It’s a Blog ! Not a Log !

And never change, last night you took me for a Romantic meal of Fish & Chips in paper & Quiz night at Electriks, one of the best Valentine nights we’ve had.

I love you and one day you will marry me

Just seen some poor guy on a bicycle get knocked off it at the Junction of Davyhulme Rd East and Chester Road, a guy in a Blue Peugeot clipped him by the looks of it, ambulance and police attended fairly quickly, they took about 30-45 mins before they moved him into the ambulance.

The guy was placed onto one of those body-board ‘s where they strap you in and make sure your spine/head can’t move, so guessing they suspected that there was a possibility of head/spinal damage, actually surprised we don’t see more accidents of this sort at that junction as neither car driver nor cyclist seem to take any proper notice of the rd at this junction, I drive to work across this same junction everyday and I’ve seen both car drivers and cyclist acting like total idiots when driving/riding across it.

As a former cycling postman I am fully aware of the dangers that a car can provide to cyclists on today’s busy road and again as a motorist I realise that my car could spell death for a cyclist, so I tend to look at the road from both views when approaching/overtaking people on bikes. The Times are running a campaign at the moment hi-lighting the danger to cyclists on today’s busy roads and I support it fully, especially after seeing today’s incident.

Here’s hoping the guy involved is’nt badly hurt and makes a full and speedy recovery.

Decided to treat myself to a new Camera mount for the car on payday, I’ve had a few car mounts and they’ve all worked fairly well, but none of them have been quite strong enough to hold a DSLR, so after a bit of googling and review reading, I settled on a bad boy called the Delkin Fat Gecko.

The Fat Gecko quite a nice bit of kit, it’s a dual suction device that has the ability to hold weights upto 8lb, at this point I’ll let Delkin’s own advertisement spiel take over, as they explain it much better than me

 Adventure-seekers, commercial photographers and amateur filmmakers alike will appreciate the versatility of Delkin Devices’ DIMA 2010 award-winning Fat Gecko Original Suction Cup Camera Mount. A solid steel shaft, powerful vise grip, and rugged construction keep your digital device secure and stationary for hands-free use in the most extreme situations. This sturdy camera mount uses two suction cups and a universal 1/4”-20 tripod mounting screw to attach to any solid surface, ensuring zero damage or slippage at its base.

This universal mount is ideal for SLR, video, compact, and tripod head digital cameras, but is compatible with virtually any device or model up to 8 pounds. With its 360 degree tilt, turn and rotation, the Fat Gecko Gator enables photographers to achieve any shooting angle desired while in motion! Obtain flawless footage from your heavier, more advanced camera while attached to the windshield of a vehicle or aircraft, boat or any other smooth surface. Four adjustable joints and an optional extension shaft allow you to customize the perfect shot. Fully functional and manufactured with superior quality, this device is a must-have for all photography enthusiasts.

I’ve already used the Gecko twice now on the car, the first time was with a Canon PowerShot SX200IS attached to it, I mounted the Gecko and the camera onto the drivers door panel of my BMW and angled the camera backwards and upwards to cover the area of the drivers side rear passenger door window.

The Reasons behind this strange positioning was down to wanting to know what everyone else see’s as they pass our car and see our Cane Corso Blue hung out of the window having her face and ears blasted by the wind, after viewing the resultant footage I can now understand why everyone seems to smile when they see Blue, see for yourself

Just received an interesting email from Helen Coen at the RSPCA, she wanted to let me know about a campaign that they are presently running that hopes to highlight the suffering some dog breed’s have to go through just so that they can be Kennel Club registered.

Here’s an interesting piece of information she provided me with some Statistics taken from a TNS report in December 2011:

People were asked what they associate with pure-breed or pedigree dogs.
The top six responses were:

1. Expensive
2. Well bred
3. From good breeding stock
4. Quality
5. Responsibly bred
6. Healthy

Now to a lot of people these answers may ring true, but in reality only 1 of these six response is most likely to be true and that’s No.1 : Expensive

The rest can’t always be said to be true with a lot of KC Registered dogs, take for instance the Bulldog, this once proud animal was originally used in the sport of bull baiting. This entailed the setting of dogs (after placing wagers on each dog) onto a tethered bull. The dog that grabbed the bull by the nose and pinned it to the ground would be the victor.

Now look at your present day Bulldog and you could never even imagine this breed being involved in anything as strenuous or as dangerous as taking on a enraged bull in a ring, this pale example of what was a fine active sporty, courageous companion has been brought about through cross-breeding and selective breeding and we are now left with a breed of dog that suffers from :

Elbow and patellar dysplasia
Hip dysplasia can
Mange

And on top of these health issues there are further physical eccentricities that have now beset this breed, particularly when it comes to procreation.

Due to the massive head and relatively narrow hips of the modern Bulldog nearly all births are the result of a caesarian section, and also due to these physical eccentricities and the Bulldog male dog’s frequent inability to mate most litters are conceived via artificial insemination.

