Life and pondering the merits of a NO REFUND CULTURE
Loved stuff: Inspiring people
Jul 15th
Over the course of the last few months I have made a number of new acquaintances, friends and people that I have reconnected with that have really inspired me. Past uni folk, people that I have met up with through Twitter engagement and through work. These people are smart, kind and thoughtful. Great stuff.
Grumped: Car assault
Jun 26th
Got home from work yesterday to discover the following on my car. This vicious bad taste was perpetrated by my nearest and dearest. Terrible behaviour.
Loved stuff: The new karaoke that makes you smile
Jun 6th
If you watched the Eurovision Song Contest last week (like me) you may have enjoyed the excellent flash mob of Europeans (and folk from other countries close[ish] to Europe) dancing away during the interlude before the scoring started. My friend Rhian is fascinated by the flash mob and has pronounced it “The new karaoke”. Flash mobs certainly aren’t that new but added to a sing along they give a karaoke a big lift.
There really is something mesmerising about watching a flash mob get going. Loads of people all moving in unison, it is amazing. There must be some genetic reason that our eyes get glued to this (matching armies make you fixate in the same way). Anyway, here is a selection of flash mob antics from YouTube – ENJOY…
EUROVISION 2010 – takes a while to get going but stick with it (the heavy handed bouncers at the start are classic!) PS London flash mob contribution rubbish in this video – ho hum it just matches the TERRIBLE last place performance of the UK this year!:
BEYONCE SINGLE LADIES (100 OF THEM!) – sound not great but brilliant dancing:
A MEGA-MIX FROM BONDI BEACH – camp as hell amazingness:
OPRAH AND THE BLACK-EYED PEAS:
Crumptales: What the Dickins
May 12th
I met a friend Holly for lunch today, lovely food, great company and a good catch-up. Holly had been at the National Portrait Gallery and gave me a lovely postcard with a picture of Charles Dickens on the front (see below). I thought nothing more of it and returned to the office for a fun filled afternoon.
On my way home and not 10 metres from my office door a suddenly say this sign in my peripheral vision…
How weird is that – I’ve walked passed that sign hundreds of times and never noticed it. Then today my little overloaded brain which filters out so much information suddenly locked into seeing the words ‘Charles Dickens’ – crazy stuff.
Modern living: Your Tory name
May 2nd
We have an election here in the UK next week. I’ve already cast my vote both in the local and national election (with a postal vote). I didn’t vote Tory (aka Conservatives, a right-wing party for the non-UK readers) but this game came up at a dinner party…
Your Tory name is made up of the following:
- Your grandfather’s first name
- The name of a street you have lived on
- The surname of your school headmaster or headmistress
The fun thing is that based on these rules there is a bit of flexibility (two grandfathers, more than one street and at least two head of school surnames), so you get to play a bit…
My Tory name is Frank Langley-Weaver, although I prefer Alec Trinity-Wilkinson.
Great people of Britain make sure you cast your vote.
Crumptales: Cutting through with a powerful message?
Apr 24th
Is it just me or do other people get excited when a parcel comes through the post?
I regularly have parcels of online purchased goodies arrive at our work home in Bayham Street, Camden, and like a small child on their birthday I get almost as excited about other people’s cardboard wrapped surprises as ones addressed to me.
So imagine my delight a few weeks ago when a package arrived with my name on it, the anticipation was heightened because the only thing I was expecting to arrive was a cool lap top sleeve from Tropical Howie. Now this was going to be a bigger parcel and would be identifiable with Australian post marks. This magic parcel was from the UK, it was small, it was book-sized and was in that wrap around cardboard that books can be sent in.
I ripped open the parcel with gusto to discover that, joy of joys, it was indeed a book – wow someone had sent me a free paperback with a red and blue cover. However on reading the title ‘Everything you ever wanted to know about direct mail: complete and unabridged’, I felt suddenly crestfallen. This topic (which I have studied!) doesn’t really float my boat but hey it was a free book and for a micro-second I resigned myself to the fact that I would HAVE to read it, I mean someone had been kind enough to send it to me after all.
So feeling rather daunted by this tome of foreboding, I gulp and opened the look to see how small the font was (ergo how long it was going to take to read), but to my surprise the pages where cut out in the centre to create a hollow so I could directly read the inside back cover. It read: ‘We’ve cut out the hardwork for you – visit www.mmc.co.uk today’. ‘Phew’, was my gut reaction, triple heaps of joy: ‘I don’t have to read this boring book after all’.
Having gone through this five second rollercoaster of emotions I turned my attention to the accompanying letter that was inviting me to an all-day seminar on direct marketing. In an instant I made a firm decision that I wouldn’t be going to the seminar – my adrenal gland just couldn’t cope. Thankfully no-one emailed or called to follow-up on the mailing.
More sensible analysis continues on my business blog.
Loved stuff: Snap happy
Apr 18th
It is my birthday in two days (37 years wise) and my friends and family all clubbed together to get me a digital SLR. We just got back from the photography shop. I’ve unwrapped it and started to work through the manual – much fun and really looking forward to developing a new hobby.
I want to go on a short photography course – I thinking about 10 weeks of a once weekly evening class (with maybe a few hours of homework), just to taken through and understand the basics. I’ve Googled and found some options but there are so many to choose from: any recommendations on a London based course would be brilliant.
