Euro Saved

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May 312010
 

Wow, I see we had another Eurovision triumph on Saturday night. I’m glad that Germany won it. I have no idea what their song was like – presumably not sung in German – well, it’s not possible to sing properly in such an awkward language is it? No, I am glad they won because they will now host it next year and their economy is strong enough to be able to afford it. If Greece had been required to find the money it might finally have brought the Euro to its knees.

I note that the BBC ran the story on their ‘Entertainment’ website page, not on ‘Arts & Culture’. Quite. I spotted one comment calling for Scotland to have their own entry. It was probably Alex Salmond. Maybe we should have a referendum on it. Come to think about it, why don’t we have a referendum on Scottish independence from the UK. As long as we can all vote. If we could get rid of this cold and miserable place where men wearing skirts go round torturing people with the dreadful sound of the bagpipes,  maybe it would mean that we wouldn’t have to sit through the Scottish football results every Saturday at 5:00pm.

PS – It is with much doubt that I added ‘Music’ as one of the categories for this post.

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Musical Understanding

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May 302010
 

On Friday evening we heard violinist Tasmin Little and the fabulous Orchestra Of The Swan give the world premiére performance of Roxanna Panufnik’s ‘Indian Summer’. By the standards of Mozart this could be considered a weird piece, full of strange sounds. Indian Summer is a phrase often used to describe unseasonably warm early autumn weather in the UK.  Having had it explained beforehand that in this case it was referring to summer on the Indian sub-continent, everything made sense. The music gave the feeling of oppressive tropical weather with the strange jungle sounds familiar to anyone who watches wildlife programmes.

It is amazing how a simple explanation can change one’s perception of music, or indeed many other things. Now all I need is for someone to explain to me why that horrible noise, otherwise known as jazz, shouldn’t be declared illegal!

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Instructions For Visitors

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May 292010
 

I read a book once called ‘Instructions For Visitors’. It was about life in a small village in South West France. But sometimes I feel like a visitor. A visitor to Earth. Recently I heard about Dropbox, a bit of software that allows you to share files between different computers. Just the job when you have a PC and a laptop. I followed the instructions (I think) and loaded it to both devices. Of course, it doesn’t work. And I get incomprehensible messages which may or may not explain the problem.

On Wednesday MS Outlook kept crashing. Mozilla Thunderbird was suggested. I followed the instructions (I think) and loaded it to my laptop. Of course, it doesn’t work. And I get incomprehensible messages which may or may not explain the problem.

Now I understand why many of us stick with things that don’t work particularly well. At least we understand them and don’t have to read instructions. Which is precisely why big companies survive even when they have shoddy products or service. It is the safe, if unsatisfactory option. Change is challenging. Especially if we come from another planet.

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Don’t Hammer The Consultant

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May 282010
 

Owen Smith from BHS pops over to The Watercooler to hammer home a message about the right tool for the job. Ed.

 You need to nail one piece of wood to another – you have the nails, but need help in getting them banged in. You ask a ‘consultant’, who suggests that a hammer would be the perfect tool, provides one and explains the theory. If (s)he walked away now, several sore thumbs later you may decide this is not an effective way of nailing two pieces of wood together and discard the hammer as ‘useless’ or ‘too painful’. If the consultant stayed and gave you support and advice in the best way to use a hammer, soon you would be hammering wood together quickly and efficiently – success! You have used the right tool in the right way in the right context, and had the right level of support to make this effective.

You’ve concluded the hammer is an effective tool, and decide to reward yourself with a steak dinner. Having cooked your steak to perfection, you now need to cut into bite size pieces to enjoy. You had success in your last task with the hammer, so why not use it again? Several broken plates and one very flat steak later, it dawns on you that perhaps a hammer is not the best tool for this after all. Good tool, wrong context.

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Twitter Does Wonders For Relationships

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May 272010
 

Nicky Kriel is back again, developing relationships in 140 characters. Ed.

Last year everyone told me that I HAD to get on Twitter and how wonderful it was and to be honest, I was very intimidated. I dipped my toe in the water, but wasn’t sure what it was all about.  It was only in December that I signed up for a course and decided to take the plunge and immersed myself in finding out as much as I could about social media.  Business was quiet, the kids were away and I had time.  And what an interesting journey it has been!

I’ve developed wonderful relationships with very special people.   Thinking about it, I have just recently been on the phone to the fabulous Dee Blick; our relationship has been built up through Tweeting. I did a Webinar yesterday with Heather Bestel*, someone I “met” also on Twitter. I wouldn’t be writing this blog and I certainly wouldn’t have met my boyfriend or been asked out without Twitter!

I have developed friendships, had support and plenty of free advice through the online community.   Once you get over the fear of abbreviated words and links, you start realising it is just chatting, but in 140 characters. The water is warm in the Twitterstream!

* Heather was featured in a Sunday Times article back in the autumn that co-starred The Watercooler editor!

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