You know you want to! Retire to Spain. Click on the link for details of our des. res. for sale.

A while ago I wrote about leg room on Monarch Airlines flights. They wrote back to me on 8th December, in reply to my letter of 3rd September. They had acknowledged my letter, but it has taken them longer than they said they hoped (eight weeks I think they said) to reply to my letter.

I had commented that the leg room available seemed inadequate, and there seemed to be no system in place to ensure that the taller people who needed it had preferential access to the limited number of seats with more leg room. In their reply they don't seem to acknowledge the need, just to say they are "in line with the majority of UK carriers" and complying to "CAA and manufacturer's guidelines" and CAA "rigid safety criteria." What safety? I contend that a significant proportion of the population would find it physically impossible to adopt the advocated "brace position" in an emergency in the amount of space provided.

It saddens me when a company's idea of creativity and customer service is limited to not contravening rules and regulations and being in line with the "majority of" others who are presumably similarly unimaginative.

Join in my poll (to the right of this post), or comment on this post, if you are a regular visitor or a new visitor.

I posted the above on 25th November. Over the next two weeks I got 24 hits on this blog, of which 13 were from the UK.

Three people replied to my poll saying "keep it going." Two "yes I read it regularly" and one "yes I read it sometimes."

I decided to pay the money!

I'm impressed by the the Ecclesiastical Insurance Group. I recommend them for good insurance (cars, household, etc.).

I sent in a letter and customer survey form after my car was repaired after a recent accident. The manager in charge of motor claims telephoned me yesterday to talk it through and to discuss his ideas for improving their service.

I had already deduced that they are serious about listening to their customers, as their survey form is very impressive, including general but valuable questions about how customers perceive them that key into their firm's values.

This contrasts with the lack of interest shown by Monarch Airlines (is this Britain's worst airline?) who have still not replied as they promised to my letter, and a coaching supplier that I am linking with who also does not seem to like criticism.

I wonder whether I should ask firms whether they are interested in improving performance, and interested in what their clients have to say, before I write in full?

By way of completeness, Barclays Bank eventually worked out that the messages sent by their order line were not being received by their fulfilment office, apologised profusely, and then deluged me with the envelopes I had ordered. I think that is a good outcome. Hopefully they will modify there system so it detects such errors, and introduce a more accessible escalation process!

I just want to record this historic day: the election of the first black President of the United States of America.

Recently in the U.K. we celebrated the bicentenary of the the Act of Parliament to abolish the slave trade in the U.K., and the work of William Wilberforce. Americans are drawing parallels today with the work of Martin Luther King a few decades ago, and of course there are the events of the American Civil War in between. African Americans are rightly excited by this development, which they have waited for for a long time, and it will be interesting to see how the river of racial equality continues to flow over the next few years.

"God bless America!"

Link to Obama's impressive victory speech.

After writing about not colluding with powerlessness, I seem to have got a few things to work on.

My latest upset is Barclays Bank. Some years ago they closed down lots of branches in "small towns" including the one I live in. (Other banks did the same.) The main irritation of this to many people is the difficulty of paying in cheques. Once upon a time, when we lived a long way from a bank, Barclays gave us prepaid envelopes to do this. After a while they refused to do that anymore. Anyway, to lessen the blow to rural communities, they agreed to allow cheques to be paid in at Post Offices. This is useful, supports local Post Offices too (that's nice, because I'm not sure that the government want to support this useful social service) and - unsurprisingly - you have to obtain special envelopes to do this.

What happens if you keep ordering them and they do not arrive? Then you can't use the service anymore.

The system is that you phone a free number and get put through to a helpful person in Mumbai (I have nothing against that in principle.) He asks you for your address which he writes down and then faxes to an office in Britain. The office in Britain then posts the envelopes to my home. This seems a complicated system. Why not just use an online portal that automatically prints out the shipping documents? Why not use e-mail rather than fax?

When I phoned the same number and asked what the procedure was if the system worked, the reply was, "I can only send a fax." So he sent another fax, and the envelopes did not arrive again. Why should they? (Einstein quote!).

When I spoke to UK customer services on the phone, they said they could not help me as they had no "procedure" to do so. Helpfully the lady took ownership of the problem and phoned the same number to ask for some envelopes for me. She had to wait about quarter of an hour in the queuing system.

I'm sure you will await the next instalment with excitement!

I still have not heard from Monarch Airlines, after I wrote to them.

On a brighter note, when I made the effort to chat to my local councillors about some things that were winding me up, I started to understand their problems more, and feel that they are now more in touch with the needs of those they seek to serve. I am impressed by the dedication of people who serve as local councillors, often doing it pretty much full time without a salary.

Here's some good quotes...

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Albert Einstein.

"The usefulness of a cup is in its emptiness." Old Chinese proverb.

"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." Albert Einstein.

Our return flight from Egypt to London Gatwick was with Monarch Airlines. It was delayed by six hours, but nobody at the Monarch check apologised. I infer that this is commonplace.

