I'm quite a traditional person. After all, on which other day can we sing that hymn?

my church is quite modern but we're still having that hymn as the first hymn but in the guise of 'Jesus Christ is risen today'. i only know this because i'm playing in the worship band tomorrow and the worship leader just happened to arrange it so i have the tune in it.

i like being only one of two clarinettists at my church.

we're also finishing the service with 'Thine be the glory' which i just so happene to be playing the melody in as well.

Hope you enjoy playing tomorrow, Rach. Easter Sunday service is always special. I shall attempt to get up for the 6.30am sunrise service, which is being held at Donnington Castle, a rather romantic ruin just outside Newbury.

i will do. i tend to play a lot for most of the special services at my church. and ooh, ouch! Have fun getting up.

i think i should go to bed. i've getting up at 8 tomorrow and i am most definitely not a morning person.

Having a lie in, eh? We needed to be up a little earlier than usual on a Sunday morning - choir introit at 09.15 is the Hallelujah Chorus, so we need to be warmed up for those top As!

i have a rehearsal at quarter past 9 for the worship band and yet i only got up about 10 minutes ago. (oops.)

Hope you haven't got far to go, Rach!

you're a bit late barry. that post was from yesterday.

i live like 10/15 minutes walk from my church and left almost straight after i posted.

Neither service I went to yesterday had 'Christ the Lord is risen today' ! But both did have 'All ye that seek the Lord who died', along with plenty of other Easter hymns

I really need to be frying the egg in the frying pan, not on the hob.. missed the pan! Oops nevermind...

Phew!

I have come to the unsurprising conclusion that one can have two of the following three things: sleep/good health, terrible time management, and getting enough work done. Lately I seem to have eschewed the first in favor of the latter two, with a bias towards the second

At the risk of generalising; do you not think that 'creative' and 'artistic' people tend to have poor time management skills, and are less well organised than others?

SB

Not necessarily: I do know people who are 'articstic' but are extremely efficient people as well.

I think it's more of an issue around the modern trend for everything to be "now" placing artificial (and often unreasonable) demands on us. In that respect Mediterranean culture has a lot to recommend it, but it is frowned upon by the finger-wagging northern Europeans (including us).

There is a modern trend in work for everthing to be "faster, sooner, cheaper". It's not founded on any reasoned basis but macho managemetn whim. Unfortunately, there people seem oblivious to a well-known triangle that will not go away: cost:function:time. You can nail any two corners of that triangle, but if you do, the third one move out. So nail time and cost and function has to be reduced; nail function and cost and time has to increase (because you can't pay overtime etc); nail time and function and cost has to go up (more people, overtime etc).

What perhaps many of us are guilty of is not planning enough and working out what is feasible and when: we make rash promises in our desire to be helpful and perhaps forgetting the other things already in our diaries.

EDIT: typos.... sigh... it gets worse

I spend a lot of time working in Mediterranean countries, and whilst the work ethic there may frustrate those of us in northern Europe, the people there clearly enjoy a better and less stressed quality of life than their counterparts here in the UK, even though they may be less well off.

Sadly, I think far too many people today have become afraid to say when they have more work to do than they can cope with. Similarly, far too many people are afraid to be seen going home before their boss does, or even to take their holiday entitlement, in case anybody should think they don't have enough work to do.

SB

I don't really know whether France counts as a Mediterranean copuntry. The French claim to be a Latin race - even M. Sarkozy claimed that on television a while ago. But geographically France is at the crossroads of the north and south of Europe.

My experience after living here since 1985 is that the French are extremely stressed. The education system is very very competitive and stressful, getting and keeping a job is a challenge and those of us who have jobs are definitely overworked. Suicide rates among the young are high. The administrative system is a nightmare. My feeling is that one can get the impression that southerners are less stressed than northern Europeans but that this is not really the case. The only people I come across who are not at all stressed are those English expatriots who have plenty of money and are either not working at all, or working very little because they don't need to. This is far from the case with all expatriots - I know some , like me, have to work pretty hard to survive.

The more I see of this the more I come to think that humankind must radically rethink its values - but I haven't the foggiest idea how that can be done. Those who have the money have the power and if those who haven't the money start a revolution the result will be ###### and no better in the end. I am not very optimistic today!

I decided last year that while my job could rightly demand 100% of whatever it needed from me, it no longer had the right to demand 150%. So now if I have to work out of hours or on weekends, that time comes out of weekday work-time. I was a lot happier after I did that and much less resentful.

To be fair, I work in rather different 'industries' to you, so I probably see a very different picture.

However, I do know friends who run small and medium sized businesses in Mediterranean countries, and those in France in particular complain bitterly about the amount of time they have to spend filling in forms and attending to all kinds of unnecessary bureaucracy just to be allowed to work and pay taxes.

