Alder's Tone

Well, I have a dilemma over Sky. My gripes with them are no secret, having allowed themselves or one of their agents to pass on my details to a third party when it's against their policy to do so. Needless to say I haven't been a Sky customer for some time as a result.

So now they are trying to entice me back.

Three offers so far:

1. 6 months half price for coming back for 6 months

2. Free refurbished Sky+ box if I need it, for coming back for 6 months

3. Some other thing I can't remember but it's in the bucket

My SKy+ box is in need of a new drive as the one it has is fried. But that 6 months half price does look tempting, the whole shooting match for £21.50 a month.

Right, sensible head on, the offer expires today. So that 6 months runs out on 29th December, right in the middle of the Christmas & New Year film season and additional football fixtures. So you get suckered in to the full price, which may rise on 1st September.

Have they been punished enough? Well, like they care two hoots, I was told gladlly to report them to the ICO, who, incidentally, have less bite than a newborn baby. It would be nice to have the Sky+ back, and it would be useful for the fat lady before Jr arrives.

/ takes time to weigh up options /

No thanks, card in the bucket. Going to have our own entertainment from the end of August.

Posted by Alder at 29 June 2006 | Permalink | Comments (4)

The only book I’ll ever read on being a father is Marcus Berkmann’s “Fatherhood The Truth”.

It’s comedy, tragedy, documentary. Yes, it shamefully tries to be everything except a medical manual, and manages quite well.

The pages are packed with insightful information on what do expect during and after the pregnancy, complications, how to deal with them, urges, feelings, fending off untimely visitors.

It has spawned a new phrase in our household. Whenever the marital rights are not forthcoming I am reminded that “my need for a man has lapsed”.

There is an imbalance in the book that I spotted. The chapter “Piss, Shit and Vomit” amounts to only ten pages or so. I expect in real life this will be a much, much bigger proportion of life ahead.

I’m no literary type, but this I enjoyed. Maybe it was the comic angle on almost everything, apart from the really worrying stuff (amniocentesis, anyone?).

It isn’t just his own experiences in there, there are others too, all from his friends and family. If the network of people around us are well matched to his, we’ll do well.

Posted by Alder at 28 June 2006 | Permalink | Comments (6)

Recently had a week with a boat from Snaygill and have been more than impressed.

We managed to get from Skipton up to the summit level into Lanacashire (spit), through the Foulridge tunnel, turned about, into Shipley and back to base within the week. That's 50-odd sets of locks, too many swing bridges, 7 days of glorious sunshine and 4 chilled-out people.

4mph? Eh? OK...Do NOT go on a stag booze cruise with one of their boats, they've just had a bad experience with one on our last night. Boat due back at dusk (no cruising after dark), speed limit 4mph, slow for moored boats, no drink-driving. Every rule broken. And then they thretened to throw the owner of the boatyard in the canal.

But, for the standard law-abiding intelligent people, their boats are fine. Clean, tidy, one small mechanical problem with the engine got sorted quickly. Makes a big difference dealing with a family run firm. We used almost everything on board and didn't miss anything that wasn't there.

Wanted to do this sort of holiday since being a kid, but never got round to it. Once we'd found our shipmates (Jared [Admiral of the fleet] & Joe) we, well I, started the worrying. "How do we operate the locks", "how does the boat handle with the steering point in the middle and the tiller going the wrong way?", "reversing - ARRRGGHHHHH"

Snaygill gave us basic training on the boat, all the gear on-board as well as handling, mooring, swing bridge operation. And they had a chap meet us at the first set of locks to talk us through it (though he was strictly hands-off). And then the fun started...

Nearly every set of locks was different - only down to the format of the ground paddles though.
Nearly every swing bridge was different too. And god forbid you take your finger off the button of the automated ones.

Foulridge tunnel was an experience. 18 minutes through, 23 back. I took it through, Jared brought it back - and he's the faster driver! With only a window of 10 minutes to enter the tunnel every hour we were lucky to make it to the green light on the return leg after turning in the first winding hole.

