I've just discovered that according to upmystreet.com I'm classified as an Acorn type 2 and represent 1.3% of the population. Maybe I should be proud of this, but the trouble is it says lots of things about me many of which are not true, especially the bits about having kids, an executive position, and driving a company car. But anyway what it does say to Harry Burglar is that I'm probably worth the effort of a quick visit, preferable when I'm not in.
I find it quite alarming that it's so easy for the criminal element to spend their time (once they've finished watching that days Jeremy Kyle or Trisha show) checking out where all their potential business, for later that day, can be found. Then, handily, once they've identified me by post code they can checkout the ariel views on Google maps to plan the best entry and exit routes from my house.
It seems ironic that the internet is a handy little tool for me and my friends to checkout all the nice stuff we want to spend our hard earned cash on, and even more effective for the dirtbags that want to come round and nick it off us when we're not around.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Pointless signage
Today is my birthday and for a special lunch we went to the Chewton Glen in the New Forest. This place is consistently voted one of the top 10 hotel restaurants in the country so as you'd expect it is a really nice place both inside and out. As always we were not disappointed. The food was great, the service was perfect, and the place itself was immaculate.
However, what I did notice, and it's becoming something that's a constant source of irritation, was how much the pointless signs businesses are forced to display can ruin the overall look of a place. In the lounge there are two large French doors that lead out onto the patio. I know what a door looks like and would guess that at least 99% of the population has got a firm grasp on what a door looks like too. But obviously the powers that be aren't entirely happy with that situation and have insisted that exits (external doors) are marked with ugly green signs that do nothing more than state the obvious and ruin a nice looking room and the view. Looking around the hotel I rather annoyingly couldn't help but notice more of these pointless signs telling me what I could easily see for myself.
Another example of the government telling us what we already know, and making businesses pay to do it.
However, what I did notice, and it's becoming something that's a constant source of irritation, was how much the pointless signs businesses are forced to display can ruin the overall look of a place. In the lounge there are two large French doors that lead out onto the patio. I know what a door looks like and would guess that at least 99% of the population has got a firm grasp on what a door looks like too. But obviously the powers that be aren't entirely happy with that situation and have insisted that exits (external doors) are marked with ugly green signs that do nothing more than state the obvious and ruin a nice looking room and the view. Looking around the hotel I rather annoyingly couldn't help but notice more of these pointless signs telling me what I could easily see for myself.
Another example of the government telling us what we already know, and making businesses pay to do it.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Vacation diversity
Diversity is basically not tarring everyone else of a certain group with the same brush. But that's what we all do, and what we always will do, and with very good reasons to do it.
If you have a positive or negative experience with something new, be it an object or a person, you will automatically tend to have a positive or negative anticipation towards the next object or person of the same type that you may meet. The more the experience goes one way or the other the more reinforced that impression becomes, so it's natural that once it begins to get negative you will begin to avoid objects or people of that group wherever possible and you may even start warning your friends to do the same.
An example might be wasps. Wasps tend to sting, not necessarily all of them but certainly most of them, so most people tend to hate the nasty little things. Of course there could be lots of wasps that don't sting but the experience of the bad ones naturally means that you don't want to take any chances, so you avoid them all like the plague.
And so on to our most recent trip to the Maldives where everyone I met who was a Muslim was really nice and friendly, most of the Russians I met were miserable and rude, and all the Europeans were fine.
Maldivians, who are mostly Muslim, are a very friendly bunch and are happy to stand around talking for ages if you let them. The problem is that life for them is so different than it is for us that it can sometimes be very hard to know what to talk about with them. Cars are something that men can usually turn to as an easy topic of conversation but a car in the Maldives is about as much use as a surfboard in Southampton, so consequently most of them have very few opinions and views on the subject. Sports works for some people, but as I'm only really interested in F1 and skiing I'm once again barking up the wrong tree. Anyway, they're all really lovely people and I've now convinced myself that this positive attribute obviously extends over the entire Muslim Maldives population.
Russians on the other hand can be a complete pain in the backside, and I'd say that from my experience the majority do seem to fall into that bracket. They are very rude by European and US standards rarely thanking anyone for anything and usually barking orders at anyone providing them a service, such as waiters etc. Every morning we would see Russians go to the omelet chef, grunt out the filling they wanted to him with no politeness, or even eye contact, and then, when he slid the completed product onto their plates, they would simply turn around and walk off. Not a word, not a nod, not any any recognition of appreciation whatsoever. Many staff told us that they hated the Russians for their rudeness but they do apparently spend a lot of money so are naturally welcomed trade.
The Europeans were all absolutely fine, especially the Germans who I always like and find very easy to get along with. The Italians were good fun even though they all seem to smoke a lot, have a very thin grasp of English, and appear to be scared of live fish. But they do all like to have a good time. That was about it for Europeans this year out of all the folks we spoke to anyway.
Finally there were quite a few Indians this year. They all seemed very polite but kept themselves to themselves. That works for me. If only the Russians would do the same and stay at home.
If you have a positive or negative experience with something new, be it an object or a person, you will automatically tend to have a positive or negative anticipation towards the next object or person of the same type that you may meet. The more the experience goes one way or the other the more reinforced that impression becomes, so it's natural that once it begins to get negative you will begin to avoid objects or people of that group wherever possible and you may even start warning your friends to do the same.
An example might be wasps. Wasps tend to sting, not necessarily all of them but certainly most of them, so most people tend to hate the nasty little things. Of course there could be lots of wasps that don't sting but the experience of the bad ones naturally means that you don't want to take any chances, so you avoid them all like the plague.
And so on to our most recent trip to the Maldives where everyone I met who was a Muslim was really nice and friendly, most of the Russians I met were miserable and rude, and all the Europeans were fine.
Maldivians, who are mostly Muslim, are a very friendly bunch and are happy to stand around talking for ages if you let them. The problem is that life for them is so different than it is for us that it can sometimes be very hard to know what to talk about with them. Cars are something that men can usually turn to as an easy topic of conversation but a car in the Maldives is about as much use as a surfboard in Southampton, so consequently most of them have very few opinions and views on the subject. Sports works for some people, but as I'm only really interested in F1 and skiing I'm once again barking up the wrong tree. Anyway, they're all really lovely people and I've now convinced myself that this positive attribute obviously extends over the entire Muslim Maldives population.
Russians on the other hand can be a complete pain in the backside, and I'd say that from my experience the majority do seem to fall into that bracket. They are very rude by European and US standards rarely thanking anyone for anything and usually barking orders at anyone providing them a service, such as waiters etc. Every morning we would see Russians go to the omelet chef, grunt out the filling they wanted to him with no politeness, or even eye contact, and then, when he slid the completed product onto their plates, they would simply turn around and walk off. Not a word, not a nod, not any any recognition of appreciation whatsoever. Many staff told us that they hated the Russians for their rudeness but they do apparently spend a lot of money so are naturally welcomed trade.
The Europeans were all absolutely fine, especially the Germans who I always like and find very easy to get along with. The Italians were good fun even though they all seem to smoke a lot, have a very thin grasp of English, and appear to be scared of live fish. But they do all like to have a good time. That was about it for Europeans this year out of all the folks we spoke to anyway.
Finally there were quite a few Indians this year. They all seemed very polite but kept themselves to themselves. That works for me. If only the Russians would do the same and stay at home.
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