A lot of people suffer stress caused by the need to meet impossible deadlines, (usually in an effort to save time or make money for somebody else), but many more suffer stress caused by relentless form filling, which in most cases I would argue is entirely unnecessary.

Unfortunately, government departments, banks and insurance companies thrive on bureaucracy, and it doesn't help that no two departments ever seem talk to one another, and when they do, they usually get the message wrong!

I would certainly agree that humankind needs to radically rethink its values, but the question is how?

The fact is that much of our current workload, the pollution we create and the natural resources that we use is self inflicted and entirely unnecessary. One of the worst offenders in my view is the 'just in time' philosophy, where nobody makes or buys anything until they know it is needed, whereupon it must be made and delivered to the other side of the world by 9.00 am the next morning! This philosophy clearly has some advantages, but the real cost of transportation for what are often very small devices must be immense.

Perhaps our lives have become rather like certain computer operating systems; unnecessarily bloated and overweight. The obvious answer would be to streamline the way we live and work, but that would leave a lot of bureaucrats without a job, which just wouldn't do.

SB

hahaha this is me I have terrible time management skills and spend a lot of time "day dreaming". Would much rather be playing with my cars or music or writing fiction than getting actual work done. Is it any wonder I failed massively at any sort of "corporate job"?

Yet, I run my own business which pays for my house and my toys, so being a day dreamer can't be all bad ... can it?

On a related note, I received a 'phone call from my bank this morning querying some foreign transactions following a business trip to Turkey last week.

The lady first asked me to confirm my full name, date of birth, my mother's maiden name and bank sort code 'for security purposes'.

None of these are state secrets, and I can recall all of them from memory, so I willingly complied. However, I then asked the lady if she could identify herself so I could be sure that she really did work for my 'high street bank', (think of a turquoise colour), and was not a fraudster. She refused on the grounds of 'data protection'.

I then asked if she could give me the name of a payee to whom I had paid a specific amount on a specific date. She again refused on the grounds of data protection.

OK, please can you give me your name, and the office that you work in, I asked? No, she replied, "my name is private information, and I am only allowed to give you my extension number".

This all seems very one sided to me. My high street bank can phone me from a withheld number to ask me for all sorts of private information before it will allowing me to spend my own money, but I have no way of knowing whether the caller is genuine or not. Surely there must be a better way?

SB




I can relate to that too.

And like you there was no way that I could fit into the corporate mould; but I have run my own business for the past twenty years, so there must be a moral to this story somewhere?

SB

I had a call from the bank a few months ago saying they thought my debit card had been compromised.
I was very reluctant to give them any information as I thought that the bank were unlikely to phone and ask for those sort of details.
I then telephoned the bank to confirm that the call was genuine and to alert them to the fact that I'd had the call in case it wasn't. They then put me through to the person who'd originally called and who sounded as though she thought I was a bit stupid to have done this!

There was a comic who commented on this. The comedian went through the same process, and thought the same thing.

So when they asked for some form of identification from the caller, they were rejected on the grounds of data protection. When he asked why this was so when he was asking about his own details, the reply was 'Because we cannot be sure that you are who you say you are' (this being after a lengthy series of security questions to affirm who he was).

You can see where it was heading.

I've had similar calls from the same bank, and when I've asked them to identify themselves they've always been able to do it - digits from my account number, recent transactions or standing orders or letters from other personal information. It's never been a problem nor have they given any indication of finding it "odd".

The fraud protection calls I've had have been automated, and listed the last 5 transactions I've made (including the one that triggered the call) for me to confirm. I can't think of anyone other than my bank who would have that information. The last call came through exactly as I was ringing off from the call making the "suspect" transaction.

I'm having a bit of a laugh looking through Flame Warriors.

Which one are you?

^^^ I am Bliss Ninny

I'm a bit worried I'm also terrified in case there are any Toxic Grannies here - I capitulate now

the cat in the Bliss Ninny cartoon does even look a bit like mine. See, there I go again

Having a do-nothing sort of week (I need a break). Been watching one of the Titanic documentaries called 'The band played on'.

Very interesting, but one annoying item for musicians. They show some footage from the classic 1950s film and also some footage obviously shot for the programme.

In the 1950s film, the actors playing the musicians either knew how to play, or were well tutored. The modern actors superficially look the part, but it all falls apart if you play a stringed instrument: wrong bow hold for the violinists, cellist holding the bow like a German doublebass hold and sawing the bow in a curve and left hand completely wrong.

I don't want to nit-pick but if they can spend all that money on creating a set for the film-shoot, they can at least spend money to engage a musical advisor to get it right!

EDIT: having fixed some typos, I think I should creep away quietly...

Shouldn't laugh but I did....Magnetic Hamster

I'm not a Toxic Granny, don't worry

Just done a quick hour on piano and feel really tired now, !

