trying to help her pull herself together and she had plenty of chances to turn her life around, but she didn't take them. Even she must have known it was a well worn track; she knew her music history, but she never did anything about it.

So, today, we have been subject to the music world poring out condolences and tributes. They say her brilliance was due to the pain she felt, which was also the thing that contributed to her death. Pain, eh? The only pain she seemed to have is the one you get when you stick a needle into yourself. I've seen her Father on TV many times, and she seemed to come from a good family background. Sure, she had some up's and down's with her husband, but so has everyone. We don't turn to drugs. No, the only pain she had was of her own self making, brought about through over indulgence and narcissism. She got a taste for drugs and alcohol and the pain she suffered was from dealing with this.

They say she was highly talented and one of the all time greats. I don't agree. I didn't care much for her voice or music. It was too harsh for my liking. And, how much did she actually turn out? Not much, two albums. Wow!

I even heard one commentator saying that she loved music more than she loved herself. Well I'm sorry, but if that was really true she would have dedicated more of her time to actually making music, than pumping her veins/hooter full of crap! If she loved music more than herself, she clearly loved drugs more than music.

To me, she just seemed like a gobby, self indulgent idiot.

Unrelated.....a horse singing yesterday morning.

Barter

I'm sure my neighbours won't see this post (if anyone knows them, don't grass me up!) so I can come clean about the real reason I gave them a Kohl Rabi each, that I had grown, last night.

It was to subtly induce them into a barter scheme.

They all have plentiful vegetable plots with lots of produce and variety. Much more than I have in my little plot. And, what's more, there are only two of them in each house (in David's case only one!) They surely don't need all those vegetables!

I thought that by getting the first gift in, a very tasty and unusual vegetable that I know none of them grow, it might induce them into exchanging some of their produce with me, later in the year.

It doesn't make me a bad idiot, does it?

Kohl Rabi being used as a subtle bribe last night...

Watch this space for details regarding the success, or otherwise, of this strategy!

Twittiots

I was mooching around on Twitter this afternoon and came across what must be one of the most idiotic statements I've seen written on, and about, the micro blogging site. What's more, it was posted by someone from my industry who constantly acts on many other blogging sites like the very people he/she is criticising with their post. 

(No names to be mentioned here, as I don't want to get into an internet based slanging match, but the clues are here!)

So, this post slammed into Twitterers who have lots of followers but follow very few people themselves. The culprit to whom I refer stated of such people; “F**k you, Twitter is not your personal megaphone” and threatened to “publicly shame” people who carry on the practice! They went on to cite an example of someone who has 2000 followers, but only follows 7 people themselves. THE SHAME OF IT!!!

Now, I have a number of concerns here...

First, the internet is not a democracy. The internet is a free environment. That is the very beauty of it. People can (to a certain extent) do what they like, use it how they want and act how they like. If people want to use Twitter as their personal megaphone, then so be it! Why not?

There are many people, I'm sure, who have some very interesting, important or educational things to say, but don't have time to sit and read pages and pages of posts from other people. I myself would rather have more people following me than I follow myself, mainly because my Twitter feed gets too full of confusion I just don't have time to read.

I want to treat Twitter like my own personal megaphone!

Also, and lets take this to its logical conclusion, where does the balance between not following enough people versus the number of people who follow you rest? Does it have to be a 1 to 1 ratio? Does Lady Gaga have to also follow 11,674,009 other people......oh, sorry, 11,674,010.....oh....doh!

And finally, as I said above, the person in question does have a habit of rabitting and rabitting on, on many other internet forums which, in my opinion, they seem to regard as their “personal megaphones”.

Idiots in glass houses.......

A Turtle Twittering this afternoon.....

An idiots guide to the phone hacking scandal

An idiots guide to the phone hacking scandal

• Its gone on for years.
• Murdoch always has been a ruthless, unscrupulous, megalomaniac.
• Their methods have just adapted with technology.
• Politicians only have themselves to blame.
• The Police have turned a blind eye.
• The initial focus has been on Royals and other VIP's and the attitude has been that everyone else (low priority) could be “swept under the carpet”.
• News Corp, Politicians, Police etc. have all hoped “it will just go away”.
• No one should be surprised at the depths to which the Press have stooped to.
• Journalists are a bunch of arrogant, supercilious, nepotists.
• Events have moved faster than anyone could keep up with or predict.
• This goes right to the heart and core of our political system.

