....but that is exactly what the Echo arena tried to do this weekend, when they decided to pull the plug on their scheduled pantomime, Sleeping Beauty.
The Friday performance was billed as a preview, so while the cancellation of that performance was bad, there is always a risk that there could be teething problems. To cancel the Saturday matinee with 40 minutes notice was, however, scandalous. It was our grand daughter, Ava's, first ever panto and she was inconsolable as was her mother. Ava had on her Princess Aurora dress and tiara and had really been looking forward to going. We were just one of hundreds of families who were in the same boat. Just what do you tell the little ones.
The panto had been rocked earlier in its build up, by the news that its star Andrew Lancel had been arrested for alleged child sex abuse claims. He stepped down to be replaced by Charlotte Milchard.
One line of reasoning for the cancellations was that she had not got up to speed with the part.
The setting for the performances is the riverside big top, and the technical difficulties for which the cancellation was blamed relate to the Christmas market and festival component of the tented village. It may be, of course, that they just hadn't sold enough tickets!!
So, off to the box office to get a refund, and I knew as I approached the window that it was not going to go well. Sure enough, as my name was not on the bottom of the tickets, I could not have a refund, 'they may have been stolen sir'. Liverpool really does let itself down sometimes, and it tries so hard to cast of the chains of its past.
The tickets are now in the post with a serious letter of complaint and claims for the £15 of parking charges which my party paid expecting to stay for 3 hours, not 30 minutes.
Santa was able to work his magic, however, and we managed to pick up tickets for the evening performance of Cinderella, at the Liverpool Empire. Ava changed into her Cinderella ball gown, the production was spectacular and at the end of the day we all lived happily ever after. Ho ho ho!
Monday, 17 December 2012
Tuesday, 11 December 2012
Hoo wants a Hooch
Its strange when a bit of your past comes back to haunt you, but that's what happened on Sunday.
I had had a very productive morning at the golf club. My partner, Frank, and I had come second in the annual turkey trot which meant the Christmas dinner was taken care of. As the name implies, the prizes were turkeys, so just the beef and ham to worry about now, which is useful.
I then decided I would join number 2 son in the local pub, and that's where I had deja vu all over again. The bar staff were all wearing t-shirts to promote the relaunch of the alcho pop 'Hooch'. Now when I was in the last years of my rugby career the older members of the team would assemble on a Sunday in The Prince Blucher on Twickenham Green, and play spoof in Holty corner.
For those not familiar with spoof there is a wikipedia explanation which summarises it better than I could here. In essence, the first person to successfully leave the game goes to the bar and orders the drinks, the last person remaining then has to pay for them!! In every case our nominated drink was a bottle of orange Hooch with a shot of vodka poured into it. We may well have had five or six rounds of spoof on a particularly well attended Sunday session, which meant the first part of Monday morning could be particularly fuzzy.
I wonder if it will make a comeback?
I had had a very productive morning at the golf club. My partner, Frank, and I had come second in the annual turkey trot which meant the Christmas dinner was taken care of. As the name implies, the prizes were turkeys, so just the beef and ham to worry about now, which is useful.
I then decided I would join number 2 son in the local pub, and that's where I had deja vu all over again. The bar staff were all wearing t-shirts to promote the relaunch of the alcho pop 'Hooch'. Now when I was in the last years of my rugby career the older members of the team would assemble on a Sunday in The Prince Blucher on Twickenham Green, and play spoof in Holty corner.
For those not familiar with spoof there is a wikipedia explanation which summarises it better than I could here. In essence, the first person to successfully leave the game goes to the bar and orders the drinks, the last person remaining then has to pay for them!! In every case our nominated drink was a bottle of orange Hooch with a shot of vodka poured into it. We may well have had five or six rounds of spoof on a particularly well attended Sunday session, which meant the first part of Monday morning could be particularly fuzzy.
I wonder if it will make a comeback?
Tuesday, 4 December 2012
My day in Court
I have already alluded to my dislike of speed camera's. I see them as a money making vehicle much more than an accident prevention measure. I am also proud of my clean driving license.
