Pictures

Greetings Moliblog readers,

I’m sitting in a Starbucks with my Chai Tea Latte in St Albans writing my blog having spent 20 minutes fighting the crappiest WiFi in the universe for access. It does surprise me that a company that charges a small fortune for a coffee can’t provide decent Internet access. I’ve never actually tried to do this before, however I have seen many a Starbucks customer sitting down to an espresso and a surf, usually with a Mac similar to mine. How strange that the Barista claims that Apple computers struggle with access. He tells me all this after I’ve paid £5.00 for a drinks card. I think I might have just helped someone with their target!!!

However, Internet accesses, 3G & WiFi are all luxury items when you go monster hunting in Scotland. This is something I’ve recently discovered on a trip to Loch Ness. How on earth do people live without Smart phones and the Internet? Actually, quite well really…

The air is clean and fresh, the views are breath taking and the people are really friendly. Maybe actually talking to your fellow man makes you a better person? Maybe when you look out of a window and see rolling hills, mountains and clouds hanging off the tops of trees, playing Farmville loses its appeal? I know it took me a while to realize that being in constant contact or being updated on who is bored in a meeting doesn’t really matter. Certainly I find it quite nice to read about people’s lives and their world but do I need it live and up to the minute like a CNN bulletin? I don’t think so…

On this note, my friends and I took this one step further by avoiding any news. No Radio, No TV and No Newspapers… It’s actually harder than you think. We are bombarded with information both private and global but I’m starting to wonder how much of it do we really need? I’m pleased that with all these forms of mass communication we managed it and avoided anything to do with the Pope’s visit and anything that News 24 or Sky wanted to scare us with.

While driving our terrible Skoda hire car through the highlands of Scotland enroute to the Isle of Skye I felt truly free from my London life and the pressures and speed that everything moves at. I’m not sure why or how things got so pressured or why we would allow ourselves to have a poorer quality of life. While waiting for the small and simple car ferry to set off, I was watching the still mist sitting on the water, watching a bright red ship float across the water with bagpipe music playing eerily around the mountains… This was amazing to see and hear and it made me wish for a simpler life.

I love my gadgets, my iPhone, my iPad and my Internet but I can’t help thinking that the obvious benefits to me and millions of others are at a less obvious cost. Like a frog in water, we have been slowly turning up the heat with better access, faster connections and more innovative ways of using the web. The global village is a virtual cooking pot with our standard of living being the poor little frog, boiled slowly to death while we happily call it progress unaware of what we are truly losing. I’m not going all ‘The Good Life’ on you all but I just felt so relaxed and free during that weekend that some of you might just get up from you’re fake farms and actually go visit a real one. This country is so beautiful and amazing. I’ve traveled around the world, literately… but nothing compares with coming home and spending some quality time in our own home grown splendor.

If you ever get the chance to explore the UK, you might like to go monster hunting like me… I didn’t find a monster with green skin and big teeth, however, I did find a monster in my way of life and realized that there is an alternative and it’s not that far away really.

Before getting on the plane at Gatwick, the two Master Chef Judges were on the plane… It’s quite clear from their faces that they are not best of friends. If looks could kill…

During my weekend away I went walking into the hills of the Great Glen. I’m not normally a big walker. I much prefer to drive to my destination but the views and fresh air made the walk really enjoyable… My friends and I talked, walked for a few hours and then we came across 8 wild boar. Now, my friends wanted to go in the opposite direction and as far away from these beasts as possible… I on the other hand wanted to say hello!!!
As I started walked towards them, my mates decided to hang back… The Boars then turned and faced me and started making grunting and growling sounds. Now this should have made me think about what I was doing but no… I carried on walking towards them and each step getting a little smaller. I then had my best idea ever… I decided to make my own grunting sounds and wave my arms around like I was crazy person. This however didn’t take a lot of acting and the boars started to run away, so I thought. As I turned the corner, I then realize they were now all around me in the hills. Not to worry… What can wild Boar do to you anyway? So I called my friends to catch up to me and we carried on our little walk through the highlands…

A couple of us decided to have a race too…

Last week I took Fleur to the Greyhound track at Romford.

She hadn’t been before and I was hoping she could use some of her Poker Magic to root out the winners… Despite being a cold night we stood outside and placed bets with the bookies in the stands. Sadly out of the 13 races that night she only managed to win once…

Here she is, saying… F I N A L L Y!!!

I on the other hand had a good night, winning £67. My method of picking the winners… Well, forget the form or how big the dog is. Just pick the one with a cool name. It worked for me…

My Birthday is coming up soon… Another year older and knocking on the door of 40 in 12 months time… Should I start to think about next year now? What shall I do?