Spitting Images view of News Corp Journalists from the 80's

I've said for over 30 years (yes really) that Murdoch has cultivated an evil, manipulative, megalomaniacal, power-hungry, corrupt, repressive and tyrannical form of press. They claim this is what the public want, but no, this is purely what they serve up to the public. This behavior has been going on for years and it has simply just adapted to, and changed with developments in modern technology. The door stepping, bin-dipping, bullying and bribery has just been replaced by phone/email hacking and private detectives. Politicians have asked for this by being too prepared to cosy up to, be flattered and courted by Murdoch (for his own self interested reasons) and scared to “face up to” him. The Police have been complicit in their dealings with Murdoch (at best) and collusive with him (at worst). Journalists have proved they are just a bunch of nepotistic cronies, corralling round each other bleating about threats to the protection of the freedom of the press. Well, I'm sorry boys, but we do have a free press here, which is NOT under attack from the Government or anyone else on the outside. Its been eaten away internally and this is what it looks like when that's happened.

You've only yourselves to blame. You all sleep walked into this situation!

University Fees - "Man the barricades!"

Its not the students that should be out on the streets protesting about University fees, its people like me! We're the ones who will, inevitably, have to put our hands in our pockets and help pay for our kids to go to University. We're the ones who are going to be most impacted by this, not the current crop of students. In fact, next time there is a student demo against the increase in fees, I think I might very well be at the front of the march!

I am the classic middle ground! I'm neither rich nor poor. Yeah, I get by, but I'm not awash with money. I certainly can't afford to pay £9K per annum , let alone £18K for having two of them there at the same time.....and that's before I even look at helping them with their drinking living expenses. Yet, the government will look at me and deem that I have to pay.

“Us” in the middle ground are the core demographic for University places. We are the middle classes, the aspirational generation, the silent majority yet, as far as I can see, we are the ones who are going to be squeezed the most. The uber rich have always easily been able to afford to send their kids to University. Sure, the poor should be given opportunities to do so, and I think they always have had that opportunity. There have always been schemes to encourage them to go and the ones that deserve to usually do go. Most either don't care, don't want to go or are just not clever enough.

Every time I hear debate about fees, this issue of helping the “less well off” comes up. Frankly, I'm not bothered about the less well off! Well, actually, back track on that. I am because I will become one of the “less well off” if and when my two go to University.

I've always been intrigued with student protest. Its such a transient thing. Typically students are at University for 3 years; a relatively very short period of time. They become hot under the collar about specific issues for this short space of time and then move on, usually forgetting about them or focussing on something else. Frequently, however, these issues are more long term. Certainly longer term than 3 years. They ARE issues which deserve longer terms action and/or protest.

There are two examples which spring to my mind whenever I seek to illustrate this; both opposite ends of student life.

First, when I was at University there was a protest against a visit to the University by Leon Brittan. This was a high profile visit and the protest was very controversial. The Police essentially formed a wedge and marched into the crowd to clear the steps of the Student Union building, so Leon could go through the front door. There were arrests and accusations of mistreatment by the Police. Amongst these was a student called Steven Shaw. Through the course of his action against the Police he was (falsely) counter accused of Perverting the Course of Justice. It was a MASSIVE issue for students at the time and was a hot topic of debate, action and protest throughout the University environment. (Ultimately he was forced to flee the Country to escape arrest). However, I went back to the Students Union 2 years later and no-one had even heard of him. The whole issue had been forgotten, not for poor Steven though, I'm sure!

Secondly (and I did say this was on the other end of the scale) when I was at University, there was a big student party every Tuesday night at a club called The International. It was MASSIVE. It was packed every week, with huge que's and it was THE place to be seen. Two years after I left, I decided to go back one Tuesday night. I easily walked in, no que's and the place was deserted. The whole vibe had moved on. Forgotten. In only two years it had gone from hero to zero! The students had moved on and left it behind. Much as they do with the things they protest about.

I really do think the issue of student fees is one that effects a wider community than just current students and I don't think they are powerful enough or long termist enough to effectively fight it. It's the parents that are most affected and arguably are in a better position to be able to do something tangible about it, hence why I'm writing this.

So, next time there is a student demo, look out for me. I'll be the idiot at the front!

My Great Great Great Grandma Susannah Richards

My Great Great Great Grandma Susannah Richards was born Susannah Harper on 23^rd September 1827 in Old Swinford, Strourbridge, in what is now the West Midlands. Her parents, Thomas and Susannah Harper died when she was young and she was brought up, with her two elder brothers and younger sister, by her half brother John Harper and his family.

On 18^th October 1847 Susannah married Thomas Richards at Clent Parish Church near Bromsgrove. This was a village church in the countryside and there was a long tradition of people from the industrial grime of the Black Country travelling to this church for their weddings, essentially to have a nice day out in the clean country air. Witnesses at the wedding were Susannah's half brother John Harper and his wife Eliza.