I need to sell my car. I've been to a couple of smaller garages that specialise in "better" cars and also buy cars in. In both cases they were shambolic badly organised places. I know I'm an IT system designer with a professional qualification in business analysis (so perhaps a bit more aware of these issues?), but surely people can organise their businesses better? They seem absolutely clueless about how to create a good impression, customer liaison etc etc. Unbelievable

I sometimes wonder how business survive and days like to today reinforce that view.

I don't want to get off this train. It's wet out there :-(

Tenor Viol, PM me re your car (could know someone interested, this is the Merc, right?) and also the garages, I find it very interesting how customers view car sales places, as I do one day wish to open a small garage specialising in classics.

That sounds familiar...

Yes, I had a phone call from a bank this week - woman left a message on my answerphone and asked me to call back on a mobile phone number. So eventually I phoned back. And we went through the rigamarole that is outlined in the above posts (more or less).
So I asked her why I should be phoning a mobile number - she clearly had my details etc because she was talking about the account and calling it by the proper name - but I felt that I couldn't verify anything because it was a mobile number. Apparently she moves between one branch and another. But I'm not sure about this business of using a mobile number - doesn't fill the customer with confidence - why not use a landline in the branch so that we can identify the number.

Went out with my dad today to help him look for a new car. He's not really interested in cars and wanted an automatic. He was dealing on a Focus 1.6 Auto which in my opinion was not in good condition but it was within his tight budget of about ?1500.

After looking around what must have been about 10 cars that were all badly looked after, I noticed an S reg Mercedes CLK with a "for sale" sign in the window. Went over and in the window the ticket read ?1795. Turns out it had 81K with full history, 3 previous owners, auto, 2.3, full history and all the toys.

Took it out for a test drive, came back and offered ?1300, had to come up to ?1450 but thats dad sorted with a properly nice car for peanuts!

Lucky dad

How can a 14 year old car have 81k on it? I do 22k per annum

My 10 year old car has 45k on it... I only do between 4 and 5k a year, and its previous owner did even less..

Hmm... I do 68 miles a day going to and from the office....

I used to, and didn't mind it to be honest. Did a lot more miles back then! Possibly why all my old rubbish cars died... Now I live a 5 min walk from work, and just use the car for shopping and visiting parents. I don't enjoy living that close to work mostly though... Too easy to get roped into "extra" things!!

I do about 10-12,000 per year but split over 4-5 cars!

My mum is now eyeing the CLK for her daily, ! No doubt I'll have to take her car shopping ... "but the 430 is only a thousand more and has a glorious V8 ...." hahaha! That'll be a three grand bargain, love searching for absolutely cracking little cars and cheap prices.

Especially when a lot of peoplesay "how can you afford "x"?" I'm like because it was cheap, lol. Whilst I'm not really into modern stuff, I do seem to have a soft spot for an XKR, which can be picked up for ?6-7K SUCH a lot of car that is. Supercharged Jag for monkey money, oh yes please

To live within 5 minutes of the office would put me in the very expensive part of rural Cheshire. Average house prices in Knutsford? GBP420k. Average in Mere (1 mile north of Knutsford) - GBP816k. Average in Goostrey GBP 336k.

Average where I live? A lot less!

Definitely worth it then
Luckily my work is in affordable area for me, and where I was commuting from was the expensive area!!

You can get a lot of car for your money right now if you look in the right places!

Some years ago I went out planning to buy a new Vectra. It wasn't what I really wanted, but it would be new, had a full guarantee, and would do the job.

When I arrived at the main dealer there was a pristine looking six-month old 2.5 V6 Omega on display. It was an ex-demonstrator model with lots of extra goodies for rather less than I had planned to spend! I kept the old girl for ten years and did well over 100,000 miles in her, so I must have made the right decision!

Thinking about it, I have never, ever bought a new car yet, and I don't have any plans to do so.

SB

It has been really hectic so far today at work.

The analogue TV signal has been switched off.

Compared to the rest of the UK, London hasn't coped well with this...

Ours doesn't get switched off until September.

We have been using the digibox thingummies for a while now, and have no problems with them, but I am rather annoyed that our expensive Panasonic HDD Video recorder will become virtually useless after September, and there seems to be nothing we can do to upgrade it.

SB

I have just completed some paperwork, that once sent off and processed will make me self employed.

Well done. Join the club. Was it voluntary?

SB

My colleague told me that if I contacted a particular company they could help me set up as self employed and I would take home more of my earnings.

I contacted the lady and after going through everything it turned out I should take home about 25-30 GBP a week more than I do now.

So tommorow I need to post off my completed form and copy of my passport and wait for them to set everything up. I will no longer been getting paid through an umbrella compnay.

Also it was totally voluntary.