Yesterday I drove an hour into deepest Surrey to collect a piece of gardening equipment: a leaf blower. I live in a leafy area (mature copper beech and chestnut in neighbouring gardens) and having experienced total lack of success with a cheapo Chinese made electric leaf blower bought from Homebase, decided to go for an expensive but highly rated petrol driven Stihl job. Having done some price comparisons, I discovered a huge variation, from around £200 to the RRP of £295. Furthermore, Stihl kit can't be purchased and delivered on line -- it's necessary to go to the supplier to collect it.
Fortunately, my next door neighbour had already done some keen price comparison shopping, and recommended a firm called Hire Services (Southern) Ltd, in Woking, an hour's drive away:
http://www.hsstoolshop.co.uk/
I ordered one by phone, agreed a date on which I would pick it up, and yesterday, thanks to the sat nav, eventually arrived at their premises on a trading estate.
Their premises are nothing much to look at, being a warehouse with absolutely no pretensions to retail glamour. It is, however, a cornucopia of boys' toys.
Anyway, I was dealt with by a middle aged staff member, who, being nearer my own age, immediately made me feel more comfortable, although from observation, the younger staff members had a good way of dealing with customers both face to face and over the phone. He took my details and quickly produced the leaf blower and proceeded to show me how to start and operate it. (Stihl produce some distinctly lethal equipment, so such briefing can be important.)
As I had another hours' drive back home, I asked if I could use a loo. And this was the big surprise. They were impeccable. They were utilitarian -- no fancy tile work and plumbing -- and must have been thoroughly cleaned earlier that morning. They were spotless, smelt clean and fresh, and soap and paper towels were provided. They were the very acme of workplace loos.
Now why was I surprised? Well, one of the least agreeable experiences of visiting many such workplaces is the state of the wcs. It is all too obvious that sanitary provision is not a high priority in many organizations and that the routine cleaning and servicing of such facilities are equally low priority. (The wc at the outfit I use to service my computer is such an example.) Yet, unless there are loos especially provided for customers, it is the staff who are the main users of these facilities. What does the state of the loos reveal about management's attitudes towards staff?
On my return journey I pondered on the relationship between the excellent, unpretentious service of Hire Services staff and the fact that management has provided decent loo facilities. If the internal customer is well treated, they in turn are likely to treat the external customer well, too. I guess that the provision of sanitation is low down in Maslow's hierarchy, but will undoubtedly be one of Hertzberg's 'satisfiers', the state of which will affect motivation, even if only in subtle ways. Besides, poor sanitation isn't just a hygiene factor (literally), but is also likely to reflect more generally management's attitudes towards staff.
So, maybe there should be a loo index as part of organizational evaluation.
I also had another thought as I drove home: what a pity that I wasn't able to buy a British made leaf blower of comparable quality and price to the German product now sitting in the boot of my Japanese made car.
Thursday 18 October 2012
Tuesday 14 August 2012
ATMs
Although we now live in an almost cashless era, cash still remains necessary for lots of everyday purchases, which in turn means a visit to the ATM. There are doubtless norms which are applied to the siting of these machines to make them accessible to persons of challenged height, to those in wheelchairs, and so on. What these norms don't seem to have been based on is the needs of people of average height (which means me) who find it difficult to read an ATM screen onto which the full strength (or even the partial strength) of the sun is shining.
Recently, I was in nearby Sonning Common where there is, unusually, a branch of NatWest (our bank) and as I needed some cash, I looked for the ATM. It turned out to be round the corner of the building and in full sunlight. This meant that the information on the screen was all but invisible so navigating the menus was largely a matter of hoping that experience would prove a guide to successful use. As I went through the routine, I wished that I could have forced the idiot who had located it there to spend an hour or so shackled to the machine in full summer sunlight, being forced to take out exactly£1,000 in a variety of amounts not exceeding £12.45 at a time.
Then this morning I fronted up to the ATM at our local NatWest branch. In fact, there are two ATMs, one inside, and easy to use, and one in the entrance lobby, facing the square. As there were people waiting to use the inside one, I unwisely opted to use the one in the lobby. Bad decision. The ambient light meant that the screen was very difficult to read, exacerbated by the need to bend down to try to improve the angle of visibility.
I am now left wondering whether the UK is unique in having such badly sited ATMs. Last year, in Vietnam, I was delighted to find that virtually all ATMs are housed in booths like phone boxes, and whatever the ATMs are match the requirements of users of average height. Admittedly, this must make life difficult for very short people and those who are wheel chair bound, but it did demonstrate a degree of customer concern which was unexpected -- and which I wish banks in the UK would emulate.
Recently, I was in nearby Sonning Common where there is, unusually, a branch of NatWest (our bank) and as I needed some cash, I looked for the ATM. It turned out to be round the corner of the building and in full sunlight. This meant that the information on the screen was all but invisible so navigating the menus was largely a matter of hoping that experience would prove a guide to successful use. As I went through the routine, I wished that I could have forced the idiot who had located it there to spend an hour or so shackled to the machine in full summer sunlight, being forced to take out exactly£1,000 in a variety of amounts not exceeding £12.45 at a time.
Then this morning I fronted up to the ATM at our local NatWest branch. In fact, there are two ATMs, one inside, and easy to use, and one in the entrance lobby, facing the square. As there were people waiting to use the inside one, I unwisely opted to use the one in the lobby. Bad decision. The ambient light meant that the screen was very difficult to read, exacerbated by the need to bend down to try to improve the angle of visibility.
I am now left wondering whether the UK is unique in having such badly sited ATMs. Last year, in Vietnam, I was delighted to find that virtually all ATMs are housed in booths like phone boxes, and whatever the ATMs are match the requirements of users of average height. Admittedly, this must make life difficult for very short people and those who are wheel chair bound, but it did demonstrate a degree of customer concern which was unexpected -- and which I wish banks in the UK would emulate.
Wednesday 8 August 2012
Expediency v. principle
Have just attended part of a public inquiry into the stopping up of a section of old highway in Henley-on-Thames where I live: local democracy at work. The section of highway was originally part of the road above the flood line, running through the very centre of Henley in parallel with the Thames, and its origins have been traced back to Roman times. Some time ago, a change in the route of the highway meant that this section of Bell Street ceased to be part of the main road, which had been relocated to a roughly parallel highway now called Northfield End.
This is an old part of town, with many buildings dating back to the C16 or C17, and there are a number of substantial houses of C18th origins or style. There is a small triangular green with some trees in front of a row of what appears to be a C18 terrace of half a dozen houses. Last century, a Mr Gunn ran a business from Bell Lane, which runs from Bell Street, and he gradually made use of parking along this section Bell Street. He even nibbled away at part of the green to increase the parking area. Eventually, a few years ago, he sold the parking and the green to a developer who had acquired the terraced houses with a view to renovating them and selling them on.
The developer's solicitor obtained verification of title from the District Council, and then sold a couple of parking spaces. It then transpired that Oxford Council had, in fact, and unbeknown to the District Council, initiated an investigation into the actual title ownership of the land concerned, since as far as the DC was aware, this part of Bell Street was still highway.
