Sorry Lucas

I was made to feel a bit guilty about my comments on Liverpool's young Brazilian Lucas Leiva last night. After writing on my blog that he wasn't very good on Saturday he came on as sub last night with about ten minutes left. The crowd gave him a huge and encouraging round of applause by way of support for a struggling player and I felt very bad about slagging him off. However with my recent high blood pressure and fifty quid riding on a Liverpool win it was a substitution I could have done without. Fortunately we hung on against a very impressive Marseille side and as for Lucas? Let's hope that next time he comes on there's only one minute left (and we are at least two up).



Into the last two days of the holiday now. This week has been more relaxing than last but with all the doom and gloom in the papers it hasn't exactly been the happiest fortnight. Today we have Woolies finally going under together with MFI. You have to wonder who is next? I feel a bit sorry for some of the big stores who have been having sales as I know a few people who have been taking stuff back that they bought pre-sale and then buying it again at the sale price. It's not really in the spirit of things is it? I thought the idea was that we are all in it together. Dunkirk spirit and all that or is it every man for himself? In which case God help us.




On the betting front I was pleased to see that favourite Joe Swash has drifted slightly in the IACGMOOH market. I lose over £200 if he wins so I want him to drift a lot more. My big problem is I can't bring myself to watch the programme as I honestly feel that it is cruel to animals. OK they are only grubs,eels, rats and maggots but if you are not a creationist your ancestors might have been one of those millions of years back.



We are off to the pictures this afternoon to see the Changeling. I like Clint Eastwood as a director and this looks like it could be a good film. In the meantime there is a big pile of ironing to be getting on with. No news from work is good news so maybe I'll get the blood pressure below 140/90 before we go back next week. In the meantime let's have some real bears playing ice hockey. Is this cruelty or are the bears having a good time? Wouldn't bet on it.

The Colour of Money is almost here. We're so excited

As son Paul's creation "The Colour of Money" draws closer to reaching our screens we are now able to see small snippets on ITV's promotional website Click Here And Follow The Link Six Shows Not To Miss . Having shared in Paul's agonies whilst the show was in development it is great to see the end product getting such a high profile. Let's hope it's a success. As Instanta staff who tested it will testify,  it's great fun to play so let's all hope it's great fun to watch. 

Talking about great fun to watch, regular visitors to the Instanta blog will know that I am a huge X Factor fan. In case you missed  the disco week, here is favourite Diana performing. Sub titles added for the hard of hearing.

Still on holiday but I met up with some of the lads last night when we had our regular Tuesday night five a side. It was a good game with a magnificent display of goalkeeping from Max giving my side an unexpected win by 10-8. I was a bit miffed when the council sent us a reminder for the fees for hiring the gym when last time they bought a boiler they were about six weeks late paying.

Staying with football a friend cried off the Marseille Champions League match tonight so the long suffering Marion is joining me on the Kop. Who says I don't know how to show a girl a good holiday time?

And finally for today as another bit of holiday fun (going through boxes in the attic) awaits, here is a short film that captures exactly what football is all about and shows what life in Peter Brindle and Tony Lowe's households was probably like one night a couple of weeks back.

Stu Turns 27

Today sees our tank man Stu Long celebrate his 27th birthday. Pictured above doing his Spanish Olympic basketball player impression (Google it if you don't know what I mean), Stu is a proud and doting father to baby daughter Mischa. He also enjoys golf and football and is a talented and speedy forward. In addition, in our eleven a side match a few months back he also proved himself to be an excellent goalkeeper. Stu is responsible for making sure that all boiler components are fitted correctly and, judging from our low warranty breakdowns , is doing a good job of it. Keen fan of Birmingham City FC (well nobody is perfect), Stu enjoys a weekly football flutter and specialises in enormous accumulators which invariably fall down on a freak result. (Which one this week Stu, Liverpool, Chelsea or Man U?). Have a great day Stu. My holiday doesn't mean you don't get a mention.

So ex Telegraph editor Charles Moore is going to withhold his TV License fee if the BBC don't sack Jonathan Ross. It's not like someone from the Torygraph to advocate civil unrest and uprising and I find this proposal pompous in the extreme. If we all withheld our fees because we objected to something on the Beeb they would have no fees at all. Here are a few excellent reasons to withhold the fee. "Hole in the Wall"."Top Gear""Eastenders". Now I'm sure some of you will totally disagree with me but that's the beauty of democracy and that's why I say bring back Ross and **** Charles Moore.


Just had a blood pressure reading of 135 over 80. First day I haven't been in touch with the office. Coincidence?

After the atrocity of the stoning of poor Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow in Somalia for the crime of being raped, I see that Islamic fanatics have now blinded and scarred Kabul girls with acid for the sin of daring to go to school. It is so brave of these "Men" to spray battery acid into girls' faces for their wickedness in seeking an education. Is it not time that the true Muslims stood up and denounced these extremist fanatics for what they are - women hating bastards.

