John Lewis, David Beckham and Rafael Nadal

Do you ever get the feeling that people don't properly read e-mails you send and don't answer points made? Yesterday I mentined the use of inappropriate music at a fashion show by John Lewis at the Royal Norfolk Show. I sent them an e-mail saying that London Calling by The Clash was not appropriate music for a clebration of British life. Here was their reply:

Dear Peter

Thank you for your email, regarding the Fashion Show you at the Royal Norfolk shoe.

I am sorry if the final choice of dance music offended you, as I am sure  this was not the intention.

The person who set up the fashion show, would have been selecting music suitable for the show and maybe did not know the meaning of the song.  I will pass your comments on, as this will assist us with future events.

If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.


No music offends me - I listen to Eminem! I actually found the use of the Clash to be amusing but was just pointing out that they really needed to have the music chosen by somebody who knew what they were doing. Paragraph three is amusing as they state the person would have been selecting music suitable for the show and that's exactly what they didn't do!! And incidentally what exactly is the Royal Norfolk shoe?

Onto the Olympic games and the massive own goal that is leaving David Beckham out of the Team GB football squad. This is quite ludicrous. The man, irrespective of whether you like him or not, is a national treasure who has done so much to promote the London 2012 Olympics. To include him in the squad would have been a fitting end to his career. To have left him out is completely churlish and suggests that coach Stuart Pearce and the selectors (whoever they may be) are out of tune with the public (as if we didn't already know that). They need to realise that football may be our national and most popular sport and also arguably the most popular sport in the world, but when it comes to the Olympic games it is almost a minority sport of only limited interest (as ticket sales have already shown). Including Beckham would have been a thank you for all his hard work. And I bet he wouldn't have let anyone down on the pitch either, which is more than can be said for some of the second rate England players on display at the recent Euro Championships

Still on the sports theme. I am glad that one of the big three - Rafael Nadal - has been knocked out of Wimbledon. It keeps the interest in the men's singles going. It was getting rather boring watching the big three win everything. Now we might have the chance of a lesser known light making the final (perhaps even Andy Murray).

A Clash of Styles

Couldn't help but smile at what had to be a big mistake on the John Lewis stand at the Royal Norfolk Show yesterday. We watched the fashion show which was hugely cheesy with models wearing a number of different outfits and smiling inanely as they danced their way along the catwalk in some carefully choreographed moves.

When it came to the finale we were told that the last outfits would be a celebration of the coming Olympics, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and Britain itself. The music they used was London Calling by The Clash. Last time I looked this song was about nuclear errors, police brutality, depravity in society and London being flooded. I think somebody had tried to be trendy and not worked out what the words meant. Perhaps Waterloo Sunset would have been a tad more appropriate.

I have written to John Lewis to point this out and will let you know if they reply.

Colour and a Love-Hate Relationship

I wouldn't call today a scorcher, more a hot and humid one and 10 hours at the Royal Norfolk Show took some stamina. But it was a good day.

The main reason for going was to take part this year in a main ring parade celebrating the coming Olympic games and the part played by our village of Hethersett. Hethersett organised more Olympic themed events over the past three years per head of population than any other village, town or city in the United Kingdom.

So over the two days of the Norfolk Show over 350 schollchildren from Hethersett will have taken part in a celebration display/pageant in the main ring, resplendent with flags and sashes. Getting all those youngsters together was no easy matter and a tribute to the schools involved. So it was an enjoyable one and a half hours.

I have a love-hate relationship with the Norfolk Show. Country fairs etc are not my idea of a great day out and I spent numerous years working at the show when I was with the police. So it's a few years since I last went. I must say going and not having to work is much more enjoyable and many thanks to the lovely people at the Norwich Schools stand for giving us so many refreshments and looking after the school's old boys so well.

What a Playlist for Today

Lots of gardening today only made palatable because I re-visited some old playlists on my mobile. Ones I had downloaded some time ago. So there were some good sounds to go with the grass cutting and weeding and general tidying up.

So how about this for a playlist

West Side Story - Leonard Bernstein's score is arguably the best musical ever written: followed by What the World Needs Now/Abraham, Martin and John by DJ Tom Clay. This is a very poignant record  and is a mixture of clips, music, interviews and speeches featuring John and Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King. It sold over one million records as a single. I followed that with Where Are You Now My Son, a very strange mixture of song, poetry and live reportage by Joan Baez made during the Vietnam War. It's a powerful 20 minute piece that was put together during a US bombing raid on Hanoi in 1972.

