Tuesday 30 September 2008

Many Unhappy Returns


Now I don't want to sound like an ungrateful and miserable old fart but we have just got home following my wonderful short birthday break to find that Southport (or at least our road) appears to have suffered some sort of hurricane during the 48 hours or so that we have been away and all our garden pots have blown over. Sad to say, the most beautiful (and expensive) pot is now in half a dozen pieces although we have salvaged the mature plant that was in it. God knows where we will find another like it, we have had it for years. There are other breakages but as we have £250 excess on the home insurance it will hardly be worth claiming. When we got back from holiday in the summer we found that the freezer had defrosted and left us with a soaking stinking mess in the kitchen. This is one of those years that insurance excesses look like false economy.


Oh well. At least we can look back 48 hours when the sun shone and the Yorkshire Dales were warm and welcoming.Marion even managed to take her anorak off.



And I found some unusual mushrooms.



Tomorrow sees a return to work and important decisions to take on our staff annual pay review. Having listened to Radio 4 for most of yesterday and today whilst driving around Yorkshire and back home, you would have thought that the world was coming to an end and we would be making everyone redundant or at least giving them a pay cut. I really don't see what good all this doom and gloom is doing and, whilst I don't want to sound blase or flippant we could do with some more positive and upbeat news. Instanta sales were up in the year to 31st August. OK it wasn't a mega increase but it was an increase and, if we can do the same again this year then perhaps we can squeeze something out for the staff. No promises mind.

I just took a quick look at the Pick the Scores League Standings on the Guardian website from between gaps in my fingers. It's pretty horrific stuff with Office Manager Jenny Wright way out ahead of the field again and me languishing mid table. Which reminds me. Where exactly are Manchester United at the moment?



Oh well. Better enjoy the rest of my day off. I got a lot of nice presents including a very unusual puzzle from my daughter Sarah. It's a really super and enigmatic piece of engineering and I am sure that it will give me a lot of pleasure before I start scouring the Internet for the solution.

Sunday 28 September 2008

A Walk Down Memory Lane


As a birthday treat, Marion has brought me to the Yorkshire Dales to the lovely village of Austwick. It’s a great place for a break as it is only an hour’s drive. The weather has been kind to us today so we took a walk which turned out to be brimful of memories of family holidays spent in my mum and dad’s caravan when our kids were growing up.

But it was a little strange without two bundles of energy who wanted the picnic opening before we had left the car park or needed the loo half a mile after passing the last toilets in Yorkshire. We weren’t able to feed the ducks, skim stones across the lake, taunt lambs with cries of “mint sauce” or play on the village swings. We did manage to go down Ingleborough cave which we were shown around by a wonderfully droll Prestonian but the excitement was blunted by the lack of having to make sure that Paul left the cavern in one piece. Memories of flagging down cars in remote country lanes with blood sodden son in arms flooded back. We must have been the only ramblers in history to carry in our rucksack along with the Kendal Mint Cake, map and compass, a hitchhiker’s sign marked simply “CASUALTY”.



Yes the memories really did flood back today. Hauling our creaking bones through tiny gaps in ancient stone stiles that we had traversed a hundred times before, we pondered on how they had somehow become narrower. And how did a simple five-mile walk with virtually no gradients leave us with aching limbs and ready for bed at 6pm? Anyway at least I can relieve those aching limbs in the wonderful roll top bath situated at the end of the bed (perhaps next time we can run to a room with a bathroom) and whilst soaking therein take in the magnificent views of the local countryside.


Our room at the Austwick Traddock Hotel

Everything moves slowly here. Whilst the hotel has wireless internet I get the impression that it is connected to one of those telephone systems where girls pull and push plugs in and out of huge boards. I am not saying it is slow but I tried to put a bet on the Wigan v Man City game on Betfair at kick off and the match had finished before the bet went through. So maybe this Sunday blog will turn up on my blog before I get back or maybe it won't but as my bet was on a City win I should be thankful for small mercies.

Friday 26 September 2008


I am delighted to say that nobody to date claims to have passed yesterday's awareness test although I have had a number of break dancing bears applying to watch the scrap metal. Actually, speaking of awareness I was looking at the photo I put on yesterday re accounts. How the hell did he write those numbers that neatly with a fountain pen?



