Monday 26 December 2011

Birds of a Feather

The hotel we are staying in serves breakfast next to a beautiful pond. The fish dance beneath and the swans sail gracefully across the surface.

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Each morning we are delighted with the different sights…


Duck!!

Ok, not actually a duck, looks more like a goose but who knows (must remember to ask hotel staff).
I think he/she must have had an itch of some kind because they were preening and rolling around in the water for ages.

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Here is the same bird in a more graceful pose.

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Black and White

Two swans performing synchronised swimming manoeuvres. Can’t say I have seen a black swan before.



And I have no idea what this swan is doing, but shouldn’t those legs be padding like mad under the water?

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Now if you’ll excuse me I need to order another waffle.

Tuesday 20 December 2011

It’s Still a Tough Job…More Tales of Hardship.

Earlier this year I documented here the arduous task of sampling various brands of chilli chocolate.

Throughout the year I have been keeping an eye out for more chilli chocolate and selflessly sampling the wares that I find.

Here are some of the chocolates that have crossed my palette.

Fiery…or not.


Staring at me from my timeline last week on twitter was a picture of chilli chocolate from Thorntons. Of course, passing the shop yesterday and the 3 for £5 pound offer, how could I resist…..

This is a dark chocolate and does taste nice, but the Thorntons is a light weight amongst the chilli chocolates. If you’re wanting afterburn and a strong heat then this is not the one for you.

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Chocolat


Fellow chilli chocolate lover and all round class act @TheFlossieTP was kind enough to give me some Hotel Chocolat Chilli Pralines (thank you, thank you, thank you!).

Top marks here for presentation, the photo is poor but if you look carefully you will see bits of chilli poking out of the chocolate. A nice touch!

Sadly, despite these being very delicious (gone in 60 seconds) the heat was a little too subtle for my tastes.

pralines

Sexy!


The things I do in the name of research!

On a recent visit to Edinburgh we went to the Real Foods shop not looking for chilli chocolate but finding it in abundance.

One of the most notable bars was the Sexy one. How could anyone resist such blatant marketing?

The chilli side of this worked very well. It had the perfect afterburn experience, kicking in a good 30 seconds after you start eating it. Sadly the chocolate taste didn’t do it for me. A little too smooth and milky for my taste but still a commendable product. And boy what great packaging!

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Montezuma Strikes Again


Finally another Montezuma’s bar. These people really do know how to make great chocolate.

Their Dark Chocolate with Chilli came out on top in my last roundup and this Milk Chocolate & Chilli wins hands down this time too.

This is a milk chocolate bar, like the Sexy one, but the addition of the lime really does make a huge difference.

It is soft and smooth, and the chocolate, chilli and lime all merge together to caress your taste buds.

Very, very nice.

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The End


That’s the lot for now, but you can sleep soundly at night with the knowledge that someone out there is tirelessly working to ensure no chilli chocolate is left un-tasted!

Saturday 29 October 2011

Every Second Counts


Pipped to the post by 1 second!

Stewards enquiry!! 


Three Hours Earlier


Arriving by train, Birmingham stood before us, grand and majestic (the floosy is off to the right of the pic).

IMAG0161 The station and city packed with runners and their support teams was a comforting sight as we made our way to the start, briefly being accosted by someone from BRMB to have our photo taken (see the gallery here ).

Helicopters buzzed around the cloudy but bright sky as the first wave of runners was about to set off.

Birmingham was well and truly packed.


As is our tradition we stopped for the pre-run photo tweet:

tweet

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Being unconfident of our times we found ourselves in the Pink wave, the last wave to go. Not only in the last wave, but we also found ourselves towards the back. In retrospect this was quite good as it is good for the soul/ego to be passing lots of people rather than being passed.

So, we made our way to the Pink Wave start area.

By this time our support team had split up. Our father had caught the train to catch up with us as we staggered through Bournville and @julietims, having seen us to the start and carrying the bags, was now filming and taking photos from the start/finish.

And we’re….almost off!


The Pink Wave amassed, waiting to go through the start line.

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And we’re….still almost off!


This picture sees us minutes before the start of the run. @jazzlegs looks up momentarily from playing Words with Friends, both of us prepping the running apps on our phones.