How about this for lyrics 

It's walking to the battleground that always makes me cry
I've met so few folks in my time who weren't afraid to die
But dawn bleeds with the people here and morning skies are red
As young girls load up bicycles with flowers for the dead

An ageing woman picks along the craters and the rubble
A piece of cloth, a bit of shoe, a whole lifetime of trouble
A sobbing chant comes from her throat and splits the morning air
The single son she had last night is buried under her

They say that the war is done
Where are you now, my son?

and how about

The children on the roadsides of the villages and towns
Would stand around us laughing as we stood like giant clowns
The mourning bands told whom they'd lost by last night's phantom messenger
And they spoke their only words in English, "Johnson, Nixon, Kissinger"

Then followed the following playlist:

Child in Time by Deep Purple
Fool's Overture by Supertramp
Refugees by Van Der Graaf Generator
Melinda by Curved Air
Catch the Rainbow by Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow
Parisienne Walkways by Greg Lake
The Village Lantern by Blackmore's Night
Autumn - Heroine's Theme by The Strawbs
The Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson
Take a Pebble by Emerson, Lake and Palmer
The Weavers Answer by Family
Tears and Pavan by The Strawbs
Mandolin Wind by Rod Stewart
Who Knows Where the Time Goes? by Fairport Convention

I look forward to more gardening!!

Never Trust the Weather

You can never trust the British weather as today proved. The exercise session before the village fun run was led by the excellent Norfolk Olympiad Paul Evans who is a very special person. I have got to know Paul over the past year and particularly over the 10 weeks of the Hethersett Social Running Club which Paul has coached. Paul radiates positivity and manages to transfer that to all around him.

So the sun shone. But as the event began it started to rain - slowly at first but then torrentially with thunder and lightning. The runners/walkers got soaked and I'm sure some of their facepainting ran something rotten. I was taking photos of the start and finish and got drenched as well. The last time my camera got soaked was on the Great Wall of China when it stopped working. This time it seemed to survive okay.

With everyone safely back I set off with organiser Shane Hull to run the course myself and see whether my 10 weeks of athletic training have improved my performance. I did run the square a few weeks ago when I completed it in just over 20 minutes.

Taking part in the funrun must be - well fun - with 280 people taking part. I always miss the roads being shut off and being able to run with others. So it's a pretty lonely furrow that we plough and the feeling of wanting to stop on occasions becomes quite string, Somehow I managed to keep going for the whole course and when I stopped my stopwatch was delighted to find it reading 18 min 38.1 seconds - almost two minutes quicker than last time.

I know I keep saying it - but this was another excellent event. By the time I ran the sun was out again. Good old Paul Evans even made something out of the rain, saying it added to the challenge and excitement!!!!

I returned home to dry out further and then wandered down to the Memorial Field where our football club was holding a major ladies five-a-side competition. We had 26 teams taking part from Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire and it all ended with Peterborough Ladies winning both the main and the plate competitions.

For me that concluded the weekend - what an exceptional one it had been. I got to every event apart from the multi-denominational church service on Sunday morning in Hethersett Social Club and the songs of praise this evening in the parish church.

I have to admit I was so tired that I even watched England lose to Italy in the Euros. Usually our national team leave me so cold that I start doing other things. Oh well there's still the World Cup for that.

Early, Sporty and Tuneful

Saturday morning and certainly on lay-in today. Up at around 5 a.m to try and put as much information on the internet as possible before returning to the swimming pool. We were there for 6 a.m so Anne could do half an hour in the swimathon whilst I just watched. Came home to load the car up ready to set-up a refreshment stall at the Sport in the Park event and then back to the pool for the end of the swimathon which included a chat with paralympic gold medallist Oliver Jones who swam the final length. Overall the marathon effort went to over 11,800 lengths -the equivalent of swimming from Hethersett to London!

The main event of the day - and also one of the main events of Hethersett's year - was sport in the park. A free festival featuring well over 20 come and try sports events including badminton, korfball, dodgeball, football, rugby, hockey and much more. My day was a mix of helping on the refreshment stall and taking photos and then clearing up the stall and returning all the borrowed gear. It was the most successful Sport in the Park event to date and testimony to the hard work put in by members of the village Olympic Committee and Shane Hull and James Rice in particular.

Didn't have much time to relax before setting off for the parish church for a concert by the Hellesdon and Sprowston Brass Band. I somehow managed to keep awake - not that the music was boring. It was a very good mix of classics and swing/pop played with a great amount of fun.

The conductor was very entertaining in how own right - although his plugging of the band's CD stopped becoming amusing after about the 20th mention. It was a good way to conclude the second day of the Open Weekend. Here's to tomorrow.

Hethersett Open Weekend Kicks Off

Today saw the start of a three day festival better known as the Hethersett Open Weekend - a vast number of events for all ages and tastes with very much a sporty theme.

So it was up early and down to the Junior School for the start of a 24 hour swimathon which was celebrating three things - the 40th anniversary of the pool, the start of the open weekend and the life of teaching assistant Lorraine Hedges who died last year from cancer. The school's first ever swimming teacher Jo Hill was guest of honour and started everything off.