Until next time…

M

I see from my last post that I only have one reader. Thanks Nick for the feedback.
The past week has been good fun really. The team at work have all been happy and delivering some great results and putting us ahead of our peers. The weekend was a challenge with so few staff and long waiting times to get served. Sunday was really bad with me running things alone and with only a few inexperienced colleagues to help. Being asked about every little detail makes you come to realise how nice it is to have well trained and independent people beside you. It didn’t help that it was extra busy with long queues everywhere and the systems crashing on me.  The waiting time was so long people just walked out rather than wait 30 mins for an advisor to come back. I really hope things get better but I fear things will get worse. I understand that times are tough but serving your customers must be a priority. I want to take their money and I don’t want a competitor doing it. Maybe I’m being selfish. Maybe we should share like good children.

I bought a new home phone this week. My last cordless phone was bought in the 1990’s and cost me £600 for just one handset and then I bought an extra one for £100. It was cutting edge at the time but now is regular and actually fairly basic. Not to mention, falling apart. I thought about getting the Bang and Olufsen phones at £1500 which look amazing but as a piece of tech it’s on the basic side. I decided to save my money and go for one of the best voted and reviewed cordless phones on the market. I bought a Siemens Gigaset SL785. A German built thing of beauty. Check out the website…

http://www.cordless-phones.uk.com/cordless-phones/cordlessphones-answering-machine/siemens-sl785-cordless-phone

One highlight of the week for me was my annual Last Night of the Proms party this Saturday. I’ve done this for the past 3 or 4 years now and it’s a great chance to celebrate being British and if you like, being English.

The cost of food and booze seems to have gone up massively in the last 12 months. I wanted everyone to have a good time but this year it cost me a fortune. Sadly, not everyone ate or actually drunk that much this year and now I have my own branch of Odd Bins in the kitchen.

I think the massive chocolate fudge cake went down well?

I’d like to thank everyone for coming along and I hope that everyone had a good time. I will be holding it again next year. Rule Britannia!!!

Until next time,

M

Donut of the week.

While I was standing next to 40 Laptops…

Me: Good Afternoon…

Man: Hi, can you direct me to the laptops please?

I’ve wanted to write a decent blog for some time now.  So many things have happened in the last few months and I really should share them, if not for anyone else but myself.

I guess my main focus has been work, so I should start with work. Business is tough in so many markets and industries and I’m aware of so many people being made redundant over the past 18 months.  It still comes as a shock when the axe is waved in your direction for a second time in as many years.  This time I felt a real sense of dread and foreboding. Having recently changed locations and had a senior management change, I was an unknown quantity. All the projects that I’d done, all the success and hard work were all forgotten and any advantage I could gleam from that was lost.  I was told that I would have a 30 day consultation and during that time I would have to complete a series of battles with professional cage fighters and have an interview.  Okay, the cage fighters are bollocks but the stress of waiting 30 days to find out my fate was so much worse.

The stress of my dad’s death made my resilience to this stress no existent. I was worn down emotionally and had no fight left in me.  I was certain I was doomed with all the ramifications that go with being made redundant, such as losing your home and way of life.  As time passed and I had an opportunity to reflect on the possibilities that presented themselves I came to realise that maybe having the chance to change my life was a good thing.  Most of us are trapped in the security of what we know.  I’ve been doing my job for a long time now and I know most of it very well. Why would I change and risk so much.  The fear of the unknown is what keeps us where we are.  I however was coming to realise that if that choice was forced upon me I could become whatever I wanted and maybe happier as a result.  The idea of working for a charity or working abroad bore some appeal but until I get the results from the interview, it was always an idea.   I know for a fact that the stress of the situation was taking its toll on my ability to focus on my job in hand. I was distracted and often in thought.  My fellow managers that were also facing this possibility were much more in control and clear about what and where they stood and that thought in some measure made me feel a little better and gave me the strength to pull myself together somewhat.  Then a new fear was brought to my attention.  I could be successful but sent far away and or working somewhere I hated.  Having done over 4 hours a day travelling to work every day and working in a place where I was more universally hated than Anjem Choudary. I really didn’t want to go through that again. Now I wanted out more than anything. It’s strange but in such a short while I’d gone through a range of emotions from losing my job to wanting a new life where I could be happy.  Of course the other and third option was keeping my job and doing more work for the same money.  Now I actually like the place and people I work with and the extra work load was not something I was willing to accept but I was certain that my fate was sealed in a long commute or working with various spawns of the devil.  On interview day I put on my best suit and focused on doing the best I can.  It could have been easy just to spend the next hour or so just saying wibble, wibble, pertang pertang… but I would hate myself and I have no idea what that last comment actually means.

