Hello everyone,
a mate of mine, JP Kamath (http://www.JPKamath.com) has just launched a free comic site that I have had a little to do with, well I built the back end and another mate of mine John Murphy did the design.
It can be found at http://www.londonhorrorcomic.com/ and is a cracking good read, I know JP would welcome any comments so please feel free to use the feedback form on the site to let him know what you think of it.
Haven't had two minutes to put together a proper post this week, sorry.
Note to self, "must do better"
John Anslow
http://ffriar.com/
Friday, August 25, 2006
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Perfect Strangers
Hi all,
went to London yesterday and was hanging around in Covent Garden for a while, what a fabulous place for people watching.
Whilst I was there I took the opportunity to have a cornish pasty from The Cornish Pasty Company who have stalls all over London, there's one at London Bridge and One at Wimbledon that I have visitied and I know there are loads more.
The pasties are made in Cornwall and delivered frozen to the stalls who then bake them and serve them up, loads of varieties and every one I've had has been fabulous.
I would heartily recommend trying one if you pass a stall should be about £3.
I went up to audition for a new game show called Perfect Strangers, it was an odd experience but interesting so I thought I'd share it with you.
I arrived 15 mins late thanks to some delays encountered in my travels, only little ones but they added up to a 15 delay, now I hate being late, I really hate it so I didn't arrive in the best of moods, it was a muggy day and I'd legged it all along Long Acre to the venue so was sweating profusely, I must have looked a sight !
I apologised profusely to the researcher who was very nice about it and fitted me in at the side of the line-up having first stuck my name on my chest and taken a digital photo.
The host was just finishing putting the potential candidates at ease with some jocular chat when I arrived and seemed a little put out when I was thrust onto the end of the line, I smiled like a loon and tried to catch up with what was happening, feeling very uncomfortable I have to say I wasn't at my best.
In front of us were table tennis bats and the host explained that they would take the place of buzzers while we played a trial round, the whole point of the quiz is that you have to work as a team one of you answering half the question the other answering the rest so of course I ended up on a team of three !
The star of the audition was a super agressive guy up the end whose bat was in the air before the rest of us could blink, we later found out he is an estate agent, when we did manage to beat him to it it seemed a reasonable game, they showed us George Bush snr and Jnr and asked us to name them, Everest name it and the two countries it lies in etc.
I was crap you won't be surprised to hear.
After that we were put in a circle and interviewed on camera individually, of course I ended up being last and by the time it got round to me every funny thing possible to say had been said, the estate agent said he didn't want to play with any thickies and that he'd probably cope with losing by having a quiet word round the back with his partner!
After that there was a written quiz, not too bad except I'm pants at modern music and couldn't remember for the life of me who Shakespeare married lol.
It was after this ordeal I went to Covent Garden to meet my wife for lunch.
We ate as mentioned and while we were enjoying our food we watched the street performers, geez these guys work hard for a living, then wandered round the stalls, oh my word the prices ! and went home.
The return trip was slightly more relaxed than the outbound and we made it home in plenty of time for me to visit my dentists, now they know about customer service but I'll leave them to another time.
Keep slogging guys and remember.
Whether you think you can or you think you can't
you're right !
John Anslow
http://ffriar.com
went to London yesterday and was hanging around in Covent Garden for a while, what a fabulous place for people watching.
Whilst I was there I took the opportunity to have a cornish pasty from The Cornish Pasty Company who have stalls all over London, there's one at London Bridge and One at Wimbledon that I have visitied and I know there are loads more.
The pasties are made in Cornwall and delivered frozen to the stalls who then bake them and serve them up, loads of varieties and every one I've had has been fabulous.
I would heartily recommend trying one if you pass a stall should be about £3.
I went up to audition for a new game show called Perfect Strangers, it was an odd experience but interesting so I thought I'd share it with you.
I arrived 15 mins late thanks to some delays encountered in my travels, only little ones but they added up to a 15 delay, now I hate being late, I really hate it so I didn't arrive in the best of moods, it was a muggy day and I'd legged it all along Long Acre to the venue so was sweating profusely, I must have looked a sight !
I apologised profusely to the researcher who was very nice about it and fitted me in at the side of the line-up having first stuck my name on my chest and taken a digital photo.
The host was just finishing putting the potential candidates at ease with some jocular chat when I arrived and seemed a little put out when I was thrust onto the end of the line, I smiled like a loon and tried to catch up with what was happening, feeling very uncomfortable I have to say I wasn't at my best.
In front of us were table tennis bats and the host explained that they would take the place of buzzers while we played a trial round, the whole point of the quiz is that you have to work as a team one of you answering half the question the other answering the rest so of course I ended up on a team of three !
