Apprenticeship wages, and the missing million

I usually refrain from this kind of thing, so if you want to pass it by, feel free. [tl:dr injustice is unjust]

Blind Spots when Parking

Another sunny day in Aldridge, home of the Aldridge School of Creative Parking.

Popped into Tesco this morning during a quiet moment, and came out to this lovely bit of parking. Yes, it’s on double yellow lines. No, it isn’t actually blocking anyone in, but…

I suspect the driver failed to spot the empty spaces in the car park. That’s a heck of a blind spot. Not even to have checked before occupying the road seems a pointless act of hubris.

Wheelchairs, pushchairs and mobility scooters can’t get by you, drivers have their line of sight reduced and you affect the flow of traffic along the road. While there are empty spaces in the car park? You qualify for at least a slow hand clap.

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Vive la difference!

After my recent mini-rant over the poor quality of BHS Christmas shopping I feel it’s time to make it clear I’m not entirely made of humbugs.

Three Colours Yellow

Please forgive the following rant.

We live in a world of bright and simple colours.

Driving us all to Distraction

Well done to the Express & Star who this week uncovered the purchase of a brand new Jaguar for use as an official car by the Mayor of Walsall, and the subsequent demands that he boycott its use.

Not the actual car in question, although it is better looking.

Brownhills Bob wrote a suitably scathing post about it.

The Secret to Success… in a couple of hours.

Do you hate working for “The Man”? Do you wish you could work for yourself and be your own boss? Why not pay me lots of money to learn how to do just that? I’m assuming you haven’t got huge resources at your fingertips to research my past and check my credentials are OK, and when you notice that I drive a recent model BMW you’ll instinctively understand I’m self-made.

Taking Responsibility

It warms my heart to see the media reporting on the public and frankly humiliating moves by an ex-HBOS chief in the light of a recently released report.

He’s given back his title, taken a financial hit and basically made all the right noises.

Top ten off the bottom of the deck, 2012

This year has been utterly devastating for some, and thoroughly elating for others.

Rather than get a warmly self-congratulatory list of personal achievements together, it seems much more apposite to pick out ten abject failures (some mine) to celebrate the end of an interesting year.

Currys – shopping made simple, customer service made more tricky.

What I had to write to them today – Currys the fantastic white goods retailer have let me down and I feel like a rant…

Dear lovely customer service folks,

This e-mail might sound a bit harsh. It’s basically a complaint because what you sold me as a service policy seems to have been downgraded since I bought it, so now the big promises on the paperwork aren’t actually being delivered. It’s like buying a comprehensive burglar alarm, only to discover a guy in your kitchen one night helping himself to your beer because the wiring that detects the back door opening has been disconnected at some point since installation.