There were a lot people, though at 15,000 runners it was by no means the biggest.

We were surrounded though by a lot of people. All ages, all shapes and sizes and many in fancy dress.

The atmosphere was great and the sun was shining….only 13 miles to go.
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The Run


I would like to say that we had a relaxing run and were able to take in all the sights of Birmingham, but come on, we were running a half marathon!

I do know that Pershore Road is bloody long, dual carriageways in Birmingham go up as well as down and the gradient map of the course did not do the last three miles justice at all!

We saw our father twice around Bournville (he was able to cut through the station to catch us the second time) and he took some action photos and video.

@julietims was waiting at the finish (with our father) poised and ready for action to capture our triumphant arrival. As the beginning of the post attests, this was done perfectly.


13 Miles Later…


The Finish!


We did it. We ran all the way and even managed a sprint at the end.

This was a distance that neither @jazzlegs or myself had previously done and I think we are quite rightly pleased with ourselves for this achievement.

As tradition dictates, the post-run photo was tweeted:

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Support


Huge thanks have to go to our support team: @julietims and our father.

It’s always good to have people on the ground to help with bags, take action photos and meet you at the end.

Also, a huge thanks to the people of Birmingham who lined the course giving support, encouragement and High-5s to all the runners. It was much appreciated.

And finally a thank you to the organisers of this year’s Great Birmingham Run who did a fantastic job.


Great Birmingham Run 2012


Here it is for all foolish enough to take part:

http://www.greatrun.org/Events/Event.aspx?id=14

Needless to say I have already signed up for next year!

Saturday 6 August 2011

“Food of the Gods”

Twinkies!

A word that strikes fear into the heart, or arteries, of any sane man (women seem far too sensible to even consider them).

As usual I am sacrificing myself to get the facts so that other people don’t have to put themselves in harms way. Selfless, I know.

This time I ordered some Twinkies.

There were at least two places I found here in the UK:

The Stateside Candy Co.  (where I ordered mine from)
American Soda

It was a box of ten.

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Why Oh Why!

To most people (I assume) in North America the Twinkie is a well known item of cakey confectionary but to us people here in the British Isles they are a tempting mystery….until now.

In their own words the makers of Twinkies describe them as:

"Golden Sponge Cake with Creamy Filling"


But more about that later…

Although aware of them through US TV and movies (Die Hard, Ghost Busters), Twinkies did not fully engage my attention until I saw the episode of The Pretender titled Hazards. In this episode Jarod passes a truck delivering cakey items and on seeing the man with a trolley of Twinkies asks if he can buy one off him for $20, The delivery man of course accepts. Jarod’s first impression?

“It’s tasty”.


Who can ignore such a recommendation?

Next we see Horace Strickland who upon seeing Jarod with a box full of Twinkies exclaims “Food of the Gods”, but then of course he was the evil doer of the episode, finally getting his comeuppance in a hazardous container full of Twinkie cream (Jarod emptied out how many Twinkies?!).

Throughout the episode Jarod consumes a colossal number of Twinkies on his quest to right this episode’s wrong and all, I might add, without seeming to put on an ounce of weight or exhibit any signs of nausea.

Back to business….

Here we have the Twinkie itself, the individually wrapped package of sugary sweet gooiness (modelled by my beautiful, but shy, assistant).

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Now for the gooey bit…

The Twinkie Tear Down!


The first thing to note is that they were not wrong. Slice ‘em up and there is the creamy filling. Not quite as creamy as the box led me to believe but I guess that is to be expected.

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But what about the scientific bit, the facts and figures?

IMAG0458 I was a little surprised that there were so few calories in a Twinkie.

They are always bigged up as being so evil, and ok, with big fat zeros for Vitamins A, C and Calcium they are not winning any prizes for nutritional value, but is 150 calories really a lot?

But there is the small matter of the sugar and the fat…

Better than me jabbering on, I found this random article on Twinkie nutrition (not responsible for facts blah blah blah).

http://www.livestrong.com/article/310643-twinkies-nutrition/

One heart stopping claim they make is that the infamous Fried Twinkie weighs in at 420 calories!

So what were they like? Did they live up to my expectations?