I have fond memories of the swimming pool for a number of reasons. Firstly it's where I lost my fear of the water at the age of 40 and learnt to swim. My wife bought me a serious of one on one sessions with the swimming teacher Jane Newstead in a charity auction. I had always had a huge hatred of swimming and the water probably from a day as a very young boy when I had run into the sea in Great Yarmouth and suddenly found myself out of my depth and struggling and getting a mouthful of horrible seawater. I panicked and  ended up with a lifelong dread of the water and a horrid memory.

Anyway I always said that if I could just put my head under the water I would be able to swim. It wasn't quite as simple as that. I was soon happily sitting on the bottom of the pool but learning to swim was still slightly difficult but eventually I made it. Now I am very far from being even a competent swimmer but at least I know that I will float and not sink to the bottom. Jane is still swimming teacher at the school and organised the swimathon.

My other big memory of the pool is being very proud to play a part in saving it when I was chair of governors of what was then Hethersett Middle School. The pool was on the point of being condemned when a group of us decided to fight for it and with the support of the county council we managed to get enough grants to at least make it sound. Today it's a very high tech pool and very modern and safe. Jo Hill told stories of the first few years when she had to liberate frogs every morning before swimming could start. How things have changed over 40 years. The swimming marathon got underway and I returned home to put some photos and copy on my village web site before going to Easton College for their end of year prize presentations, another very enjoyable event. I was there is my capacity as chairman of Hethersett Athletic Football Club - we use the excellent facilities at the college.

During the afternoon went to my second Open Weekend event - the three day flower festival in Hethersett Parish Church. Again it was excellent, as were the coffee and cakes. Again took a load of photos and returned home to put them online.

The evening was spent at the third annual Hethersett's Got Talent competition in the village hall. A good evening of entertainment and yet more photos. For me the winner Bonnie Holmes was miles ahead of the other young contestants. Bonnie took part in last year's event and was unplaced, which just shows how much she has improved in a year. By the time I got to bed I was already very tired and there's still two days to go!!

All My Life's A Circle

Song lyric of the day

All my life's a circle;
Sunrise and sundown;
The Moon rolls thru the nighttime;
Till the daybreak comes around.

All my life's a circle;
But I can't tell you why;
The Season's spinning round again;
The years keep rollin' by - Harry Chapin

This seemed so apt as I listened to the early morning news to hear that the Government is looking to scrap GCSEs and return to O' levels and a simpler system. So I couldn't help thinking of the phrase what goes around comes around.

I could never see the need to change in the first place but here we are again re-inventing the wheel. How long before a subsequent Government decides to go back to GCSEs? This is all very well as long as the emphasis is put on teaching children the basics because in my limited experience of the education system as a former chair of governors some of the youngsters cannot even grasp the basics of the subject they are being taught.

Tonight sees the final session of our social running club in Hethersett. We have been going for 10 weeks (doesn't time fly?) It's been great fun and hard work and I certainly feel fitter for it, not to mention losing half a stone in weight. I'm sure that the club will continue in some form or other at least throughout the summer. A huge thank you to Norfolk Olympiad Paul Evans and Coach Ron for making it all so much fun.

Favourite Song Lyric of All Time

Britain's Got Talent - but not of the kind that you would expect.

Today we went to another evening acoustic showcase at Bedfords in Norwich. I keep going on about these excellent evenings and thankfully there were more people there last night than for some of the concerts.

Once again it was an excellent line-up headlined by Dave Gerard and the Watchmen who was supported by David Booth and Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker. Listening to Josienne you couldn't help but think of Sandy Denny and she also threw in a slow version of Who Knows Where the Time Goes - one of my favourite songs and quite possibly my favourite lyric of all time because of its beautiful simplicity.

So song lyric of the day:

Across the evening sky, all the birds are leaving
But how can they know it's time for them to go?
Before the winter fire, I will still be dreaming
I have no thought of time

For who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes?

Sad, deserted shore, your fickle friends are leaving
Ah, but then you know it's time for them to go
But I will still be here, I have no thought of leaving
I do not count the time

For who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes?

And I am not alone while my love is near me
I know it will be so until it's time to go
So come the storms of winter and then the birds in spring again
I have no fear of time

For who knows how my love grows?
And who knows where the time goes?

To me that is pure poetry. I remember a few years ago the Norwich Evening News had a piece on the greatest song lyrics and I supplied this one as my favourite. It has a simple but undefinable quality.

Once again the evening illustrated that there is a wealth of musical talent throughout our country that is largely ignored or overlooked in a society that promotes crap and rubbish to the masses.

