New Year Resolutions

Out with the old, in with the new. New goals that is. It's that time of year when we all (well many of us) make promises to ourselves that we are profoundly unlikely to keep. Some of these promises last barely a day, others may take time to fall by the wayside, but most inevitably do so before the circle starts again this time next year.

So here are mine, in no particular order.

• I will once again attempt to lose weight after the Christmas festivities

In reality, my annual cycle of weight gain (+/- 10lbs to a stone in old money) usually starts around late October following an annual family holiday that invariably includes lots of cake and alcohol. There's then a descent towards Christmas which is essentially more of the same but with added chocolate thrown in for good measure. Also it's about managing portions/portion size. My wife's a great cook and I don't like leaving food, so if there's any left over......

Hopefully if the weather improves, I'll be back to my couple of rounds of golf a week which will help - in the summer I was walking around 30-35 miles a week with two or three rounds of golf helping enormously.

• I will try to be less grumpy

This is a tricky one. I make this "resolution" every year, and try my absolute hardest to keep it, but never seem to be able to do so. To be fair my wife is a saint to put up with me! I blame my genes. My Dad was a grumpy old git too. Sometimes I play on it a bit, but I think my default demeanour is on the grumpy side of neutral. I'd love to be patient and laid back, but I'm just not. Sometimes I wonder if I'm borderline depressive (not that suffering from  depression necessarily makes you grumpy), but I certainly suffer from mood swings. Mind you, all the crap going on at the moment doesn't help.

• Break 90 in a round of golf 

I took up golf seriously when I retired at the end of 2019, having otherwise only played (hacked around) once or twice a year. My initial target was to break 100 shots per round. I managed to achieve that quite quickly, and now regularly manage mid to high 90 rounds. My next target though is to crack the 90 barrier. I've managed 91 a couple of times, so I know it's doable.

Let's leave it at that. Too many resolutions increases the chances of failure!

What are yours?

Twitter: @Statto1927 

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/people/simon_hiscocks/ 

Instagram: simon_hiscocks

Just an ordinary day

It’s barely after 9am on a very warm day in South Wales. The Met office yesterday issued for the very first time a severe heat warning covering much of the UK including this neck of the woods. Frankly, they’re a bit late - it’s been rostio here for a few days, knocking 30°.

Why is it that us British bemoan the cold and wet of our climate, only to moan like buggery as soon as it gets a bit Mediterranean like?

Anyway, no golf today (normally play on a Tuesday). Nevertheless, up with the lark, or at least when my wife got up to go to work at 7am. Breakfast on the patio (porridge - on a day like this 😂). Then watered the garden, fed the cat (again), emptied the dishwasher, changed a couple of plug sockets (been decorating you see), and brought the green waste bags in from the road. The other 5 recycling bags/bins won’t be emptied until about  2pm. Also sent a couple of emails in my role as cricket club Secretary. Just caught up on my social media feeds as well, although why I bother I don’t know. It’s either covidiots or sensible (ish) people retweeting or moaning about covidiots. 

Oh, and I’ve had a grump about next doors dogs, which bark incessantly driving me nutty. 

Just an ordinary day, and it’s only 9.20am. 

Available now!........or not

I remember a time many moons ago, waiting patiently for a ticketing website to go live with the sale of some tickets for an event my young son wanted to go to - I think it was some sort of wrestling event.  However, as soon as the tickets went live, they appeared to be sold out. Apparently it's quite a common scenario where a massively hyped event appears to sell out virtually immediately leaving genuine punters unable to get what they've been hoping for.

There are suggestions that large numbers of tickets get bought "up front" (how?) buy nefarious outs or other third parties who then sell them on (presumably at some additional profit). It's really frustrating for Joe Public, genuinely trying to buy a ticket for something.

More recently, I've experienced a similar issue in a different context. Tee times at my golf club have to be booked online, and until recently sue to COVID restrictions have been restricted to bookings up to 5 days in advance for 2 balls only (two players), rather than the usual 4 ball limit. Understandably this has put some pressure on the booking system. So at 10pm (when booking opens for the fifth day in advance) several hundred people are sat at their phone/tablet/computer waiting for booking to open to get a tee time. Several times I've sat watching the booking page refresh to open, only to see all tee times immediately booked as soon as the page refreshes. I've got fibre broadband, so my internet connection is excellent. But it's clearly not fast enough because pretty much very tee time is gone my the time the page has refreshed. 

At least the change to 4 balls from 26 May may ease the pressure somewhat, but I just don't understand how it happens. Is there some sort of secret early password trick?

And then today, Cardiff City released an retro shirt (see below) - much sought after and plenty of forward comms about this. The club's Twitter account announced in a tweet at 10am "It's Back", but by 10.03 when I had it in my basket and went to pay it had "sold out a few moments ago". Judging by the comments that were underneath that tweet I wasn't the only one unable to purchase.

This is either really bad luck on my (and others) part, a crap internet connection (no) or more likely ridiculously poor planning by Cardiff City in terms of their anticipated demand for this shirt. I suspect the latter, although whether it was just crap stock planning or an intentional let's keep numbers low and interest high is another matter (cynical me).

The point of this post I suppose, is that despite the wonderful technology we have at our disposal these days, a combination of poor marketing approach, poor availability and possibly poor systems continues to create frustration for customers willing and ready to part with cash.

Golf and lockdown

I know this is a first world problem whilst many people are suffering from the effects and impact of Covid-19 far more than me, but please tell me why I can't play golf in the lockdown?

I can exercise - but only if that exercise starts and stops at home.