I am so pleased that I live in a word where Eddie Izzard can say this about Christianity without fear of reprisal. I somehow doubt we will ever see a similar routine about Islam. I hope you don't think I am being flippant in adding this after a serious comment but I hope it makes my point.





 

It's A Jolly Holiday

On Saturday our good friend Malcolm Fryer came round with the painting for our new loft conversion bedroom. We are delighted with this large work in oils which finishes the room perfectly. Almost thirty years ago I was Malcolm's bank manager and he introduced me to the world of art and antiques. We have many items of furniture that we bought from Malcolm during his spell as an antique dealer but it is his work as an artist that we treasure the most and have five of his works in our collection to date. Although he has been a listed artist for many years it is only late in life life that he has found critical acclaim and success. He recently illustrated a book "Bugz Contact" which I understand is selling very well and he is currently working on illustrations for a sequel.It is a tragedy that his wonderful wife Sally did not live to see his success. She would have been very proud but not at all surprised.

We are on holiday for another week and hope that this week will involve less time at work as we have so much to do at home. Today we have been up to our armpits in mud as we had our occasional clean up of the garden pond. I planted two small water lilies almost twenty years ago and it was like "The day of the Triffids" today as we completely filled the wheelie bin with the mass of vegetation that sprang from those two tiny plants.



Still struggling to get the blood pressure down so I wasn't helped on Saturday by Rafa's decision to name Lucas ahead of Alonso in Liverpool's line up to face Fulham on Saturday. He then ratcheted the blood pressure even higher as he put Alonso on but didn't take Lucas off. I just don't see how something that is patently obvious to every Liverpool fan (that Lucas is crap) is missed by a manager with his experience. Our failure to win therefore came as no surprise. Although, as I put a bet on Liverpool to win BEFORE I saw the team I lived in hope throughout the ninety minutes.



I have been limiting my betting recently to the "Specials" markets on Betfair. At the moment I stand to win £100 plus on all contestants except Eoghan and JLS in X Factor, about £5 on all the contestants in Strictly, £12 on everyone except Hamilton in Sports Personality of the Year, from £5 to £175 on the Next Newcastle Manager but things not going to plan on IACGMOOH where I laid Joe Swash who has now stormed to odds on favourite. Win a couple of hundred pounds on all except Joe but lose £200 on Joe as things stand now so will have to start trading out of that one.

Let's Just Clear One Thing Up

I would like to point out that the advice from my doctor as mentioned on the blog yesterday was to relax. It was not, ,as suggested by some readers, to go out and indulge in gay sex. OK, now that's cleared up, I would like to start by wishing a very happy 41st birthday on Sunday to my right hand man in the office Mr Max Vidal (below).



Devoted father to three girls, Max is a keen Liverpool fan and golfer. He will be known to many customers as the friendly voice who tells them we are not paying for their boiler to be de-scaled under guarantee and to many more as the friendly voice who gives them sensible advice on how to carry out running repairs on their old machines. We get few of these nowadays as Max initially forgot to mention that these repairs are supposed to be carried out with the boiler disconnected from the mains electricity supply (only kidding Max). Max has a beautiful singing voice and constantly serenades us all in the office so we are keenly awaiting his performance at the Christmas Karaoke. As well as supporting a decent football team, Max is no mean player himself and can be relied on to put in a full ninety minutes every week at our five a side sessions which, as we only have the hall for an hour, does cause some hassle with the badminton players who come on after us. Max has worked in many departments at Instanta before making a niche for himself here in the office. Next week he's going to make one for me too. I know that everyone at Instanta will join me in wishing him all the very best for Sunday.



Marion and I had a very enjoyable lunch yesterday at Southport's excellent Warehouse brasserie. Apart from enjoying lunch with two old friends Paul & Ann Johnson from Skelmersdale, I was supposed to be getting feedback on our new sous vide unit from Marc the chef who is running trials on it for us. Unfortunately by the time we had finished gabbing, the kitchen had closed and Marc had gone home. However he did give me a friendly wave from the kitchen while we were eating so I think I can safely assume that there are no problems and when I visited the kitchen hatch I was pleased to see the unit on with several timers running. I am quite excited about this unit. We have spent a long time developing it and I can see it doing very well.



It was like Armageddon in Southport's M & S yesterday. After lunch we made a quick visit as we had heard that there was a sale on and , sure enough, there was 20% off everything for one day only. It would have been daft not to take advantage of this as we always buy our Xmas turkey there so we promptly bought two turkey crowns and all the trimmings plus a couple of good bottles of wine. Now I don't know about you but I can't see the logic in this offer. The store was absolutely heaving but, apart from a huge boost to cash, what has M&S gained from this? They got our £50 for turkey three weeks early but instead of £50 they only got £40. I reckon that works out at an annual interest rate of 343%. The argument may be that we would not have bought the turkey from them so they at least have something from us but unless they pay virtually nothing for their turkeys. clothes, wine whatever, the price cut must have driven a big hole through their profits.

