I Want that First Hit

Soooo, was looking over the races for next year, well primarily of course  to see the BBC/Sky distribution.  Here’s the list, although if you are an F1 fan, shame on you if you haven’t already seen it!

	Race	Circuit	Date	Channel
1	Australian Grand Prix	Albert Park, Melbourne	March 16-18th	Sky
2	Malaysian Grand Prix	Sepang International Circuit	March 23rd-25th	Sky
3	Chinese Grand Prix	Shanghai International Circuit	April 13-15th	BBC/Sky
4	Bahrain Grand Prix	Bahrain International Circuit	April 20th-22nd	Sky
5	Spanish Grand Prix	Circuit de Catalunya	May 11-13th	BBC/Sky
6	Monaco Grand Prix	Monte-Carlo	May 24-27th	BBC/Sky
7	Canadian Grand Prix	Montreal	June 8-10th	Sky
8	European Grand Prix	Valencia	June 22nd-24th	BBC/Sky
9	British Grand Prix	Silverstone	July 6-8th	BBC/Sky
10	German Grand Prix	Hockenheimring	July 20th-22nd	Sky
11	Hungarian Grand Prix	Hungaroring	July 27-29th	Sky
12	Belgian Grand Prix	Spa-Francorchamps	August 31st-September 2nd	BBC/Sky
13	Italian Grand Prix	Monza	September 7-9th	Sky
14	Singapore Grand Prix	Marina Bay	September 21st-23rd	BBC/Sky
15	Japanese Grand Prix	Suzuka	October 5-7th	Sky
16	Korean Grand Prix	Korean International Circuit	October 12-14th	BBC/Sky
17	Indian Grand Prix	Buddh International Circuit	October 26-28th	Sky
18	Abu Dhabi Grand Prix	Yas Marina	November 2nd-4th	BBC/Sky
19	United States Grand Prix	Circuit of the Americas	November 16-18th	Sky
20	Brazilian Grand Prix	Interlagos	November 23rd-25th	BBC/Sky

The best races still on the BBC are of course Monaco, Silverstone, Spa, Brazil with Sky getting  Australia, Hockenheimring, Hungaroring and Monza. 

It isn’t a bad split, although am not happy that the first two races are on Sky.  Losing the first race is a real disappointment, it has become an institution with my F1 group of friends.

The race ritual of all coming together, drinks the night before, hot dogs during the warm up, waiting for that “Dum, dada dum dadadadada dum”.  The first race is always filled with a wave of excitement.  The whole season is laid out before you and it is a special feeling.  That first hit of the season after the Winter break, it’s intoxicating.

Going to a pub to watch the race just isn’t the same for me.  I have my race rituals, and they don’t include being in a pub.  Watching a race with the inevitable person in the back saying “They just go round and round” or my most hated “I could do that, there is no skill involved” is not going to play. I may not be responsible for my actions.

But, short of selling my soul to the devil or my body on the street I cannot afford Sky next year.  Am hoping to broker a deal with one of my F1 friends to pitch in on her Virgin deal so we can see the races the way we want to.

They say the best things in life are free, well in the case of Formula One, some of the best things, you have to pay for.

We have a Soul Too

This is a blog coming from the person on the other side of the phone.

In my line of work I deal with the general public on a daily basis, both on the phone and face to face.  I deal with people from all walks of life, from the rich to the poor, from the criminal to your average law abiding citizen.

What all of these people have in common is the inability to be polite on the phone.  Anyone who deals with the general public know the type.  The person who thinks that shouting, nastiness and general rudeness will magically make things happen faster, rectify problems and generally will get them what they want.  Let me give you a very large tip here, it doesn't.

Over the years I have been shouted at, verbally abused, sworn at, threatened and reduced to tears.  None of these things make me do my job better and they will not make me want to help you.

I know it is tempting when you have a problem and have to ring a company to chase a response or complain to shout at the person on the other end to get a more immediate response.  You may be angry about an issue, but believe me, shouting at the person answering your call is helping no one, except perhaps making you feel better.

When a person calls or comes into my office if they don't shout and say please and thank you like an ordinary human being then I will always go that extra mile to help them.  Obviously the nasty people are helped too, but I'm not going to bend over backwards to help someone who is shouting/verbally abusing me.

It is more often the case that the main result of an abusive call is that the caller themselves gets more angry, gets confused in what they are saying, goes round in circles and nothing is resolved anything.  Everyone loses.

What also irritates me is the amount of times that I will be shouted and/or sworn at by a client, and then once they are transferred to the person dealing with their matter, they suddenly turn into polite, well mannered people.  The monkeys deserve respect too, not just the organ grinders.

So next time you make a call to a company, customer services or whatever, please remember that it is actually a person on the other end of the line.  Because we have a soul too.  Take a breath before you call, don't swear, and we will get along fine.

Strike? No I’ll go shopping instead

Yesterday was the day of the public sector strikes.

I have mixed emotions about striking.  On the one hand you have the medical sector , emergency services, police, all of these professions do an amazing and often thankless job.

Although, as someone pointed out to me, those jobs are also a vocation, a want to help the public as well as a need for a job, I do believe that they deserve good pay, a good pension etc.

The people I have the problem with are the teachers who strike, the admin staff of the medical profession and also admin from various other public sectors, such as the Court Service.

Teaching is also a vocation, but one with good pay, a pension, job security and 13 weeks holiday a year.  I fail to see what they have to complain about.  Teachers can and do argue that that amount of holiday time isn’t a fair reflection given that they have to do lesson plans, marking etc over some points during that time.

Taking away the usual 4 weeks holidays that you would get, that leaves 9 weeks.  On the generous side of allowing 3 weeks to do the extra work, which on the average day of 9-5 equates to 120 hours, that still leaves 6 weeks of paid additional holidays to everyone else.

That is the way the school year works, I understand that, but you must appreciate that to a private sector worker like myself, seeing someone with so many good things about their job complaining and striking is irritating.  In these current times you are lucky to have a job and moaning about a tax payers paid for pension amount, which is more than the state pension the private sector gets, does not carry any favour.

My sister is a teacher, I say at this point, but I believe in what I say and am not going to not write about it because I am related to one.  She did not strike although don’t actually know what her views are on the subject.  If she reads this blog, I guess I will find out!

Even more than the teachers who strike, the people who make me the most angry are the administration staff that strike.  Teachers are at least contributing to society, teaching and educating and helping to improve lives, administration staff do none of those things.

Admin staff are just that, admin.  Part of my duties are in an administration capacity in my firm, but I wouldn’t dream of taking strike action.  Why?  Because I think myself lucky to have a job in the first place.

The last time there was a strike, I had to go up to the local Court on work related business.  When I got to the front doors I was told that I could not enter, that I would be crossing a picket line, and that the Court were on strike. 

Three members of staff that day, unbeknown to each other at that time, went up to the Court that day.  There were no people outside striking, no “picket line” to cross.  The admin staff just hadn’t shown up, probably used the day to go shopping.  If you are on strike, be there, show why you are on strike, don’t go shopping.

Incidentally, most of the large towns and cities yesterday were uncharacteristically packed with shoppers Christmas buying with their children in tow and I’m willing to bet that most of them should have been on the picket line.

So that’s the end of my little rant.  Understand some strikers, disagree with others and loathe the rest.