Now the golf course will be shut 

I can't get in my car at home, drive alone (in my case about 8 miles to the golf club), get to the first tee and then play three and a half hours of golf in the open air, completely socially distant from my friends (I'm a bit wayward and frankly its easy to keep comfortably apart), walking around 6 miles in the process getting my exercise in a way that's entirely good for my mental health. Then get back in the car and drive home alone.

exercise - tick

social distancing - tick

sensible - tick

The "argument" I guess is that I could be putting undue pressure on emergency services if I have an accident on the way to or from the golf course. Not convinced. And yes I know I only have to wait two weeks before I can play again. 

But then logic and common sense has long been thrown out of the window by the powers that make these rules.

Until next time.... #isolationlife #staylocalsavelives

Haven't we all had enough of this?

Well, lockdown is back at least in Wales For 17 days (at the moment). But we're not calling it that. It's a circuit break, or fire break or loo break or something like that. 2020 has been bloody horrific so far, and there's no sign it's going to get any better soon. The UK Government and devolved administrations seem to be playing off against each other to score points causing confusion, irritation and general disbelief at how uncoordinated they are in dealing with a global situation, and frankly, nothing's really working. Statistics are being cast about left, right and centre and pretty much every theory, approach, or proposed solution has an alternate viewpoint with social media and the media in general being cast along with those who supposedly govern us as the triumvirate of fuel to the fire. 

Here's just some of the things that whatever happens, we'll remember 2020 for:

• Australian wildfires (nothing to do with coronavirus, unless you know different) but still pretty shit
• UK floods (as above)
• Coronavirus
• Covid-19
• Pandemic
• Herd immunity
• No PPE
• Wrong PPE
• Stay home
• Work from home
• Lockdown
• Government briefings
• Close the pubs
• Social distancing
• 2m or 1.5m or 1m (depending where in the world you live)
• R-number
• Toilet rolls
• Common sense
• Shielding
• Close the schools
• Covidiots
• No masks
• Next slide please
• Stay at home, Protect the NHS, Save lives
• Furlough
• Led by donkeys science
• Bleach
• Masks
• Anti-maskers
• Conspiracy theorists/deniers
• Stay alert, Control the virus, Save lives
• Rule of 6
• Go back to work (but work from home if you can)
• Stay local
• Open the schools
• Eat out to help out
• Household bubbles
• Support bubbles
• Extended houselholds
• Hands, face, space
• Track and trace
• Test and trace
• £12bn track and trace down the drain
• Leaks
• Local lockdown
• Tier 1, 2 and 3
• Circuitbreak
• Firebreak

Until next time.... #isolationlife #staylocalsavelives

Litterally inexcusable

My parents did a pretty good job of raising me and my brothers and sister I think. We were taught right from wrong, admonished (occasionally very severely when it warranted - and sometimes it was). One of the things ingrained to us from a very early age was not to drop or leave litter anywhere at any time.  It was ok for example to throw an apple core away as that was biodegradable, but anything not likely to break down quickly was safely stowed and brought back home with us.

When we were on holiday at the beach, the last thing we always did before leaving was have a look around to make sure that we left nothing but our footprints as the old saying goes. And that's stuck with me for life, and I hope is a behaviour passed on to my now grown up children. I can't abide people who disregard this and think it's ok to chuck or leave their litter or just chuck it out of their car window. It's a deliberate, lazy thing to do with no regard or respect for others and the environment. Just last week I was on a walk down a country lane near our house - at least a mile from the nearest shop/takeaway and miles from the nearest Starbucks and Costa, but within a hundred yards I saw a discarded Starbucks and Costa cup, a McDonald's food container and cup, and several beer and other cans on the side of the road. They don't get there by accident. Someone's taken a deliberate decision to throw those out of a car or van window.

So it's been with increasing but somewhat inevitable incredulity that we've witnessed scenes over the last week as people have left literally tonnes of litter on beaches around the country, in Cardiff Bay, at the Pierhead in Liverpool after "celebrations" for Liverpool winning the Premier League, and other places. 

Bournemouth Beach (Getty)

Cardiff Bay (Matthew Horwood)

Liverpool (PA)

 

Perhaps even more unbelievable are the "excuses" touted for this. That there aren't enough litter bins, that it's the local council's fault for not policing, or allowing too many people to congregate in one place. Those responsible are routinely described in the media as "revellers" or "beachgoers", when in reality many of them are ignorant individuals with no respect for regard for anything. They wouldn't (I'm assuming) leave their house in this state, but clearly think it's ok to leave this mess for others, often volunteers, to clear up, and they'd be the first to complain if they arrived somewhere looking like the images above. They're probably the same people that pick up their dog's poo in a bag and then hurl it into the bushes

All it takes it for one of their party to pack a bin bag in amongst their cases of beer, fast food, picnic bags etc, and put their rubbish in and take it home. It's not a difficult concept to grasp, but is clearly beyond the comprehension of these ignoramuses. 

Sadly, it's becoming more prevalent, and the en-mass exodus to beaches and other places we're seeing as a result of the easing of lockdown is undoubtedly contributing to this herd behaviour. "Someone else has done it so it's ok for me to do it".

It's difficult to know what the answer is. Littering is an offence, but the likelihood of anyone being prosecuted or even identified over this is so remote its inconceivable that it could happen. And if they were caught, a minor fine is probably the worst that would happen. It's been frequently suggested that fast food containers should have car registrations printed on them to discourage littering from drive through fast food places. It's only a small step but it would be a start, and whilst there are undoubtedly some logistics required, it's surely do-able.