So imagine my frustration when a fixed penalty notice came through my letter box indicating i had been caught speeding on the M62 motorway. Now the speed I was doing ironically was 62mph in a designated 50mph area designed to encourage cars to slow down as they approach the Rocket intersection at the end of the motorway. Clearly I was decelerating, but not fast enough for Councillor Merseyside and his chums!
My period of grumpiness did not, however, cloud my thought process, and on further investigation of the summons, I noticed the time was inconsistent with the actual time I had been driving on the M62. As things would have it I had been travelling from London via the M6 toll road and had a toll booth receipt timed for exactly the same time as the alleged speeding offence. It was impossible for me to be in two places at once.
Further research confirmed what I had suspected. That morning the clocks had gone back an hour, and while the toll booth technology had coped, the speed camera had not. My initial representations to the Merseyside speed enforcement team met with a party line response. Apparently there is case law to allow the operatives to adjust the speed camera when next the film is changed. I was in impish mood however and indicated to them that it should be tested again in court as the fact the clock was incorrect could sow seeds of doubt that the speed gun calibration was also inaccurate. Time to mobilise my in-house legal team.
The case was initially adjourned to allow the CPS to assess whether they wished to progress it. At the next hearing they indicated they did, but would apply to re-issue the summons with the correct time on it. Come the third hearing my solicitor argued that they were out of time to do such a thing. They have six months from date of offence apparently. The prosecutor offered no counter argument so reluctantly the magistrate presiding had to throw the case out. As a bit of a bonus, he awarded us costs.
What goes round comes round, however, and I have just got another notification of prosecution, this time 37mph in a 30mph zone. Might not be able to wriggle out of this one.
So imagine my frustration when a fixed penalty notice came through my letter box indicating i had been caught speeding on the M62 motorway. Now the speed I was doing ironically was 62mph in a designated 50mph area designed to encourage cars to slow down as they approach the Rocket intersection at the end of the motorway. Clearly I was decelerating, but not fast enough for Councillor Merseyside and his chums!
My period of grumpiness did not, however, cloud my thought process, and on further investigation of the summons, I noticed the time was inconsistent with the actual time I had been driving on the M62. As things would have it I had been travelling from London via the M6 toll road and had a toll booth receipt timed for exactly the same time as the alleged speeding offence. It was impossible for me to be in two places at once.
Further research confirmed what I had suspected. That morning the clocks had gone back an hour, and while the toll booth technology had coped, the speed camera had not. My initial representations to the Merseyside speed enforcement team met with a party line response. Apparently there is case law to allow the operatives to adjust the speed camera when next the film is changed. I was in impish mood however and indicated to them that it should be tested again in court as the fact the clock was incorrect could sow seeds of doubt that the speed gun calibration was also inaccurate. Time to mobilise my in-house legal team.
The case was initially adjourned to allow the CPS to assess whether they wished to progress it. At the next hearing they indicated they did, but would apply to re-issue the summons with the correct time on it. Come the third hearing my solicitor argued that they were out of time to do such a thing. They have six months from date of offence apparently. The prosecutor offered no counter argument so reluctantly the magistrate presiding had to throw the case out. As a bit of a bonus, he awarded us costs.
What goes round comes round, however, and I have just got another notification of prosecution, this time 37mph in a 30mph zone. Might not be able to wriggle out of this one.
Monday, 3 December 2012
We were there
The S Club 5, namely me, Stu, Seamus, Stanley and Scoop, have a brick at Twickenham on the path of legends....it says quite simply, we were there. Never has it been more poignant than on Saturday when England crushed the All Black it what many regard as the greatest game played at Twickenham.
The national press has handed out all the plaudits to the players, coaches and supporters, and already set the expectation that this England side can now build on this result and go places. I won't add to them here, but will explore the greatest game argument.
The S Club and friends have been going to rugby internationals in part or as a whole since 1972. We have seen many memorable games standing on the old South terrace or sitting in the rickety stands of the original stadium, but as the stadium got redeveloped, and the game turned professional, the glory days at Twickenham have become fewer and fewer. Indeed we have regularly highlighted the fact that the game had become the low point of the weekend. Saturday's game most certainly was not, and I would suggest it is the greatest game played at Twickenham in the modern era.
