The new Hethersett social running club got off to a blistering start (in some cases literally) last night. I expected between 20 and 25 people but when it hammered down with rain all day I re-assessed this number to about 10. We had 33 runners turn up which was a brilliant response. I’m sure with good weather we can get this up to 40 over the next week or so.
The group is being led by Norfolk Olympiad Paul Evans who is a great guy. He makes you want to work hard. It was quite a tough session for the first one, but really rewarding. It runs for another nine weeks leading up to the two mile run the square event towards the end of June. If every evening is as good as last night this is going to be a very enjoyable experience.
The running club is just one of the many events being organised throughout the year in our wonderful village. Hethersett may not be the most picturesque village in the country but it is one of the most go-ahead and I am very proud to be part of what’s going on. Tomorrow night it’s my quiz at the junior school to raise funds for the village fair to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee.
Got up this morning to find the rain had given away to sunshine for a change. It did rain during the day but nothing like the last few days. Got my breakfast and switched the television on to see the BBC Breakfast show. I rarely do this early morning but something made me switch on and the fist item was about a wonderful weekend of weird art in wonderful Liverpool where they have giant models taking to the street. Then there was an interview with one of my favourite all time artists Judy Collins. Judy is a very gracious lady. She has a new autobiography out which I’m looking forward to reading. It charts her life, her music, her struggles with depression and alcoholism and the suicide of her son. Admittedly it isn’t going to be a laugh a minute read but I’m sure it will be rewarding.
I often get besieged with Internet jokes and funnies from friends. There was a more thought provoking one yesterday which spoke about Einstein and came up with a couple of interesting sentences that are worth thinking about. He said that there is no such thing as darkness, it is just a lack of light. There is no such thing as cold, it is just a lack of warmth. Anyway the whole thing went on to talk about religion. One day in this blog I will go through the content, but I need quite some time and mental effort to do that.
More interested today in talking about customer care. I have had a couple of bad experiences over recent days. I won’t bore you with the details but I do want to talk about the dangers of poor customer service and the knock on effects it can have. Let’s take a mythical sports club where a customer is let down. The club might see an apology as the end of matters but if they have a disgruntled customer just think of what the knock on effect can be.
That person doesn’t renew his or her membership – thus costing the club a few hundred pounds. Neither do they eat and drink in the club bar anymore – thus taking the cost into four figures. Then the disgruntled customer stops supporting social events. He then puts his friends, who are potential new members, off joining because of his experiences. Those friends pass on the message that the club does not have a good reputation. The overall result is the club’s reputation goes down and the potential loss of revenue runs into thousands of pounds and all because of one disgruntled customer.
Today I received a cheque for a return on one of my investments. The cheque was for 4p. I promise not to spend it all in one go. Then I went to Sainsbury’s to shop and had a money off coupon with me. It turned out to be for a magnificent 3p and then we were told it was out of date anyway!!! I would write to head office but it would cost me 50p for a stamp (just a joke remark that one).
I have to say food prices seem to be going through the roof at present. Ridiculous costs for pieces of chicken. I can see how restaurants and pubs are struggling. They are having to pay ridiculous prices for meat and vegetables but can’t pass the additional cost onto customers for fear of their establishments being empty. It’s difficult to work out what is good value for a meal now. I don’t like paying £11 for a bog standard pub meal, but even at that price how much profit can there be in it for them?
Finally today I’m quite fortunate to be writing this. Was coming up to traffic lights at a local roundabout when the car in front suddenly stopped despite the fact they were on green. He had seen two flashing blue lights hurtling through red lights. Problem was there was no way of seeing what these vehicles were (I assume they were unmarked police cars) and the blue lights were on their back ends and not their roof. This made them difficult to see and a very bad idea.
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