This is where things started to get sticky, augmented by the Henley Town Council's (HTC)decision to get involved and to oppose formal stopping up of the highway, as this would effectively confirm private ownership of a public space. Within the HTC the issue has become divided along party lines, with the independent Henley Residents Group (HRG), who control the Council, being against the stopping up, the Conservatives being for.
Over the past eight months or so, residents have been invited to make submissions either in support or against the stopping up and eventually the Dept of Transport has set up a public inquiry. For this afternoon only, the inquiry has been held in Henley instead of Wallingford, some 9 or 10 miles away and about forty people turned up.
The main parties are the HTC (represented by three HRG councillors), the applicant for stopping up the highway (the developer), and the chairman, appointed by the Dept of Transport. Plus interested citizens, among whom were Conservative members of HTC.
Those in favour seemed to be better organized and, like the devil, to have all the best tunes. However, three HRG members (one a councillor and former mayor) spoke to some purposes, pointing out the principle involved, namely the virtual handing over to private ownership of a public good. Also, although the piece of land concerned is small, it is one of the many small things which contribute to Henley's character, so it is important not to alienate ownership and thereby threaten the integrity of the townscape. Furthermore, as was also explained, it is historically significant, so alienating it threatens Henley's historical integrity. The one HRG councillor, who is also a district councillor, pointed out that the threatened cost to the public purse of litigation by the developer should the stopping up be prohibited was a largely meaningless threat, since the council had public liability insurance which would cover the cost and she deplored the way in which public property was in danger of being handed over to private ownership, setting a dangerous precedent.
Interestingly, there were opposing views regarding both the effects on safety of stopping and not stopping up. The most useful and sensible contribution to this part of the discussion came from one of the residents, whose voices don't seem to have been much heard among the bodies given responsibility for making decisions about changing both the status and characteristics of the section of road concerned. At least these people had a chance to put their case.
Those who are against the stopping up seemed to resort to utilitarian arguments, while those who support the stopping up seemed to be more motivated by principled ones, although members of both sides were prepared to put forward arguments which I am pretty certain were specious or irrelevant.
The inquiry continues tomorrow, and then the chairman will have to apply the wisdom of Solomon to making a decision. It is unlikely that he will be able to satisfy all stakeholders, and I suspect that ultimately, expediency will trump principle.
This is an old part of town, with many buildings dating back to the C16 or C17, and there are a number of substantial houses of C18th origins or style. There is a small triangular green with some trees in front of a row of what appears to be a C18 terrace of half a dozen houses. Last century, a Mr Gunn ran a business from Bell Lane, which runs from Bell Street, and he gradually made use of parking along this section Bell Street. He even nibbled away at part of the green to increase the parking area. Eventually, a few years ago, he sold the parking and the green to a developer who had acquired the terraced houses with a view to renovating them and selling them on.
The developer's solicitor obtained verification of title from the District Council, and then sold a couple of parking spaces. It then transpired that Oxford Council had, in fact, and unbeknown to the District Council, initiated an investigation into the actual title ownership of the land concerned, since as far as the DC was aware, this part of Bell Street was still highway.
This is where things started to get sticky, augmented by the Henley Town Council's (HTC)decision to get involved and to oppose formal stopping up of the highway, as this would effectively confirm private ownership of a public space. Within the HTC the issue has become divided along party lines, with the independent Henley Residents Group (HRG), who control the Council, being against the stopping up, the Conservatives being for.
Over the past eight months or so, residents have been invited to make submissions either in support or against the stopping up and eventually the Dept of Transport has set up a public inquiry. For this afternoon only, the inquiry has been held in Henley instead of Wallingford, some 9 or 10 miles away and about forty people turned up.
The main parties are the HTC (represented by three HRG councillors), the applicant for stopping up the highway (the developer), and the chairman, appointed by the Dept of Transport. Plus interested citizens, among whom were Conservative members of HTC.
Those in favour seemed to be better organized and, like the devil, to have all the best tunes. However, three HRG members (one a councillor and former mayor) spoke to some purposes, pointing out the principle involved, namely the virtual handing over to private ownership of a public good. Also, although the piece of land concerned is small, it is one of the many small things which contribute to Henley's character, so it is important not to alienate ownership and thereby threaten the integrity of the townscape. Furthermore, as was also explained, it is historically significant, so alienating it threatens Henley's historical integrity. The one HRG councillor, who is also a district councillor, pointed out that the threatened cost to the public purse of litigation by the developer should the stopping up be prohibited was a largely meaningless threat, since the council had public liability insurance which would cover the cost and she deplored the way in which public property was in danger of being handed over to private ownership, setting a dangerous precedent.
Interestingly, there were opposing views regarding both the effects on safety of stopping and not stopping up. The most useful and sensible contribution to this part of the discussion came from one of the residents, whose voices don't seem to have been much heard among the bodies given responsibility for making decisions about changing both the status and characteristics of the section of road concerned. At least these people had a chance to put their case.
Those who are against the stopping up seemed to resort to utilitarian arguments, while those who support the stopping up seemed to be more motivated by principled ones, although members of both sides were prepared to put forward arguments which I am pretty certain were specious or irrelevant.
The inquiry continues tomorrow, and then the chairman will have to apply the wisdom of Solomon to making a decision. It is unlikely that he will be able to satisfy all stakeholders, and I suspect that ultimately, expediency will trump principle.
Sunday 5 August 2012
Olympic thoughts
Thanks goodness: it looks like being a great success, as it should, given the huge cost, over £9 billion. There is something thrilling about seeing highly skilled and trained people performing at the very edge of what is possible in their discipline. Much is made of the gold medal winners, but even the also rans are among the world's best, and their levels of performance are beyond what most people could achieve.
Much has been made of Team GB's performance, and it certainly is gratifying (and exciting!) to see them doing so well. Yesterday's winners were a fine array of multi ethnic UK, with a red headed young man from Milton Keynes, a beautiful mixed race woman from Sheffield, and a lithe dark skinned 10k metres runner from Somalia. All are British and to judge from the twiterati, are a poke in the eye for the late and unlamented Enoch Powell's 'rivers of blood' predictions.
The effect of Team GB's successes also highlights the effect of sporting success on national identity and cohesion, not just in order to demonstrate superiority and might (as appears to be the Chinese approach), but to help a diverse nation, such as GB and the USA, to establish an internal shared and transcendent identity.
Let's hope that the good feeling/good will wave that is being generated will contribute to a legacy of harmony and an enriched sense of 'Britishness', as well as to one that replaces the media focus on trivial talent with one that gives more attention to excellence achieved through a combination of dedication and hard graft. Who knows, it just might also lead to a legacy of active sports participation across a wider section of Britain's increasingly obese population.
Meanwhile, I would welcome a bit of linguistic development: the poverty of the vocabulary employed to describe Olympic performances is truly depressing. Aside from the over use of 'deliver', there is the repeated and almost exclusive use of 'amazing' and 'incredible'. Whatever happened to such adjectives as exceptional, astonishing, magnificent, wonderful, splendid, superb, breathtaking, outstanding, superlative, unrivalled, momentous, etc., etc?
