Archive for category The way we live

The Valentines onslaught

Feb 6

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I actually love the concept of Valentines Day, commercialised twaddle though it may be.

I buy Y flowers.

I cook her dinner.

I buy good pink champagne. Partridge Eye if I can find it.

I am romantic.

It’s not usual, but hell, I do love her and she deserves it.

We haven’t been out for a meal on Valentines in years. In fact I can’t actually remember the last time.

However it has gone badly wrong.

There’s times when we have fallen out and it has ended in tears.

in fact there have been a few of them.

This year I’ve bought a beautiful hand made card from Spitalfields Market. And I’ll send a silly personalised greeting card from Hello Turtle, you know, one of those online card making sites. It better pull a smile! She’s a difficult woman. But special. The two go together I guess.

Next up mothers day. Best not forget that one either.

Trust – in cosmetic surgery!

Jan 23

Posted by admin in Brands, The way we live | No Comments

I was interested this morning by a surgeon who managed to get a short slot on the Today Programme to talk about how he believes there should be legislation against the offering of three for two type deals in cosmetic surgery.

I have to admit it’s not a market I pay a lot of attention to, however I’m delighted to hear this fellow speaking out. His position is that the offers destroy trust in what has to be a very trusted profession if it is to thrive.

I fully agree and would suggest that it’s an issue for brands in general. The question of whether or not to discount should be a very hard and long considered one.

The biggest consideration should be whether or not you can afford to do so. While that may sound obvious, I’m not talking about whether you can afford to today, or next week, but whether you can afford to get into a position where you are competing on price, and sustain it, profitably.

I believe that it’s a very dangerous game for any small player.

Then the more important angle here is the more important question of trust.

I believe that trust is a fragile concept. One which takes considerable time to earn, yet can be destroyed in a blink.

The Stella ads of the last decade come to mind here as a whole lot more clever than many thought with their tag lone of reassuringly expensive. Would you go to the eye laser clinic that offered a discount? I suppose some might, but I believe there’s a strange glass floor effect in industries such as these and I firmly believe our surgeon is right, but not through legislation.

Oops, catch up time.

Jan 17

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Blimey, what happened? I was in a good routine. Writing pretty much everyday, then turn around twice and nearly a week has gone by. We had a calm weekend, just a big walk through town and down to the Kings Road on Saturday. We managed to come back with nothing other than a candle stick from the David Mellor store on Sloane Square, which I consider an achievement. The stick itself is a real classic and something I’ve wanted for a long time.

Just because we didn’t but anything doesn’t mean we didn’t spend anything though!

We stopped off in the Harrod’s food hall on the way down through Knightsbridge and had the bast pizza I’ve had in ages. Super thin crust, just a scraping of sauce, but a brilliant combination, just that with a glass of fizz each set us back £45. Then there was tea in the Michelin Man place alongside the Conran Shop. In fact we spent so long in the Conran Shop I thought we may have to buy a house so Y could start collecting the madly priced furniture she has suddenly developed some kind of lust for.

If we do ever buy in Cornwall, which is still very much on the cards, then it could end up the best kitted out holiday home anyone has ever come across!

Helping out…

Dec 9

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I couldn’t believe that not only do exam boards run sessions for teachers where they basically tell them what questions will be in that year’s A Level and GCSEs, but also that you can get so much help these days to do the things we used to sweat over for hours. There’s a great site where you can get sample college essays online  that take you through the topics, help you think through the essay structure, even give you the sources that have been used.

Y has started an OU course in occupational psychology and we quickly realised that you could just skip a lot of the research and poking around. Fortunately she loves the subject and so does much of the work in the way that we used to at school and college, but it’s interesting to see what’s available.

We finally put a lid on the coffin of the idea to buy a place in Northumberland yesterday. We were still talking on and off about it, but with less enthusiasm since our Cornwall trip. We’d love something in that part of the world, but want to see Devon and Dorset a bit before we tay to buy. Partly driven by cost, and secondly driven by a fear of the distance. It’s too far to drive for a weekend, flying is inconvenient as you go from Heathrow to Newquay, then need to hire a car.

It’s all just a bit of a dream for now, but one we enjoy musing over.

Friday afternoon. Comeon!

Payday lending

Dec 8

Posted by admin in Banking, The way we live | No Comments

My feelings were mixed this morning listening to an article on pay day lending and the several hundred per cent interest the poor sods pay when using the facilities.

A while back I was asked to apply for the marketing role at one of these businesses. There’s no way that I could work for such a company, but still I think they have a role on the high street.

I’d prefer that people went to Wonga or somewhere similar than taking doorstep loans with no regulation whatsoever. If such companies are driven back underground we’ll have no idea of what horrendous Dickensian practices are taking place.

I’m not about to do the maths here and now, but say there’s a fixed fee of £20 for every loan, if you’re borrowing £100 for a week then you’ll be paying a pretty awful interest rate. However if the same person took £1000 instead, and paid the same fee, then the rate would only be a tenth of the previous scenario. Statistics can show what you want them to show.

It’s not good, it’s not clever, and once you’ve started then it becomes really hard to get out of the habit, and if you can’t pay then it gets frightening, but it’s a service for which there is a need right now.

Unusual for me to be quite some open minded about such matters.

I still wouldn’t touch the job for any pay packet though.

So tired, yet our heads are in a good place.

Nov 13

Posted by admin in Holidays, It's All About Me, The way we live | No Comments

Amazing, we’re both so tried after our Cornish weekend, but feeling full of joy and can’t wait to get back there too.

Those thoughts we had of buying a place in Northumberland have now been displaced by a desire to head west, beyond the end of the line. Yesterday we walked for miles from a little cove called Porthgwarra to a beach called Nanjizel and then on to the Land’s End Hotel for a couple of beers and some lunch.