For those that are caught, I did see a suggestions somewhere that we should bring back public stocks to shame them. But even if that's a good idea, and I'd vote for it, we'd need an awful lot of stocks. 

We need to change people's behaviour, but in today's "now" and "me" and "sod the rest of you" society, I can't see that happening any time soon, and that's really sad.

Until next time.... 

It's getting silly now

So another week or two passes and still the (not) lockdown continues. I have to admit it's all getting a bit silly now. Initially I welcomed the Welsh Government's caution as Boris and his troupe started lifting lockdown in England.  It all seemed to early, too soon whilst here in Wales we seemed to be playing a wait and see game.

Well, we've waited. England continues to ease the lockdown with today seeing the re-opening of non-essential shops. Inevitable, and perhaps rather sadly we've seen massive queues at shops like Primark (who don't have an online presence) so people waiting for their shopping fix can now be sated.

People desperate for their Primark fix: Credit BBC News

In England too, you can travel anywhere (within reason) and form a ‘support bubble’ with one other household if you live alone or are a single parent with dependent children - in other words, you are in a household where there is only one adult. All those in a support bubble will be able to act as if they live in the same household - meaning they can spend time together inside each other’s homes and do not need to stay 2 metres apart. Support bubbles should be exclusive - meaning you should not switch the household you are in a bubble with or connect with multiple households (from gov.co.uk)

Here in Wales we can't do any of that. We can only travel 5 miles (roughly). Nevertheless you wouldn't know it. I've been out and about on some local walks recently and nice that.

1. Traffic seems to be back to "near normal" levels
2. Penarth sea front was absolutely heaving this weekend
3. Cosmeston country park (where the large car park is closed off) saw cars lining the adjacent road as people parked up to go and walk there

No doubt a large element of that is down to the Dominic Cummings affair. He settle standard that the country can basically do what it wants to in spirit if not to the letter of the guidance.

It's ludicrous and whatever frustrations I have must surely only be exaggerated in local small businesses. I was also taking to a local business owner (florist) today. She's providing deliveries but is not allowed to open. However, the garage across the road sells flowers where people can walk in, buy flowers and pay face to face (with a screen in place granted). The florist is potentially losing money because she can't open and sell what the Texaco place across the road does as a sideline.

I know coronavirus hasn't gone away. I know people are still dying. But it has significantly lessened and the projected "second wave" off the back of VE Day celebrations, mass exoduses to the beaches etc don't seem to have had any adverse effect. Surely, we can loosen things up in Wales?

I'm desperate to see Mark Drakeford and the Welsh Government see some sense and offer the Welsh population some serious and practical solutions to easing of lockdown this week, but I fear that for whatever reason they are going to remain cautious.

At least football is starting back this week, so a bit of respite and semblance of normality, even if I can't be there to watch the Bluebirds.

Until next time.... 

27 Years

27 years ago at 1.15pm  on this day I married the fabulous Mrs H (or Miss B as she was then). We chose the end of May to get married as we thought the weather would be warm and sunny, and of course it rained!

It hasn't though dampened the last 27 years of our life together, which in many ways have passed by in a flash. Many of those who celebrated our happy day are no longer with us, but we also have many additions to the family who weren't with us then but of course now are, as the circle of life goes round and round.

It's been an brilliant 27 years when all said and done. I'm lucky to be married to such a wonderful, kind and loving person, and brilliant mother to our two now grown up children. She's someone who seems to bring out the best in everyone and I'm incredibly proud to be her husband. She is also amazingly tolerant of my occasional *cough* bouts of grumpiness (I put that down to my genes - thanks Dad, and watch out James), especially at this moment in time when lockdown is getting us all to a state of raging cabin fever. As well as reflecting on the past 27 years today, I'm looking forward to the future and spending the rest of my life with her.

Me and the wonderful Anne on our wedding day 29th May 1993

And 27 years later...

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

Cheque mate

Apologies dear readers for my tardy, brief and frankly lacking posts of the last couple of days. I've had other things on my mind (mostly trying to quell my anger around politicians and their aides).

However, it's a new day and I have something else to rant about 😀

Cheques. Remember them? About 10 years ago there was a plan to phase them out in 2018, but that got pulled when people realised that a lot of people, and primarily the elderly were, and were likely to continue to be dependent on them. You don't see them very often these days (we even pay our window cleaner and milkman via online banking (OLB) and Direct Debit respectively), but when you do the circumstances fall into one of two camps. You're either a payer or a recipient.

As a payer you have to pay for something via cheque. "What?" I hear you say. Surely there aren't places that don't accept card payment these days, and where the amount is too great for cold hard cash?

Leaving aside the increasing distaste amongst most people for coins and folding paper in favour of contactless - I last withdrew cash at the beginning of March and still have all of it in my wallet),  it's true that some places still don't or won't accept card payments. Primarily the reason given is the setup and fees associated with managing card payment that means that some, often smaller companies don't like the financial hit. However, this has been offset in recent years by systems such as iZettle that run off credit card sized readers that can attach to you phone (think Christmas market traders for instance). These can be set up at low cost although I accept there's usually a "per transaction" fee. So the argument that it's too expensive to take card payments doesn't really hold water.

The second scenario is when you're lucky enough to be the recipient of a cheque. If you're unlucky, this might be to offset payment you've already made, but the best occasions are when it's someone just giving you some money - it happens! But then the realisation hits you, that you've got to pay the darned thing in before you can get hold of that lovely moolah. and that's where things might become tricky.

I've recently been sent a cheque as a donation to the cricket club where I'm secretary. A lovely gesture (thank you to the donor, even though they're unlikely to be reading this). I'm also expecting a cheque from someone who doesn't do online banking so bank transfer is out, in respect of payment for something that I've already paid for on their behalf.