Much has been made of Team GB's performance, and it certainly is gratifying (and exciting!) to see them doing so well. Yesterday's winners were a fine array of multi ethnic UK, with a red headed young man from Milton Keynes, a beautiful mixed race woman from Sheffield, and a lithe dark skinned 10k metres runner from Somalia. All are British and to judge from the twiterati, are a poke in the eye for the late and unlamented Enoch Powell's 'rivers of blood' predictions.
The effect of Team GB's successes also highlights the effect of sporting success on national identity and cohesion, not just in order to demonstrate superiority and might (as appears to be the Chinese approach), but to help a diverse nation, such as GB and the USA, to establish an internal shared and transcendent identity.
Let's hope that the good feeling/good will wave that is being generated will contribute to a legacy of harmony and an enriched sense of 'Britishness', as well as to one that replaces the media focus on trivial talent with one that gives more attention to excellence achieved through a combination of dedication and hard graft. Who knows, it just might also lead to a legacy of active sports participation across a wider section of Britain's increasingly obese population.
Meanwhile, I would welcome a bit of linguistic development: the poverty of the vocabulary employed to describe Olympic performances is truly depressing. Aside from the over use of 'deliver', there is the repeated and almost exclusive use of 'amazing' and 'incredible'. Whatever happened to such adjectives as exceptional, astonishing, magnificent, wonderful, splendid, superb, breathtaking, outstanding, superlative, unrivalled, momentous, etc., etc?
Saturday 4 August 2012
Getting Blogged
Maybe I've too much time on my hands. Maybe I'm turning into a pathetic elderly geek. Whatever, I've started a food blog (OAP Food Blog). The reasons are explained in the first post. It will be interesting to see whether it leads to anything. For one thing. there must be lots of OAP bloggers who are also concerned with/interested in food and who, like us, are trying to make the most of modest means.
Meanwhile, I've found that I've become sort of umbilically attached to my i-Pad, which I have now owned for nearly a year. Breakfast is accompanied by a Twitter review as well as a review of the opinion columns of the Guardian and the Independent and the FT, while also listening to the R4 Today programme. Who says we oldsters can't multi-task!
I also check my e-mails. This isn't always a good idea, as some messages lead to a rise in blood pressure! (I'm secretary of a local association so receive 'business' messages, and when I'm doing on line teaching, there are often messages from students.)
Probably reviewing Twitter is the best way into the day. I follow several really witty ones, e.g. the BorowitzReport, some insightful ones, e.g. chakrabortty, j-freedland, and ones that combine both, e.g. TimHard. It's also good the way one tweet will lead to another and to articles and sources posted elsewhere.
But, I still feel more elderly than geek!
Meanwhile, I've found that I've become sort of umbilically attached to my i-Pad, which I have now owned for nearly a year. Breakfast is accompanied by a Twitter review as well as a review of the opinion columns of the Guardian and the Independent and the FT, while also listening to the R4 Today programme. Who says we oldsters can't multi-task!
I also check my e-mails. This isn't always a good idea, as some messages lead to a rise in blood pressure! (I'm secretary of a local association so receive 'business' messages, and when I'm doing on line teaching, there are often messages from students.)
Probably reviewing Twitter is the best way into the day. I follow several really witty ones, e.g. the BorowitzReport, some insightful ones, e.g. chakrabortty, j-freedland, and ones that combine both, e.g. TimHard. It's also good the way one tweet will lead to another and to articles and sources posted elsewhere.
But, I still feel more elderly than geek!
Tuesday 1 May 2012
Squirreling Away
Since we moved to this house around ten years ago, we've been visited by a succession of squirrels which seem to have made their home in the neighbour's huge copper beech tree. Over the years, their number has fluctuated, but thanks to two harsh winters and the efforts of our neighbour to rid us of their presence, the number has reduced to one -- although today a newcomer was also to be seen.
Squirrels are cute, although the grey variety, which is all that we have in most of the UK, is an assertive animal which has succeeded in driving the native red squirrel to a few isolated enclaves. The assertiveness of the grey squirrel is well demonstrated in our visitor's attempts to get at the fat balls which are suspended in a small cage from our prunus tree, for the benefit of the bird life.
All birds and wild animals such as squirrels desire fat to keep them alive during the winter, and in the period February to May, when other sources of food tend to be in short supply, before the advent of summer and plentiful fodder, they home in any fat source. We're keen to encourage bird life, and a combination of sunflower seeds in one hopper and fat balls in another has proved extremely popular to nesting birds raising their next generation. We have resident robins, various finches,nuthatches, tits and even a splendid spotted wood pecker regularly stops by to snack on the fat balls.
The grey squirrel is an adept and skilled gymnast, and has found ways of reaching the fat balls, even though they're suspended in such a way as to discourage visits from squirrels. At around breakfast and lunch times, the squirrel has often been seen hanging from the hopper while helping itself to copious quantities of fat -- or dropping pieces which subsequently can be picked up from the ground at leisure.
My first attempt to squirrel proof the hopper involved covering part of the branch from which it is suspended, together with the wire leading to the hopper, with cuttings from a prickly shrub. Ironically, I managed to prick myself when installing this deterrent, which seemed to have virtually no effect on the squirrel who (it has become almost human in his antics), after being initially put off, soon braved the thorns and raided the fat balls.
This called for some new thinking. I decided to cut up some large plastic tonic bottles, installing them so as to cover the suspending wire, with the top one having the bottle top end upwards and the bottom one the reverse, thus providing smooth sloping surfaces which would be hard to grasp even by a dexterous squirrel. Initially, this worked, until the squirrel worked out that he could leap from another branch straight on to the fat ball hopper.
So, some re-siting of the the hopper was carried out, and the plastic bottle obstacle was lengthened and sprayed with oil. In addition, a length of plastic pipe was added to cover the wire below the bottles. But in the process the hopper was lowered, and earlier today we observed the squirrel leaping successfully from the ground onto the hopper. The solution to this means of access was easy: the hopper was raised to a height beyond jumping distance.
And it worked. So we have had the pleasure of watching the squirrel unsuccessfully attempting to jump up to the hopper, which is now out of reach. But, I'm not breaking open the champagne just yet because what this saga has demonstrated is that this squirrel (and no doubt the species as a whole) has some surprisingly successful cognitive strategies at its disposal so that 'squirrelling away' in our household refers not to storage strategies, but to the persistence and skill which the squirrel exhibits in trying successfully to achieve its goal.
Sunday 8 April 2012
My painful friend
Just before Christmas, I slipped on some invisible ice and landed resoundingly on my left buttock, twisting my ankle as I fell. Initially, my concern was with my ankle, which, after a couple of weeks and daily applications of Ibuprofen gel returned to normal. At about the same time, I started to feel an ache in my left hip area, which over the weeks spread the full length of my left leg, in the process becoming very painful indeed.
So, I went to the doctor (by now about six weeks had elapsed since my fall) and she did some tests to establish that nothing had been broken in my leg or ankle. She suggested that I should see a physiotherapist, but as there was a 4 month waiting time, I'd be best to think about going private, which I duly did.