I have to say I was a little disappointed. I had expected sweetness, decadence and the morishness that comes with “evil” cakes. What I got was a mediocre experience.

They were stodgy and believe it or not I did not find them sweet enough.

Of course, I only had a box of ten, clearly not enough to perform a full study, and there is after all the Fried Twinkie to test drive.

The story is far from over!

And so we bid not adieu, but au revoir to the Twinkie.

Twinkie gone.

Friday 15 April 2011

It’s a Tough Job, But Someone Has To Do It

When I were a lad chocolate was pretty simple: Milk or Plain.

Now when you wander down the confectionary aisle of your local supermarket you are presented with a dazzling array of chocolaty wonders.

One of the more delightful chocolate combinations is chilli and chocolate.

What I present here is a small selection of chilli chocolate bars I have managed to find locally.

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I would like to explain that this review was done under strict conditions but I can’t. It was just one big chocolate fest!!

I did try to do each bar justice. I opened each one carefully and broke off the assigned portion. I took in the aroma relishing the smell of the chocolate before slowly eating it...savouring every moment. I also left it a good time between each tasting involving lots of tea to make sure my taste buds had recovered.

I have written my initial comments for each bar as I was smelling and chewing:

Montezuma’s
~
Dark Chocolate with Chilli



Min cocoa solids: 73%
Weight: 100g
Comments:
Smell of strong dark chocolate.

Small solid chunks.

Tastes like normal strong dark chocolate for the first few bites then the chilli kicks in!

You really can taste the higher cocoa content.
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Moser-Roth
~
Finest Dark Chocolate Chilli



Min cocoa solids: 52%
Weight: 5 x 25g
Comments:
Another strong chocolate smell.

Individually wrapped chucks.

Smooth sweet taste. Slow trickle of chilli heat as it melts.

Individual bars make for a controlled experience.
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Lindt
~
Excellence Chilli



Min cocoa solids: 49%
Weight: 100g
Comments:
Thin large chunks.

Much sweeter than the other bars probably in part due to lower cocoa content.

Very moreish.

Even taste of chilli. No surprises or after burns here.
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Conclusion

The conclusion is not what I was expecting. We have three different makes of chocolate from three different countries containing three different strengths of chocolate.

The conclusion is that each is best at different times. The Montezuma bar is strong and you can’t help but eat it slowly savouring every mouthful. The Moser Roth is conveniently split into five individual bars, ideal for snacking. Finally there is the Lindt with its sweeter more main stream taste.

But, it is chilli chocolate we are talking about here. On pure taste and kick I would have to say that Montezuma’s is victorious on this day.

…and world peace!

Alas I didn’t think a swimsuit stage would be appropriate so here I present the Hot! photo shoot:

Sunday 3 April 2011

The Wandering Pony

Me: “In my opinion Keira Knightley is a one-trick pony.”

Sister: “A wandering pony?”

Me: “What?”

Sister: “A wandering pony.”

Me: “A wandering pony?”

Me: “Ah. A one…trick…pony.”

Sister: "Ah. One-trick pony!"

Me and sister: *laughter*

(I still don’t know if my enunciation or my sisters hearing was to blame here).


Firstly I’ll point out that I no longer believe Keira Knightley’s acting abilities to be limited. I saw The Jacket and didn’t recognise her. I think seeing her completely miscast in King Arthur affected my judgement.

The point here is about how words and their meanings get changed over time. My sister and I both now use wandering pony instead of one-trick pony, and this is a prime example of what happens all the time in the English language.

Words and the English language interest me and I try to be as correct as possible in my use of English wherever I write, be it e-mail, SMS or Twitter, or even here on my blog.

In my work I interact mostly with people who’s first language is not English (and yes, I have made it past the talking loud and slow stage). This has made me more aware of the English language and how it is used, especially the use of slang, idioms and colloquialisms. Not that I use them less, but I am now much more prepared to explain them. In doing this I surprised myself in how little I understood the meanings but also how interesting the origins can be.

All this leads nicely into the latest book that my wife bought for me:

Port Out Starboard Home (or in the US Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds).

This book explains the origins of many commonly used words and phrases, and debunks many of their commonly believed origins. The introduction is a good read in itself and the rest of the book reads like a reference with each word or phrase explained under its own heading. A fascinating read.