I'm also getting fed up with the way that on such charter flights there is insufficient leg room for people of around my height (6 ft 3 / 190 cm). Once upon a time preference seemed to be given to tall people to get the seats with more room at fire exits. Now airlines charge for these seats, and there may be none left for the tall people.

If we had some kind of "disability" I guess that with current legislation and/or morality they would feel obliged to make special arrangements for us at no extra charge. How should "disability legislation" apply to public transport.

I've written to Monarch Airlines about this.

 

Quick diagnosis and treatment of strokes saves lives.

Remember "STR..." and look for

S   Ask the person to SMILE .
T   TALK. Ask them to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE coherently (such as "It is sunny today").
R   Ask them to RAISE BOTH ARMS .

If any trouble with these, call an ambulance.

Fuller details here. Memorise them and pass them on!

Browsing through the latest newsletter from Ekklesia I came across a "so true" article by Gene Stoltzfus about making the anger in us a force for good. He draws his conclusions from his work with Christian Peacemaker Teams. Read the article in his blog (or republished by Ekklesia).

To add thoughts from Julia Cameron, in her book The Artist's Way, as she speaks of how to think when we find that we are angry: "Anger is fuel... anger is meant to be listened to... anger is a map. I like the idea that, if we don't let it overcome us or turn into hatred (as Gene puts it), it helps to show us the way forward.

4 THINGS YOU PROBABLY NEVER KNEW YOUR MOBILE PHONE COULD DO

There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it:

FIRST Emergency

The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile; network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number 112 can be dialled even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.

SECOND Have you locked your keys in the car?

Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their mobile phone from your cell phone.

Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other 'remote' for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the boot). Editor's Note: It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car over a mobile phone!'

THIRD Hidden Battery Power

Imagine your mobile battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370# Your mobile will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your mobile next time.

FOURTH How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?

To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 #

A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone get stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back,but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in peoplestealing mobile phones.

The information above is as received in an e-mail - I have not checked it.

I've been impressed by the work of artist He Qi.

He has produced a mural for the new offices of CMS in Oxford, and they used his picture of the Three Kings as a Christmas Card. At the time of writing, both of these are on the front page of his web site.

Mark Berry features another on his blog, with a moving poem for Christmas Eve also.

If you are feeling stressed, it may be because your angels are out of balance. (Thank you, Toni!)

I have a lot of respect for the Archbishop of York, so when he cuts up his clerical collar as a protest about President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe I take notice.

The Guardian yesterday included an article about an art installation in Trafalgar Square (London). Called The Journey, it draws attention to sex trafficking in the UK. "£10 extra for kissing." This issue really gets to me, as does anything that turns people into objects instead of helping them to flourish. Follow the links if you want a harrowing experience.

I wonder whether, like me, you've felt that time seems to travel faster as you get older? Somehow there does not seem to be so much time in the day.

It occurred to me a while ago that maybe time feels propotional: as you get older, one day is a smaller proportion of your whole life. I now discover that even scientists have proposed this! All this wisdom comes from an article on the BBC website, reviewing a new book by Steve Taylor of Manchester University: Making Time. You need to read the article (or the book).

He talks of sportsmen training themselves to heightened perception (being "in the zone") and of how we can make more of time through paying more attention (because that way our brain receives more "information"). This second aspect sounds like a rediscovery of the teaching of spiritual writers as they encourage living in the present moment, and paying attention.

Opposed to this particular spiritual teaching is the practice of trying to be somewhere else by using a mobile phone excessively; or not paying attention to local birdsong (or traffic noise) through addictive use of MP3 players!

This weekend I picked 12 oz of blackberries that were growing wild in a nearby car park.

They were succulent, large, and very tasty - but unusual for July. If this is due to climate chaos they are not complaining; neither did we as we ate them.

More good quotes, from Mark Berry's blog. See category "quotes" for more.

My favourite of these (I used to work for Intel):

"Failure is just part of the culture of innovation.  Accept it and become stronger."
Albert Yu, Senior Vice President of Intel

I found myself remembering today that William Wilberforce committed his life to two objects: "the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners." Manners in his language may translate better as moral values today.

This year we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade (although there is still work to be done). What about the second object?

I feel a call to this. In Britain today people moan about bad behaviour, such as "road rage" and "binge drinking" while at the same time struggling to reinvent values to improve British society. I don't see that we need to reinvent values: the core Christian values, that we once inherited and developed, seem to appeal to all "people of goodwill" regardless of what religion they claim. What is sometimes called the Golden Rule summarises part of this, the way that people should relate to one another: "do to others as you would like them to do to you."

It seems to me that when we note what is good manners, or bad manners, we are well in touch with our own values and the values that our society aspires to. So it would be a good way forward to share Wilberforce's second object as well as his first: the Reformation of Manners.

This is not a crusade to change others: like all good leadership it needs to start with "me" and the example that "I" set. Let's go for it!