The star of the audition was a super agressive guy up the end whose bat was in the air before the rest of us could blink, we later found out he is an estate agent, when we did manage to beat him to it it seemed a reasonable game, they showed us George Bush snr and Jnr and asked us to name them, Everest name it and the two countries it lies in etc.
I was crap you won't be surprised to hear.
After that we were put in a circle and interviewed on camera individually, of course I ended up being last and by the time it got round to me every funny thing possible to say had been said, the estate agent said he didn't want to play with any thickies and that he'd probably cope with losing by having a quiet word round the back with his partner!
After that there was a written quiz, not too bad except I'm pants at modern music and couldn't remember for the life of me who Shakespeare married lol.
It was after this ordeal I went to Covent Garden to meet my wife for lunch.
We ate as mentioned and while we were enjoying our food we watched the street performers, geez these guys work hard for a living, then wandered round the stalls, oh my word the prices ! and went home.
The return trip was slightly more relaxed than the outbound and we made it home in plenty of time for me to visit my dentists, now they know about customer service but I'll leave them to another time.
Keep slogging guys and remember.
Whether you think you can or you think you can't
you're right !
John Anslow
http://ffriar.com
Sunday, August 13, 2006
5 guys on a boat...
Well I just sent my nephew back on the train to Scotland and have 5 mins to write down some of our experiences this week.
As expected we've had some excellent and some poor service this week so I guess I'll just start with Wednesday.
Wednesday: We took my mother up the river to Hampton Court by boat, we met at the station at 9:30 and the first task was to get the tickets, have you tried the self service machines they have in train stations now? couldn't believe how easy it was to buy three one day passes, lovely intuitive interface whack your card in and bingo, well done British Rail.
All ticketed up we headed for the barrier, Kallum has a special pass cos my sister-in-law works for the railways and mum has a pensioner pass so they were sorted and the three one days' covered Margaret, Wendy and Me, the guard let us through and we were off.
I should perhaps mention that mum was in her wheelchair which gave us the opportunity of testing the disabled services everywhere we went.
We trolled down the ramp and waited for a train, I spoke to a guard and said we had a disabled person with us and we would need a ramp, big cheesy smile "no problem mate" I was tempted to ask if this really was British Rail but put it down to individual effort.
The train arrived and the guard duly turned up with a foldable ramp, people were pushing past him as he tried to put it in the door but he took it all in good part, I'd have been tempted to drop it on their feet but hey I'm like that, having finally succeeded in getting the ramp set up we wheeled my mum up it and into the special disabled area, the guard took the ramp away, wished us a great day and sent us off on our way with a smile.
Oh I nearly forgot he asked us where we were going and when I told him Victoria he said he'd ring ahead and get someone to meet us!
We stood around, as usual there were no free seats, and eventually the train pulled into Victoria station, we didn't bother fighting our way to the door as we knew we couldn't get off without a ramp so we let the frantic passengers shove and push each other out of the door before rushing off up the platform, my nephew went and fetched the waiting guard who again put the ramp down with a smile and wished us a good day.
Now I don't know if you were around in the old days of British Rail but I can assure you that this was not the sort of service we all came to expect, anyway on with the story.
We trolled up the platform and out of the station to the taxi rank where I approached the foremost taxi expecting an argument about having 5 in his cab, "5 to Westminster pier please, oh yes and a wheelchair", "sure no problem mate" he pulled over a little further up so we would be out of the way of others and actually got out to help.
We put the chair in the front and squeezed into the back and were off, I told him we were going up the river and he suggested dropping us off a bit further down the embankment as there were stairs at the pier and we'd struggle to get down, as good as his word he dropped us at a ramp rather than the twenty or so stairs.
Again he got out and helped us out with the chair I asked how much and he said £6:50 not bad I thought and tipped him generously.
We pushed mum up to the booking hut and when I reached the front of the queue I was greeted by a spotty youth with a bogey hanging down his shirt, charming. I explained what I wanted and he grudgingly sold me the tickets, when I asked which dock he gestured down the pier and grunted "that way".
We wandered off and found our way at last to dock no5, we were quite thirsty and Kallum and Wendy as usual were hungry so I asked a lovely blonde girl who appeared to work there if there were eating arrangements on the boat?
"I don't know" she said, "you'll have to ask on the boat". Now it transpires that all their boats are fully licensed and sell meals, a good way of increasing revenue as the trip is three hours long, so why was an employee unaware of this basic fact? oh well at least she wasn't rude about it, Kallum and Wendy went off to buy some food and we waited to embark.