Cheesy News Stories but Exciting Times

I just love writing cheesy stories for the newspapers and my village web site.

Today brought a perfect example with a story about a local couple who have abandoned plans for a romantic weekend away to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary in order to see the Olympic flame come to Hethersett.

Couldn't have had better subjects than Tim and Julie who were quite happy to ham things up to the full. It did remind me how busy the next few weeks will be. This weekend we have the Open weekend with a massive number of events over three days from Friday to Sunday. Then next week 200 Hethersett schoolchildren are providing an Olympic pageant in the main ring at the Royal Norfolk Show.

The Olympic flame pays its visit on July 5th and ten days later we have the county finals of the Norfolk Village Games..

Last night the village football club outlined its plans for expanding in the future to a very responsive parish council. We are hoping the two bodies can work together to help improve sports facilities in Hethersett and the Meltons. As they say watch this space.

More Rain - Busy Week in Hethersett

Couldn't face staying up into the early hours to see the end of the US Open Golf championship so went to bed instead to read more Harry Potter. I have all seven books on my Kindle and have decided to read them straight through in order. Philosopher's Stone, Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkabhan are now behind me and I'm on to book four.

This is going to be another huge weekend in village life with our annual three day open event running from Friday through Sunday with a packed programme on all three days. Yesterday was also the annual Friends of Hethersett High School Garage Sale and I believe over 100 garages and car boots throughout the village were in action.

Spent the morning catching up on the village web site and also this week's copy for various newspapers. Glory be there was plenty of rain overnight which will help our son's turf to knit together. I feel a barbecue coming on if it ever stops raining and the sun comes out!

Floral Mistake

Fathers' Day and a nice one which means I can now look very trendy in my pink striped shirt and new sunglasses - not that we have a lot of sun to wear them for.

Interested to see on a new development in Wymondham they have put up a sign with the word Petunia spelt wrongly . It is up there as Pertunia!

A Very Busy Saturday

There's nothing like a busy Saturday, but today was so busy I had to drop two of my scheduled things.

In the morning helped to cook and serve breakfast to 20 people at Hethersett Methodist Church and then onto our sons for six hours of back-breaking action to turf his garden. It was hard going but very satisfying to see it turn in the last year from a weed infested jungle into a smooth patch of grass. Now all we need is some rain to make it knit.

After that rushed home to get showered and changed to go to the Encore Concert in Wymondham Abbey - a nice evening if a little chilly. It all meant that we didn't get to Hethersett cricket or Hethersett Woodside School fete - c'est la vie

Mr Grumpy Rides Again

Continuing on the theme of customer service and my thoughts - and many of these are based on my experience working within pr and marketing for many years.

Yesterday as I outlined I had a big problem with mobile telephone company O2. After a pointless 30 minutes on a chat adviser programme I got so frustrated I went into Norwich to try to sort the problem out. Half an hour with an adviser and another 15 minutes on the phone and I was assured it had been sorted. It remains to be seen whether it actually has, but my simple request to change my tariff and keep the same phone and same number has necessitated a visit to Norwich and about three hours of my time being wasted.

Multiply this by all the other poor service and you begin to ask yourself whatever happened to the old fashioned notion that "the customer is always right?"

Which brings me to the point of my discussion here: We are so conditioned to marketing and advertising that we no longer have any idea about quality. Companies seem to think that if they bombard us with messages stating how good their service or product is we will believe it. Experience shows this not to be true. There is nothing more insulting to an individual who has had a bad experience with a company or product to then have to watch advertising telling them that said product or service is the best available.

It's pretty much the same when we watch witnesses in the Leveson Enquiry talking what I would refer to as "twaddle." You just know that most of them are openly lying or should we say "being a bit conservative with the truth."

There is often a million miles between what companies promise and what they actually deliver and customer care has gone out of the window. Once you are signed up to something things sadly go downhill and all the promises made beforehand count for nothing. When you have a problem or complaint you are likely to be shoved from pillar to post before finding out that the person you are talking to doesn't have the authority to administer what you need. Even trying to get to the right person in the right place has become an art form.

One of the big problems is a workforce that feel disinterested because of the way they have been treated and the ridiculous workloads they are expected to undertake. This leads to a "couldn't care less" attitude and this is something I can understand.

Of course there are exceptions - there are companies where employees are valued and where they do feel part of everything - but the number of these seems to be dwindling. I guess it's all part of the modern disposable society we live in. Rant over for today.

This morning caught up on a feature on Sky TV about British Academy footballers helping with coaching in South African townships. This was of particular interest because one of the "scholars" featured will be living with us this year. This was a wonderful example of young people "doing good" and being idolised by disadvantaged youngsters who still spend the day with smiles on their faces. In today's time of hugely overpaid and pampered footballers it was good to see these youngsters thriving in an atmosphere that gave them the opportunity to experience a different world and a world in which they could make a difference.