I've been a customer of my bank's OLB system almost since they rolled it out years ago. Despite some of the scare stories, I'm an advocate of OLB. I find it incredibly convenient, easy, safe and secure and increasingly feature rich. However, they don't cater for the paying in of cheques which feels like a big gap in their offering. I tweeted their customer service Twitter account this morning to enquire whether there was any likelihood of them having such a feature in the foreseeable future. To their credit they responded within minutes, but their response was negative - it's not something they are planning, at least any time soon.

They did suggest, not very helpfully, that I could visit one of their branches or pay it in via a Post Office, but obviously that wasn't my point. For one thing this would entail a physical visit to said branch or the Post Office, which rather flies in the face of encouraging online banking. But a visit to a bank it will have to be. However, with increasing branch closure (not to say reducing Post Office branch closures) and currently reduced opening times due to the Covid-19 pandemic, visiting branches is becoming increasingly challenging, especially if you have to work. It's a good job I'm retired and have the time to go.

Some banks do have this functionality within their OLB offering - it usually requires you to take a photo of said cheque and attach as an image, but that's got to be easier and quicker than getting in a car and driving to the nearest branch. Assuming it's still there and open of course.

Photo: wiseguys.co.uk

Out of interest, a quick Google can return a list of banks that do allow the depositing of cheques via phone. 

Banks where you can pay in cheques with your phone

• Halifax
• Barclays
• Lloyds
• HSBC
• Bank of Scotland
• Starling

Banks where you can't pay in cheques with your phone

• First Direct
• Monzo
• Nationwide
• Natwest
• RBS
• Santander
• TSB

Until tomorrow.... 

#isolationlife 

#stayhomesavelives

Better late than never

I’m writing this at half past ten in the evening. I’ve completely forgotten to think about writing a post today even though I have a reminder set on my phone, and in all honesty there hasn’t been anything particularly urgent occupying my mind  today, well not worth blogging about anyway.

Maybe it’s a more general reflection on my current state of mind, which is being bloody fed up of all this coronavirus malarkey. 

Sure, it could have been a lot worse. We’re all fit, well and comparatively unaffected by the virus (other than the frustration of lockdown). My son returns to work (virtually) tomorrow after several weeks on furlough. 

I’m looking forward to the Welsh Government announcing something positive tomorrow at their breifing, although the news tonight reported that any changes are likely to be ‘cautious’. 

Hopefully I’ll have something a little more constructive and positive to post tomorrow.

Until then

#staysafe

#stayathomesavelives

Broken Britain

I'm angry. Still angry. I don't often get angry. Grumpy yes, angry no. The Dominic Cummings affair though has pushed me over the edge, and judging from what I'm reading, hearing and seeing, many, many others.

Will BJ and DC now see the anguish, hypocrisy and anger they have caused over this matter? They probably have (if even indirectly - they probably have lackeys to do that for them), but are choosing to ignore it. I'm not going to go on at length - there's enough information, analysis and opinionating out there to go around with lots to spare.

And now Boris tells "England" that non-essential retail will be opening from 15 June, whilst here in Wales we remain ostensibly in lockdown.

I give up.

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

I've hit the wall

I've got nothing to blog about today. I'M FED UP and frankly I just can't be arsed.

I can't write about the garden (again). WellI could but you might be getting bored of that. I haven't taken any photos today (although I might have a blog plan for June based on photography). I certainly can't write about the current Dominic Cummings situation. Well again I could, but it'll just make me even madder than I am about it already, and I'm already taking medication for blood pressure!

So sorry folks, you're going to have to wait until tomorrow when hopefully something might have inspired the embers of an idea for a post.

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

Happy Birthday Dad

My Dad would have been 91 today. He died in December 2016 a week after after collapsing at home. He wasn't a well man by any means, but I don't think anyone expected that he wouldn't recover from that event. We all thought he was too stubborn and bloody minded to go that easily.

Born in 1929 when the world was a very different place, he grew up in Sale, Manchester. His father was variously in the army, a confectioner, and a school caretaker (he might also have been a bookie). The family endured a torrid few years in the 40's. The first of his two older sisters Dorothy, died in 1945 from tuberculosis at the age of just 22. Six months later his mother died aged 52, and on Boxing Day 1947 his other sister Joan also died of tuberculosis at the age of 26.

Aged 8, 1937

After a period working as a railway clerk, Dad joined the Royal Navy and served abroad during the Malay Emergency. It was in the Navy that he met my Mum, who was also in the Navy as a serving WREN.

He was a qualified sailing instructor (Front left)

A post sailing pint and a fag! (Standing, with cigarette)

On leaving the Navy he briefly worked for Littlewoods as a trainee manager before working for Mars, the confectionary company, initially as a salesman with a little van in the south of England (Hampshire and Wiltshire) but latterly as a manager on the chocolate line at Mars' large factory in Slough. We were never short of chocolate or Spangles (remember them?) in our house!  I can also recall the smell of chocolate that pervaded the air any time we drove near to the massive industrial estate where the Mars factory was located!

Dad's Mars van c1960

In late 1969 Dad left Mars for a manager's position at Geest (the banana people), where he was responsible for (amongst other things) making coleslaw. That move necessitated a relocation from Slough to rural Lincolnshire, a place where we lived for 10 years in the village of Donington. The part we lived in was wholly agricultural, and flat. Big sky, sugar beet, sprouts, cabbages as far as the eye can see! It can be a stark place, but I love going back there when we go to visit my elder brother who still lives close to where we lived. As an aside, and perhaps in a spooky foray into the future, I remember once coming with my Dad on a trip to Barry where the Geest ships sometimes docked. Now I live here. Spooky indeed.