After some while they announced that the boat for Kew was the next one along and half the queue disappeared, we made it to the front of the queue and I had to smile when the guy helping people on saw my mum in her wheelchair, poor sod had to help her down onto the deck but he did it with a good grace so I guess he's used to it.
I should perhaps point out that my mum is made much along the same lines as me in that the Japanese have been following her around in their boats for years trying to get a clean shot.
We stowed her chair at the back of the boat and ensconced ourselves in the cabin where we were near the bar but also had a good view out of the windows, the kids popped upstairs on deck and spent most of the trip out in the sunshine, my wife and mother stayed in the cabin and drank tea and I shuttled between them.
Now if you haven't been up the river to Hampton Court by boat I would urge you to make the trip, it was lovely chugging up the river watching the fabulous scenery slide past and listening to the commentary from the captain and drinking tea.
Three hours is a long time to be on a boat but it went by in a flash for me, I don't think the wife enjoyed it quite so much as she almost convinced my mother to come back by train, why is it that women have to be entertained and can't just sit back and enjoy the moment?
We arrived at Hampton Court at 2:30pm and headed off to find a restaurant for lunch, we crossed the bridge and headed for Pizza Express, oh dear, we wandered in and I asked for a table for 5, now 5 covers aint nothing but I still got the down the nose look from the waiter, sadly I was too tired and hungry to go elsewhere so we took our seats, with no help from the waiter to make room for mum's wheelchair.
The waiter distributed menu's and asked if we wanted drinks, we ordered some hand made lemonade and mum as usual had tea, Kallum took one sip of his and said "this tastes like the Thames" and I have to say he was right !
The waiter eventually came back to take our orders and we ordered our pizzas, mum tried to order lasagne but he explained that they had "no means of cooking pasta today" a euphemism for we can't be bothered IMHO so she had a pizza as well.
When the pizzas did eventually turn up and I'm talking 45 minutes later the staff hadn't even bothered to cut them for us so I had to go and borrow a pizza slice and do it myself, they were tough and overcooked, my mum could barely get her teeth through hers, I asked for the bill, paid and we left feeling like we'd been had.
We wandered off to a newsagents for supplies and back to the boat for the trip home, we came back on a different boat to the one on which we had arrived and it wasn't nearly so nice in the cabin, that said it was warm enough and dry and the tea was just as good.
The trip back was much faster than the trip up, the tide was with us and the captain was obviously aware that coming back people just want to get there so he gunned us down the river at a fast rate of knots.
Nautical Measurement
A fathom is 6 feet, the length of rope a man can extend from open arm to open arm. The rope was lowered into the sea to measure depth.
A cable length is the length of a ship's cable, about 600 feet.
A nautical mile is 10 cable lengths, or 6,076 feet.
1 nautical mile = 1.1508 miles
A knot is the measure of speed on water. One knot is 1 nautical mile per hour.
We watched the scenery wizz past and within two hours we were disembarking at Westminster again, hailing a cab was fun but again when we did get one the cabbie was helpful and managed to get us all aboard.
The cab dropped us at the south gate and we strolled straight down onto the platform for home, the guard approached us and let us up a ramp onto the train, where are you getting off he asked and when I told him East Croydon he said he'd be back to let us off again, true to his word he arrived at East Croydon and eventually managed to get his ramp down and let us off.
We took mum back up to the cab stop and dispatched her home with no trouble at all, "I'll look after her mate"
Tired but happy we got on a bus home to cogitate on the different levels of service we'd had and contemplate a chinese take-away for dinner.
John Anslow
http://www.ffriar.com
As expected we've had some excellent and some poor service this week so I guess I'll just start with Wednesday.
Wednesday: We took my mother up the river to Hampton Court by boat, we met at the station at 9:30 and the first task was to get the tickets, have you tried the self service machines they have in train stations now? couldn't believe how easy it was to buy three one day passes, lovely intuitive interface whack your card in and bingo, well done British Rail.
All ticketed up we headed for the barrier, Kallum has a special pass cos my sister-in-law works for the railways and mum has a pensioner pass so they were sorted and the three one days' covered Margaret, Wendy and Me, the guard let us through and we were off.
I should perhaps mention that mum was in her wheelchair which gave us the opportunity of testing the disabled services everywhere we went.
We trolled down the ramp and waited for a train, I spoke to a guard and said we had a disabled person with us and we would need a ramp, big cheesy smile "no problem mate" I was tempted to ask if this really was British Rail but put it down to individual effort.