The physio did a much more thorough examination and prescribed some exercises. After a week doing these assiduously, there was no improvement so I returned. She did some more manipulation, during which it became clear that the site of pain was in my lower back. Throughout, the physio kept using the term 'referred pain', which means that the pain is displaced from the actual site of any injury. In this case, the sciatic nerve had been trapped somewhere as a result of the fall and the pain was referred throughout the length of the nerve down my left leg.
What I had become friends with was sciatica.
Continuing exercises -- including one with a tennis ball, obtained from a toy shop which, it turns out, supplies other invalids for the same purpose -- had no effect. So, I returned to the doctor. Not much joy.
My painful friend was now inhibiting any attempts at walking other than around the house. Curiously, though, I could cycle, which I continued to do on a daily basis. While cycling, my friend was just a background presence, but within yards of dismounting, sciatica returned with a vengeance as if reminding me that I should't have been fooled into thinking that my nagging companion had gone away.
By now I was getting more than a little fed up. So I went to a chiropractor. She carried out manipulation, confirming the main site of the pain, and plugged me into a machine which was to stimulate blood flow around the site. In addition, she prescribed the use of an ice pack to help reduce inflammation. And she suggested continuing some exercises and asking the doctor to prescribe an anti-inflammatory as well.
So, now into the third month since the fall, I was on a daily routine of pain killer (paracetamol, and at night a blend of this with codeine) and an anti-inflammatory (diclofenac). My twice weekly sessions with the chiropractor weren't having any noticeable effect, and, in fact, for the last session I was in considerable pain. At this point, the chiropractor more or less threw in towel and suggested that any further treatment be suspended until I had had a scan. (A private scan could be arranged for £200, which would also involve a trip to London -- not very practicable given my limited motility.)
By now I had asked my doctor to refer me to a specialist and, surprisingly, within a few days I had a call from the Nuffield hospital in Oxford to go there for an assessment,this being essentially a triage procedure to decide whether my case was serious enough to warrant a scan. (I had already had an X-ray, which simply revealed age related wear and tear.)
Getting to and from the hospital was in itself a bit of a problem, since I was still not able to walk very far. However, I drove to a park and ride car park nearer to Kidlington than Oxford and took a shuttle bus which plies a route from the car park to the Oxford hospitals, terminating at the one I was to attend. The bus journey took the best part of half an hour, during which I discovered that Oxford is not just the city of dreaming spires, but is also Hospital City.
At the hospital, a physiotherapist examined me and took a case history. The outcome of this is that I now have an appointment at the more convenient Royal Berks Hospital for a scan later this month -- four months to the day from my initial accident. She also suggested that I ask the doctor to prescribe a neuropathic drug to help sleep, and this was duly done so I have an addition to my drug routine.
Meanwhile, I saw the haematologist on 2nd April for my routine 6 month check up for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL), and he confirmed that I am still in remission (I had six months' chemotherapy a couple of years ago), but he was slightly concerned about one test result which suggested the liver was unhappy -- probably the result of the' cocktail of pain killers' I was on.
Great!
My son, on learning this, suggested milk thistle as a treatment for the liver. So I've added this to my daily intake.
Fortunately, the sciatic pain is abating, and yesterday I managed to walk in and out of town. This is no big deal, as the entire journey would be about half a mile, but it represents progress. However, my painful friend is still present and seems determined to ignore all hints that it's time to pack up and leave. I am confronted with a dilemma though over the scan: if my condition does improve radically, i don't think that a scan is justified. I'll have to ask the doctor for her advice on this.
This whole exercise has provided an insight into the limitations of the NHS. Whereas my diagnosis and treatment for CLL has been excellent, dealing with my present problem has shown that even before the various cuts and reorganisations that are to take place in the NHS, resources are restricted when it comes to dealing speedily with something like sciatica resulting from physical trauma. Going private is expensive and, indeed, prohibitive for anything involving either major or prolonged treatment. I have an awful feeling that the Coallition's NHS 'reform' will not, in fact, improve things and all of us are going to be haunted by painful friends that we can't afford to dislodge.
So, I went to the doctor (by now about six weeks had elapsed since my fall) and she did some tests to establish that nothing had been broken in my leg or ankle. She suggested that I should see a physiotherapist, but as there was a 4 month waiting time, I'd be best to think about going private, which I duly did.
The physio did a much more thorough examination and prescribed some exercises. After a week doing these assiduously, there was no improvement so I returned. She did some more manipulation, during which it became clear that the site of pain was in my lower back. Throughout, the physio kept using the term 'referred pain', which means that the pain is displaced from the actual site of any injury. In this case, the sciatic nerve had been trapped somewhere as a result of the fall and the pain was referred throughout the length of the nerve down my left leg.
What I had become friends with was sciatica.
Continuing exercises -- including one with a tennis ball, obtained from a toy shop which, it turns out, supplies other invalids for the same purpose -- had no effect. So, I returned to the doctor. Not much joy.
My painful friend was now inhibiting any attempts at walking other than around the house. Curiously, though, I could cycle, which I continued to do on a daily basis. While cycling, my friend was just a background presence, but within yards of dismounting, sciatica returned with a vengeance as if reminding me that I should't have been fooled into thinking that my nagging companion had gone away.
By now I was getting more than a little fed up. So I went to a chiropractor. She carried out manipulation, confirming the main site of the pain, and plugged me into a machine which was to stimulate blood flow around the site. In addition, she prescribed the use of an ice pack to help reduce inflammation. And she suggested continuing some exercises and asking the doctor to prescribe an anti-inflammatory as well.
So, now into the third month since the fall, I was on a daily routine of pain killer (paracetamol, and at night a blend of this with codeine) and an anti-inflammatory (diclofenac). My twice weekly sessions with the chiropractor weren't having any noticeable effect, and, in fact, for the last session I was in considerable pain. At this point, the chiropractor more or less threw in towel and suggested that any further treatment be suspended until I had had a scan. (A private scan could be arranged for £200, which would also involve a trip to London -- not very practicable given my limited motility.)
By now I had asked my doctor to refer me to a specialist and, surprisingly, within a few days I had a call from the Nuffield hospital in Oxford to go there for an assessment,this being essentially a triage procedure to decide whether my case was serious enough to warrant a scan. (I had already had an X-ray, which simply revealed age related wear and tear.)
Getting to and from the hospital was in itself a bit of a problem, since I was still not able to walk very far. However, I drove to a park and ride car park nearer to Kidlington than Oxford and took a shuttle bus which plies a route from the car park to the Oxford hospitals, terminating at the one I was to attend. The bus journey took the best part of half an hour, during which I discovered that Oxford is not just the city of dreaming spires, but is also Hospital City.
At the hospital, a physiotherapist examined me and took a case history. The outcome of this is that I now have an appointment at the more convenient Royal Berks Hospital for a scan later this month -- four months to the day from my initial accident. She also suggested that I ask the doctor to prescribe a neuropathic drug to help sleep, and this was duly done so I have an addition to my drug routine.
Meanwhile, I saw the haematologist on 2nd April for my routine 6 month check up for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL), and he confirmed that I am still in remission (I had six months' chemotherapy a couple of years ago), but he was slightly concerned about one test result which suggested the liver was unhappy -- probably the result of the' cocktail of pain killers' I was on.
