Newspapers

Our local newspaper is massive.  It only has a circulation of 10k but it is huge and old looking.  It is quite lovely, right up to the point that you actually want to find something or recognise someone in the photographs.  In fact, functionally it is mostly useless apart from providing a local browse function and taking money from hapless estate agents.  Search is impossible but browsing can sometimes lead to some information that you didn't know you wanted.  Ask most people here and they don't want it changed.  People resist change (i'm not going to say 'comfort zone' here and if you use that phrase stop it).  The Guardian went compact in.....(actually do you say 'if it ain't broken don't fix it'? you have to stop that too) I can't remember when the Guardian went compact but reading it today I don't think anyone is saying  "ooh I'd like bigger pages".  Change for the better can be made, resist and embrace change, it is your discretion that counts.
Discretion and newspapers, my goodness, media is fantastic and the fast changing world of media is startling.  As if newspapers aren't in enough flux and just as Mr Murdoch seems to have invented a working paywall and is also on the brink of taking over his own world of media, some large weeds work their way into his garden and the public become outraged and his whole empire looks decidedly shaky.  Schadenfreude can't actually be a German word as it is so central to our British psyche.  That and feeling sorry for the undone so we will learn to love him soon.
The Guardian has been writing about phone hacking for years, literally years! I first started to get mad last year when the police seemed to dismiss the hacking of politicians mobile phones.  What the blue blazes?! I just don't care for many politicians but only Prescott seemed to take this to a common sense 'Gelfdof' level.  At first it seemed it was dismissed because all you had to do to 'hack' a mailbox was to call it up and use the standard PIN, not really illegal, bit like speeding.  The wider implications of security and data and outright dangerous illegal activity seemed at the time to have been missed.  The sad thing about our great British public is that they can't really be arsed to feel strongly about wider legal issues that they feel don't directly affect them personally but anything to do with kids or war heroes and then collectively we will bang the drum.  On the positive side at least we have a ground level where the ball does bounce!
Now the momentum has shifted and how!  I have struggled to read the Guardian since the installation of the present government.  Friends say "The Guardian!...are you a lefty?"....or words like that.  I tend to have always been a Tory voter but only through certain principles and no political party is aligned strongly enough to my views.  I think I would have voted for a coalition, co-operating is more difficult than oposing.  Anyway, The Guardian, knocking Labour was fine when they were in power but now some of the thoughts peddled, in comment, seem decidedly unnecessary and certainly 'lefter' than I had previously noticed.  I find myself ranting at Polly Toynbee as the arch inventor of over analysis and avoidance of common sense.  However, listening to the Mediatalk podcast every Friday and particularly last Friday's blockbuster with the calm and assured Alan Rusbridger and the thinking man's crumpet Janine Gibson, you know that you are in intelligent and rational company.  There is no doubt that they are the pinnacle of journalism in this country and agree with comment or not there appears no axe to grind just information and well presented arguement (not you PT).
I have bought the NOW twice in my life and have actively avoided handing them money but how you can take an iconic title and destroy it like that is staggering and surely not the way to win friends.
I like you Cameron but as chopper would say 'Harden the fck up', you don't need to copy Blair and Campbell and the door is open now to set a new process.  If there is a lack of integrity in government and in the press then you need to cozy up to each other but if there is integrity in both camps you can  prosper as both adversaries and friends.  This might seem naive and the irony here is that the wider public, the last adopters of this cause, the readers of trashy journalism were those needed to bring this to a mighty head.
Oh and don't start me on the police because words can't describe........and the mobile phone companies are they just sharing data and numbers at will?
And a last thought, I would like to watch Alan Rusbridger and Janine Gibson on a new BBC breakfast, a less childish version than the current programme, more The Today programme but not as smug and combatative.....in fact Humphrys and Montague should be sent to run NOW.  Oh and not forgetting young James Murdoch, he should be made to give his MacTaggart lecture again in public.

Coaching

Just got in at 10pm having been in Birmingham VW Van Centre for the day.  I did promise to write a blog so I dropped the shirts in the wash, put everything on charge, went upstairs kissed girlfriend hello and goodnight, grabbed a mini French lager from the fridge and here I sit to write blog.  Having stopped at services on the M40 to email all of the issues that we went through during the day I find, upon my return to the house, some rather chunky emails in reply and issues from the other members of the team. Looks like we are earning our money and adding value, as always! A new system at work, unfortunately, is not like buying a flash new bit of software for your home computer.  In fact, when a new and complicated system is rolled out across different brands in different territories, the ultimate beneficiaries long term, often get huge pain in the short term.  “We shouldn’t have changed, the old system was better!”,you will often hear.  Funny thing is that when a new system is installed you never seem to hear “Oh we should go back to the system we had two versions ago”…….that must tell us something.  We might not see the improvement straight away at the sharp end, but when the transition is over and we are in full swing with a new system we might not notice just how well it is working!  Rather like the Honda advert that showed all of the bits of a car working that we take for granted.  Obviously I can’t mention Honda and would recommend everyone drive one of VW’s remarkable range of commercial vehicles.  I might say that slightly tongue-in-cheek but actually, the world of commercial vehicles has changed.  The centres selling the vehicles tend to be less flash than say, a striking Audi centre.  Take a look at the vehicles though, and the cliché white van is not as ubiquitous as you might think.  White van man gives way to ‘Mr Toffee Brown Kombi with an appearance pack and an ipod connection’.  When you look at the Caravelle, Caddy Maxi Life and the California, you will see that the world of vans is more colourful and that work and play, in this case, mix very well.