The new medication for the blood pressure had an immediate impact with a first result of 153 over 85. That 85 is the first reading below 100 for a couple of weeks so maybe I can stay around a bit longer and take the doctor's advice. Think we could relax by going to the pictures tomorrow. Just found this trailer. Looks good.

We're Worth More Than Woolworths

Reading the Guardian this morning it seems that plans are afoot to sell Woolworths for just £1. Blimey that's less than we pay for Friday's bacon butties. I can just see tomorrow's order. "15 Bacon, sausage, egg on baps. How much? Twenty five quid! I could get Marks and Spencers for that. Throw in Next and you've got a deal." It will be sad to see the end of Woolies. I can't remember it not being there. It seems that the credit insurance companies won't insure their debts for suppliers who are therefore pulling the plug.

Despite being on holiday, I spent last night at work doing our figures for October and I am pleased to say that we have a huge improvement on last year and have made a profit for the first two months of our financial year despite raising provisions for potential bad debts in excess of £20,000 just in case. I am raising these provisions out of prudence as the big customer with the bounced cheque has issued a notice of intention to appoint an administrator. The frustrating thing is that I know they have at least nine boilers in stock but we can't go and get them back without going through legal proceedings during which time they can sell them! I have every sympathy for businesses that are having a hard time but I don't have much for this one as no phone calls have been returned after their cheque was not paid. Fortunately we had sufficient funds to cover this but if we had not and had issued cheques against it on the basis that it was good it could have lead to us having to grovel to our bank and that is the last thing that we want. Honesty is always the best policy. Avoidance can only lead to suspicion and ultimately tears.
Whilst not at work, we are trying to do a few holiday things. On Tuesday night we went to the Philharmonic Pub in Liverpool (above) and had fish and chips before going to see Will Young over the road at the Philharmonic Hall. An excellent concert spoiled only slightly by the ubiquitous camera phones. The whole theatre was alight with miniature screens as the audience (who I assume had paid good money to watch Will performing live) spent the evening watching him through a small screen held head height in front of them and then sending this to their friends. What message are they giving? "Na na nya na I've got tickets for Will?" "The sound on this camera phone is crap?""I am not very good with a camera?" Anyway ,this minor gripe apart, I have to say that Will Young is a great showman and excellent singer to boot. A bit like the visit to see "Mama Mia", I was in a very small minority of men in the audience of women of all ages. From their passionate shouts it was obvious that many of the women had less than innocent designs on Will and, as he is on the Julian Clary and Lary Grayson scale of campness, I had to wonder if I had missed something.



Marion and I took Marion's mum Flo to Liverpool yesterday to buy a few Xmas presents and to get some new curtains and bedding for her newly decorated bedroom. Marion kindly told me to go off on my own so I had a good look around the Tate at the Albert dock which has some fantastic art and some stuff that bore no semblance to art whatsoever. I honestly think that some of this stuff is King's New Clothes territory. Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol yes, but a square canvas of just one colour (albeit a very nice one) or a cast of a blow up bed by Rachel Whitbread? Sorry. I also got to look at the excellent museum of slavery. A trip to this should be compulsory to all racists.

This morning as the holiday continues, Marion has gone to work. "I should be back by ten o'clock" she said. It's now heading towards 12 and we are taking some friends to lunch at half past. So while she has been out I have whiled away my time with a visit to the doctors. Blood test results were good but blood pressure is now sky high. I think this recession is going to cost the NHS a fortune. The doctor's advice? See below.

Things on the up?

It's about time we had some good news so I was pleased to check our lottery ticket last night and find that we won £10. OK that's not exactly cause for major celebration but a positive is a positive. 



I managed to get hold of a couple of black market tickets to Will Young's sold out concert at the Liverpool Philharmonic tonight. Will is a huge favourite of Marion's and I know that she will love to see him. She voted for him hundreds of times when he was on Pop Idol and when he won she burst into tears. When I got the phone bill so did I.

We are still officially on holiday but in the light of the current economic climate are staying close to work in case yet another customer goes under. We haven't heard any news of the big debtor with the bounced cheque today but I am not raising my hopes and have written the debt off in my mind and am getting on with things as if they've gone. Any glimmer of good news from them will then become a bonus but I am not hopeful. I have to say that I should have trusted Marion's judgement with this. Since she has run the credit control we have had virtually no bad debts and she recommended court proceedings over a month ago but I overruled her.



On a more positive note we heard that son Paul and his fiancee Josephine are coming to see us next weekend. We have not seen them for over six months so we are really looking forward to their (sadly brief) visit.

I have just written a newsletter to send to all our customers. In it we highlight our new prices for 2009. These range from 0% to 5% with the 5% mainly pitched at the Economy range WA5 and 1500LCD which have been held at £399 for some time.With the increased cost of transport and the huge drop in the value of the pound against the dollar (our taps come from the USA) the margins on these low priced boilers have been squeezed too tight and the increase was unavoidable. Blog readers will be given the opportunity to buy at 2008 prices until 28 Feb 2009 and details of how to qualify for this offer will appear on the blog in December.