And it was with happy surprise that I discovered the author was none other than the man behind the World Wide Words website. This is a site that provides a wealth of information about, as the tag line says, “English from a British viewpoint”. Well worth a visit and bookmarking….and subscribing to the blog.

One last example….

Tripe. We should all know tripe comes from cows (usually). But when an impressionable young child (another sister) is told by a parent about the tripe boats this simple fact somehow changes. Luckily this did not cause too much embarrassment or humiliation at school but even today I link tripe with fish.

Thursday 31 March 2011

“All the world's a stage…”

In the post this morning was the information about this years Ludlow Festival. Ludlow is a lovely little town in Shropshire that once a year hosts a festival centred around performances of an open air Shakespeare play.

This year the play is Twelfth Night and as usual will be presented in the castle grounds.

And so it begins…the open air Shakespeare season!!

We do like our open air Shakespeare. We don’t usually travel far, Nottingham, Ludlow and Stokesay Castle have been about the furthest.

But we don’t have to travel far, there are plenty of local performances.

They are great social events. We usually try and drag some friends and family along and of course there is the obligatory picnic. The different venues have their own specific charms especially on warm summer evenings (we’ve been lucky enough to mostly avoid wet weather).

The first open air Shakespeare I went to was back in the early 90’s at Stafford Castle. A group of us went including two of my sisters (in fact it was probably they who dragged me). The castle venues are great, especially when they use it to great effect as a prop! This performance was no different, a great night.

A couple of years past before I went again, this time with my wife. Driving to Lichfield there were signs on the side of the road advertising an open air Shakespeare. Why not we thought We bought tickets and have never looked back.

It was Shakespeare in the Park which is performed every year in the Italian Garden in the grounds of Maple Hayes Hall near Lichfield. It is one of our favourite open air Shakespeare performances. It takes place in a small clearing surrounded by trees where you sit on hay bails and enjoy a thoroughly entertaining Shakespeare play. This year it is The Merry Wives of Windsor.

There is also usually an open air Shakespeare play as part of the Lichfield Festival but we haven’t been to that in a while. We saw a poor performance once and it put us off. Perhaps we will try again this year.

So full circle now and back to Stafford Castle where the performance this year is The Comedy of Errors. Stafford is always good. There are usually some “big” names performing and with the castle grounds to have a pre-play picnic in, things could not be more perfect…well, a clear, warm summer evening always helps.

We do have one restriction. We don’t do tragedies. This means we usually do Stafford every other year as they seem to alternate. Maple Hayes seem to steer away from tragedies for the most part and for the others we just pick and choose.

Can anyone out there recommend any open air Shakespeare?

Let the plays begin!

Friday 25 March 2011

Cream of the Crop

How I came to be in a conversation with three women on twitter debating the effect cream has on the structural integrity of cake I will never know. You’ve gotta love twitter!!

The idea that when you pour the cream over cake that you end up with cake-soup is clearly ludicrous, but when it is three against one there is only one thing to do…

That’s right, I committed myself to proving my assertion that the cake would remain intact. My word alone was not enough and video evidence was demanded.

Now, I am not known for my baking skills but the pursuit of truth knows no bounds!

With the aid of my beautiful assistant I set about the kitchen to find not only did we have none of the required ingredients but we also did not have any suitable cake tins.

Fast forward 30 minutes, I am in Morrison’s with a shopping list: Flour, sugar, two cake tins, icing sugar, butter, whipping cream, single cream. No vanilla essence (does it really make that much difference?).

Back in the car with the stereo aptly playing the Mission Impossible theme I sped back to the waiting kitchen (and my beautiful assistant).

The instructions were followed to the letter and the ingredients were mixed. The cake came together easily and quickly.

Load the two tins and into the oven. Sorted!

Now, on to the cream….

Here is the cream to go between the two parts of the cake.

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Eventually after what seemed like an eternity the cream was whipped enough and the cakes were ready!

And here is my prize, the Cream Cake. Isn’t she lovely? …and so deadly (oops, sorry, slipped into my Vincent Price persona there). *


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The cake in all its glory, jammed, creamed and finished off with some icing sugar.

And what about the proof?