So how are we helping with NVS (VW Groups’ New Vehicle System)?  It has been in operation for a few months now, lots of early issues have been resolved, but users are sometimes slightly bewildered in some areas.  When you have a mix of issues at once it isn’t easy to establish whether it is user error, a technical issue, or an external factor that is causing your problem.  People need help in these instances and if they don’t get it, it can cost them money, and a lot of stress.  At the Big Team we are all people who like to get to the bottom of a problem and find a solution.  If we can’t own a problem and fix it, we like to make sure that we find the right person to take ownership and to fix it.  Some stuff that we do is just common sense, and actually, it is easier to come into a project fresh, with no axe to grind, and to assess the problem and offer help.  I was slightly worried on this one that people, having had problems, would be rather miserable towards us, as we are working with their new, and perhaps painful at times, solution.  Actually, people have been great and genuinely keen on learning best practice and any information that will help them to work better.  I also find that people are always keen to get their ideas and feedback to you and it is crucial that we demonstrate that they can contribute and shape their own solutions.  That is what happened today in Birmingham and around the other sites that our team attended.  Help, information, common sense, collaboration and happier more efficient workforce.   Alright, it always sounds simple when you right it down like that but small steps get you closer to where you want to be and if your problem is not being able to isolate issues, small steps can sometimes be big ones.

OK I am on my second mini French lager now so I better wrap up.

Poole tomorrow and next week driving Cheltenham-Cardiff-Basingstoke- Aberystwyth- Wrexham, helping poor souls understand how to protect their stock from mandatory transfer and this time next Friday I will be back on this couch having a mini French lager wondering if I can save enough for a van.  I’m not even kidding, and mark my words toffee brown is the colour you want this year.

viagra

This blogging thing is easy to not do, much like the gym,  it's not really hard to do it's just easy not to.   I think I have discovered that I am not that interesting.......by the way the telly is on, does everyone in America eat badly or do all actors think that their characters have to make lots of noise when they are eating.......my goodness I am boring.......no actor can properly act with an empty tea mug by the way, they get the weight and the balance all wrong, and the angle and duration of drinking, so if you want a realistic film, give them real tea or coffee.
My dinners ready i have to go, just had a meeting with a small woman with big breasts about websites, only got caught looking once which was an improvement.  Built my first proper website this week.  Went 9 holes in 1 under par and recieved a lot of spam about my car that I have advertised.  Every email is spam so I just reply to them all asking if they can provide me with a penis extension and source me some cheap viagra.  I don't think it will bother the scammers too much but it has turned an irritation into childish giggles.

VAT, CV and golf

After a major panicing session on life yesterday I spent a good deal of time on my acccounts.  I have my first VAT return to do, as registration took so long to come through.  I also have a company tax return and a personal one.  Actually doing them all pretty much at the same time seems to make sense so getting them out of the way this week.  One thing I have noticed about panic is that when the big picture seems terrible, a little effort chipping away at problems can often make the big picture seem much more manageable.
Finally got my CV onto two pages.  I find it very difficult to write formally about myself in a way that will emphasise my good points.  I would much rather write an overly honest CV and highlight my shortcomings, it would be a far better read.  I emailed it to JB who replied "Doesn't much look like a CV".  I took this like a man and thought better that we head this off before I send it out.  Turns out I had emailed her an old page of notes about updating my CV so after a little chuckle reading that I could be proud about my new two page creation again.
I said that small chips at problems can make the bigger picture seem better, so much so that I nipped up the golf club for a bit of practice and a few holes.  It might seem obvious that that was a bit naughty, when trying to get my working life together, but actually, after periods of not achieving much there is a lot I regret that I didn't do and forging towards golfing greatness is one of those things so it is on my list of to do's......a reward.......and a little distraction.
Walhampton Golf Club is a relatively new club, just nine holes and I suppose you would say quite easy.  If you know about golf you will know that a standard scratch score for your club should even  out any 'easiness'.  At Walhampton the standard scratch is 4 under par, so all the golfing snobs who moan at some of the short par fours are not realising that the 260 yard hole will actually need to be done in 3 not 4.  I love those holes.  In the winter they can be anything from a 5 wood but today they were full blooded drivers.  Out of the 3 shortish par fours I was on the green 2 of them and a few yards off on the other.  Two ladies were in front of me and the tactic is very much how close you can get the ball to them without being rude.  Obviously if you fly the green when they are on it, that is rude, and of course could hurt.  If you land it on the green just as they have walked off it it scares them enough and fulfills that childish part of me that wants these funny little women to be impressed with my game.  Everyone who plays golf thinks that they are better than they are.  It doesn't hurt like rugby so if you are not good at it you don't get bashed up.  You also play for yourself and golfers can be quite forgiving about how shiite they are and always remember the best couple of shots from a round, ah.....legend.
Circuit training next! awesome class.  The little dumbells aren't too taxing but all that running around with my 17 stone and situps, sheesh.  There is no mystery, you don't need scales, you just need to be fit.  My 'core' muscles are positively unsuitable for lifting a large mans limbs.  Some work to do there.  Visually the class was most excellent.  I always though that looking at girls in lycra was a bit stressful.  I think that was because I would panic that I needed to do something about it.  I am very happy in love so I can perv in a much relaxed fashion.  Only downside is that relaxed perving leads to slow withdrawal of the eyes when you are rumbled.  I am much less of a perv nowadays while outwardly appearing more of one!

Writers block

Hmmm........it would appear that my blog is crap.  I will seek the winning formula as it is too introspective at the moment, I need to look around for some subject matter rather than my own trousers