What amazed me more than anything was the difference in bank-side scenery. We had the lot - town centre in Shipley and Skipton, mill conversions in Stockbridge, industry on Barnoldswick (pronounced Barlick), open wilderness, leafy corridors, new housing, established housing. And all it took was the turn of a corner for it to change.

Both Snaygill and British Waterways were fantastic. I can't wait to get back on the Leeds & Liverpool, perhaps next time for 2 weeks to get down the Wigan flight and into Leeds. A big shout-out goes to Barry at the Bingley Five for getting us back up with the over-sized Tiggerish Moments.

Posted by Alder at 28 June 2006 | Permalink

So if you've seen any block of adverts on ITV in the last 3 months you'll have seen the Nissan Note is the only car you'll ever need. Unless you're prone to forgetting the baby.

And so far the jury is out as far as Nissan are concerned.

The Note is manufactured in Sunderland, so if you fancy helping the local UK economy it's a wise choice. Unlike it's sister, the Renault Modus, whose French factory shuts down in August, just in time for the UK plate change.

So what's the verdict on the Note? Well, the jury's out. A couple of question marks remain, and I'm going to offer my services to Nissan to give them advice on how to look at customer progression through their website. It started like this:

I'm looking at Nissan's site at the Note. Under "New Cars" that is. So I click on find my dealer, post code in, whizz-bang-boom and my nearest dealer is displayed. 20 mile round-trip to find out they don't sell cars anymore, just do authorised repairs. WHAT? Back on the site, and sure enough, tiny icons to that effect. So I find my nearest dealer, then look for the tiny icons which state "I sell new cars for customers who look under new cars section for a dealer". The salesman asked how I found him. He was puzzled I found them on Nissan's site, he had a customer that same morning who couldn't. So I'm not the only one with a problem then?

The car seems to fit the bill. The question marks are:

The carseat hasn't got the tick yet - awaiting testing - with a brand new car why haven't Nissan pushed to get it signed off?

Posted by Alder at 27 June 2006 | Permalink

So here starts the new dads guide to buying a new car.

Stick with the one you've got.

And here ends the new dads guide to buying a new car.

So why did we consider the Jazz? Size and flexibility, for a reasonable price, if there is such a thing as a reasonable price for a new car in the UK. I haven't really seen it advertised but the sales staff were keen to push it down the family route, which is ideal for us.

Now, we are putting the cart before the horse, but the cart will be used in our two current cars and a replacement, so yes it does come first. But the carseat we have chosen for Jr is not compatible with the Jazz.

I have my opinions on how the S should not be used in ISOFIX if seat manufactures and car manufactures produce incompatible products when working to the same "standard". But, realistically, this covers the fixings only, and excludes other items such as height from footwell of seat, seat angle, under-feet storage, all of which count towards that tick.

Anyway, the Jazz is out as the seat has got a big fat cross. And I thought this was going to be easy.

Posted by Alder at 27 June 2006 | Permalink

With the impending arrival of Ripley in what seems like tomorrow, I've been wandering aimlessly through catalogues, brochures and shops with a Jeremy Clarkson Mercedes E-Class look.

The only car that looks more startled than the rabbit it's about to hit.

There have been some happy times, some "WTF" times, and some pure frustration at seemingly family-oriented product manufacturers being unable to comprehend that their products are, well, unsuitable for families. I'll use the Dads category to keep a track of anything I found useful, to extol the virtues of the helpful ones, and to offer constructive criticism for those who need it. Oh, and to flame those who well and truly deserve it.

I suppose I’ll have to start by trawling back over the ramblings I’ve made on the FOB and pull them into some meaningful format. Anyway, that’s a job for another day.

Posted by Alder at 27 June 2006 | Permalink

Well, after months of nagging from Richard I've finally got a test Blog up and running.

So far it's on a server that is up and down like a whore's drawers, but then it's only for me to play around with at the moment. Depending on how things go I might create a whole new blog somewhere else, export this one over, or there again I might just give it up. But I've had plenty of encouragement (aka nagging) from Rich, so I might just have a bash.

Posted by Alder at 27 June 2006 | Permalink | Comments (8)