As we are now in our 40th season as supporters it is interesting to imagine which other games we would class as memorable, if not great. Certainly the first ever game in 1972 which was against Wales has to be up there. It was the mighty John Dawes side which had populated the 1971 British Lions which ironically won the series in New Zealand the previous Summer.
Beating Wales is always sweet, and none more so than the Bill Beaumont grand slam year when Paul Ringer was sent off and Dusty Hare kicked a last minute penalty to keep the slam dream alive. Ireland have lit up Twickenham on several occasion's with Mike Gibson and Fergus Slattery providing memorable moments, and Serge Blanco used to deliver with his French side on a regular basis.
I have seen England beat New Zealand three times now, and draw with them 26-26 at Twickenham and they are all up there with the game on Saturday, and the Ella brothers Australia side which did the grand slam on tour provided another highlight. I had already seen them play for Australia schools a few years earlier. As the memory fades, and the record books are referred to more and more my most memorable game at Twickenham will remain that first one. The irony of that is tied into the fact that we watched the first half of the England v New Zealand ladies game after the main event, and they played rugby which was refreshingly open and hugely entertaining, reminding me very much of the seventies and eighties, when there was room on a rugby field to be creative and expressive. In those days route one was a rarely used tactic, indeed, Manu Tuilagi could be the new Charles Kent!!
The national press has handed out all the plaudits to the players, coaches and supporters, and already set the expectation that this England side can now build on this result and go places. I won't add to them here, but will explore the greatest game argument.
The S Club and friends have been going to rugby internationals in part or as a whole since 1972. We have seen many memorable games standing on the old South terrace or sitting in the rickety stands of the original stadium, but as the stadium got redeveloped, and the game turned professional, the glory days at Twickenham have become fewer and fewer. Indeed we have regularly highlighted the fact that the game had become the low point of the weekend. Saturday's game most certainly was not, and I would suggest it is the greatest game played at Twickenham in the modern era.
As we are now in our 40th season as supporters it is interesting to imagine which other games we would class as memorable, if not great. Certainly the first ever game in 1972 which was against Wales has to be up there. It was the mighty John Dawes side which had populated the 1971 British Lions which ironically won the series in New Zealand the previous Summer.
Beating Wales is always sweet, and none more so than the Bill Beaumont grand slam year when Paul Ringer was sent off and Dusty Hare kicked a last minute penalty to keep the slam dream alive. Ireland have lit up Twickenham on several occasion's with Mike Gibson and Fergus Slattery providing memorable moments, and Serge Blanco used to deliver with his French side on a regular basis.
I have seen England beat New Zealand three times now, and draw with them 26-26 at Twickenham and they are all up there with the game on Saturday, and the Ella brothers Australia side which did the grand slam on tour provided another highlight. I had already seen them play for Australia schools a few years earlier. As the memory fades, and the record books are referred to more and more my most memorable game at Twickenham will remain that first one. The irony of that is tied into the fact that we watched the first half of the England v New Zealand ladies game after the main event, and they played rugby which was refreshingly open and hugely entertaining, reminding me very much of the seventies and eighties, when there was room on a rugby field to be creative and expressive. In those days route one was a rarely used tactic, indeed, Manu Tuilagi could be the new Charles Kent!!
Wednesday, 28 November 2012
Time flies when you're having fun
The first few weeks of retirement have been strange. I really have not had any time to do anything as random people make requests on me to do things for them, thinking that I must have time to fill.
How wrong would they be. The first activity was to try to get insurance for the car. This is not as straight forward as I would have expected due to the fact that I had been driving a Company car for over twelve years and the no claims position was, therefore, somewhat vague. Add to that that the policy was third party and I would have expected a full discount. No, its not as easy as that, they considered all the cosmetic repairs I got done before buying as an 'incident' for goodness sake.