The train arrived and the guard duly turned up with a foldable ramp, people were pushing past him as he tried to put it in the door but he took it all in good part, I'd have been tempted to drop it on their feet but hey I'm like that, having finally succeeded in getting the ramp set up we wheeled my mum up it and into the special disabled area, the guard took the ramp away, wished us a great day and sent us off on our way with a smile.
Oh I nearly forgot he asked us where we were going and when I told him Victoria he said he'd ring ahead and get someone to meet us!
We stood around, as usual there were no free seats, and eventually the train pulled into Victoria station, we didn't bother fighting our way to the door as we knew we couldn't get off without a ramp so we let the frantic passengers shove and push each other out of the door before rushing off up the platform, my nephew went and fetched the waiting guard who again put the ramp down with a smile and wished us a good day.
Now I don't know if you were around in the old days of British Rail but I can assure you that this was not the sort of service we all came to expect, anyway on with the story.
We trolled up the platform and out of the station to the taxi rank where I approached the foremost taxi expecting an argument about having 5 in his cab, "5 to Westminster pier please, oh yes and a wheelchair", "sure no problem mate" he pulled over a little further up so we would be out of the way of others and actually got out to help.
We put the chair in the front and squeezed into the back and were off, I told him we were going up the river and he suggested dropping us off a bit further down the embankment as there were stairs at the pier and we'd struggle to get down, as good as his word he dropped us at a ramp rather than the twenty or so stairs.
Again he got out and helped us out with the chair I asked how much and he said £6:50 not bad I thought and tipped him generously.
We pushed mum up to the booking hut and when I reached the front of the queue I was greeted by a spotty youth with a bogey hanging down his shirt, charming. I explained what I wanted and he grudgingly sold me the tickets, when I asked which dock he gestured down the pier and grunted "that way".
We wandered off and found our way at last to dock no5, we were quite thirsty and Kallum and Wendy as usual were hungry so I asked a lovely blonde girl who appeared to work there if there were eating arrangements on the boat?
"I don't know" she said, "you'll have to ask on the boat". Now it transpires that all their boats are fully licensed and sell meals, a good way of increasing revenue as the trip is three hours long, so why was an employee unaware of this basic fact? oh well at least she wasn't rude about it, Kallum and Wendy went off to buy some food and we waited to embark.
After some while they announced that the boat for Kew was the next one along and half the queue disappeared, we made it to the front of the queue and I had to smile when the guy helping people on saw my mum in her wheelchair, poor sod had to help her down onto the deck but he did it with a good grace so I guess he's used to it.
I should perhaps point out that my mum is made much along the same lines as me in that the Japanese have been following her around in their boats for years trying to get a clean shot.
We stowed her chair at the back of the boat and ensconced ourselves in the cabin where we were near the bar but also had a good view out of the windows, the kids popped upstairs on deck and spent most of the trip out in the sunshine, my wife and mother stayed in the cabin and drank tea and I shuttled between them.
Now if you haven't been up the river to Hampton Court by boat I would urge you to make the trip, it was lovely chugging up the river watching the fabulous scenery slide past and listening to the commentary from the captain and drinking tea.
Three hours is a long time to be on a boat but it went by in a flash for me, I don't think the wife enjoyed it quite so much as she almost convinced my mother to come back by train, why is it that women have to be entertained and can't just sit back and enjoy the moment?
We arrived at Hampton Court at 2:30pm and headed off to find a restaurant for lunch, we crossed the bridge and headed for Pizza Express, oh dear, we wandered in and I asked for a table for 5, now 5 covers aint nothing but I still got the down the nose look from the waiter, sadly I was too tired and hungry to go elsewhere so we took our seats, with no help from the waiter to make room for mum's wheelchair.
The waiter distributed menu's and asked if we wanted drinks, we ordered some hand made lemonade and mum as usual had tea, Kallum took one sip of his and said "this tastes like the Thames" and I have to say he was right !
The waiter eventually came back to take our orders and we ordered our pizzas, mum tried to order lasagne but he explained that they had "no means of cooking pasta today" a euphemism for we can't be bothered IMHO so she had a pizza as well.
When the pizzas did eventually turn up and I'm talking 45 minutes later the staff hadn't even bothered to cut them for us so I had to go and borrow a pizza slice and do it myself, they were tough and overcooked, my mum could barely get her teeth through hers, I asked for the bill, paid and we left feeling like we'd been had.
We wandered off to a newsagents for supplies and back to the boat for the trip home, we came back on a different boat to the one on which we had arrived and it wasn't nearly so nice in the cabin, that said it was warm enough and dry and the tea was just as good.
The trip back was much faster than the trip up, the tide was with us and the captain was obviously aware that coming back people just want to get there so he gunned us down the river at a fast rate of knots.