The interview was meant to be 30 to 45 minutes and was based on me giving examples of being a manager. I answered the questions as best I could, however I did take nearly two hours doing it.  Was this a mistake or did it show that I had lots of experience? It might just say that I don’t know when to stop talking. Nothing new there!!!  After this I had a long week to wait for the result.  This was a strange week.  Nothing more could be done and we all kind of sat around like we had just finished a great battle against the 300. We talked, reflected and all in all it was actually a very calm time.

Sadly, one of my fellow managers got an interview and decided to jump ship before the axe had a chance to fall in his direction.  Ironically all three of us passed the interview but one had to go and as a result of him leaving I was automatically selected to stay. So I never knew if I was good enough to stay where I was or weather I was going to be moved. All that stress, thought, effort and personal suffering was for nothing. I have to say, keeping my job had left me numb and with a bitter taste in my mouth.  Now the hard work begins…

Summer in the store has been a tough one.   It’s been hot, humid and the air conditioning is like an Asthmatic mouse.  It’s sad that I don’t work in St Tropez or St Barts as I’m sure that the clientele would be immaculate.  As opposed to the fat ugly women who enter my world, half dressed and with tramp stamps all over their bodies, mostly with the name of their first born across an arm or more bizarrely around a KFC swollen neck.  However, it’s not only the Chavington classes that supply amusement but the constant supply of people who have clearly had their ability to create facial expressions removed. A smile isn’t asking that much is it?

Then I’m faced with the vast collection of people who want credit but sadly are as creditworthy as Nick Leeson… I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact they have only just arrived in the UK and have no job, bank account or ability to speak a word of English.  What is strange is how they manage to drive off in a car that would take me a thousand years to pay off. It’s hard work too.  For us to tell them that their finance is about to be rejected we have to spend up to an hour with them. By this time, other clients are leaving because we have nobody to serve them.  Very painful when I want to win business and not lose it.  This brings me on to staffing levels and the staffing budget that keeps being reduced.  Currently it’s so low I’d have difficulty organising a conga… This causes stress, angry customers and daily verbal abuse.  I’m not sure anybody really cares about me and my welfare but surely someone cares about the business?

I managed to get away for a week and leave all the stress behind. I stayed in the UK and rented a place in Kings Lynn which is the most boring town in the entire universe second only to Basildon. However it did serve as a great base to travel around Norfolk.  I was so lucky with the weather that I managed to get a tan while sitting on the deep soft sands of Brancaster beach.

I can’t tell you how relaxed I was and how nice Norfolk is. The food was amazing, the people friendly, the shops staff were the most professional I’d ever seen and on the whole I thought it was a great place to visit and live. Just not in Kings Lynn!!!

Okay. I think that will do for now.  Please feel free to comment…

M

I’ve finally seen off the worst of my sickness with the help of some pills and a little rest and as a reward to myself for being a brave boy I bought myself an iPad. Well that’s my excuse anyway. The price of these little buggers starts at £429 and that is a real bargain. Yes, I know the conditions at the factory are worse than terrible and 11 people so far have jumped off the factory roof but has that stopped anybody buying them… No!!! Most places sold out in the UK within two days and people slept in tents outside the Apple store in London to be the first to own one. Most media reports were not only about the product but about who got one first and in what country. The iPad had a loyal following before it was even launched and a few people I know were certain that Apple had produced the best thing since the pointy stick and were willing to sell their children for medical research in order to own one. Is it worth it? Is it worth jumping off a building, sleeping rough and having an Apple tattoo on your right buttock? Well… Y E S!!!

I can’t pretend that not having Flash player isn’t a pain. I can’t pretend that it has loads of Applications because it doesn’t and those that are any good cost the same as a small African nation but I know that all those things will get sorted out and more applications will arrive over time. The way it handles pictures, the Internet, videos and games is so impressive you can’t put it down. It is in some cases just a big iPhone but in most it’s the best coffee table object since the fruit bowl and less likely to go off. Indeed the battery lasts for days and the display is glorious in HD.

However I am reminded that people who can’t sleep close their eyes and imagine people going into an Apple store. Is buying an Apple my idea? Or am I a sheep to the advertising and marketing slaughter? Bahh Bahh!!!

One thing is for certain… I’m happy, I’m writing my blog in the afternoon sun while listening to my iPod and everything is right with the world as the clocks were striking thirteen…

M