Pleased to see lots of features and news items in this week's local newspaper - plenty of articles I have written about Hethersett. I still get a buzz by seeing my writing in print.

Mr Grumpy Sails Forth on Poor Customer Care

One of the most annoying things for me in life is the huge distance between what companies promise and what they actually deliver - particularly in the area of customer care.

Today it's O2 that have p----d me off. It's a simple matter. I have two mobiles with them - one for my wife and one for myself. I recently changed her plan from a rather expensive monthly contract to a sim only deal. I was assured by the company that the payments would be changed and guess what - they weren't so suddenly I was paying for two plans on the same phone. So I contacted them via chat e-mail to point this out and of course the person I talked to couldn't authorise a refund or sort the matter out because he wasn't from the right department.

Whatever happened to the days when the person you talked to would sort out any problems for them because it was their job to be helpful and because you were the customer. No wonder people move from company to company. So here's part of the conversation and you will see that towards the end I got more and more angry when I realised everything had become a big waste of time.

You're through to Marcus.

Marcus: Hi I'm Marcus. How can I help?

Me: Hi

Marcus: Hello

Me: I recently changed my tariff on the phone to a sim only and was told in writing that my monthly amount I was paying (£20.42 approx) would be erased and the new amount of £10.84 would be billed. I see from my latest bank statement that I am still paying both amounts.

Marcus: Let me check this for you.

Me: I want to start using the sim card but would also request a refund of the £20.42 paid this month as I was assured by you that this payment would automatically stop. I have now deleted it from my bank payee list but consider I have paid £20.42 too much

Marcus: As I see it's a new order.

Me: Yes the £10.84 is a new order. The £20 plus is for the old plan which I have asked to discontinue and was told the amounts would automatically be adjusted. Now it seems I am paying twice for plans on the same phone.

Marcus: Can I know how was the order made by chat or calls?

Me: I made the agreement by chat. I kept a copy of the replies but unfortunately my e-mail system has gone wrong otherwise I would be able to send it to you. The new sim card was ordered over the internet. I specifically asked about the £20 charge being stopped and whether I needed to do this myself and was told that O2 would take care of everything, cancel the £20 charges and change to the new sim rate. I need now to stop using the £20 tariff, put the sim card into the phone and start using the new plan but I need to be assured that the £20 charge will cease (although I have cancelled my direct debit for this) and that I will receive a credit for the month charged.

Marcus: Let me check this for you in our records.

Marcus: It may take few minutes.

Marcus: Thanks for waiting.

Me: ok

Marcus: I'll help you with the contact details to demand refund.

Marcus: You can call us on 0844 809 0202 between Monday to Friday 8am to 9pm, Saturday 8am to 8pm & Sunday 8am to 6pm. If you dial 202 from any O2 Pay Monthly mobile it would be free of charge.

Me: No I need you to sort this out for me as I have already wasted enough time on sorting out something I was told wouldn't happen. I need you to ensure that I receive a refund for £20.42 as I am the customer here. I do not have time to make phone calls and go through everything again. I was assured on this chat that this matter would be taken care of and it quite obviously hasn't. So the onus is on you to sort this out. Otherwise I am afraid that you will lose my custom not only on this phone but on my other phone which I pay over £30 a month and which is up for renewal in a few months.

Marcus: I could have sorted out this for you immediately if had the authority to refund you the amount. I suggested you to call so that you can claim refund.

Me Yes but this will take up considerable time that I don't have to waste when I had assurances from you that this wouldn't happen and I will have to go through the whole thing again. It is up to your company to provide me with the required refund and not for me as a customer to have to make numerous phone calls.

Marcus: If you don't wish to make numerous calls you can visit your nearest O2 store they'll arrange this for you.

Me: Yes but that's the same thing. Wasting my time to put something right that you agreed to do in the first place.

Marcus: I'm sorry but online customer support team has limited authority compared to customer adviser on calls.

Me:: No problem. I will just switch to Vodaphone when my contracts are up. This is very poor customer service. You all work for the same organisation and I have been overcharged through your obvious inability to do something you promised would happen automatically.

Marcus: Please have a word with our customer support team. You'll get the solution to the problem

Marcus: I would have helped you if I had the authority to credit the account.

Marcus: I haven't heard from you for a while. Are you still there?

Marcus: As you haven't said anything for a while, I'm going to close the chat. I'm sorry we couldn't finish it. If you need anything else, click here to send us an email.

I expect over the next few days to receive a questionnaire about how satisfied I have been with their customer service.

I recently dealt with another company. In trying to order goods I had nowhere to put in some voucher codes I had. So I contacted the company and all they could say was "put in the voucher codes at checkout. We have cancelled your order so that you can do this."