Great!
My son, on learning this, suggested milk thistle as a treatment for the liver. So I've added this to my daily intake.
Fortunately, the sciatic pain is abating, and yesterday I managed to walk in and out of town. This is no big deal, as the entire journey would be about half a mile, but it represents progress. However, my painful friend is still present and seems determined to ignore all hints that it's time to pack up and leave. I am confronted with a dilemma though over the scan: if my condition does improve radically, i don't think that a scan is justified. I'll have to ask the doctor for her advice on this.
This whole exercise has provided an insight into the limitations of the NHS. Whereas my diagnosis and treatment for CLL has been excellent, dealing with my present problem has shown that even before the various cuts and reorganisations that are to take place in the NHS, resources are restricted when it comes to dealing speedily with something like sciatica resulting from physical trauma. Going private is expensive and, indeed, prohibitive for anything involving either major or prolonged treatment. I have an awful feeling that the Coallition's NHS 'reform' will not, in fact, improve things and all of us are going to be haunted by painful friends that we can't afford to dislodge.
Tuesday 6 March 2012
In terms of
As a lapsed applied linguist, I'm well aware of the inexorable processes of linguistic change, and for the most part it is interesting and even amusing to observe change in progress. What is less tolerable, from a personal viewpoint, is the way language is used to bamboozle, fool, and deceive. Nothing new in this, of course, and the uses to which language is put reflects the ideological changes which affect public discourse.
In the 1990s, 'deliver' seemed to cross the boundary from the terminology of project management to the lexicon of mangerialism, and by the end of the 1990s, no politicians could open their mouths without uttering 'deliver' in its various manifestations. There was even a Delivery Unit at the heart of the Blair government at No. 10 Downing Street, for heaven's sake. Now 'deliver' has replaced more precise and more appropriate terms like 'apply' (policies), 'provide' (benefits), 'fulfil' (promises), 'implement' (policies, plans) and so on. Policies, we are told, are 'delivered', even goals are 'delivered' and so are promises (which are, of course, also broken).
The latest blight on the verbal landscape is the phrase: 'in terms of' (ITO). Today, I read on the website of Car magazine, a report which contained the following especially gross example of ITO:
‘It will not only be the most prestigious SUV on sale, but also the fastest in terms of top speed, and the most expensive in terms of price,’ Dr Dürheimer told CAR (referring to the latest bling Bentley for the ultra rich).
Unfortunately, it's too late to ban 'in terms of' (ITO). Yes, I know that like 'less' (when it should be' fewer') and 'deliver' and numerous other examples, banning is a battle that one can only lose. ITO has infected most notably spoken discourse. It's impossible to listen to the radio or TV nowadays without hearing ITO uttered by presenters, interviewers and interviewees. Basically, it marks what I think in past times would have been called the rheme. (I'm probably wrong about the term, but what I'm referring to is the new information to follow the theme, which in the above would be 'it'.) Often, ITO replaces a simple preposition, e.g.
It has a knock on effect in terms of how much you have to pay….
It has a knock on how much you have to pay….
there had to be compromises in terms of quality to meet the target.
there had to be compromises in quality to meet the target.
Only occasionally is ITO used more or less correctly:
Andrew Boodworth of the British Geological Survey reckons that aggregates are still the country's biggest primary industry -- in terms of weight, not value. Economist, February 25th, 2012, p. 31 .
Dr Dürheimer is clearly a very competent speaker of English, even though it presumably is not his native language. Maybe when a non native English speaker can use the latest cliché in a way that would do honour to the boilerplate of any native English speaking corporate spokesperson, it really is time to admit defeat!
In the 1990s, 'deliver' seemed to cross the boundary from the terminology of project management to the lexicon of mangerialism, and by the end of the 1990s, no politicians could open their mouths without uttering 'deliver' in its various manifestations. There was even a Delivery Unit at the heart of the Blair government at No. 10 Downing Street, for heaven's sake. Now 'deliver' has replaced more precise and more appropriate terms like 'apply' (policies), 'provide' (benefits), 'fulfil' (promises), 'implement' (policies, plans) and so on. Policies, we are told, are 'delivered', even goals are 'delivered' and so are promises (which are, of course, also broken).
The latest blight on the verbal landscape is the phrase: 'in terms of' (ITO). Today, I read on the website of Car magazine, a report which contained the following especially gross example of ITO:
‘It will not only be the most prestigious SUV on sale, but also the fastest in terms of top speed, and the most expensive in terms of price,’ Dr Dürheimer told CAR (referring to the latest bling Bentley for the ultra rich).
Unfortunately, it's too late to ban 'in terms of' (ITO). Yes, I know that like 'less' (when it should be' fewer') and 'deliver' and numerous other examples, banning is a battle that one can only lose. ITO has infected most notably spoken discourse. It's impossible to listen to the radio or TV nowadays without hearing ITO uttered by presenters, interviewers and interviewees. Basically, it marks what I think in past times would have been called the rheme. (I'm probably wrong about the term, but what I'm referring to is the new information to follow the theme, which in the above would be 'it'.) Often, ITO replaces a simple preposition, e.g.
It has a knock on effect in terms of how much you have to pay….
It has a knock on how much you have to pay….
there had to be compromises in terms of quality to meet the target.
there had to be compromises in quality to meet the target.
Only occasionally is ITO used more or less correctly:
Andrew Boodworth of the British Geological Survey reckons that aggregates are still the country's biggest primary industry -- in terms of weight, not value. Economist, February 25th, 2012, p. 31 .
Dr Dürheimer is clearly a very competent speaker of English, even though it presumably is not his native language. Maybe when a non native English speaker can use the latest cliché in a way that would do honour to the boilerplate of any native English speaking corporate spokesperson, it really is time to admit defeat!
Sunday 4 March 2012
Going Viral
Context: we live in Henley-on-Thames, a small south Oxfordshire town with a population of about 12,500, 8 miles from Reading, the county town of Berkshire, which has aspirations to achieve city status during the Jubilee Year. South Oxfordshire is Conservative country, with an affluent population, some of whom, living in the Henley hinterland, are seriously and globally rich. The town sports two supermarkets: Waitrose, which is part of the John Lewis Partnership, and Tesco, which, by a substantial margin, controls around 30% of national market share (compared with Waitrose’s 4%).
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/aug/16/supermarkets-market-share-kantar
In Henley, Waitrose is located in the centre of town, so that one of the two adjacent central car parks is known as the ‘Waitrose Car Park’. Tesco, with a much more recent history in the town, is situated on the outskirts, off the Reading Road, and has its own free parking. From our point of view, Waitrose is our local shop, and although Tesco has a reputation for very competitive pricing, there is little sense in driving to a supermarket when we can walk. Besides, if we do drive to Waitrose, the first hour’s parking is refunded – an inducement to help compensate for the competitive advantage that Tesco enjoys by having free parking.