Off to Tesco when I have finished writing this. Don't have to get a full week's shopping this week as it is my birthday on Monday and Marion is treating me to a couple of days in the country at Austwick. Obviously I can't do myself a happy birthday on the blog but if I did it would go something like this.



Today (Monday)sees MD John Brassey turning 55. John joined Instanta in 1988 after a successful career with Barclays bank where he worked in 17 branches in 16 years (there must be a message there somewhere). He soon rose to the position of Instanta Joint MD. This meteoric rise could have something to do with the fact that his mum and dad owned Instanta but hey maybe it was on merit. Within John's 20 years at Instanta the company has gone from having loads of money in the bank to owing loads of money to the bank so he must be doing a very good job. When he is not working (which is 95% of the time) John enjoys gambling on Betfair which he likens to a game of snakes and ladders with too many snakes, buying and selling antiques on eBay, going out in the country with his metal detector, visiting the cinema and going to the gym (I am not quite sure that the word "enjoy" is appropriate to a necessary evil). Married to the lovely Marion John has two grown up children Sarah and Paul who are doing their utmost to prevent him becoming a grandad (having experienced him as a dad, who could blame them). Oh well Happy birthday John here's a dedication to you (me).



Before I get to Tesco I think I will fill in my Pick the Score Predictions for this week's Premier League. If you want to score some points, here are a few tips. Everton 0 Liverpool 2 . Manchester United 0 Bolton Wanderers 3. Don't say I didn't warn you when they come in and I steam to the top of Instanta Sports League.

Finally on a serious note, here is a note to the captain from a first time flier.

Stop Press. I've just been told that a game developed by my son Paul for ITV now has a page for prospective applicants. I really hope that this is a huge success and the start of a wonderful career for him in TV.
CLICK HERE

Thursday 25 September 2008

Awareness Test

OK so this video has been around for six months but it doesn't mean that you will have already seen it. So get concentrating and see if you can pass .



Brilliant eh? I am ashamed to admit that I failed but would welcome feedback from any smart arse who passes (without any clues)and they can apply for a job here to keep an eye on the scrap metal.



Spent hours on the accounts over the last couple of days. Well at least we made a profit for the year just ended but this would have been so much better had we not had a thief in our midst. I have also done the forecasts for next year and feel that if we can get our margins up we can have a very good year.


Which leads me to the million dollar question. Should we put up our prices or should we lower our trade discounts? I don't want us to start looking like DFS where prices are obviously inflated and nobody ever pays the full list price.I mean has anybody ever been to DFS when there hasn't been a special offer on?

What is important to us is that people get value for money when they buy our boilers. Now there are a few very good dealers who don't discount and they make a decent living and if we cut their discounts they will lose out. However for every dealer selling at full list price there are many who are discounting very heavily. If we cut discounts they will have to do the same. The end result is that the customer still gets value for money, our list price remains realistic and the dealer or distributor still makes the margin he requires. By raising our prices and keeping our current trade discounts we maintain the status quo but end up up adding to the price spiral.



Do we maintain the Staus Quo? Your opinions welcome.



I've got a winning bet on Ajax tonight with Betfair. £76 if they win, £70 if they don't. Which is a nice change after backing Man City and Villa last night and losing £15. I am also still hanging in on the Newcastle Manager Market. Venables is now favourite. I've only got a £2 win if he gets it but I really don't think that he will.

Finally. If you decide to start playing rugby in pink kit aren't you just asking for this to happen?

Wednesday 24 September 2008

How's this for customer service?



Last year Marion and I thought it would be a nice idea to link our existing conservatory to a new one at the back of our kitchen. It was a great idea and it made movement around the house much easier and dining in the kitchen a very pleasant experience. We chose the extremely posh, expensive and upmarket Amdega for the job and (despite failing to meet deadlines and very shoddy workmanship which resulted in our having to employ our own builder to rectify) we were happy with the finished conservatory. In early March this year we noticed that one of the double glazed units was misting up (ok, no bid deal, it happens). Those of you who know me will know that I am a pretty patient person so I accepted the wait until 20th March for a response. We then phoned and heard nothing until 2nd April when we were told that the repairs would be carried out on 22nd June and the new window would be delivered on 18th June. We rejected 22nd June as it is a Sunday and weekends are short and treasured. We then got a new date of 3rd July. We were told that the men would bring the window but it actually turned up at home when we were out.