Again my reply was something along the lines of "There is nowhere at check out to put the voucher codes. I have sent them to you by e-mail. Why can't you just add them to the order and bill me for the correct amount?"

To date I haven't had a response. So why is customer service so bad? Tomorrow I will let you have my thoughts on that if I'm still around after another running club evening tonight.

More Warriors

See from the news that they have uncovered over 100 additional Terracotta Warriors at Xian in China.

It was a pretty impressive display last year when we visited. The new additions apparently have some of their original colouring which makes them unique. Apparently when the warriors came to the British Museum it was the second most visited attraction there of all time after Tutankhamen.

England's Performance

Most people seem to be quite happy with England's performance against France last night and the point from a 1-1 draw was seen as a good one.

I thought the performance was sterile and rather turgid and that both teams were so happy with a draw that they needn't really have bothered to play the match at all.

The Sounds of London

On Saturday night  I watched an interesting documentary on the Sound of London in which Jools Holland took us on a musical ride through the capital. I usually find Holland annoying (apart from when he's playing the piano which is where his real talent lies) but he did pretty well in this programme in taking us through centuries of London music and sounds. It was a tough task in just over an hour. Good pieces from Ray Davies (who to my mind wrote the greatest ever song about the capital - Waterloo Sunset) and about Ian Dury. The only major omission was no mention of David Bowie who I believe was once voted in the New Musical Express as the greatest musical influence on other artists. It's 40 years since the release of the classic Ziggy Stardust album and it still sounds as fresh today as it did back in the 1970s.

More mindnumbing rubbish regarding the England football team. Yesterday morning Sky once again broadcast live from outside the team hotel: "Well the players are just beginning to come out to get the coach. Captain Steve Gerrard is first on board (one must assume from this that this in itself is some kind of achievement). The mind boggles.

Unique Year for Our Village - Champions Again

Hethersett are South Norfolk village sports champions for the second year in a row - hooray.

Great credit to everyone who represented the village today at Framingham Earl which saw us once again win the section for large villages and market towns. That puts us through to the county finals in July. Last year we came second, so we will be hoping to go one better this year.

The sports is a great family day out with youngsters joining together with adults. Over the past few years Hethersett has developed a huge sporting legacy and we are the envy of villages and towns throughout Norfolk. We are in the middle of a remarkable year for sport and leisure in the village. Yesterday saw our football club's funday which showcases the youth side of Hethersett Athletic FC with presentations and football games.

Today it was the village games, June 22nd to 24th is the Open Weekend with a massive number of events and July 5th sees the visit of the Olympic flame - a special visit which recognises the village work in support of the London Olympics. There are plenty of other events scheduled as well - it really is a unique year in the history of the village.

Football All the Way Today

Football all the way today.

Yesterday the Euro championships started with Greece doing a good impression of a bankrupt country with a very poor first half display against Poland. Then somehow they pulled themselves round to snatch a draw. Can't see either of these sides winning the tournament. Russia must have a chance, however, after demolishing the Czech Republic.

Can't help commenting on the England players visit to Auschwitz and the Oscar Schindler exhibition - the latter in particular. Sky news showed them entering the Schindler museum. One of them was fiddling with his mobile phone, one was suppressing a sneer, one was openly laughing and not a single one seemed interested in the displays, most walking straight past with a vacant look. I'm sure those who went to the concentration camp were more interested but I have to point out that without the bravery of those who fought in the Second World War for freedom there would be no football and these often overpaid human beings wouldn't be able to strut around with their millions. The Holocaust taught us so many lessons about the need for humanity and men like Schindler. Anybody who laughs and sneers is beyond contempt and needs to be sat down in a corner and have it explained that in the great scheme of things football doesn't mean diddly squat (and that comment comes from a football fan and amateur football club chairman). All the racism probloems are extremely concerning. It seem illogical that racism can exist in Poland after what that country went through at the hands of the Nazis!!!

Norwich have appointed Chris Hughton to replace Paul Lambert as manager and it seems a very sensible and solid appointment. Hughton seems to be a real regular guy and I liked what he said at his first Press conference. Not one I mean or you know came from his mouth. He was erudite and intelligent. It will be interesting to see when Lambert returns to Carrow Road whether the fans sing "One Paul Lambert, there's only one Paul Lambert" or whether it will be "You only went for the money."

Today we have our annual football club funday for Hethersett Athletic's youth teams. There only seems to be two kinds of weather for this annual presentation event - steaming heat or hammering rain. Interesting to see what we will get this year as the day has started very cloudy.

Just been watching Sky Sports news where they seem to be taking the Euros to new heights of crassness. They have just had their chief football reporter commenting on the players getting onto a coach to go to training. "There's Steven Gerrard he's just getting on" was followed by "well that's five on board and another seven expected shortly." Wow it's the BBC's jubilee coverage all over again!