That’s a wrap!

Filming ends with half the cake gone and a plate full of cream. It really was a nice cake!

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Conclusion

The result of this fun but most unscientific experiment was that clearly and without doubt the structural integrity of the cake remained stable throughout the deluge of cream.

I rest my case.


No animals were harmed during the baking and consumption of the cake and I was supervised by a responsible adult at all times.


* For those who don’t get the reference follow this link:
Alice Cooper And Vincent Price - The Black Widow

Sunday 20 March 2011

Sunshine on a Rainy Day (The Fradley 10K)

It was a dark and stormy morning….

Well actually, not dark and not stormy, but it was raining.

Anyway, it was not looking like a good start to the day.

Luckily the BBC were wrong about the strength of the rain, or perhaps the fact that our forecast is actually taken from about 15 miles away accounted for this because the rain was quite light.

It had been raining on a couple of our training runs but we had avoided rain for an actual race event. My optimistic side was telling me it would clear up but my eyes were still seeing rain drops falling from the heavens.


Getting There


Fradley is about 10 miles from here so no need to rush things. The race was starting at 10:30 so a quick stop to pick up Julie (and son) and then we were all parked up by about 10am.

The car parking facilities at Fradley really are well organised. They use a field close to the start and there are plenty of event staff to guide you round. Due to rain the entrance to the field was a bit muddy causing cars to slip and slide but for the most part it worked well despite the wet conditions.

Our father had arrived around the same time and parked close by so we were all set.

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Support Team


We’re pretty lucky that for all the runs we’ve done we have had family there to support us. They can not only cheer us along the way but they can also carry clothes and bags etc for us and take action photos. For this run we had our father, my wife and Julie’s son as our Support Team.

The start of the run is pretty informal therefore we able to hand over coats, hats and gloves at the last minute.


The Course


Fradley is one of those runs that does 2 laps of the same route. These types of run can be psychologically hard as you see all the bits you’re going to have to do again! Luckily for us the Fradley route is relatively flat, but still, seeing the 6km sign around the same time as the 1km sign does dampen the spirits a little.


Timing Chips


Nearly all runs these days have timing “chips” (little RFID tags). These little things signal you crossing the start and finish lines and provide a more accurate time (the time does not include the slow shuffle to the start line).

In the past these have been little tags that you attach to your ankle or through your shoe laces, but for this run they were attached to the back of the race number and they didn’t want them back.

Hopefully this new system will be employed elsewhere because it makes the whole process much simpler to work with.


Let the Run Begin


The rain had mercifully stopped.

We had planted ourselves towards the back of the group of runners. There is nothing more demoralising than having loads of people overtaking you at the start of the race.

This is us looking fed up because the start of the race has been delayed for some reason. Luckily there is a woman in front of me saving everyone from a view of my bare legs (not a sight for the weak of heart).

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The run started about 15 minutes late, no idea why, but the hooter sounded at about 10:45 and we were off!
We started the slow shuffle over the start line and as the field cleared we started running.

I had intended to keep Julie company through the race. Both of us had not really done nearly enough training so I was aiming to take it easy, but as always seems to happen on these races I ended up leaving Julie behind. I am sure she did not mind.

The rain held off, the clouds cleared to allow the sun to shine and with no wind to speak of they really were ideal running conditions.

Being a two lap run the inevitable being lapped by the elite runners happened. The lead car with the clock on the roof beeped past us with the eventual winner of the run following not far behind.

But, there were plenty of runners running at my pace so I had plenty of company and pacemakers so despite the lack of training the run went remarkably well.


The Finish


You can see me in this picture in the orange top coming down the final straight. The gentleman in foreground is guiding us through to the finish which is a left turn off the road. My wife and Julie’s son where there just to his right to cheer me through. My father had been further back near that roundabout taking some photos.

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So, over the finish line (and time sensor) and join the queue to pick up the goody bag. This time containing just a small carton of fruit (courtesy of the sponsors Florette) and the medal. A useful bag, nice fruit and it’s always good to get a medal!

So here we are at finish with our medals (and wild hair)!!!

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Final Thoughts


I did this run last year and surprisingly despite the poor training it felt better, although my time was slightly better last year.