On 3rd July the fitters came, took one look at the weather (a ten minute deluge) and went home taking said window with them. We were told new parts would be ordered and these duly arrived a couple of weeks ago (an enormous array of beading and wooden struts that could almost have completed a new conservatory). The new window was not included but the lady from Amdega assured us not to worry as the fitters would be coming into their factory to pick it up. Anyway to cut a very long story short, today (24th September) the fitters returned to finally carry out the repair some six months after we reported it. Just one problem. No window. You really couldn't make this up. (And if I told you the whole story it would run over a couple of days' worth of blog). So despite claiming to be wonderful, Amdega are useless. Our first conservatory was built by Durabuild many years ago and is still going strong.

At least I can honestly say that if Instanta kept warranty customers waiting over six months, we would no longer be in business. We hate it when we get any guarantee faults and always aim to get the repairs carried out as quickly as possible. Perhaps the people from Amdega would like to drop in for some lessons on customer service. By the way, Marion phoned to say that the fitters came sans glass at about 1pm. It is 2.45pm now and nobody has returned her call.




Congratulations to Margaret at ABC Direct. She has won yet another £50 for her company by correctly deducting that 1972 was the total of Peter's birth date added together. No more clues next time Margaret. Somebody else has to get a chance. And speaking of Peter he asked me to point out that his webcam was not working on the day that I linked it so here it is again. And here too is a link to his website apartrent




Off to the pictures again tonight to see "Tropic Thunder". Sounds like its should be a good laugh. Speaking of which here is a great bit of fun for football lovers and haters alike.

Tuesday 23 September 2008

Staff Appraisal Time

The equinox has passed, the nights are drawing in and the leaves are turning gold. That means that Instanta staff appraisal time is here again. Last year we were so busy developing our new products that we took a year off from appraisals. But with most of the new equipment starting to pay its way in the market we are now starting to find time for this masochistic HR ritual.

As I am fast approaching retirement age(although knowing my luck I'll be like that bloke who still works for for his family DIY store at 106)(Actually which is better? Working at 106 or being er dead), I am taking a back seat this year and limiting my interviews to those lucky few who got a golden ticket a la Willy Wonka in last week's pay packet. They will have the opportunity to drag me away from my comfort zone of eBay, Betfair and excel spreadsheets and give me the chance to try and explain why all the categories have 100 points but nobody ever gets less than about 85. And what is the difference between a 92 and a 93? Your guess is as good as mine.




Today has seen me tearing my hair out with the annual accounts. Somehow I managed to press a wrong button on the computer when helping with the end of month and I ended up with all the figures posted in the wrong month and hundreds of journal entries to put it all right. Fortunately our computer expert (who lives in Australia but operates through Skype) managed to resolve the positon for us by logging on remotely. Thanks Claude and sorry to Marion for messing things up.

Have spent almost no time on eBay lately so I have no sales running. On Betfair I am still just short of getting to my target of £1,000 in the kitty. It's a bit like snakes and ladders. I keep getting tantalisingly close and then slipping back but I am sure that it will happen soon. I thought I had lost on the Newcastle manager market but with all the upheaval at the club at the moment I am now in profit (not a lot) whoever gets the job. I think that this one will run an run.





Monday 22 September 2008

A Moderate Price Increase


No, not from Instanta. This was the heading on a letter received today from a supplier. So what do you think that the moderate price increase was? 2%? 3%? 4% even? No way. The "Moderate price increase" is a massive 12%. What hope for inflation? You will be pleased to know that we have no price increases planned for the time being.



It was great to see that Seattle Sea Hawks had a big win against St Louis Rams yesterday. You may wonder why but our son Paul is a huge fan of NFL and was lucky enough to get to see the game whilst on holiday in Seattle with his girlfriend's family. We have been with him to see his favourite New York Jets but I know that he was really keen to see the Sea Hawks and hope that he had a great time.


I went to Anfield on Saturday. The statistics said 75% possession and 25 shots to Liverpool against 25% possession and 1 shot for Stoke but if you had seen our shooting you would not have bet on them scoring if they had carried on playing for another 90 minutes.






Here is the iron age (probably) item that I found last week with my metal detector. Not a particularly brilliant find but a very old artefact.

Still no competition winners. Looks like simple arithmetic is not our customers' strong point.

Perhaps this will help.