Silly Names

Today I have been thinking about silly names. Two instantly spring to mind.

William James Adams Junior for example has done something really very clever (not). He has taken his first name and broken it up to come up with Will I Am. Wow I hear you all say. Problem is Will I Am is now making a career for himself as a nonentity that regular creeps onto stages and pretends he has talent. For the uninitiated he's the guy who wore silly gloves and waved an Olympic torch around as a judge on The Voice - another mind-numbing dull talent (or should we say lack of talent) show. Oh and he's also a member of the Black Eyed Peas.

The other silly name that springs to mind is the contestant in that awful prgramme The Apprentice who referred to himself as the Master Puppeteer as he pulled the strings of others. I have a better name for him - dick head.

Broke through a psychological barrier last night. Our normal running night in the village was cancelled due to safety fears on teh state of the school field following torrential rain late afternoon. Just another part of the wettest drought on record! So a group of us decided to run the square - a two mile run through the old part of Hethersett and the same distance as the run the square event in the coming Open Weekend.. The object of the group is to train us up to be able to run the distance comfortably.

Jubilee Coverage

I feel impelled to return to the thorny subject of the BBC coverage of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee for which they have received plenty of criticism. The question is was it warranted or not?

The problem with having hundreds of television channels and 24 hour coverage is that events get proverbally "done to death" and I felt that there was, if possible, just too much coverage. So that means that there were hours and hours of footage to put together.

So whilst newspapers were analysing the coverage, the Beeb was having to deal with torrential rain with all its problems and also keeping going for hour after hour after hour.

So we had Paloma Faith with her Royal sick bag and Tess Daley being "knighted" for her services to reporting in the wet. This is all part of our vacuous society. The problem is probably an age one. Older people will remember the days of the Dimblebys, Raymond Baxter et al when those broadcasting were 1/ consummate professionals and 2/ Historians in their own right.

The problem in today's X Factor disposable society is the BBC wants to be seen as a broadcasting company of the people. So we have reporters/presenters amongst the crowd making crass comments and asking stupid questions and pretending everything is absolutely wonderful. This hit a low when one young man made it known that he wanted to sing the National Anthem live on television and then proceeded to murder God Save the Queen in a totally tuneless fashion to which the presenter said "That was amazing." Amazing yes but not in the way meant.

My biggest problem came in the shape of the wheeled in celebrities who all seemed to be asked the same question: "What do you think of the jubilee?" to which their response to a man and woman was "it's absolutely awesome, fantastic, incredible, wonderful, marvellous and stunning."

There was a feeling that when Emma Bunton, who is basically famous for being Emma Bunton and little else, added amongst the awesomes, marvellouses and fantastics that she thought the BBC coverage had been amazing as well as though she had been primed to try and address the complaints.

At times it did become puerile but one has to question whether the pompous styles of the Dimblebys et al are what are needed in coverage today. Our world has been dumbed down. Whether this is a good thing is another matter but it is a fact. Presenters are no longer employed for their knowledge of a subject but because they look good..... nuff said.

Well jubilee weekend is over and I have mixed feelings about the past four days I would never call myself a Royalist but can see the appeal of the Monarchy and what it means to millions of people. To me it is irrational that so much is made of a family, but who am I to comment?

I would say, however, that I'm sure when Prince Phillip was taken to hospital he didn't have to wait three hours in A and E. There was a brilliant feelgood factor about the past few days - akin to New Year's Eve. Unfortunately today was back to normal. Food prices going up, unrest at airports and traffic jams on the way home to Norfolk.

We went to Oxford for a look round. Maybe I wasn't in a city visiting mood but I didn't enjoy the place. There was something about it. To me Cambridge is more picturesque. Oxford smacks of ripoffsville with charges to visit any of the colleges and to visit Christchurch (on which Harry Potter was based) costs something ridiculous like £8.50. You would need a healthy bank balance to visit all the colleges.

Did manage to have coffee in a coffee shop which was featured in the evening's version of the Lewis detective series.

Well the family party went well and now here we are staying in South Stoke which is on the banks of the Thames.

Firstly what of the music I took with me. Well it was all rather strange as I put six new albums on my MP3 player but accidentally had them on shuffle so it was a mix of Dexys, Rumer, Beach Boys, David Bowie, Patti Smith and Neil Young. Difficult to judge them listening that way of course. Dexys shows Kevin Rowlands at his most introverted but a couple of really good songs. Beach Boys can't seem to make up its mind whether it wants to hark back to the old days or just reminisce on times long gone. Actually it does both. It's not a bad album but a bit lacking in originality and some of the lyrics are simply silly. Patti Smith is interesting but Neil Young's Americana is a mess. He's put new tunes to some old American classics. Unfortunately it's a few years since he wrote a decent tune! As for the Bowie - well it's the 40th anniversary edition of the classic Ziggy Stardust album.