On top of these ailments, you’ll also find that Bulldog’s are very intolerant of heat, so woe betide you take your dog for a walk in summer, the poor creature will end up sounding like an asthmatic as it attempts to cool itself down

What have we done to what was a once proud and healthy breed of dog, just for the sake of someone’s idea of the perfect Bulldog, the worrying thing about all this is that it’s not just the Bulldog we’ve decided to play god with it’s numerous breed’s, here’s a list of some of the one’s that truly show how much damage we’ve done

Cavalier King Charles Spaniel – Suffer from a condition known as syringomyelia, which occurs as a result of the skull being too small for the brain.

German Shepard – Being bred with an extremely sloping back that causes poor gait and disease in the hind legs.

Pugs – Due to inbreeding these are now genetically predisposed toleg and knee problems, such as Hip dysplasia, patellar luxation, and Legg-Calve-Perthes Disease.

Dalmatians – Hereditary hearing loss is common and now cases of Epileptic seizures are starting to appear in Dalamations (is this perhaps due to inbreeding/eugenics)

To learn more about what the RSPCA campaign just follow either of these links “Born to Suffer”
“Open Letter from the RSPCA” and give your voice to the campaign and help dogs get back there heritage

Hopefully the RSPCA campaign will continue to gather weight and breeders, the Kennel Club and most importantly the buying public will start to care more about a dog’s health than just how it’ll look in their handbag or on the end of their leads.

Let me know your thoughts . .

Now I don’t know how many others out there received them, but I’m guessing there are quite a lot of you, but recently I’ve been getting SMS Messages by the bucket load sent to my mobile from I’m guessing SIM Only deals offered by the various Mobile carriers, in particularly Tesco Mobile, who are presently offering a “5000 txts for £5″ SIM deal.
 last got 

What annoys me is that my mobile number is not readily available and I’ve never given it out to anything that might put it in the hands of marketing companies, especially the sort that might want me to take out Payday Loans, reclaim PPI or put in an insurance claim for an accident, but still I receive these SMS messages, this is most likely down to Random Number generators being used with Pay as you Go or SIM Deals to send SMS messages.

I’ve made numerous calls to Tesco Mobiles Customer services complaining about this with no effect, just the same routine answer, inform your Mobile carrier and request your number is changed . . . and that’s it, they apparently cannot do anything else about it, well I’m not happy about that, because why should I change my number through no fault of my own, when Tesco continue to allow their SIM Deals to make them money, while we the innocent mobile user suffers because they can’t monitor/police the abuse of their SIM Deals.

Anyway after much digging I’ve now got the contact emails (correct I hope) of Tesco’s Chairman, various Directors and Managing Directors: Ian Maclaurin; David malpas; David Reid; Michael Wemms; John Gildersleeve; Philip Clarke

I’ve sent all of them the following letter hoping to receive a response

Dear Sir,

First allow me to apologise if you are the incorrect person to contact regarding the following matter;

I would like to discuss with you the blight of Unsolicited SMS Text Messages from Tesco Mobile Numbers.

I have for the past number of weeks received numerous text messages relating to PPI Payments, PayDay Loans, Insurance Claims all asking me to visit websites or send a reply.

All of these text messages have originated from Tesco Mobile telephone numbers, examples of sms received and the numbers received from are shown below:

“Hi, if you receive this SMS a loan of up to £1000 is approved for you. 1min verification, no fees, cash NOW at www.quidstoday.co.uk” (Tesco Mobile Number 07729 316008)

“URGENT: Records show you are entitled to £2470 in compensation for the mis-selling of PPI on your loans and credit cards. For details reply PPI” (Tesco Mobile Number 07546 976834)

“”Hi, if you receive this SMS a loan of up to £1000 is approved for you. 1min verification, no fees, cash NOW at www.easilyverify.co.uk reply stop offer to stop” (Tesco Mobile Number 07742 907832)

I have never provided my number to anyone except my close family, as the mobile number receiving these texts is predominantly for emergency contact in the event anything happens to my mother”

I have contacted Tesco Mobile phone support on numerous occasions to complain about this and am continually told there is nothing they can do about it as they cannot view an accounts details to view the usage unless it is the account holder on the phone, I fully understand this and accept it, however this is now getting beyond a joke and I would like to know what Tesco as a responsible company is doing to monitor its pay as you go Mobile Sim packages specifically one’s such as “5000 texts for £5″ as these are the sort of SIM deals that I presume are being used by marketing companies to send their Marketing Text Messages to Randomly Generated Mobile telephone numbers.

I cannot believe I am alone when it comes to complaining to Tesco about this and believe that Tesco should be implementing some sort of Usage Pattern Analysis on such SIM Deals once activated, which would no doubt show details such as the amount of Random Numbers being texted from the SIM and when this occurs have the SIM Disabled.

At present all Tesco seem to be doing about it is making money off other peoples misery and your only response to complaints to your Tesco Mobile support telephone numbers, is to inform the unfortunate people who are receiving these constant SMS messages is to complain to their own Mobile carrier and suggest they request a new mobile number.