Friday 19 September 2008

No Blog Yesterday Just Proves The Point

If you visited the blog yesterday you will have found Tuesday's blog still current. In that blog I offered a perfectly valid solution to helping the energy crisis and yesterday I proved the point. I went with Nick to Bristol (184 miles) to visit a customer (albeit a very important one). We had a very constructive and enjoyable meeting for about an hour before driving back (184 miles). The working day was 10 hours. The meeting was 1 hour. We could have met by Skype and still had nine hours available and I could have written my blog. OK I won't go on and labour the point any more but please think about it.

Oh and I couldn't write on Wednesday because I had a day out with my metal detector. Found a bronze ring dating back the the Iron Age but it is not a finger ring merely something for holding clothes or horse harnesses together and consequently not particularly exciting.



Went to the pictures last night to see "The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas". Having read the book I was hardly expecting a fun filled evening and made sure that Marion had a a plentiful supply of Kleenex with her. It is a very simple story, poignantly told and well worth a view.



Before the film we had a meal at Chiquitos and I have to say that we were very impressed. We normally find these chain type restaurants to be indifferent at best but here the service and atmosphere was good and the food was OK too. If this is the standard throughout the country then give them a try for a family or pre-cinema meal.

I hope to do a bit better on the Pick the Scores this weekend. I slipped down the table after a storming performance from Jenny and Peter. But as they say it's a game of two halves which reminds me of this recent half time pep talk



No birthdays for a while. Thinking of birthdays mine is 29 09 1953 and that's a big clue for those who are struggling with Monday's competition.

Tuesday 16 September 2008

A Solution To The Energy Crisis

All you need is Broadband.




I don't want to sound like a stuck record as I know that I have written about this before but as it is something that I feel passionately about here we go again.



How many sales reps are out on the road in the UK today?

I can't find the answer but it is going to be thousands.

How many are in each car?

Almost certainly 1.


How many miles will they travel?

Perhaps a couple of hundred each.

Hundreds will have appointments cancelled. Hundreds will miss appointments due to traffic jams.



Some of them will make some sales but at what cost to their business? And at what cost to the environment?

Almost all customer contact staff at Instanta have web cams and can be contacted on SKYPE. Sadly the web cams are gathering dust and cobwebs as nobody seems to have cottoned on to the benefits they offer.



Energy saving obviously.

But so much more than that.



More time for the family.



Huge money savings.

And most importantly. The ability for them to see so many more customers.





You know it makes sense.

Monday 15 September 2008

Pete Turns 60



A big Happy Birthday goes out from all at Instanta to my brother Peter Brassey who turns 60 today. Peter (above in his hippy days) has always been a bit of a Peter Pan figure and it seems strange to think of him collecting his bus pass. Many of you will remember him from his time in the 70's,80's and 90's when he played a very important part in the development of the company before taking early retirement at 50. Pete now fills his time with a variety of interests including his website Finestrat.co.uk which specialises in advertising Spanish holiday villas to rent. He spends his time between England and Spain but when he is in England he can always check out what's going on in Spain by clicking on the web cam at his Spanish apartment here. Anyway have a happy birthday Pete.



On Saturday I went to a book signing at Waterstones. Local artist Malcolm Fryer who introduced me to antiques many years ago has just provided the illustrations for a new Sci-Fi book Bugz Contact. I am a huge fan of Malcolm's art and we have four of his paintings in our collection at home. I hope that he gets the success and recognition that he deserves. As he is now in his 70's success has come late.




Another artist in our collection is the fabulous PJ Crook. We have two of her paintings including The Race (above) which I bought for Marion's birthday. We got an invite last week to her latest exhibition. Sadly it is being held in Paris so we can't go but it was interesting to see in the catalogue that whilst Toyah Willcox, Billy Joel, Peter Gabriel, Billy Connolly and the Marquess of Bath all get a mention in the catalogue for having PJ's work in their collection, we don't. Hmmm.

There was a great game at Anfield on Saturday (even though I did have to stand for 90minutes). I think the pure joy of the occasion is very well captured in the following.



Thanks to everyone who attempted the competition. I showed you three clips and told you that there was a link and the answer was a game. The clips were the wonderful Scissor Sisters, the cool Sly and the Family Stone and Jack Dee doing a routing about Papers. I hope that clears it up.