Then there is the 'convictions'. For goodness sake, they are minor traffic offences captured by speed camera's and which make the council a fortune. They don't make somebody a high risk driver just because they have 3 points on their license, and why should insurers count them for five years, when they stay on the license for only three. Somebody is having a giraffe!
I have also read somewhere that they are now going to use the defensive driving course against you in future insurance renewals despite the fact that the police indicate they will not affect your car insurance, when offering them as an option!
Next thing is to sort out new bank accounts and other financial requirements. I did like the look of the Santander 123 account so we have started the ball rolling there. That was complicated by the Council renaming our house from 19 to 21. Proving they are the same property has stretched us too.
Investment rates are also a bit pants, with rates around 3% rapidly being withdrawn. One from Intelligent Finance which is 2.47% came with a note saying it was going down to 1.8% in February. Really not worth the trouble.
I am still working on the Job Seekers allowance but not holding out too much hope, and may have to wedge up with Zopa to get any sort of investment return In the foreseeable future.
Then there is always the ironing, cooking and cleaning to fill in the spare time!!
How wrong would they be. The first activity was to try to get insurance for the car. This is not as straight forward as I would have expected due to the fact that I had been driving a Company car for over twelve years and the no claims position was, therefore, somewhat vague. Add to that that the policy was third party and I would have expected a full discount. No, its not as easy as that, they considered all the cosmetic repairs I got done before buying as an 'incident' for goodness sake.
Then there is the 'convictions'. For goodness sake, they are minor traffic offences captured by speed camera's and which make the council a fortune. They don't make somebody a high risk driver just because they have 3 points on their license, and why should insurers count them for five years, when they stay on the license for only three. Somebody is having a giraffe!
I have also read somewhere that they are now going to use the defensive driving course against you in future insurance renewals despite the fact that the police indicate they will not affect your car insurance, when offering them as an option!
Next thing is to sort out new bank accounts and other financial requirements. I did like the look of the Santander 123 account so we have started the ball rolling there. That was complicated by the Council renaming our house from 19 to 21. Proving they are the same property has stretched us too.
Investment rates are also a bit pants, with rates around 3% rapidly being withdrawn. One from Intelligent Finance which is 2.47% came with a note saying it was going down to 1.8% in February. Really not worth the trouble.
I am still working on the Job Seekers allowance but not holding out too much hope, and may have to wedge up with Zopa to get any sort of investment return In the foreseeable future.
Then there is always the ironing, cooking and cleaning to fill in the spare time!!
Friday, 16 November 2012
On the dole
The things one gets to do as a result of being made redundant. Today I spent a few hours in the Birkenhead JobCentre+ offices trying to see what benefits I could get for providing the government of the day with national insurance contributions for the best part of 40 years.
The answer I got was that they don't know!
Initially I filled the online form relating to job seekers allowance in incorrectly, but only, they informed me, to the detriment of myself. That was very considerate of them, so I did not feel hugely frustrated to then fill out the equivalent hardcopy, or some of it.
I should have filled it in as a contribution based claim whereas I had filled it in as an income based claim. With SWMBO working, I was never going to pass that. The first six months contribution based benefits I was told are not means tested.
So the claim was assessed by my new mate Samantha who guided me through the process until she saw that I was already drawing a pension. This was the next problem they indicated I would face when the form went to head office ( well the DWP). They may deem my pension sufficient and consequently exclude me from contribution based job seekers allowance. So when they say it's not means tested, actually it is.
Next problem I faced was the fact that I was out of the Country next week on vacation. They can't pay job seekers allowance while I am not available for work, so, wait for it, the claim will need to be shut down on Sunday and I will have to reapply when I return to the UK, via a rapid reclaim process.
So, getting the allowance may or may not happen, and I should know by the end of the month. If it does, then the hoops I have to jump through are quite extensive. I have to visit the gov.uk website every day looking for opportunities, and write to at least one employer a week. I have to be willing to travel 90 minutes each way to work, and search commercial websites for at least 2 hours a day. Every two weeks I have to go back to the job centre to assess my progress, and sign on.