As part of the John Lewis Partnership, Waitrose occupies a unique position because staff are part owners and are known and referred to as ‘partners’. Recently, in much media and political brow beating about the need to rethink nasty capitalism, the John Lewis model has been frequently cited. Basically, thanks to expansion of power-sharing policies by the son of the eponymous founder, partners have a say in the way the business is run, as well being beneficiaries of a bonus sharing scheme which gives them a significant share in the profits.
(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lewis_Partnership)
That the John Lewis model of corporate governance is successful is demonstrated by their leading position in the retail market. Not only are they ‘never knowingly undersold’, they also enjoy an almost hallowed status among their middle class clientele, thanks in no small measure to their emphasis on providing excellent customer service. This means that customers can expect to be given good advice by knowledgeable sales staff, an important consideration when major purchases are involved. Although Waitrose, as a supermarket chain, is not selling high cost/value products, the same values and attitudes extend to their stores and staff who, for instance, are trained not only to point customers in the direction of sought for groceries, but to accompany them to the specific location while engaging them in conversation! (You don't get this sort of treatment at Tesco!)
Yesterday we did a routine Saturday morning shop at Waitrose, and on returning home, my wife noticed on the receipt that there was an invitation to participate in an on-line customer survey as part of the Waitrose-Experience. So, I logged on to see what this was all about. (We were both uneasy about the terminology: it seems that we no longer shop, but have a retail experience.)
To participate, I had to key in a code printed on the receipt. So, there is a gateway to entry to the survey, which only bona fide customers can pass. The survey itself is very similar to anything to be found on SurveyMonkey, with a lot of Likert scale items in which customers are asked to rate range of merchandise, quality of service, and so on. Significantly, in view of the importance attached to the latter, one item asks customers to rate staff on their ‘passion’ and ‘product knowledge’.
The survey is quite long, and at the end customers are asked to share their information about the Waitrose experience with friends via the usual list of social network sites. This is where things became interesting. There is an empty field into which one can enter some text. However, when the button to post this to Facebook is clicked, a separate box appears, containing text to the effect that I ‘have just had a great Waitrose shopping experience and to find out more, click on a link’ which will, presumably, take the reader to my completed survey. Hmm.
At this point I started to feel that I was being manipulated in pursuit of a clever bit of viral marketing dreamt up by the Waitrose marketing department. (Viral marketing is what we used to call Word of Mouth -- WOM – but now the WOM is disseminated via the social media.) And when customers feel that they are being used, their attitude to the manipulator becomes less positive. So, from the customer service management point of view, I feel that my Waitrose Experience experience serves as a warning as far as surveying customers is concerned.
There was, of course, an inducement to complete the survey: entry into a draw to win £500 worth of Waitrose groceries. In relation to the Waitrose operation, this is less than a drop in the ocean. Last year, Waitrose spent £10 million on renewing its web and on-line services,
http://www.cio.co.uk/news/3266928/waitrose-experiences-major-problems-on-new-10m-website/
which shows not only how seriously they take this aspect of retailing, but also how only really big businesses can resource the data management and mining systems which they consider to be vital in meeting and forecasting consumer demands and taste.
Even so, there are dangers in co-opting the customer in the marketing process, and with the growing concern over the ownership and use of personal data,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/02/digital-masters-must-be-watched-google
even the sainted John Lewis Partnership and Waitrose may need to think again.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/aug/16/supermarkets-market-share-kantar
In Henley, Waitrose is located in the centre of town, so that one of the two adjacent central car parks is known as the ‘Waitrose Car Park’. Tesco, with a much more recent history in the town, is situated on the outskirts, off the Reading Road, and has its own free parking. From our point of view, Waitrose is our local shop, and although Tesco has a reputation for very competitive pricing, there is little sense in driving to a supermarket when we can walk. Besides, if we do drive to Waitrose, the first hour’s parking is refunded – an inducement to help compensate for the competitive advantage that Tesco enjoys by having free parking.
As part of the John Lewis Partnership, Waitrose occupies a unique position because staff are part owners and are known and referred to as ‘partners’. Recently, in much media and political brow beating about the need to rethink nasty capitalism, the John Lewis model has been frequently cited. Basically, thanks to expansion of power-sharing policies by the son of the eponymous founder, partners have a say in the way the business is run, as well being beneficiaries of a bonus sharing scheme which gives them a significant share in the profits.
(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lewis_Partnership)
That the John Lewis model of corporate governance is successful is demonstrated by their leading position in the retail market. Not only are they ‘never knowingly undersold’, they also enjoy an almost hallowed status among their middle class clientele, thanks in no small measure to their emphasis on providing excellent customer service. This means that customers can expect to be given good advice by knowledgeable sales staff, an important consideration when major purchases are involved. Although Waitrose, as a supermarket chain, is not selling high cost/value products, the same values and attitudes extend to their stores and staff who, for instance, are trained not only to point customers in the direction of sought for groceries, but to accompany them to the specific location while engaging them in conversation! (You don't get this sort of treatment at Tesco!)
Yesterday we did a routine Saturday morning shop at Waitrose, and on returning home, my wife noticed on the receipt that there was an invitation to participate in an on-line customer survey as part of the Waitrose-Experience. So, I logged on to see what this was all about. (We were both uneasy about the terminology: it seems that we no longer shop, but have a retail experience.)
To participate, I had to key in a code printed on the receipt. So, there is a gateway to entry to the survey, which only bona fide customers can pass. The survey itself is very similar to anything to be found on SurveyMonkey, with a lot of Likert scale items in which customers are asked to rate range of merchandise, quality of service, and so on. Significantly, in view of the importance attached to the latter, one item asks customers to rate staff on their ‘passion’ and ‘product knowledge’.
The survey is quite long, and at the end customers are asked to share their information about the Waitrose experience with friends via the usual list of social network sites. This is where things became interesting. There is an empty field into which one can enter some text. However, when the button to post this to Facebook is clicked, a separate box appears, containing text to the effect that I ‘have just had a great Waitrose shopping experience and to find out more, click on a link’ which will, presumably, take the reader to my completed survey. Hmm.
At this point I started to feel that I was being manipulated in pursuit of a clever bit of viral marketing dreamt up by the Waitrose marketing department. (Viral marketing is what we used to call Word of Mouth -- WOM – but now the WOM is disseminated via the social media.) And when customers feel that they are being used, their attitude to the manipulator becomes less positive. So, from the customer service management point of view, I feel that my Waitrose Experience experience serves as a warning as far as surveying customers is concerned.
There was, of course, an inducement to complete the survey: entry into a draw to win £500 worth of Waitrose groceries. In relation to the Waitrose operation, this is less than a drop in the ocean. Last year, Waitrose spent £10 million on renewing its web and on-line services,
http://www.cio.co.uk/news/3266928/waitrose-experiences-major-problems-on-new-10m-website/
which shows not only how seriously they take this aspect of retailing, but also how only really big businesses can resource the data management and mining systems which they consider to be vital in meeting and forecasting consumer demands and taste.
Even so, there are dangers in co-opting the customer in the marketing process, and with the growing concern over the ownership and use of personal data,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/02/digital-masters-must-be-watched-google
even the sainted John Lewis Partnership and Waitrose may need to think again.