A Board meeting. Dad top left. Think this was during his time at Geest
No computers or mobiles in those days!

After being made redundant from Geest in a move I don't think he saw coming, he had a short spell as a manager with the packaging firm Linpac, based near Goole on Humberside. Dad commuted there by car, around a 160 mile round trip, no mean feat in the 70's. I don't think he was ever particularly happy there, and in 1979 after much deliberation and input from all of us as a family, at the age of 50 he took a brave decision to quit and took a substantial pay cut to work as a Field Commissioner for the Scout Association covering Avon and Wales. He'd been heavily involved in scouting as a volunteer until then. So we uprooted again and moved to Chepstow. He worked for the Scout Association until he retired, but was highly respected and kept involved almost up until his death particularly through his massive network of contacts and my sister who also works for the Scouts in a roughly similar type of role.

In his Scout uniform of which he was hugely proud

As well as this work, he was also active in the local community. He was Secretary of the local Athletic Club for several years, played in the local quiz league, and sang in the Chepstow Male Voice Choir. He could be a truculent and antagonistic bloke at times, perhaps the embodiment of the "grumpy old git" (I think that's where I get it from). He was never wrong about anything in his eyes and the word stubborn was made for him. He was still driving until about a year before his death. When his licence was pulled for health reasons, he kicked up an awful fuss - he'd recently been berating other drivers (actually, skip the "recently") for driving too close to the white line as he was getting through wing mirrors at an alarming rate. He absolutely wouldn't have it that it was probably him not the other drivers.....

He loved his beer, cricket, the sea, dogs (of which he had many over the years), France, where he visited several times and had some dear friends, but above all he loved his family.

I miss him , and strangely (or not) I often have dreams where the two of us (and occasionally others) are travelling somewhere. I'm sure a dream psychologist would have a field day with that.

I'm not sure what he'd make of our current situation had he still been with us. I'm guessing that despite being in the vulnerable group on both age and health, he'd have still taken his dog out, and gone shopping himself.

A poor quality photo, but the last one I have of him, with my younger brother, about 3 weeks before he died

I will raise a glass to the "Squire" tonight.

Until tomorrow

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

The power of Twitter

A bit late today. Got caught up in other stuff and then have just been out to clap for the NHS!

The social media channel Twitter, can be a bit of a nightmare. People can post anything they like (pretty much), which is both good - because there's pretty much nothing off limits and you see some great stuff on there, and bad, because people often use it as a vent for their frustrations, anger, strong views, or fake news. It's often used as a ranting platform (or as much as you can rant in the 280 character limit), and there are some truly despicable people out there.

However, as always there are two sides to the coin. I've been a user for over 12 years, from when it was still in its infancy. Over that time I've posted almost 30,000 times and have massed a meagre 400 followers, although I do count a couple of well know celebrities amongst that number (God knows why). I've tweeted (and had a response from) an astronaut on the International Space Station, and follow most of the US, Canadian and European astronauts that have been up there for the last 8 years or so. As a breaking news platform it just about beats everything - you often read about stuff on Twitter before it hits any of the major news outlets, although as with everything else you need to be cautious), it's as subject to hoaxes as any platform.

I often use the platform as my first port of call on customer service queries. Most companies have a Twitter presence, and the public nature of the platform means every who follows me can see if I complain about company X, so businesses tend to be inclined to deal with problems perhaps a little quicker than if you revert to email for instance. It doesn't always work though, and some companies are either frustratingly silent or tend to post bland, unhelpful responses - Train companies are particularly good at this - complain that your journey is going badly and the train is crowded  and they'll come out with a "We're really sorry about that".

During the current pandemic it's been a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand you've got the pro-Government tweeters, vs everyone who thinks they've done a terrible job, vs the news channels who is seems are biased both towards and against the Government (you can't win in politics). And the there are ordinary, sensible people asking good questions, giving sound advice - one voice of reason I've started following during this time is oncologist Karol Sikora (@ProfKarolSikora) who has remained calm and objective whilst those elsewhere seem to be either spouting rubbish or defending poor decision making.

Anyway, today I used the platform to answer a question. A friend had asked me about a photo of a crayfish I took some while back, asking if it was a native or one of the introduced, invasive and destructive (to native species) Signal crayfish. I didn't have a clue and the two species look virtually identical, so it's hard even with a photo, but I knew Twitter would come up trumps.

I posted the photo (attached here), and asked Twitter to do it's work.

Probably a Signal crayfish

I cheated a bit by tagging Will Millard, (@MillardWill) someone I've shared a couple of tweets with in the past who's an angler and BBC presenter (and who incidentally lives in Cardiff). He told me what he thought, tagged someone else and within 5 minutes I had my answer. It's a Signal.

Since then a few more Twitterati have responded to my tweet confirming the initial suspicions.

Used this way, it's a great tool. I love it (as you've probably guessed), and probably spend far too much time flicking through my timeline.

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

The great insurance rip-off

I'm sure I've moaned about this somewhere, sometime previously, but insurance renewal of any description is an absolute minefield, and unless you're a savvy customer, a complete rip off.

Whether it's car, house, travel or any other form of insurance, having shopped around for the best price, when it comes time to renew your policy, existing customers are invariably whacked with increases (sometimes significant in their premium).