Thomas was an Iron Roller, making boiler plates, and as such he lived where heavy industry took place. Following their marriage Thomas and Susannah lived in Brierley Hill, West Midlands, where she gave birth to a daughter, their first child, in 1848. Around 1849 they moved to Sunderland where Susannah gave birth to her first son, my Great Great Grandad Joseph Thomas Richards, in 1850.

Around 1851 they moved from Sunderland to Middlesbrough, where they lived with Thomas's elder brother, William, and his family. They briefly moved back to the West Midlands, living in Kingswinford, where Susannah gave birth to her second son in 1855. Around 1856 Susannah, her husband and three children moved back to the North East living in Stockton. Here Susannah had four more children, three sons and a daughter in 1857, 1859, 1861 and 1864.

In 1865 the family, now consisting of Susannah, Thomas and their 7 children moved from Stockton to Gateshead. Susannah had three more children in Gateshead, all girls, in 1866, 1869 and her tenth child, Caroline, being born in 1871.

Some time between 1871 and 1879 Susannah and family moved from Gateshead to Jarrow where Thomas worked at the famous Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company. The 1881 Census records Susannah as having an 11^th child, Walter Richards, being born in Jarrow in 1879. Susannah would have been 51 then and it therefore seems unfeasible for Walter to be her child. What is more realistic is that he was the illegitimate child of her daughter Isabella, who would have been 19 in 1879, and that Susannah claimed him as hers to protect the honor of her daughter. By 1891 it appears that Isabella was married and Walter was living with her as her son.

Susannah Richards was widowed when Thomas died in 1901, aged 71. Following his death she went to live with her youngest daughter, Caroline and her family and continued to live with them in Jarrow until she died in 1913, aged 84.

Susannah had a hard life. She was orphaned at an early age and diligently followed her husband up and down the country as he moved to find work. During a 23 year period she gave birth to 10 children and in the mid 19^th Century it must have been very difficult looking after and moving them round the country, often whilst pregnant. After being married for 54 years, it must have also been difficult living the last 12 years of her life without her husband but equally nice that she, herself, was looked after by her youngest daughter.

I would have loved to have met Susannah Richards and hope that she would have been as proud of me as I am of her.

The names of my Fish!

For some bizarre reason, I feel inclined to tell the world (as if.......who is really looking at this!) the names of my Fish. Well, I say for some bizarre reason! There is actually a reason.

On Lee Mack's TV show last night he chastised one of his guests for not giving his Goldfish a name (don't ask!)

My Fish do have names, so I thought I'd let everyone know what they are. Here goes:

Big Bertha

Gubbles

Fatty

Thiny

Middley

Brian

Scaredy

Fin

Gordon

I do have four other ones that don't have names (please don't chastise ME, Lee!), so any suggestions would be appreciated! If you need to know their vital characteristics before you can make said suggestions, just let me know and I'll tell you.

Overtaking and pulling out

Over the last few months, maybe even years, I've noticed an annoying phenomenon. People hate people overtaking them or pulling out in front of them to overtake someone else. There are also people who hate people who pull out of junctions as they are approaching and there are even people who frown upon other people daring to pull out onto roundabouts, before they have even reached said roundabout!

I give you exhibit A:

Tonight, I had just pulled onto the A19 and was driving in the inside lane, waiting for a gap in the outside lane so I could overtake the slow moving lorry I was behind. When I found a suitable gap I pulled out. However, the (and I can only describe him as this) knob jockey who was driving his Vauxhall Corsa some considerable distance behind, suddenly sped up and drove (thankfully, not literally) right up my arse for the next few miles, clearly unhappy that I had dared pull into the space in front of him.

I give you exhibit B:

We have a mini roundabout in town. Yesterday I was waiting to turn right at it and when I saw a gap in the traffic of about 15 meters I decided to pull out and drive round it. I was a good 5 meters out of it when I came level with the car approaching from the right, and the driver glared angrily at me, as I had had the audacity to pull out onto the roundabout as he was approaching. I wonder how far back he would have had to have been before I would NOT have got that glare??!!

I give you exhibit C:

Actually, I will not give you exhibit C because I'm starting to sound like a Daily Mail reader from Purley, but rest assured, there are many other examples I can think of which largely involve people speeding up whenever you pull out in front of them or who chase you for miles and miles just trying to get a chance to get in front of you, just to "show you that you can't mess with them"

So, I feel better having got that of my chest now, so I can now go and enjoy the rest of my evening!