Saturday 7 January 2012
Airlines and national identity
While I was in Australia in October, there were strikes involving Qantas ground staff (flight and cabin crew strikes occurred later). Qantas are, among other things, recruiting lower cost non Australian staff at all levels, including flight crews, as a way of reducing costs in pursuit of greater competiveness as part of a strategy led by their Irish CEO.
Having now travelled on various national airlines to and from Australia, I've been struck by the role that airlines play in creating and promoting a national identity on the global stage. Emirates have done this very successfully, even though none of the personnel that an Emirates passenger actually encounters is an Emirati. So, while Emirates crews are highly diverse, nationally and linguistically, through masterly management, the UAE have managed to project an entirely bogus Emirati identity and image by means of their airline.
Qantas, by contrast, has always been largely crewed by Aussies, and the airline has stressed its Australian heritage and identity. Will replacing Aussie staff by non Aussies jeopardize this unique quality? If Emirates can pull off the trick of creating an identity with non nationals as staff, can Qantas maintain an Aussie identity with non Aussie crews?
And then there's Singapore Airlines. One of the things they were pushing in their publicity in October was the ‘Singapore Gir’l -- the comely stewardesses for which they have long been well known. Obviously, SA employs non Singaporean staff, but the image projected is one of Singaporean hospitality and identity by and of Singaporeans. The airline is closely aligned with the promotion of Singapore as a sophisticated, efficient and safe place to visit and do business in.
Finally, there is Royal Brunei, with whom I’ve travelled on most of my trips to Australia. I've always thought of RB as a 'hobby' airline for the royal family. On the last sector from Brunei to Singapore on my return, I was bumped from business to economy, with fulsome apologies (I even received a personal grovel letter when I was between flights in Brunei). The reason: a member of the royal family and entourage were travelling on the flight. One might wonder why they don't actually have their own jetliner, although with a hobby airline I suppose they already do. At a separate royal part of the airport, we witnessed the royal member and wife arrive in a top-of-the line Mercedes S class, to be greeted and seen off by a line of signatories (including an Arab in flowing robes). So, I suppose one could say that the airline is 'by appointment' and being royal sets it apart from a neighbouring airline better known for its Singapore Girls.
By such diverse means, countries use their national airlines as a way of projecting national identity on a global stage, as well as providing, when successful, an important commercial enterprise. The challenge now seems to be successfully meeting commercial pressures – not least competition from other similar airlines – while also retaining the national identity that, potentially, makes each airline unique, and which provides an important part of their USP. I hope that the Irish CEO at Qantas doesn’t trash the Aussie service qualities that are part of the image and appeal of Qantas as he reconfigures the national flag carrier.
Having now travelled on various national airlines to and from Australia, I've been struck by the role that airlines play in creating and promoting a national identity on the global stage. Emirates have done this very successfully, even though none of the personnel that an Emirates passenger actually encounters is an Emirati. So, while Emirates crews are highly diverse, nationally and linguistically, through masterly management, the UAE have managed to project an entirely bogus Emirati identity and image by means of their airline.
Qantas, by contrast, has always been largely crewed by Aussies, and the airline has stressed its Australian heritage and identity. Will replacing Aussie staff by non Aussies jeopardize this unique quality? If Emirates can pull off the trick of creating an identity with non nationals as staff, can Qantas maintain an Aussie identity with non Aussie crews?
And then there's Singapore Airlines. One of the things they were pushing in their publicity in October was the ‘Singapore Gir’l -- the comely stewardesses for which they have long been well known. Obviously, SA employs non Singaporean staff, but the image projected is one of Singaporean hospitality and identity by and of Singaporeans. The airline is closely aligned with the promotion of Singapore as a sophisticated, efficient and safe place to visit and do business in.
Finally, there is Royal Brunei, with whom I’ve travelled on most of my trips to Australia. I've always thought of RB as a 'hobby' airline for the royal family. On the last sector from Brunei to Singapore on my return, I was bumped from business to economy, with fulsome apologies (I even received a personal grovel letter when I was between flights in Brunei). The reason: a member of the royal family and entourage were travelling on the flight. One might wonder why they don't actually have their own jetliner, although with a hobby airline I suppose they already do. At a separate royal part of the airport, we witnessed the royal member and wife arrive in a top-of-the line Mercedes S class, to be greeted and seen off by a line of signatories (including an Arab in flowing robes). So, I suppose one could say that the airline is 'by appointment' and being royal sets it apart from a neighbouring airline better known for its Singapore Girls.
By such diverse means, countries use their national airlines as a way of projecting national identity on a global stage, as well as providing, when successful, an important commercial enterprise. The challenge now seems to be successfully meeting commercial pressures – not least competition from other similar airlines – while also retaining the national identity that, potentially, makes each airline unique, and which provides an important part of their USP. I hope that the Irish CEO at Qantas doesn’t trash the Aussie service qualities that are part of the image and appeal of Qantas as he reconfigures the national flag carrier.
Tuesday 3 January 2012
A New Year
I have been a non blogger for the past year. So much for good intentions a year ago. As always, when confronted with a blank sheet, ideas of blogging suddenly evaporate, whereas when out cycling or gardening or doing a whole lot of other things, blogging ideas flow thick and fast.
Well, what are the Big Events of the past year? Apart from the global melt downs of various kinds (top of which in the UK must be the Eurozone crisis, even though the UK is not a member of the zone), including riots in UK cities (leading to much moral panic), and the Arab Spring (fast turning to autumn in key countries like Egypt), what personal events have occurred?
Firstly, I was home for spring. Often I've been in Australia during March-April, and have returned home in time to miss some of the earlier manifestations of spring in the garden. This year I was here to view the bumper crop of hellebores in the shaded border: some forty plants bloomed, providing the kind of effect that I've aspired to in past years.
Secondly, our grandson Oli, who turned two in February, has is now sharing his thoughts with us. He is, of course, the ultimate and perfect grandson. Even so, it's impossible not to be affected by the combination of innocence and vulnerability on the one hand, and the determination to assert identity on the other, which characterize this stage of childhood. Recently I heard this period of childhood referred to as the Research and Development phase of growing up -- a very affirmative way of viewing the behaviour and thoughts of a youngster.
Thirdly, travel. This was the year of what is likely to be my final trip to SE Asia and Australia. I was asked to teach on a course in Danang, Vietnam, in September-October, where I did one week last year following my usual gig at UQ in Brisbane. Last year my colleague Andy and I had travelled from Brisbane via Singapore and Siem Reap to Danang, wishing that we'd arranged things so as to be able to include a visit to the great Khmer ruins. So this year I decided that whatever else I did, a visit to Siem Reap was essential, and it was duly arranged. Fortunately, the great ELT Network (in the form of one of last year's course participants based in Phnom Pen) put me in touch with both a good hotel and a tuk-tuk driver to take me around, so the visit proved to be very successful. Being a real tourist as opposed to a working visitor is a novelty. But being a tourist is also hard work, particularly when visiting significant sites which call for much walking and climbing in a hot tropical climate.