As a responsible company, do you yourself not believe that Tesco should be doing more to combat this blight that is affecting/interrupting numerous individuals.

Should you wish to contact me further to discuss this matter please either contact me via :

Hopefully they will respond with a solution to this very annoying issue and if they do I’ll post it here.

January has been a long long month when it comes to waiting for Payday to arrive, last got paid around the 20^th Dec, so have for the past week been surviving on savings in the bank and Mel’s weekly pay-packet.

The good thing about waiting so long to get paid, is the fact that now when we eventually get around to going for a nice Pub Sunday lunch, we’re going to really enjoy it, thinking maybe this Sunday checking out The Parlour on Beech Rd, heard a lot of good reports about the roast’s they do . . . mmmmm roast, not had a Sunday roast in ages (living with a Peskatarian partner has its drawbacks).

Also want to check to see if, as we’ve lead to believe that The Parlour is dog friendly, if it is this will be a plus as then we’ll have another place to chill after our weekend dog walks, plus it’s close to Chorlton Meadows, so exercise then lunch, what more could a man and his dog want on a weekend.

On the subject of dog’s, we met a nice couple in Electrik Bar the other week with a little Staffie girl called Tiggy, who it turned out were looking for a new home for her, appears that the dog was their daughters, who has now left home, but can’t take Tiggy with her, so her parents have taken her on, only thing is, they both work all day, meaning Tiggy was left in the house for about 8hrs a day with no human contact or interaction.

Well on hearing this we introduced them to John & Sophie, who it happens were looking to get themselves a new addition to their household and now after a week’s test run so to speak, Tiggs as she’s now called has a new home, we also have another couple to go for Sunday walks with J

Well Christmas is over & done with & it’s back to work tomorrow, just 8hrs left of my hol’s

After many telephone conversations and losing about 4hrs of my life, National Grid are paying me compensation, all be it £120′s worth, was hoping for more for the inconvenience they caused, but alas that’s all we are getting.

As you may have seen from an earlier post, we had our gas cut off by National Grid while we were on holiday, they were installing new pipework in the street and to the adjoining houses.

Well after 4 days and me highlighting my blog post to the @nationalgriduk on twitter we finally had our gas restored and we submitted a complaint verbally via the man who rang me from National Grid.

Move forward 10 days, not had a reply from National Grid re: My complaint, also the hole they redug to reconnect us still not filled in . . so my girlfriend rings up and complains, still nobody contacts us.

Day 13/14 still nobody contacts us, so we ring them, get told they tried ringing us, but as our number won’t accept annoymous calls they can’t contact us, well how about you get a line manager to ring us on his mobile or surely you must have a line out of National Grid that does’nt annoymise your number.

Informed that someone called round on the 12/13 day to do the repairs but could’nt gain access to our ginnel because it was locked, well for a start as we’ve explained on numerous occasions to them we both work and the earliest anyone can be home is 3:00pm, and sorry but I am not unlocking the gate that leads to our back garden and leaving it open all day, because I can promise you this if someone robbed my house or my garden shed because we’d left the gate unlocked all day for National Grid to gain access I can’t see National Grid  paying out for anything that gets nicked can you . . .

So again explained that someone would be at home today from 3:00pm

Then informed that  Kate is dealing with it and she will contact me, and get the issue resolved, so left it at that, but also contacted @nationalgriduk by twitter again to ask them to contact me Re: The gentleman there dealing with my complaint

No answer from them on twitter until some 8hrs later .  apologising and saying someone would contact me today, however again no call back at work today from either Kate or @nationalgriduk , so ring them up tonight again to find out what the fcuk is going on . .

Get through to a girl on the phone, give her my name and my postcode and then informed that they dont have a Mr Elgey at my address, they have Mr Jennel listed for that address, so I explain again who I am and that I wish to speak to a Line Manager, asked to hold, so I hold, again told a Mr Jennel lives at my address, again explain that he does’nt . . .  I live there.

I start to explain all over again about all the issues and comedy moments I’ve had with National Grid over the past 18 days and finally get round to the bit about how they reconnected us, but still have’nt made good the repairs to our ginnel pavement, at this point the penny drops with both the girl on the phone and me, someone at National Grid has changed the name on my details from Mr Elgey to Mr Jennel (spelt ginnel).

Finally they start to listen to what I’m saying . . .  oh by the way they’ve still not got me a Line Manager, even though I requested to speak to one at leat 2-3 times during the conversation . .

I’m again told Kate will contact me and I again explain to them they can’t ring me because our line won’t take annoymous calls, and inform them to contact me at work or come after 3:00pm, explain that this is exactly what I told them yesterday and on previous calls and I find it extremely hard to beleive or trust that someone will actually contact me.

Girl goes over notes with me again and call ends on promises . .  and me just wasting another 30minutes of my life . .

I’ve also contacted @nationalgriduk on twitter again and vented my spleen so to speak with them and again been promised a call back tomorrow . .  they’ve said they’ll raise it with their complaints dept and someone will contact me . .  here hoping . . .