Volkswagen Assistance

Volkswagen Assistance
I have to take my hat off to them. The passenger window on my VW Beetle decided to have a funny five minutes on Friday. I’d been all day in a conference and the weather had been warm and sunny. I had to return a phone call. So, I opened both windows to let some air in whilst I made the call.
A few minutes later – time to go and - help- the passenger window only went so far up.
I phoned VW Assist. They very efficiently took my location and mobile phone number and told me someone would be with me within the hour. Not long after, the patrol man phoned to say he would be there in about thirty of forty minutes – at about half past five. He arrived at 5.35.
In the meantime, though, they started closing the car park. They suggested I move to right by the entrance – then I could look out for the patrolman. I did as they suggested – and couldn’t resist having another go at shutting my passenger side window. With a lot of effort and moaning and groaning, the window did shut. Typical! Now the patrolman would think I was a complete idiot. At least, I thought, I’d better wait and see him. It would be good at last to get an idea of what was wrong with the window.
A few minutes later he arrived. No recriminations. Yes, there was something wrong – he could see that by the marks on the window. It may be a burned out motor or it may be the acoustic panel that has come adrift. Best that he doesn’t try anything with it. Take it to my dealer and don’t open the window in the mean time.
We chatted for a few minutes. He gave me a few indicators as well about the best way to get home and avoid the worst of the rush hour.
Great. Efficient. Helpful. Friendly. Keeping promises.

Mobile Broadband

This is the latest great innovation. It may mean the end of landlines altogether in some areas. It is no more expensive than some of the normal deals – like BT, Virgin or cable TV deals.
Except when it comes to using it abroad. And unlike what happened with the phones, people are not running up bills of a few hundred pounds. They are running up bills of a few thousand pounds. Double figure thousands, almost.
This was featured on Watchdog last night, and my partner knows of someone who was still downloading a movie whilst they travelled abroad.
People cannot pay those amounts of money. What will happen if they don’t?
At least the European Commission has said it will step in if the phone companies themselves don’t do something about it.
I would say that mobile phones are still generally too expensive. Odd that we bother at all now that Skype is so easily available. I think we are not living up to the true potential of the technology. Technology is bringing us closer to being a One World – but not fast enough.

The Baby Boomers Come of Age

We are sucked in by the media at times. We are going through the “Credit Crunch” at the moment. They say credit has been doled out too easily. Maybe. But then it’s also true that the Golden Generation – those born between 1847 and 1953 are coming of age and are about to retire. We also are supporting the two generations around us. Grown-up children have been in Higher Education at a time when fees rose and grants were few and far between. Then they need a helping hand on to the property ladder. Elderly relations are living longer and the nursing homes are full. Social care only goes so far. We have to do the rest. We’re downsizing. We’re spending a little less as we prepare for retirement. And yet we do owe a lot.
There is a natural ebb and flow. On average, we bought our first homes in 1973 and therefore our first washing machines. There was a run on washing-machines. So, the manufacturer produced more – then there was glut. However, the economy in washing-machines picked up again in 1976 when the first ones needed replacing. Children arrived in 1976 also, so Mothercare boomed. It declined as the ‘60’s children (ah, yes, the Pill arrived in the ‘60’s) became parents. It’ll pick up again when the boomers become grandparents – which is beginning to happen now.
We still breathe. Money still makes the world go round. Don’t be ashamed of having it. Spend it wisely. Your wealth can create wealth in others.

Fining the Railways

I think we would all like to use public transport if we could. But it is frequently either unreliable or unavailable. The London Transport system does very well considering the strain it is under. Some other big cites manage admirably as well: Vancouver, Munich, Amsterdam, Boston for example. Some whole countries such as The Netherlands and Japan have it right.
What we actually have in the UK is a good rail network, which is suffering because it is old and has no or very little subsidy. The tracks are worn and anyway need to be relaid because of global warming: there needs to be more allowance for expansion in the rail as the planet warms up. In fact, this lack of expansion in older rails is what causes some of the problems – the tracks buckle. One solution would probably be to build new tracks beside the old and rip the old ones out afterwards. This may in fact be easier than trying to repair them all.
This is a problem caused by age and lack of foresight by various governments, not by any incompetence of engineers facing an almost impossible job with little funding.
So what on earth is the point of imposing fines? It won’t get the job done any quicker. It will only cause resentment amongst the workers. And most crucially, it will further remove funding from where it’s needed.
Couldn’t we apply a bit of common sense to this, please?

Earthquake, Wind and Fire

So, yes, now we’ve had the first two bits. What with the recent earth tremor – 5.1 on the scale and doing some structural damage in parts, though not killing anyone. Now we have the winds. They’re coming at the same time as the high tides and threatening to do much damage. There are warnings about severe weather tomorrow. Yes, they’re actually warning us in advance. I think I’ve actually heard of lightning strikes associated with the storms we’ve been having.
Will we hear the still small voice of calm?
I guess we can’t do anything about the madness of the weather. Or can we? If it’s to do with global warming I should think we can. Whatever, we should certainly stop the other madness.

21st Century Madness

Who owns history?A certain writer has got into a lot of trouble for mentioning that great event which is going to happen in our capital in four years time. You know what I mean, don’t you? If you do, I may be in trouble. But surely, as writers, we are allowed to refer to historical events. In fact we need to, and the public needs us to.
Just as crazily, an academic conference is not allowed to use the name of the wizard which J K Rowling invented. An academic conference, for goodness’ sake. That name now belongs firmly to Warner Brothers.

A Prince for a Soldier

So, Prince Harry has been serving in Afghanistan. Surely that is the ultimate that a royal can do for his people? Yet he seems so young. He looks like a boy. He talks like a boy. He uses young people’s everyday language. He says that his grandmother thought it was a good thing, but he says it as if she was glad to get rid of him. I think she may have meant it in the sense of it would do him good, but also in the sense that it would be an extremely noble thing for a young royal to do. And he seems to enjoy the adventure of it. Both he and Prince William think that has mother would have been proud. Prince William is said to be jealous.
It is a little different this time. He is, or has been, on active service. Royals have tended to be figureheads in the past. He makes light of it, but he does seem to have been brave. They’ve had to bring him back now, of course, because with the whole world knowing that he’s in Afghanistan, he’s in a dangerous position. He’d be a great prize for the Taliban. His continued presence would bring danger to those around him. More danger than he’s already in, that is. He says he’s disappointed at the way the press gave him away, but he doesn’t say angry. Very restrained of him when you think what happened to his mother.
I still wonder, though, if there were no soldiers, would there be no more wars? It’s a little complex, because don’t we all feel the right to defend what we regard to be ours? In the Afghanistan crisis, it might be to do with preserving a life style. Often war though is about property, and we should ask do we actually ever really own anything? Compare Christianity with Communism on this matter.