18th June 2007
Hi all,
I've found inspiration lacking in the last few days, so I've just taken a look at a few of the things I've seen going on around me.
Customer Services of the Week: To the jeweller H. Samuel, who made a complete mess of changing my wife's watch battery. First of all apparently they can no longer do it on the spot, so I would have to come back an hour later and pick it up. When I returned I was told they couldn't take the back off the watch, so the battery hadn't been changed.
I then took the very same watch to a branch of Timpsons, where a member of staff had the back of the watch off in a matter of seconds and the battery replaced within a minute. I won't be going back to H. Samuel again, that's for sure.
In addition to this I think there could be another reality TV show in the making. "Challenge Timpson", where their staff set their minds to complete anything and everything, all while wearing a shirt, tie and greasy apron. Rebuild an African village? Fix a leaky dam in Eastern Europe? Provide a new roof for a school in South America? No problem. They'll do it, and even engrave their own plaque to mark the occasion.
Junk Call of the Week: Wednesday night, Lorraine's out with Lucy and I'm looking after Chloe prior to the final instalment of "The Apprentice". A call comes in, and I stupidly decide to answer it. I can clearly tell it is a junk call, but decide to be kind and polite and answer the questions.
Only the call (a survey about phone books) goes on and on and on. And on. I can't keep being polite because I'm so bored. Meanwhile Chloe has decided to delve into one of her bags and pull out a container of Suda Creme and turn herself into a minstrel. That's probably the last time I'll make the effort to be polite to a junk caller.
The solution to keeping your kids out of bags: Put the bags on the stairs. If they're at a young age there are probably gates at the top and bottom of the stairs, so regardless of whether they're upstairs or downstairs they won't be able to get into those bags and leave a trail of destruction if you're
reading Deadspin's latest post not looking for a split second.
Smart thinking of the week: To Lorraine's Uncle Hugh and Auntie Mary, who have managed to successfully put everything in their house out of the reach of small children, something Lorraine and I will probably be trying to do until Chloe is about 40.
Shock of the week: Simon winning The Apprentice. Nice guy, hard worker, gifted to a point, but better than Kristina over the course of the series? I don't think so. I didn't see much of the first series, but I think the last series saw the wrong person win, so that's two series in a row where this has happened.
Of course just about everyone knows that the seemingly open secret that the winner isn't determined by the final show, but by how the candidates have done in their six months of working for Alan Sugar. As every report on the show seems to mention it shouldn't the show address it and actually factor it into the programme?
When it is on The Apprentice is clearly my favourite show on TV, but at times it can be frustrating to watch, especially when a) tasks are basically repeated from those in previous series, and b) Alan Sugar doesn't always seem to know what the viewers have been seeing, e.g. Katie back-stabbing, Tre's occasionally brilliant observations. I'll be interested to see if they address some of these points in the next series.
iTunes gripe of the week: I've been putting together a compilation of songs which remind me of people. I had the sudden inspiration that I had to put on "Somewhere By The Crazy River" by Robbie Robertson for Nick Tanter (for reasons that I'll explain in a few weeks' time). Can you get it on iTunes? Nope. Off to Google to search for it, where in a roundabout manner (with help from mp3.com) I found that you can download it from iTunes. In America anyway.
This is the first I've heard about iTunes' regional restrictions, and to say the least it is annoying. If you buy a CD in America you can play it in the UK, so what's the problem with a digital download? I really don't understand the rights issues with this. Along with the regional coding of DVDs this is one of the most pointless technological developments I've seen, which serves the purpose of just making people's lives difficult.
(And can I buy the album in any high street store? Don't be stupid. Chance would be a fine thing. And record companies wonder why people download music illegally.)
Have a good week!
Tony
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