Insurance renewal - a minefield

My wife has received her car insurance renewal documents this week. Let's put some context in place. She's over 50 (hope I get away with that one), drives an unmodified, 2017 1.0 litre  Ford Fiesta, drives around 5k miles a year and has maximum (protected) no claims bonus, and thankfully no accidents in at least the last 5 years. An experienced and safe driver of many, many years. There's one other named driver on the policy (me), now north of 60 and driving since 1977 also with no claims.  All in all, you'd expect pretty low risk.

Her renewal quote is just over £400 - and that's with two additional discounts applied, the first because of her membership with a particular organisation and the second because I hold another LV insurance policy. It's a £30 hike on last year's premium (which in hindsight was also pretty steep).

Her current insurer (and let's name and shame here) Liverpool Victoria (LV) also doesn't include a courtesy car or breakdown cover.  Generally, we've found LV to be pretty good - we've had a number of car and house policies with them over the years, but this seems an outrageous cost given the car, personal circumstances and usage.

So off to one of the comparison sites I went. Trying as much as possible to give details for a like for like policy (not always easy), plus adding the option for a courtesy car if ever needed, the quotes rolled back in.

The cheapest quote came in at £147. That's £254 (63%) cheaper than she's been quoted by LV. Granted it was via a company I'm not familiar with. Some of the less familiar brands in comparison site results are often underwritten by one of the big boys - this one was owned by a broker an underwritten by Ageas who are pretty well known. The first well known name in the list (Churchill) comes in second at £165. There are a further sixty-six (66) quotes below her quoted renewal price with LV.

Now I fully accept there are many people out there who are loyal to particular brands, and that comparison sites don't always tell the whole story. I've had to claim with LV on two occasions in the past and found the process and their customer service exemplary, but whether it's worth a 63% premium is questionable.

Companies will also offer significant discounts to new customers rather than existing, loyal customers. Lure then in, and then hope that many will just stick with you. Insurance companies, and other companies - utility companies are the same,  rely on compliant, loyal customers who just renewal without questioning.

I'm betting, and I'd lay my house on this, if she rings LV to ask if they can reduce her premium there will be some wiggle room. Perhaps not much, but there will be some. It's also possible (though perhaps I won't put my house on this), that if she provides a like for like quote, it's possible that they might match it - I had some success with that on a house insurance quote (with another company) once. But even if they can't match it, she has the option to walk away. She won't lose anything - she can still get the same level of insurance, but she will gain - up to a £254 saving.

I'm also certain, that all things being equal, if she chooses to change, next years policy quote will also demand a new comparison search, but frankly, it's worth doing.

And the moral of this story is, the renewing any insurance policy (or utility), don't accept the first price you're given. Take the few minutes (and most of us have got some minutes at the moment) to run a quote through a comparison site. You just might be pleasantly surprised. If you don't, it's money down the drain.

Automatic insurance renewal - money down the drain

Just as an aside, when using one of the big comparison sites, remember that some companies aren't always listed, so you might want to go to heir site direct for a quote. As an example, Direct Line and Aviva won't appear on the moneysupermarket.com comparison site.

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

Change for change sake

Stay at home. Protect the NHS. Save lives.

It's a simple message, and pretty clear. You'd have to be an idiot not to understand "stay at home", even though it seems that more and more people seem to be flouting this pretty straightforward advice. And there's a lovely logo to go along with it just in case your'e in any doubt.

Very Ronseal

• Clear and unambiguous
• Stay home = what it says
• Red = danger

So, what to do eh? Well, let's change the message.

• Stay alert = Eh? What does that mean?
• Control the virus = Eh? What does this mean?
• Green = In my mind at least green is good. All systems go! But they're not.

Not quite Ronseal

Seriously, you have to ask who dreams this crap up. I'm sure the essence of this change is buried in the idea that the Government has to do something to demonstrate that things are getting better. But to confuse the message - especially when the message from both Scotland and Wales remains "Stay at home", truly increases the risk for confusion and mixed messages. It really feels like change for change sake.

• Do I stay at home and be alert?
• Do I only need to be alert if I go out?
• I can go out if I need to do something essential or exercise notwithstanding that...
• I have to stay local (Wales only)....even though I have to stay at home (Eh?). Unless of course I fancy nipping out to go to a garden centre, or B&Q, or KFC.
• What happens if I'm out and someone sees me being not alert? "Oi sonny. You're not being alert enough".

Surely they could have kept the stay at home message but adapted the exceptions?

Boris will undoubtedly be full of his usual bluster when he address the nation later, but it's clear that really he's only setting the scene out for what will be the case for England.

I'm afraid that these mixed and confusing messages are only going to increase the unease about what people should be doing. 

For once, I just wish the politicians would put their petty differences aside and work for the good of the nation. If the vast majority of the people I see posting on social media are anything to go by, there's a fairly obvious split. Those who are willing to put with the lockdown for as long as it takes, and those that are fed up with it all and just want to "get on" with their lives as normal. Giving a message that's not crystal clear about what we should be doing (either way) is only going to make matters worse, and increase the numbers of people who are interpreting "stay alert" as it's ok to get on with your life but just be alert. Whatever that means.

I might have calmed down by tomorrow.

Until then....
#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

Stuff. Just stuff, everywhere

A period of enforced isolation at home due to coronavirus should provide the perfect opportunity to tidy up around the place and de-clutter. However, the initial premise is based on everyone who resides in the same household having broadly the same understanding of what "tidy" actually means. This is not the case in our house. With two adult children still living at home, and all their detritus from 25 and 23 years on this planet respectively, let alone stuff that my wife and I have accumulated over 27 years of marriage and our own historical baggage, it's somewhat frightening when you stop and realise just how much "stuff" we have in the house.