I do find two lap runs to be more challenging but the Fradley 10K is a nice run to ease us into the new year of running.

Will I be running this next year? Of course I will!

Will I be doing more training? I really hope so!

Finally a huge thank you to our Support Team and also to the organiser of the run who have once again done a great job.

Saturday 26 February 2011

Under the Covers

I had thought the vinyl album was a thing of the past but this week I saw two musicians being interviewed who were releasing on vinyl.

Unlike some I don’t miss the crackles or the continuous playing. What I miss the most are the album covers.

People had fun with album covers!

You only have to look at The Monty Python Instant Record Collection. This folded out to form a cardboard box made to look like a stack of records.

Then there are Alice Cooper albums. Amongst many interesting covers is the The Schools Out album that not only came with some paper pants but the cover also folded out to look like a school desk.

Schools Out Desk

Another was the Billion Dollar note that came with the Billion Dollar Babies album.

Billion Dollar Babies Cover

And who can forget the floppy disc of New Order's Blue Monday…

New Order Blue Monday Cover

I am sure everyone of a certain age can point to an interesting album cover that just could not work in todays world of CDs, DVDs and downloads.

But times change.

The creativity that went into these strange and interesting covers probably now manifests itself on artist’s websites or their blogs or their twitter pages, think of it as the law of conservation of creativity.

Friday 7 January 2011

This Old House

A long time ago in a village not so far away….

It is a period of growth and regeneration. In a bid for a better life people are moving from the cities to the countryside where new housing developments are springing up all the time. Each house is different, gardens are big and garages house not only a car but also work benches and cupboards, with still enough room to open the car door.

My family are already living in the village. With three children, two dogs and another baby on the way, the search is on for a bigger house.

Enquiries with a local developer yield news of a new yet to be announced housing development. An old house will be demolished and a development of around 40 detached houses will be built on the plot of land belonging to the old house.

Old House From Road

Seizing the opportunity a prime plot is secured and appropriate modifications to plans made. The new house will occupy the same location as the old house. Some of the existing old gardens walls will be retained along with a large walnut tree.

Old House

Soon the past is swept away to make way for the future. This new house is constructed and my family move in the following Christmas. The new baby, my sister, is born in the April and I follow two years later, we are both born in the new family home.


Foundations

I remember throughout my childhood the story of our house being told. The one part that stuck in my mind was the picture of the old house that stood before. For all these years the pictures have remained hidden, locked away in a “safe” place.

Looking through some old slides I came across my first glimpse of the old house and now more than ever I wish we could have moved in there instead. Don’t get me wrong, our family home holds many good memories, but it still saddens me that a house such as that should be demolished.

Saturday 1 January 2011

Banking on the Future

I was in my bank the other day paying a cheque in. I rarely gets cheques so actually being in my bank was quite a novelty.  The woman at the counter took this opportunity to tell me about all their products that would enrich my life. Soon I was battling for my freedom and the easiest way out was for me to agree to go in for a review. You could see the frustration on her face as I explained I could only manage Saturdays and would not be free for several weeks. But, eventually we had a “date”.

Looking back I could have easily refused but but felt agreeing to the meeting could actually be quite entertaining.

One reason I may have been “assaulted” was that I had ticked a box once stating that I did NOT want to receive sales/marketing/product information through any channel, e-mail, phone or post.

Amusingly, they once contacted me by letter explaining that this was the situation and that if I would just “tick here” they could better advise me, for I had surely made a mistake. I think not!

My position with banks these days is: I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them.

This “review” they have booked me in for WILL be a sales presentation. Facts will be presented to me that will show that “buying” their products will benefit me. My doubts will be countered with logical arguments and where I can demonstrate other peoples products being more competitive they will probably be able to do me a “deal”.

I hope I am being cynical and will be proved wrong.

Through personal experience and media coverage (we can trust the media, can’t we?) my opinion of banks is lower than ever. The simple fact is that they are a business, responsible to shareholders, who want to make a profit, a fact I never forget. I always question their motives.

Any financial decisions I make will be made by me using information from more than one source, looking at products from many providers, ignoring information from people/companies giving me advice I haven’t asked for. When I ask for advice it will be independent.

Of course, this assumes that I will not cancel the appointment. Smile