As well as visiting new places, this trip provided a chance to revisit Singapore, where I was lent a splendid flat just off Orchard Road, and was able to make contact with someone I taught at Manchester over thirty years ago. This brought the Christmas card exchanges up to date, while also bringing me up to date on Singapore itself, a place which I really enjoy visiting, not least because of the gastronomic opportunities if offers. Where else in the world, I wonder, would the excellent national museum devote a whole gallery to the history of the national menu?
Fourthly, IT. I resisted buying an i-Pad I, for the simple reason that the first version of most items of technology are a means whereby the manufacturer uses early adopters as a source of R&D. I eventually purchased an i-Pad II at David Jones in Robina on the Gold Coast. (There is a buzzing Mac store in the same shopping mall, but I felt distinctly out of place in this temple to digital natives, despite being a Mac user since the mid 80s). Has the i-Pad changed my life? Well, no, not really. Has it enriched my life? Possibly, though not in any significant way. Has it provided convenience? Yes, it's quicker and easier to use than a MacBook, but it does mean that I now check the Guardian and the Independent at the breakfast table and even deal with e-mails -- the latter not being a good idea. And it's so easy to Google or check Wikipedia for information. Most usefully, it does provide a really good way of displaying photos, and since my most recent trip to Asia and Australia has added to my photo gallery, this is a great benefit because even if family and friends rapidly lose interest in viewing one's pix (particularly as many were posted in Facebook while traveling), it's fun to be able to flick thru them oneself. Oh, and I shouldn't forget that it can be used as a Kindle, which means that it's possible to use it as a reading device. Since it doesn't require external lighting, it's possible to read anything on screen even in a dark room. Curiously enough, I find this a most useful feature.
Finally, transitions. Several people have died, and although none of them was close, their departure was a reminder that we are all mortal. There is, of course, a poignancy in viewing photographs of the departed in their prime. My daughter-in-law's grandfather, who early in his career was an RAF test pilot, was a distinctly dashing chap and he and his wife made a glamourous couple and in fact, the image that comes to mind when thinking about them is a photo of them at a swish party rather than of them in their old age.
Of the non personal transitions, I think that the death of Steve Jobs was most significant, but not entirely for the reasons that have been most discussed. Jobs was diagnosed with a treatable cancer. A man whose business career and creativity were based on the applications of science to technology elected to ignore the treatment available to him and self medicated by alternative means, until basically it was too late to receive effective treatment, although apparently he collaborated with medical researchers developing treatments based on genetics in the final year of his life. His life may have been prolonged by a few months as a result. How ironic. And what a great loss. (On a happier note, it's good to see that Jonathan Ives has been given a knighthood.)
Twenty-twelve. What will it hold? We shall see. In the meantime, to anyone reading this blog: Happy New Year!
Well, what are the Big Events of the past year? Apart from the global melt downs of various kinds (top of which in the UK must be the Eurozone crisis, even though the UK is not a member of the zone), including riots in UK cities (leading to much moral panic), and the Arab Spring (fast turning to autumn in key countries like Egypt), what personal events have occurred?
Firstly, I was home for spring. Often I've been in Australia during March-April, and have returned home in time to miss some of the earlier manifestations of spring in the garden. This year I was here to view the bumper crop of hellebores in the shaded border: some forty plants bloomed, providing the kind of effect that I've aspired to in past years.
Secondly, our grandson Oli, who turned two in February, has is now sharing his thoughts with us. He is, of course, the ultimate and perfect grandson. Even so, it's impossible not to be affected by the combination of innocence and vulnerability on the one hand, and the determination to assert identity on the other, which characterize this stage of childhood. Recently I heard this period of childhood referred to as the Research and Development phase of growing up -- a very affirmative way of viewing the behaviour and thoughts of a youngster.
Thirdly, travel. This was the year of what is likely to be my final trip to SE Asia and Australia. I was asked to teach on a course in Danang, Vietnam, in September-October, where I did one week last year following my usual gig at UQ in Brisbane. Last year my colleague Andy and I had travelled from Brisbane via Singapore and Siem Reap to Danang, wishing that we'd arranged things so as to be able to include a visit to the great Khmer ruins. So this year I decided that whatever else I did, a visit to Siem Reap was essential, and it was duly arranged. Fortunately, the great ELT Network (in the form of one of last year's course participants based in Phnom Pen) put me in touch with both a good hotel and a tuk-tuk driver to take me around, so the visit proved to be very successful. Being a real tourist as opposed to a working visitor is a novelty. But being a tourist is also hard work, particularly when visiting significant sites which call for much walking and climbing in a hot tropical climate.
As well as visiting new places, this trip provided a chance to revisit Singapore, where I was lent a splendid flat just off Orchard Road, and was able to make contact with someone I taught at Manchester over thirty years ago. This brought the Christmas card exchanges up to date, while also bringing me up to date on Singapore itself, a place which I really enjoy visiting, not least because of the gastronomic opportunities if offers. Where else in the world, I wonder, would the excellent national museum devote a whole gallery to the history of the national menu?
Fourthly, IT. I resisted buying an i-Pad I, for the simple reason that the first version of most items of technology are a means whereby the manufacturer uses early adopters as a source of R&D. I eventually purchased an i-Pad II at David Jones in Robina on the Gold Coast. (There is a buzzing Mac store in the same shopping mall, but I felt distinctly out of place in this temple to digital natives, despite being a Mac user since the mid 80s). Has the i-Pad changed my life? Well, no, not really. Has it enriched my life? Possibly, though not in any significant way. Has it provided convenience? Yes, it's quicker and easier to use than a MacBook, but it does mean that I now check the Guardian and the Independent at the breakfast table and even deal with e-mails -- the latter not being a good idea. And it's so easy to Google or check Wikipedia for information. Most usefully, it does provide a really good way of displaying photos, and since my most recent trip to Asia and Australia has added to my photo gallery, this is a great benefit because even if family and friends rapidly lose interest in viewing one's pix (particularly as many were posted in Facebook while traveling), it's fun to be able to flick thru them oneself. Oh, and I shouldn't forget that it can be used as a Kindle, which means that it's possible to use it as a reading device. Since it doesn't require external lighting, it's possible to read anything on screen even in a dark room. Curiously enough, I find this a most useful feature.
Finally, transitions. Several people have died, and although none of them was close, their departure was a reminder that we are all mortal. There is, of course, a poignancy in viewing photographs of the departed in their prime. My daughter-in-law's grandfather, who early in his career was an RAF test pilot, was a distinctly dashing chap and he and his wife made a glamourous couple and in fact, the image that comes to mind when thinking about them is a photo of them at a swish party rather than of them in their old age.
Of the non personal transitions, I think that the death of Steve Jobs was most significant, but not entirely for the reasons that have been most discussed. Jobs was diagnosed with a treatable cancer. A man whose business career and creativity were based on the applications of science to technology elected to ignore the treatment available to him and self medicated by alternative means, until basically it was too late to receive effective treatment, although apparently he collaborated with medical researchers developing treatments based on genetics in the final year of his life. His life may have been prolonged by a few months as a result. How ironic. And what a great loss. (On a happier note, it's good to see that Jonathan Ives has been given a knighthood.)
Twenty-twelve. What will it hold? We shall see. In the meantime, to anyone reading this blog: Happy New Year!
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