Nautical Measurement
A fathom is 6 feet, the length of rope a man can extend from open arm to open arm. The rope was lowered into the sea to measure depth.
A cable length is the length of a ship's cable, about 600 feet.
A nautical mile is 10 cable lengths, or 6,076 feet.
1 nautical mile = 1.1508 miles
A knot is the measure of speed on water. One knot is 1 nautical mile per hour.
We watched the scenery wizz past and within two hours we were disembarking at Westminster again, hailing a cab was fun but again when we did get one the cabbie was helpful and managed to get us all aboard.
The cab dropped us at the south gate and we strolled straight down onto the platform for home, the guard approached us and let us up a ramp onto the train, where are you getting off he asked and when I told him East Croydon he said he'd be back to let us off again, true to his word he arrived at East Croydon and eventually managed to get his ramp down and let us off.
We took mum back up to the cab stop and dispatched her home with no trouble at all, "I'll look after her mate"
Tired but happy we got on a bus home to cogitate on the different levels of service we'd had and contemplate a chinese take-away for dinner.
John Anslow
http://www.ffriar.com
Monday, August 07, 2006
All Power to your arm Powergen
Now here's something you won't hear every day, I rang my electric and gas supplier on Saturday and the phone was answered on the first ring !
I was so staggered I exclaimed "wow you answered on the first ring !" the charming young man on the end of the line said something about trying to please but to be honest I was so surprised I didn't hear him.
Anyway on with the story, I had rung up to query the amount of my bills as I've only recently swapped over to Powergen and they seemed excessive, especially as I had been promised lower rates.
He took my account number from the gas account I think and was able to look at both accounts no problem, we agreed that the figures looked a bit odd so he compared them with my previous suppliers then I gave him a reading from both meters and he worked out how much I was using a month and we agreed what we thought would be a reasonable monthly charge going forward.
Ok you can get up now and stop being so melodramatic ;)
Yes you heard me right we agreed together, none of this that's the charge take it or leave it business we've all experienced in the past and none of that annoying I only deal with gas if you want to talk about electric you'll have to ring another number stuff either.
Having talked about my gas and electric bills and agreed reasonable monthly payments he asked me if he could do anything else for me and when I said no thank you that's fine he gave me a genuine goodbye before hanging up.
You could have knocked me down with a feather, the whole conversation took less than 5 minutes and I was actually smiling at the end of it.
I think the catch phrase is connected business and it's certainly popular with me, if only all business thought like this eh?
Popped into Tres Gourmet again over the weekend, he's opening a second outlet in Crystal Palace soon but can't find a manager to take over his Lower Addiscombe Road shop, I'll be amazed if he finds one as good as him but I'll keep you posted.
I've got my nephew and his girlfriend down from Scotland this week so we'll be out and about quite a bit, plenty of opportunity to experience some excellent customer service I'm sure ;)
Have a good week.
John Anslow
http://www.ffriar.com
I was so staggered I exclaimed "wow you answered on the first ring !" the charming young man on the end of the line said something about trying to please but to be honest I was so surprised I didn't hear him.
Anyway on with the story, I had rung up to query the amount of my bills as I've only recently swapped over to Powergen and they seemed excessive, especially as I had been promised lower rates.
He took my account number from the gas account I think and was able to look at both accounts no problem, we agreed that the figures looked a bit odd so he compared them with my previous suppliers then I gave him a reading from both meters and he worked out how much I was using a month and we agreed what we thought would be a reasonable monthly charge going forward.
Ok you can get up now and stop being so melodramatic ;)
Yes you heard me right we agreed together, none of this that's the charge take it or leave it business we've all experienced in the past and none of that annoying I only deal with gas if you want to talk about electric you'll have to ring another number stuff either.
Having talked about my gas and electric bills and agreed reasonable monthly payments he asked me if he could do anything else for me and when I said no thank you that's fine he gave me a genuine goodbye before hanging up.
You could have knocked me down with a feather, the whole conversation took less than 5 minutes and I was actually smiling at the end of it.
I think the catch phrase is connected business and it's certainly popular with me, if only all business thought like this eh?
Popped into Tres Gourmet again over the weekend, he's opening a second outlet in Crystal Palace soon but can't find a manager to take over his Lower Addiscombe Road shop, I'll be amazed if he finds one as good as him but I'll keep you posted.
I've got my nephew and his girlfriend down from Scotland this week so we'll be out and about quite a bit, plenty of opportunity to experience some excellent customer service I'm sure ;)
Have a good week.
John Anslow
http://www.ffriar.com
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