And so to the latest competition and your chance to win £50.The first to order a boiler and provide us with the correct answer will get £50 off. Link the following number to today's blog headline. 1972

Friday 12 September 2008

Joey Jones Signs For Instanta



While Joey was eating Frogs' Legs, making Swiss Roll and Munching Gladbachs he obviously made a big impression on Mr & Ms Jones of Southport who named their son "Joey" in his honour. And today Joey, who is now sixteen, has joined Instanta and is working part time in our wiring department when he is not at college studying. Fortunately Joey (pictured below) has followed in his dad's footsteps and is a big Liverpool fan, which won't do him any harm here. Welcome and good luck Joey.


Big match at Anfield tomorrow. There was a time when I would have been quite excited about Liverpool v Man United but, as always, instead of going at 3 o'clock (the proper time for football), Sky have us going at 12.45. I sometimes wonder why, if I can sit at home and watch the game in HD on a big screen, pause the start fifteen minutes and watch the whole thing in 90 minutes, I bother taking about 5 hours for the pleasure of standing all the way through in an ALL SEATER stadium. Must be something about the atmosphere. Hmm.



Still on the subject of football, I will be fascinated to see how Tal Ben-Haim's career at Man City progresses now that the club is in Arab ownership. If ever there was a time for moral stances, this is one. If the Israeli is not allowed to join the team in showcase matches in the Emirates let's hope his team mates go on strike. Can you see this happening?

Still no competition winners and only a few hours to go. No more clues sorry. I have given enough.

Went to Tesco this morning at 7am to get the week's shopping. It was my idea of shopping heaven. Nobody in the aisles, 50% off all the wine, shelves fully stocked, cashiers with no queues and, in particular, no kids having tantrums which, segues me seamlessly into this you tube video.



Thursday 11 September 2008

Here's Harvey



Yet another Instanta baby on the blog. Here is Assistant Director Gavin Ford with his new grandson Harvey.(Although the photo is dated 2005 I think that Gavin has just forgotten to set his camera up). Congratulations to Gav. Marion and I are quite jealous as we still await our first grandchild.



I was delighted to see Theo Walcott's fabulous performance for England last night. Having invested my £12.99 per month in Setanta Sports for some time now, it was good to get my money's worth at last.

Although I lost money on Zola's appointment at West Ham (managed to cut the loss from £65 to £35 when rumour mongers started saying that Bilic was back in the frame), I do hope that he brings some of his own style back to the Premiership. If West Ham start playing like this I might even change my allegiance from the mighty reds.



Well. Enough about football and betting. On the work front we are continuing to work flat out although suppliers do seem to be trying their best to thwart our progress. I just don't understand how, in the name of cost cutting, suppliers can cut quality. We have had one or two components that have not come up to scratch lately. Fortunately we do have very rigorous Quality procedures so we can spot things very quickly. Unfortunately, when we reject items this sometimes leads to delays in sourcing replacements but so far we have not let anybody down. In 1994 our element supplier decided it would be good business to save themselves 5p per element by reducing the insulation powder (without telling us). We bought 1,000 of these elements and 397 failed costing us over £20,000. Fortunately we were compensated by the supplier and managed to get customers' boilers sorted very quickly so rather than damaging Instanta our reputation actually improved.

No competition winner yet. The competition will close tomorrow and we will start a new one next week.

Wednesday 10 September 2008

All systems go for Interbuild


It's only a short time to the Interbuild Exhibition at the NEC now and here are Marion and Nick with tape measure mocking up the floor plan for our stand. It promises to be a good show for us and we will have a working model of the UCDB3 on the stand. If you are good, we will make you a hot drink. If you would like a ticket for the show please get in touch and we will be happy to send you one. In view of the current climate we don't expect huge crowds but we do expect a very positive response.



Margaret from ABC Direct has told us that they are at an unfair disadvantage with the competition as they haven't got sound on their computers. Sorry Margaret we will have a visual only one next time. We have had five correct entries for the current competition but none of them were ordering a boiler so it is still running. And just for Margaret, as you haven't got sound, Jack Dee is doing a routine about local papers. If you don't get it now I give up.




