Orange? We were seeing red!

When the phone rings in the middle of the night it's usually a cause for panic. Has the burglar alarm at the factory been activated? Has a relative been involved in an accident? So when we were woken up at 1.30 this morning by my mobile beeping we were a a bit shaken. And when Marion's did the same a few seconds later we were really worried. Sitting up in bed with a jolt I grabbed the phones to find on both a message from Orange. It seems that they were updating our phones' software. Well thanks a lot Orange. Next time you choose to do so how about doing it at a time when your customers are awake?



I don't want to get at Orange too much as they are, of course, the sponsors of our favourite Orange Wednesday and dedicated to the film industry which is our passion. It's quite strange at the moment with a great choice of films on this week after weeks of our struggling to find something to see.This week there is Sherlock Holmes, The Road, Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll and we still haven't seem Avatar yet. I wish the film industry could get its act together and spread the good films out over the year but, of course, we are in the Oscar season now, hence the glut.



I like to think that I keep up with what's going on in the world and in touch with all the latest trends so when I first heard about Facebook a few years ago I enrolled straight away and managed to find no less than ten friends (about five more than I have in real life). It was a bit of fun and I enjoyed the news feeds and the wall messages but at Christmas I realised that I had about forty friends and didn't really know any of them. Was I really bothered that they burned the turkey or went to watch Spurs or were happy that they won ten quid on the lottery? Did I want to join in a pillow fight check my IQ against theirs,see how alike my favourite song choices were or send them a cow for their farm? No. So I am no longer a member of Facebook and find I have a few minutes more time in my life and that's something that I do want.



It's about time that we told you a bit more about our superb new boilers that we are going to be launching at Hotelympia. We like to keep our cards close to our chests until fairly close to the exhibition as we don't want the competition to steal our thunder and copy us but I don't think that they will have time to catch up now. Here is the new CT8000. It's a bigger version of the CT6000 so, you might think, nothing much new there. But! The new CT8000 along with all the CT range of boilers AND the WM range will now include programmable timers. This means that customers will be able to chose the time of day when the boiler switches on and switches off on a seven day timer. This will enable users to gain the maximum energy efficiency and optimise their power consumption.

But that's not all. In addition, the CT and WM boiler programs will now have the scale monitor that was an optional extra built in as standard. This will allow the installers to choose from a range of scale treatment to suit the site and program the boilers to warn when the filter needs to be changed.

There's more too but I will save this for another blog.

Yesterday I finished with a dog. Today I'll end with a topical cat.

1000 And Rising

Welder Kirk Harrison has just told me that his Facebook group has just gone over the 1000 mark. Kirk is a true aficionado of real ale and with 1003 members, his is the biggest independent real ale group on Facebook. If you enjoy Rudgate Ruby Mild or other exotic brews or just want to chat with like minded real ale enthusiasts, join the club. You can find the group by clicking here


It's been a case of all quiet on the Instant blog for a few days as I've been completely tied up in work. But at least I've got something to show from my labours as our friendly local photographer Peter Raymond emails me the first of the photos for the new brochure. Here is a sneak preview of our new CT8000 to be launched at Hotelympia in February. Nice isn't it?



Which means that Marion and I haven't even started to think about Christmas yet and the office couldn't possibly look less festive. Lauren always used to make a lovely job of putting up the tree and a few decorations to get us into the festive spirit but I think we're heading for a Bah Humbug year this year.Maybe we'll get the chance to put something up next week.



It's young Joey in the factory's 18th birthday on Thursday so I got him a ticket for the game against Fiorentina at Anfield tomorrow night.It's Nick's birthday on the same day so I got him one too. I do hope that they enjoy it. Typical Italians. Which other country could produce a team that could get away with playing in purple?

Marion's busy with the November figures at the moment but when she has finished them I think she deserves a day off. She hasn't stopped for days now.

And finally, don't forget to vote for Joe in th x Factor final on Sunday. I win £450 is he is successful. And as I've been on a losing streak lately I could do with that win to get my Betfair account back in order.






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Rafa Rafa Sign Him Up

We Liverpool fans have been a bit short of goals recently with Fernando Torres being sidelined with a hernia. But here's an ideal replacement, Rocky Baptiste. Marvel at his skills.

Meanwhile, out in the factory, Operations Director Dave Wilson is working around the clock getting the new models ready for photography tomorrow.He's on time at the moment and we should be able to slot the photos into the new brochure next week and be well on time for publication in February.


We worked late on some accounts last night (don't die of shock we have been known to work after 5pm from time to time). As it was late, Marion and I decided to buy some fish and chips from the chippy near the factory on the way home. The lady in the shop was really nice. I ordered two fish and a portion of chips. As she piled the chips onto the paper, I was looking around the shop to see if another customer had come in and ordered chips for the whole street but no, I was alone, and the mound grew bigger and bigger. The chips were delicious but half of them ended up in the bin. The single portion could easily have fed five. As I left the shop a number of her regulars waddled in to a jovial welcome and I made an instant decision to leave fish and chips off the menu for quite some time.



Here's our buyer Gavin looking very happy. And he has good reason for this time tomorrow he will be somewhere over the Atlantic on his way to Barbados where he and his partner Julie are joining a two week Caribbean island cruise. Have a great time Gav (Is it possible to write through gritted teeth?).

Almost There

After a few months our gas tower is down to the last two levels now. One of the demolition workers popped into the factory on Tuesday and asked if he could reverse his lorry into our car park. "No problem" we said before an enormous low loader carrying a massive crane backed in and promptly churned two tracks into the warm tarmac. Fortunately the workers were very good and have made quite a good job of patching the mess up.



Today's special June offer which will run until Monday at 10.am is an extra 10% off all the twin tapped CT range boilers. That's the CT4000-3.CT4000-6,CT6000-6 and CT6000-9. A saving of up to £96.90. To qualify for this special price, orders must reach Instanta by the deadline and MUST quote reference blog offer 250609.

We're well into the holiday season now and when I go round with the pay packets it feels like there are more people away than are here. I know that isn't quite true but I'm hearing all about Nick's forthcoming trip to St Lucia and Lauren and Daz's holiday in Turkey whilst me and Marion are planning three nights in Dundee.(Tis madness but there be method in it).



I had a vist from Damian Thompson from Andy Bounds Ltd yesterday. We saw Andy give one of his motivational speeches at the recent CEDA conference and were impressed. Damian is going to give us a quote for training our sales team as young Craig Buckley is going to join Nick and Peter on the road in September so,coming at the job as a completely raw recruit, some professional training might go down well. I imagine the session might go a little bit like this.