Death of News of the World

I've just been reading the Internet debate regarding the death of the News of the World. Now, quite frankly, I really don't give a shit about whether the News of the World has closed or not. I rarely read it and I don't think its made either a cultural or intellectual contribution to English (er, I mean UK) society. However, what I am do want to comment on (and, it is a soap box subject of mine) is the way Journalists have started to rally around in defence of their NotW "colleagues". The BBC website is full of talk about what a sad day for journalism it is, Henry Winter is commenting on Twitter about how he never misses reading the articles of a clutch of NotW reporters. No doubt there will be more journalists taking up column inches going on about it.

My beef is that whenever news about the media or journalists happens, they become totally self absorbed and self obsessed. Its as if the whole world wants to know about what's happening to them and how terrible their lot is.

I give you exhibit A, BBC News Headlines tonight. Apparently today was the most momentous day in all the history of the media!

Journlists of all persuasions; Get over yourselves. Few of us care!

findmypast.co.uk

I just heard this afternoon that I have won a free years subscription to www.findmypast.co.uk. I am truly over the moon about this and as a bit of small thanks to them I have decided to splash the news all over all of my social media feeds, so here goes for this one (not that anyone's even looked at this blog yet!).

I'm sure there'll be more to follow on this one, as this is the one subject I do have a lot to say about!

But, in the meantime a BIG thanks to www.findmypast.co.uk for.....well, for pulling my little card out of the hat!

You've made an idiot very happy!

Un-seen private moments

I've just come back from posting a letter at our post box (where else!) and witnessed one of those many private moments of great historical significance that go on un-seen in our lives day by day. They happen all around us and every-so-often I'm sure we all notice them, but none of us really SEE them. By that I mean, we can never fully understand their true significance.....what has gone on before the event, what emotions are caught up in it, how the people there feel about it, how the people who aren't there feel about it.

This little event happened 5 doors up the road from me. An elderly couple were moving out of their house. I saw the old man put the last suitcase in his "crowded to the roof" boot and force the door shut. I saw his wife come out of the house and, struggling NOT to look back, close the door behind her. I imagine this will be the last time she will walk out of this house and shut the door. Closing the door on all the history, the family events, the laughing and, I'm sure, crying. I imagine they will have had children who, although not there to see, will also be thinking about that last door closing.

There was no one else there to see all this. I happened, by chance of having to post a letter, to be cycling by. 10 minutes earlier, 5 minutes later I wouldn't have seen it. No one else saw it and so, I'm sure, it would not be in many other people's minds. Yet it was still a momentous occasion in their lives. We've all had them and most of them have been unobserved, but we all know how we've felt.

I remebered this when I saw those two and I wonder where they are now?

U2

In the 80's I never "GOT" U2. In fact, I still don't. Sure, I liked their tunes and there were one or two I really liked (New Years Day, Sunday Bloody Sunday, I Will Follow etc.) but I was never really excited by them. I couldn't understand all the people that raved on and on about them and how great they were. I think this feeling was re-inforced by the fact that they used to play the video of their Live Aid peformance, when Bono went into the audience, over and over again at Fridays Nightclub in Didsbury, which stopped everybody dancing while they watched. In the 90's, when they became highly pretentious, it helped my "I just don't get it" attitude.

I saw their Glastonbury performance last night and it was good. I still don't "GET" them, but I recognise that they are a bloody good band and have some incredible songs. In fact, I have been playing them all morning and they do indeed have a massive catalogue of good tunes and I have to admire them for that. They have also stood the test of time and been together for a remarkably long time, still all looking the part of rock stars.

They still don't set that buzz inside me going that I get when I hear a Beatles or JJ Cale or Prefab Sprout song, but I do like them.

Well done U2, you may come again!

....as if to prove how sad I am!

I can now blog when I'm on the mobilesphere!

So....now I am a blogger

So, I'm a blogger now am I?

I have very mixed feeling about this, having met many bloggers at trade shows and other associated IT events.

When I've been introduced to bloggers, or they've introduced themselves to me with the words "Hello, my name is Dick and I'm a blogger", I've thought, "...in other words you haven't got a job!". Or, whenever anyone has said to me, when I've asked them what they do, "I'm a blogger", I've always thought, "In other words, you think you're great and the world needs to hear your (usually boring) opinion on everything" I've always thought bloggers are up their own arses, basically!

I have rarely felt the need to tell the world any of my opinions, let alone have strong enough ones about anything to feel the need to tell people about them. Frankly, I don't really care that much about anything. Yet, here I am blogging!! Why? To be honest, I really don't know! The catalyst was so that I would have something else to put on my AboutMe link, but that's not a good enough reason, is it?

So, we shall see whether I can keep it up and if I think of anything interesting enough to write about. All I can say now is, "Watch this space...." There may be some interesting revelations although, on the other hand, they may just end up being the musings of an idiot!