By the time we’d walked back time the car we were both ready to fall asleep in the car, but it was only a few miles from the cottage so we just went back, lit the fire and snoozed stretched out on the sofas. Even the dog could hardly move.

We’ve just passed Reading on the way home having slept form Exeter pretty much all the way.

Not looking forward to work tomorrow, but we will be planning another Cornish trip soon. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing that property is so expensive there, it’s not realistic for us to thing about it after just one trip – but we are!

Warm in Cornwall – winter sun!

Nov 11

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So happy we took a spontaneous opportunity!

Last night Jonno at Y’s work offered us a weekend in a cottage he’d booked in Cornwall, but that he couldn’t take.

A couple of frantic calls to bosses and ten minutes on Trainline.com and we were on our way – very early this morning.

We got off n Truro and picked up a hire car and headed al the way to the end of the world where we found New Forge Cottage, a quite big and spacious modern interpretation of a cottage. Wow! It’s brilliant.

We walked to Cape Cornwall along the coast. Warm. A bit up and down, and in fact hard work, but so rewarding. Stunning cliffs, the sea clear, despite being quite rough.

Even the mad Irish lady called Annie at the National Trust hut at the car park was a joy, she’d talk for hours given the chance.

We were knackered by the time we got to this hill, but the view was stunning and so we sat here for ages, not thinking much, not talking, just absorbing. For a couple of dedicated Londoners this is a whole new experience and one I think could be good for the soul. As will be the Doom Bar that seems to be sold in loads of the pubs here. I hadn’t realised it was a Cornish beer.

We have big plans for tomorrow.

But if it’s raining I’ll be happy to just lie in bed, sleep, read, tea in bed, dog out in the garden having a happy time.

And a pub. From early, until late. Joy.

How much “stuff” do we need?

Nov 8

Posted by admin in Rants, Shopping, The way we live | No Comments

A topic that comes to mind pretty much every time I listen to the news these days is that of consumption.

When we’re letting the good times roll our socio/environmental consciences are pricked and we’re encouraged to think about the amount of waste we’re creating, encouraged to cut down our consumption of everything from electricity to packaging to gin (well, maybe not gin).

But then when everything grinds to a halt and we tighten our belts we learn that we have to start buying “stuff” to get everything going again.

Confused?

The thing that’s in our favour at the moment is that at least we still have inflation. No one is telling us that is a good thing but take a moment to consider the consequences of the opposite. Deflation.

In a period of deflation you don’t buy anything you don’t need today – because it’s likely to be cheaper tomorrow. Japan suffered just that problem for years and went from being an economic powerhouse to being somewhat sidelined by the BRIC nations.

So what is good for us?

Buying everything and filling our landfill sites, depleting natural resources, screwing up the planet?

Or buying nothing and having the capitalist system come crashing down around our ears?

A few billion Chinese desperate to catch up with the rest of the world probably aren’t thinking this way at all.

So it’s purchase all the way. And the planet be dammed (not that the planet need worry, just the humans).

Skipping a couple of generations of childbirth is possibly the only thing that could save the future as anything we’d recognise – but can you imagine planning the campaign to deliver that?

London Fireworks

Nov 5

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Remember when there were just a couple of firework displays, probably at the local Rugby club? A few fizzes and bangs and a Catherine Wheel that wouldn’t turn, a hot dog, toffee apple and then home.

It’s not like that anymore is it?

London is mad for fireworks and it kicks off with Diwali which is a couple of weeks before, then seems to go through until Christmas.

Given that we’re all supposed to be hard up and tightening our belts we show an amazing flare for sending money up in smoke. That’s not me being a curmudgeon, I love ‘em, but don’t see the sense.

Y and I did something lovely and got the last ‘flight’ of the London Eye earlier and saw displays going off on the Thames and across town right out to beyond Canary Wharf. You don’t get the acrid, but evocative smell of cordite, and we sipped champagne rather than Rugby club bitter, but it was a great way to see London lit up in such a beautiful display of colour with technology applied in a very different direction to that which we’re used to.

After we headed to the Oxo Tower for dinner, but stupidly I hadn’t booked and of course it was full of people wanting to see more from the vantage point up there. We ended up in Pizza Express on the South Bank, probably paid at least fifty pounds less, and had a top old time.

I reckon an early night is in order now. Cycling with Barry in the morning while Y goes to a spa with her girls. Bring on the autumn sunshine please.

Greece

Oct 28

Posted by admin in Rants, The way we live | No Comments

I’m not political, and I don’t expect I ever will become so. If this is just a rant and lacks direction forgive me.

So on Wednesday the Germans (who have basically won the war by stealth rather than bullets in the end) and the French kindly worked out a package by which Greece could default on half of its debt.

Meanwhile Portugal, Spain, Italy and I heard for the first time this morning, Belgium are all deep in the poo as well.

So isn’t that like a load of people living in a dead posh terrace in London (let’s say the John Nash places around Regents Park to give a feel for the value we’re looking at). We each have a £5 million mortgage – yes they are that expensive. And then because old Frederick next door was the first to scream that he couldn’t pay his debts those lovely people from Barclays just write off half his mortgage and leave him in possession of his house.

Meanwhile the rest of us who kept a little more quiet about our problems are left seething and still in the brown stuff.

Maybe I’ve got it all wrong, but it certainly looks that way to me.

Meanwhile a gang of slimeballs are heading off to China to ask them to buy us out of the shit. Oh, sorry, buy a load of government bonds which will then need repaying in a couple of decades. As if there might be some money then.

Can you imagine if you and I ran our finances that way?

Oh! Yes. Actually we have, which is why it all went tits up in the first place.

I’m not much for ranting, but this just feels a little too mad and out of control.