I don't necessarily want to chuck everything away. But nor do I want to just move it to "sight unseen"  which is my son's preferred mode of operation. He recently tidied up his bedroom (mostly anyway), a long overdue operation that took him most of a weekend. But what he's sneakily done, is move all the stuff he didn't want in his bedroom into the spare room.

Neither is it the case that our house is particularly untidy. I think the phrase is "lived in", which with four adults occupying the place is understandable. The loft (and we have a large one) is always a good bet for stowing stuff, but again, all that's doing is moving the problem. I've frequently threatened to just chuck stuff away and see who'll miss it, and how long it takes for them to do so, but I've never quite had the nerve.

And then of course there's the emotional attachment of things. We've got more soft toys lying around than you can shake a stick at, despite the fact the youngest occupant of the house is almost 23. Children's book's that evoke memories of bedtime stories and might one day be suitable for grandchildren. Old school and university workbooks, that will never ever get looked at again are in boxes in the loft. Personally, as a gadget/tech "enthusiast" I have to own up to being reluctant to discard anything that has a plug of some description on it, or an old phone/camera/laptop as they all might be useful one day *cough*.  I did the other day chuck our all our old VHS-C tapes of various holidays, children's Christmas nativity shows etc, but only once I'd made sure I'd backed everything up to DVD and had a backup of that. Chucking those tapes out is something I've been meaning to do for about five years!

There's also other bits and pieces that we've just accumulated and duplicated over the years. We have at least four thermos flasks for example. As someone who always likes a backup, two would be ok, but four? Let's also not get started on clothes. I'm fairly smug in this area. I believe I probably have the fewest clothes of anyone in the house. Certainly since I've retired I tend to live in jeans, a t shirt and a fleece. I haven't looked at a suit or proper collared shirt for over six months and my footwear tends to consist of walking shoes if I'm out and about, slippers in the house and a pair of old tatty trainers in the garden. Even so, I hang on to shirts that I probably might wear once or twice a year, perhaps on holiday but wouldn't be seen dead in on a day to day basis.

And one further point on decluttering - whilst there's lots I'd like to chuck away, I also don't like the idea of just putting stuff into landfill. Yes there are charity shops, bag collections and e-Bay, but half the time charity shops don't want the stuff you have, and the e-Bay route can be a lot of effort for little reward. Freecycle or Gumtree are viable options though, but not always successful. I've put two or three pairs of decent walking shoes/boots on Gumtree with no response at all.

But sometimes you just have to bit the bullet. I'm not going to get all Marie Kondo about this, I'm not quite that OCD (I think) but that time is now. Right, where's the bin bags.....

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

April 28th: Exercise - what does it means for you?

Hurrah, it's raining!

There are a couple of pluses to this rain - and who'd have thought anyone would be saying that about rain after the persistent precipitation and devastating floods of a couple of months ago - yes it was less than seven weeks ago when our focus was on flooding not coronavirus!

Firstly, the garden needed rain. I know, only gardeners say that, but my clay heavy soil had pretty much solidified and and starting opening up cracks you could fall into following the recent dry spell. And it means I don't have to water my fledgling fruit and vegetable plants  for a few days at least as nature does the job for me.

Secondly, it might stop some of the idiots who think lockdown is a nice opportunity to get out and about, have a picnic, climb Snowdon or otherwise go beyond the spirit of the guidance about being allowed out once a day for daily exercise. Perhaps it's worth re-iterating the Government's guidance here. You can exercise:

Yes – provided it is alone or with members of your household.People must stay at home as much as possible to reduce the spread of the virus. But you can also still go outside once a day for a walk, run, cycle. When doing this you must minimise the time you are out of your home and stay at least two metres away from anyone else that isn’t from your household.

The key bit here for me is that "...you must minimise the time you are out of your home".   Interestingly in relation to cycling, the website cyclist.co.uk initially said on 24th March shortly after lockdown was announced, that

No guidelines were given as to how long or how far the ride could be although with limited services and restaurants and cafes shut, it would suggest rides are to be kept short and close to home

And on 24th March, Wales updated it's guidance to say that:

Cycling for exercise in Wales has been restricted to rides that are within reasonable walking distance, as the Welsh Government publishes new official guidance that prohibits long bike rides for leisure and exercise.'Cycling should be local, as a rule of thumb limited to travelling no further than a reasonable walking distance from home,' the new guidance states

Returning more generally to individual daily exercise, the challenge is that for one person it might be a 5 minute turn around the block , whilst for others, perhaps more used to bigger bouts of exercise a 10 mile run might be what they deem to be their daily exercise. Whether a 10 mile run or 50 mile cycle is what the government meant by daily exercise is another thing. I know that every time I step out of the door at the moment I feel guilty, even though I'm only going for my turn around the block or at most a 2 mile circular walk.

And so to more mundane matters. I said a couple of days ago that I'd kicked my procrastination in respect of decorating into touch and bitten the bullet. Well, I'm pleased to say that bar a couple of minor snagging issues the living room is complete, and very please with it I am too. It's been far too long since this room was re-decorated. I was looking at some old photos the other day and I can see this was last done probably done....well actually, I'm not going there, it's too embarrassing.

Before (top) and after....next!

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

April 27th: Who to believe?

Well before anyone had ever heard of coronavirus/Covid-19 we were hearing about "fake news". It's not new either - it's probably been around since humans first started communicating with each other, but as communication channels have evolved, it's certainly become more visible.