So a MASSIVE thank you to Mum and Dad, Charlotte, Brendon and Ruebs, Hena, Claire, Dave and Allwyn, Nadia, Rhian and Will, Christine, Ally and Izzie, Elaine, Chris, May, Charlie and Sonny, Ian, Natasha, Jessica, Grace, Alice and Olly.
You’ve all made me snap happy.
Modern living: Love of on and off line words back in a heavy puff of smoke
Apr 13th
After more than three months of not blogging (which did include four weeks of holiday) I am back tending my weblog.
So why the absence?
Well I had to make a conscious decision over the Christmas holiday to take enforced leave from social media engagement (especially about getting my pants in too tight a virtual bunch about the state of a restaurant’s loo). It was all getting a bit too all-consuming (I was spending up to four hours a day on it) and what with home and work it all got overwhelming. So I decided to take a break.
As I forced my brain to avoid laptop-based words I rediscovered reading fiction – you know, the old type, in books (including the Stieg Larsson ‘Millennium Trilogy’ which is very addictive). So by fitting in book reading my lack of free time was even further exacerbated by access to less waking hours in my day…
Since the start of the year I’ve become sleepier than I have ever been before. I just cannot wake up in the morning and this isn’t vintage Crump behaviour… for at least the last decade I have been someone who wakes up before the alarm clock, between 5 and 6 am, seven days a week. Now I can sleep until midday and am really struggling to get out of bed every morning. So why the change?
My friends it’s all down to (lack of) nicotine. Yes, I am delighted to report is that I have managed to stop smoking (since the second week in January). After 18 years of smoking I’ve stopped and it really is brilliant. I feel so much better (despite having gained 5 kgs – the appetite is back!). I used to (embarrassingly) smoke between three to five fags (plus a couple of glasses of diet coke) for breakfast. So the fact is that my body isn’t craving nicotine (oh and awaiting a jolt of caffeine) and forcing it to wake up to get its fix.
So lack of nicotine stimulation means that I get up to three more hours sleep a night (a morning!) creating a big squeeze on my time to surf, blog, keep on top of my google reader and generally engage.
But guess what, I’ve missed my tapping away on my laptop, my google reader, and my tweetdeck. I need to formalise a plan for managing it all but its back on my ‘to do’ list.
So the things I’ve learnt in the last three months:
- Being smoke free is genuinely liberating
- A few extra kgs (with a plan for removal with a bout of cycling) is not all that bad
- Getting more sleep is ace (and I hate the alarm clock with a passion)
- Reading words which aren’t backlit (on paper) is fab
- You need to plan to do stuff that you enjoy (i.e. wittering away right here)
:+) x
Grumped: Restaurants with filthy loos (Browns, Islington)
Dec 22nd
(SEE UPDATE FROM 28 DECEMBER BELOW) On Sunday night we meet up with friends on Upper Street in Islington. We hadn’t booked a restaurant and as we drove across town (running half an hour late) we decided to go to Browns Restaurant (everyone knew where it was).
Had a fun time catching up in the pleasant surroundings that is a Browns restaurant (dark wood, cream walls, potted palms, waiting staff in crisp white shirts and ties, decent food and wine – the standard Browns experience). There was however a problem. Here is the email that I sent yesterday morning to Browns Restaurant via there customer feedback form on their website…
Last night I went for a meal with friends in your Islington restaurant. The food and service was great but there is a massive problem. The toilets are disgusting. They were filthy dirty – urine all over the floor and I have NEVER been in a loo that smelt so bad. I had a headache from the smell. This is the worst toilet that I have ever been in. Unbelievable even for a public loo or a grungy pub but this is meant to be part of a restaurant (and from a brand that I really like). What is going on? Apparently the ladies loos were nearly as bad. This has really put me off your brand. It you will let that pass then I have dire concerns about what is going on back stage [in the kitchen]. Please let me know your thoughts on this. I will be writing about this on my blog and would be interested to include your response.”
I got a auto response email that said that I would get a response in a maximum of seven days. Not good enough for me so I called their head office (they are part of a bigger group). I spoke to a nice lady on the switchboard who passed on my message to the right department. I then spoke to and got an email from Margaret…
Dear Mr Crump Thank you for taking the time to write. Please accept my sincere apologies for the disappointing visit you had at our Browns in Islington. I have forwarded your complaint on to the General Manager who will investigate your complaint and contact you direct. Kind regards.
UPDATE / 28 DECEMBER: The General Manager sent me an email saying the situation is rectified and thanking me for pointing out the problem (which he agreed shouldn’t have been prompted by a customer). He has also tried on numerous occasions to get hold of me on my mobile and I keep on missing the call.
However in the meantime my thoughts on this are:
- Filthy toilets in a restaurant are totally unacceptable
- The loo in Browns Restaurant in Islington wasn’t simply a case of it wasn’t cleaned or checked on that day – the loo was so stinky that this wasn’t a “the cleaner was off today” situation this was total neglect and in my view shows that they don’t care about their customers
- When I mentioned the state of the loos to the waitress you could tell by the look in her eye that I wasn’t the first person to complain (plus the poor staff probably had to use them as well so they know how bad they are)
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