Today we walked from our base at South Stoke into Goring on Thames and had a good look round until it started to rain. I have for a long time wanted to walk as much of the Thames as possible and I guess this is a start. Met a couple in the pub where we are staying who could scarcely walk, having completed 20 miles in one go the previous day. So nothing like that for us - just a gentle stroll of five miles or so.

Late afternoon we drove to Henley which would have been lovely in the sunshine. Problem was it was raining heavily so we just had something to eat and then got back to the car. How food and drink prices change. We had two steak meals, a shared sweet and two glasses of wine for £16.50 - what good value!!!!

It's still Jubilee weekend and the weather is still dull and pretty miserable. Today we are off to Hertfordshire for a family party. I'm taking the new albums by Dexys, Neil Young and the Beach Boys with me.

The surviving Beach Boys have got together to celebrate 50 years and have a new album out. It's going to be interesting to see what it's like. Reviews have been mixed and say that it's rather patchy - a bit like the weather.

Jubilee Washout - not in Hethersett

Lyric of the day:

Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl
But she doesn't have a lot to say
Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl
But she changes from day to day
I want to tell her that I love her a lot
But I gotta get a bellyful of wine
Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl
Someday I'm going to make her mine, oh yeah
Someday I'm going to make her mine - Paul McCartney

It was such a shame that it rained virtually all day in Hethersett. Hundreds of people still attended our Jubilee Fayre and Fete on the Memorial Field but I reckon the rain kept hundreds more at home. It was very wet putting tents etc up in the morning and very wet during the day but spirits were still high.

I popped home late afternoon to put the photos I had taken on the internet and they are available on my village web site at http://www.hethersett.org.uk

At least the rain had disappeared by the evening music session when there were still over 100 people around. Kept wondering how many more there would have been had it been a sunny and warm evening. Still another village event to remember fondly. Next up for me is the football club funday next Saturday followed by the South Norfolk Village sports on Sunday and that all morphs into the huge Open Weekend from June 22nd to 24th. So certainly no time to put our feet up yet.

Predators and Jubilee Weekend

Interesting analogy in the football world. Certain areas of the Media said yesterday that the merry go round of managers at the moment is all part of the football food chain.

The big badly run and under-achieving predators e.g Liverpool raid the small well run and over achieving clubs like Wigan, Norwich and Swansea. Then the smaller but still Premier Division clubs like Wigan, Norwich and Swansea become the larger predators and raid the next strata of clubs and so on.

So Norwich look like losing Paul Lambert to Aston Villa. All we can say about that is it was going to happen, nobody is indispensable, good luck Paul and onto the next manager for Norwich who are in a very healthy position. Oh and I hope we finish above Villa next season. Just wondering what kind of reception the man will get on his return, particularly if we play Villa early in the season. What chance of it being the first match?

Enough about football. This is Diamond Jubilee weekend and we have a huge village fete on Sunday. Sadly I fear it could be very wet and miserable. Let's just hope we get a few breaks in the expected rain.

Long Words, Ballet and Running

During the course of a day numerous pointless things come into my mind. Yesterday it was a question. What is the longest word that can be made by using just one key on a mobile phone? I googled this and came up with virtually nothing. Best I could do was feeded but I'm not even sure that's a word as it should technically be fed. Apparently the longest word you can make by using just the top row of a keyboard is appropriately typewriter.

Now all this is really quite irrelevant... but fun nevertheless.

Definition of boredom yesterday - four men sitting in a row in the ladies clothes department of Marks and Spencers, looking glum and bored silly. Obviously taking a load off their feet whilst their wives take a load off their wallets.

Have to confess I did enjoy Northern Ballet's production of I've Got Rhythm at Norwich Theatre Royal. Have to also confess that I enjoyed the music more than the dance - but I always will. Sitting on the front row it was interesting to see the huge strength needed by the dancers - something we always forget when it comes to ballet. Also interesting to see the facial features as well. The men in particular obviously have to keep smiling, keep remembering their movements and make them look natural whilst obviously under tremendous strain of having to lift the ballerinas above their heads. One particular guy sweated buckets and I'm surprised some of it didn't hit us in the front row. Also at times they got extremely close to the edge of the stage. I could just see one of them falling and dropping into our laps - which would have made the production even more interesting.

Felt very lethargic all day which was all sorted out by running club in the evening. Over the past few weeks I have picked up numerous small injuries and niggles. Today I bought a new pair of running shoes and they made all the difference. A bit of stiffness but no pain. What is it they say about a workman and his tools?