Fake news is the sharing of misleading or downright wrong information, hoaxes for various purposes.  At one end of the spectrum it might be for sensationalist headlines to attract news "consumers" (think tabloid headlines, especially of things like weather headlines. On Twitter I follow meteorologist Liam Dutton who regularly lambastes the Daily Express weather "columnists" about their sensationalist, and usually wholly inaccurate weather warnings which he argues are merely "clickbait" designed to get people clicking on the links to drive access to content. At the more amusing end of the scale are things like the football transfer silly season when X footballer is reported to have been seen at Y club. A vaguely personal example is of a relative of mine, Barbara Archer who starred in several films including as Rosie the bargain at the Black Swan Inn  in the 1964 film 633 Squadron and the 1958 classic Dracula with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. She was once reported and photographed on a red top newspaper as driving a flashy American car and living the high life whilst her husband rode a bike and had to have fish and chips for his supper (or something like that), but according to my mum who was Barbara's cousin, she couldn't drive at the time and her husband didn't own a bike! The fish and chips bit might have been real!

Then there are the conspiracy stories. Man didn't actually and on the moon. The earth if flat, we're just being shield from that fact, the Queen's a lizard etc.

But there's a more serious side to this where media channels are manipulating the spread of disinformation for a much darker purpose, and the problem is that it's getting harder and harder to unravel the truth from the lies. The current President of the United States Donald Trump of course is a proponent of everything is fake news unless it come from him, although as we've seen, some of his information is clearly fake. Think bleach as a cure for coronavirus.

Yesterday some social media outlets had posts suggesting the first participant in the coronavirus vaccine trial had died a few days after having been administered the trial vaccine, when in fact she's fit and well.  It appears this story emanated from people who are opposed to vaccines.

There's also much contention about what's being reported regarding the statistics around Covid-19, not just in the UK, but worldwide. It may well be that what's being reported is not wrong per se, but rather it's being manipulated to provide a specific message, or to avoid giving a specific answer to a specific question.

Who are our trustworthy news sources? All my life I've trusted the BBC. But there are clearly people that don't. Some argue the BBC is too supportive of the Government. Conversely some argue it's constantly attacking and undermining the Government. You can't win. 

I'm sure that such a debate could (and probably) will go on for a very long time about fake news, and what can or can't be done to control it, or even whether it should be controlled (free speech and all that), but for the moment, the difficulty I and I suspect many others will have to continue to wrestle with, is, who do we believe?

If I'm not careful I'm going to go round in every decreasing circles with this post, so I'll just leave this here, but urge you - don't believe what you read without checking it.

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

April 20th: Apologies, data and bread

Firstly an apology to those who got excited about yesterday's Starlink post and went out last evening to look for the supposedly excellent pass at around 10am (I know my sister and her family did).

It was a very disappointing. Starlink satellites were visible, but they were much fainter and much more widely spaced than the night before. Those who know about these things better than me say it's very hard to predict exactly how "good" one of these passes as the satellites move towards their final orbit, unlike the International Space Station passes which are very predictable. On the upside, a better pass is predicted at around 9pm this evening. I also understand there's a launch of the next batch (60) of Starlink satellites tomorrow (Wednesday) in the US, so there's a chance we might get to see an even better "string of pearls" pass a day or so later. And remember, we're also in the middle of the Lyrid meteor shower which peaks tonight and into the early hours of tomorrow morning, so if you've got nothing planned, just go out in the garden tonight and look up. You might see a spaceship, and you might see meteors. Assuming the sky is clear, you'll definitely see loads of stars!

How easily do you give up data?

Barely a day goes by when I don't see and get irritated by a Facebook post from someone imploring me to fill in a list along the lines of:

"I'm bored during lockdown. I bet none of my Facebook friends will do this, but just for a bit of fun let's see who does. Then share your answer with all your friends"

Things like:

1. Your favourite colour
2. Name of your first pet
3. Best holiday destination
4. Your favourite meal
5. Colour of your car
6. Month you  got married
7. Your computer passwords

Ok I made the last one up, but had I not, I suspect there might be a few people out there gullible enough to do it! 

Whilst these seem like a bit ion innocent fun, in reality, these sorts of "challenges" aren't your pals idea. They've more than likely been instigated by persons unknown as a co-ordinated way for someone to "scrape" data about you. For example, if you filled in the top five answers in the first example, everyone (including the people that instigated this) knows that you like blue, you had a pet called Bertie, you like going to Ibiza, your car is red (why didn't you buy a blue one if it's your favourite colour?) and you got married in September. Imagine that list being 20 or more items. That's a lot of information about you. Then imagine you sharing that list with everyone of your contacts, and they sharing with every one of theirs and so on. Imagine how many people freely giving up data about their "favourite things" that is (incidentally, that's also a bit like how coronavirus spreads so quickly which is why you should be staying at home!).

And all this can (and most likely is) used at the very least for tailoring marketing advertisements towards you. Worse, it could be used by unscrupulous individuals (yes I know some people think marketeers are unscrupulous, but let's not go there), to start mining accounts for passwords. Too many people use basic passwords based on their favourite things, and also repeat those passwords over multiple accounts, so with enough people filling these in, some people will inadvertently leak their passwords, or at least give people a head start when it comes to cracking them.

That's why I don't fill these things in. It's not because I'm a grumpy old git (although that may be true) and I don't want to engage with my "friends". Honest.

Made soda bread again today. Looks like a better effort than my first one a week or so ago. Only time will tell - tea-time!

Home made bread

And finally, my son had a blender out this afternoon making iced coffee. The following short video on slo-mo on an iPhone shows what happens in a blender when there's water in it. Quite transfixing.

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives