Seen on the Road
My hero window cleaner
January 10, 2011
In a violent rainstorm, my window cleaner sorted out my mini-Niagara Falls. Oh boy. The rain’s been lashing down and I found my gutter was overflowing. It was late in the afternoon and I couldn’t think who to call. But then it came to me. My window cleaner’s got a long ladder. A short text…
Great café brightens journey
December 16, 2010
Hungry, rather bored and not on a nice road I needed a break. Thinking I was exiting for the Services in 1/3 mile, I actually drew into a garden centre/ nursery with an adjacent café. That ‘wrong’ turning was actually a ‘blessing in disguise’. From the outside it didn’t look much but step inside and…
Cold snap catches hotel with heating off
November 25, 2010
Travelodge, Tabley Knutsford, got it wrong for us last weekend when we arrived. Our rooms were absolutely glacial. No heating had been on. It was so cold there was condensation in the bathrooms. There were no additional duvets and no blankets. Sleeping with coats on is not what you want to do! With a fully…
Charity’s mission compromised?
November 15, 2010
A good friend of mine called me in some distress about the NSPCC’s stop cruelty campaign. The visual identity – the logo – shows the NSPCC abbreviation with the words Cruelty to Children Must Stop shown underneath. The final part of the logo is a green circle under which are the final two words Full…
Sardinian Weekend
October 20, 2010
Hotel breakfasts are often just another anonymous meal in another forgotten location. But not so the Thistle Hotel at London’s Heathrow airport. My morning lit up when the chef started talking about her forthcoming short break back home in Sardinia. I could almost feel the sun on my back and the warmth of her mother’s welcome….
Tale of two restaurants
August 5, 2010
Up in the French Alps we came across two restaurants whose approach to their brand values and customer service couldn’t be more different. Just south of Lake Geneva, in Bernex, there’s l’Ormeau restaurant (Ormeau is a local fish). With glorious views over mountains, which we’d just climbed, and a wonderful terrace full of yellow sun…
Ryanair’s smiles
July 5, 2010
Ryanair tends to get publicity for the wrong reasons – lurid stories about proposals to charge to use the “facilities”, the Chief Executive’s reported proposal to have passengers stand up so as to save on seat costs and carry more people. But travelling to Dublin from London in the last few days was altogether a…
Ryanairs’ smiles
July 5, 2010
Ryanair tends to get publicity for the wrong reasons – lurid stories about proposals to charge to use the “facilities”, the Chief Executive’s reported proposal to have passengers stand up so as to save on seat costs and carry more people. But travelling to Dublin from London in the last few days was altogether a…
Wow! That was quick
June 9, 2010
I needed a book to prepare for a presentation and couldn’t get to a physical bookshop. So I ordered it from Amazon, using their new free overnight service Amazon Prime. And from ordering to delivery…less than 12 hours. What great service. Well done Amazon. Submitted by Ivan N, Essex, UK.
Early Delivery
May 26, 2010
I was 7 months pregnant with number 1 and we hadn’t bought a thing when we came across an outfit called Babylist. We spent a whole afternoon with them at a babyshow. They let us browse a whole roomful of gear and were there with 1-2-1 advice. As first time parents we knew nothing. We…
Pure service
May 10, 2010
In central London today and hungry for something that would ‘fuel the engine’ for the afternoon and my evening’s cycling. Got a recommendation to visit a cafe called Pure on Beak St. What a great experience…made to order salads, vast range of ingredients, superb fresh juices, delicious coffee. Not just that, fast service, reasonable prices…
When my mum died
April 21, 2010
When my mother died at Christmas we had to cancel our travel plans at short notice. I’d anticipated a long old haul claiming on our Amex Insurance. How wrong I was. From the first phone call I was treated with tremendous sympathy for my sudden loss and the staff could not have been more helpful….
No Euros for sale in City
March 25, 2010
I had a dispiriting and frustrating walk through the City of London trying to buy some Euros for a trip to France. You would have thought that in the heart of the global financial centre, which our politicians and bankers tell us is the envy of the world, that would have been easy. Well here’s…
Runaway success
February 28, 2010
Two examples of great service over the winter. Being a runner of many years experience (don’t ask…over 45!), I’ve seen races of very variable quality. And for every runner, quality is important – simple things such as prompt start times when it’s lashing down with rain, changing rooms with warm showers when your fingers and toes…
Cleaning windows no fun in the cold
January 13, 2010
When I complained to my window cleaner by text message that he’d not rung us the day before he came so that we could leave the gate to the back of the house open I thought I’d get a text back. But no, I got a phone call. Very nice, very polite he apologised but…
TFL sorts out my Oyster
January 9, 2010
My New Year got off to a good start when I spoke to a great agent at the Transport for London call centre. Somehow I’d managed to lose one Oyster card around the house and so had bought another. Of course when it came to the online top-up, it was my old card that got…
Toastmaster rescues wedding
December 21, 2009
Take the worst weather of the year – stinging snow on a ferocious easterly wind, frost, ice on already drenched roads. Add guests from far flung places in the UK and beyond, including Australia, stuck 15 miles away. Mix in the closure of the road to the hotel and a 20 mile diversion or a…
Dribbling geriatrics
November 20, 2009
Oh dear…don’t try this approach in public! When called to account for his company’s level of charges for managing retirement homes Ian Rapley, of Consensus Group, declared those who complained were “…not dribbling geriatrics, they are people in their later years, they are very, very aware of what they are doing.” His comments this week…
¿Hablas español?
October 26, 2009
No, I don’t speak Spanish. And I especially don’t speak Spanish when I’m trying buy some groceries in central London and the shop assistant can hardly be bothered to stop talking on her mobile phone to her friend. Here was a demonstration of pathetic service. A shop full of people, two shop assistants, one at…