In one sense I hope they say I can't have it!!!
The answer I got was that they don't know!
Initially I filled the online form relating to job seekers allowance in incorrectly, but only, they informed me, to the detriment of myself. That was very considerate of them, so I did not feel hugely frustrated to then fill out the equivalent hardcopy, or some of it.
I should have filled it in as a contribution based claim whereas I had filled it in as an income based claim. With SWMBO working, I was never going to pass that. The first six months contribution based benefits I was told are not means tested.
So the claim was assessed by my new mate Samantha who guided me through the process until she saw that I was already drawing a pension. This was the next problem they indicated I would face when the form went to head office ( well the DWP). They may deem my pension sufficient and consequently exclude me from contribution based job seekers allowance. So when they say it's not means tested, actually it is.
Next problem I faced was the fact that I was out of the Country next week on vacation. They can't pay job seekers allowance while I am not available for work, so, wait for it, the claim will need to be shut down on Sunday and I will have to reapply when I return to the UK, via a rapid reclaim process.
So, getting the allowance may or may not happen, and I should know by the end of the month. If it does, then the hoops I have to jump through are quite extensive. I have to visit the gov.uk website every day looking for opportunities, and write to at least one employer a week. I have to be willing to travel 90 minutes each way to work, and search commercial websites for at least 2 hours a day. Every two weeks I have to go back to the job centre to assess my progress, and sign on.
In one sense I hope they say I can't have it!!!
Wednesday, 14 November 2012
Mud hut medicine
SWMBO has the sound of Swahili about it don't you think?
You may be wondering that is a strange phase with which to open a blog post, however, when you appreciate that SWMBO has just returned from two weeks in Tanzania working for the relief organisation, Bridge2Aid, you will begin to see the relevance.
Twenty two dentists and support staff left London on a torturous journey to Mwanza via Dar Es Salaam. There they stayed in a very pleasant hotel on the banks of Lake Victoria, much like the contestants do before entering the campsite on I'm a Celebrity. The next morning it was off in a truck for three hours to Gita which was to be their home for the next ten days.
Each morning they would get bused to their place of work, and there supervise the extraction of teeth from Tanzanian residents, be they business people, Masi tribesmen or villagers, some of whom had travelled on foot, over 100 kilometres to see the white doctor.
Poverty was endemic, and with Tanzania being one of the poorest African nations, the chances of regular dental treatment rest with the Bridge2 Aid teams providing not only a service, but on the job training for the nationals. Over 800 people were treated while the team was there, all under local anesthetic, on a dining room chair in a mud hut. Some dedication.
The hotel ran out of toilet paper, the power failed regularly and the water supply was intermittent, but the job got done and the volunteers were able to face the return trip, via Kilimanjaro in good spirits knowing that treacle toffee was back on the menu in Tanzania.
You may be wondering that is a strange phase with which to open a blog post, however, when you appreciate that SWMBO has just returned from two weeks in Tanzania working for the relief organisation, Bridge2Aid, you will begin to see the relevance.
Twenty two dentists and support staff left London on a torturous journey to Mwanza via Dar Es Salaam. There they stayed in a very pleasant hotel on the banks of Lake Victoria, much like the contestants do before entering the campsite on I'm a Celebrity. The next morning it was off in a truck for three hours to Gita which was to be their home for the next ten days.
Each morning they would get bused to their place of work, and there supervise the extraction of teeth from Tanzanian residents, be they business people, Masi tribesmen or villagers, some of whom had travelled on foot, over 100 kilometres to see the white doctor.
Poverty was endemic, and with Tanzania being one of the poorest African nations, the chances of regular dental treatment rest with the Bridge2 Aid teams providing not only a service, but on the job training for the nationals. Over 800 people were treated while the team was there, all under local anesthetic, on a dining room chair in a mud hut. Some dedication.
The hotel ran out of toilet paper, the power failed regularly and the water supply was intermittent, but the job got done and the volunteers were able to face the return trip, via Kilimanjaro in good spirits knowing that treacle toffee was back on the menu in Tanzania.
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