Marion and I had a great time last night at the Stevie Wonder concert at the M.E.N Arena. We were in Block 208. We thought that the seats at the end of the row were great until we realised that our row seemed to be populated by incontinents who spent Stevie's entire two and a half hour set going past us to get to the toilets. In fact, if you had watched from a distance you would have thought that Block 208 ROW 65 had its very own little Mexican Wave running continually throughout the show as were up and down like the proverbial fiddler's elbow. Anyway gripes apart, the show was great particularly the final half hour which showcased all the hits and had us all wallowing in nostalgia.

We had a very interesting conversation about semi colons at the pre concert dinner last night (honestly). Some of us had been taught how to use them at school whereas others ,like me, had not. So expect me to keep trying to use them and get it completely wrong; was that right?







Tuesday 9 September 2008

Dave's Day Today


Today sees Dave Horrocks from our metalwork department turning 32. Fifteen of those years have been spent here at Instanta where Dave plays an integral part. He is a particularly good goalkeeper and, as such, has to suffer being on my team every week at five a side (as I have a bad shoulder which stops me playing in goal). Devoted father to two young sons, Jack and Cameron, Dave has the misfortune of supporting Everton but I suppose that's not all that bad as, expecting to win nothing, he will never be disappointed.Have a great day Dave.





Talking of five a side football I will be missing tonight's match as I am going to Manchester with Marion to see Stevie Wonder at the MEN Arena. I love Motown but was never a huge fan of Stevie. However it should be a night of great reminiscences and I am looking forward to it. Trying to get tickets for Marion to see Will Young (or "my Will" as Marion refers to him convinced that her votes alone won him Pop Idol) at the Liverpool Philharmonic near Xmas. If you have any spare please let me know.










Despite all the talk of recession orders keep coming in and we are still very busy. I am particularly pleased with the progress that we are making with the under counter boilers although when we priced them up we failed to realise that the 40 litre models need to go on a pallet and therefore cost us an extra £40 to ship. We will have to rectify that when we bring out our next price list.



Disappointed with developments on the Newcastle and West Ham manager markets. It looks like ex Chelsea team mates Poyet and Zola will get the jobs. As both were early favourites and it is my policy to lay the early favourites in Betfair manager markets I will take a small loss on both (about £12 on Poyet and £65 on Zola). Never mind, these manager markets are brilliant fun to play and it's quite easy to end up with a plus on every candidate if there is an early favourite who falls by the wayside. Have pulled out of both markets now as I expect official announcements any day. Have to wait for the next sacking to try again.

It's great to see the new NFL season getting underway. Even if you aren't a fan you will enjoy this from the US equivalent of Sky Sports News.












Monday 8 September 2008

Liz Iz Back



We are pleased to welcome back Liz Clayton who has joined us for the last few months of Nat's maternity leave. Many of you will remember Liz who originally joined us in the office to cover Sam's maternity leave about six years ago. She was then replaced by Lauren who joined us when Liz went off on her own maternity leave. It's all a bit of a maternity leave merry go round isn't it? Anyway we are delighted to have Liz back and we are sure that she will enjoy her few months back in the madhouse.



Remember the days when Spam was something delicious that you made fritters out of or had on a salad with Heinz salad cream? Now it is junk email that is rapidly becoming the bane of my life. If somebody does not come up with a method of eliminating this insidious rubbish very soon I think my computer will find its way into the nearest skip. Today it took me over two hours to find my one genuine email. Yes I know that you can get filters but these can't be relied upon either. Marion once wrote an email with the word male in it which was never received. When sent with the word boy as a replacement it got there. My son Paul almost missed out getting a job because an email secondary job application didn't arrive and it was only the employees querying it that saved him. I think the way forward is FAX.



Spent the weekend ploughing through old video tapes that I took of the kids over twenty years ago as I am investigating converting them into more up to date media. If, like us, you have got any of these old tapes I recommend that you check them out. It was amazing how much they had deteriorated and how fragile they had become. Some snapped on rewind (fortunately fixable). And when you watch them some look all grainy like something from old Pathe news clips.



Five minutes from the end of Big Brother I stood to win £520 on Rachel but just £220 on Mikey. As Mikey's odds were dropping like a stone I chickened out and laid Rachel to end up with £300 on either. Just my luck that Rachel went on to win but, as she was only 1% ahead I think my hedging was justified. Am now meddling with the West Ham and Newcastle managers' markets but at the moment stand to lose £80 or £35 if any of the favourites land the jobs. As long as an appointment is not made quickly I should have time to wriggle out of these positions.