Author Archives: thatconsultantbloke

thatconsultantbloke's avatar

About thatconsultantbloke

Based in North Wiltshire UK I try to have fun whilst making things happen. I spent almost 40 years climbing the corporate ladder before getting bored with being too far from the action. Now I use my experiences of that time, the good and the bad, to keep the bills paid and have fun helping clients turn strategy into positive results.
by | August 15, 2011 · 6:59 pm

A letter from the House of Commons – short lived joy

The post thudded onto the doormat on Saturday. In amongst the white enveloped demands for money was a brown one; HMRC I thought, but no, House of Commons.

Bearing in mind the feedback and interest that I’ve had in some of my thoughts on the recent riots could DC have recognised my worth as an advisor and was summoning me over for a chat and to seek my help?

Unfortunately not. A few weeks ago I sent a briefing note to my MP in advance of a Commons debate in the hopes that it might have helped inform him on the subject. I got an Out of Office response to my email and nothing further. With recent events having, rightly, taken precedence over the subject that I had written to him about I had forgotten the matter, at least as far as Parliament was concerned.

But no. This was the subject of the letter, and so I sat down to read with interest. Having taken the trouble to write a carefully worded briefing for him I thought that there might be news of the debate. Once again, but no. The response expressed sympathy for me regarding the issue, and went on to suggest things that I could do to help myself in this matter.

Maybe fair enough on face value, but one of the central issues of the debate was the failure of a government appointed body to adequately deal with an issue in the area that it was suppsed to police, and to have also failed to follow up effcetively having allowed the problem to occur in the first place.

Part of my briefing covered this failure, so to recieve a piece of advice that included asking this agency to assist when it should have been clear that I already had done and that it had failed me (amongst others) is not impressive.

Quite frankly I would rather be ignored than patronised. And I voted for this bloke. Mea culpa?

Leave a comment

Filed under random rants, serious stuff

Tagged as , , ,

by | August 14, 2011 · 10:16 am

letters to the editor – food labelling standards

Sir

You will be aware from previous correspondence, sadly largely unpublished, of my opposition to the EU food labelling standards.

However, there is one area in which food labelling standards are sadly lacking. Each week when I visit my butcher or supermarket I find meats labelled as cured; but of what and when?

I think that we should be told.

Yours faithfully

R. Suppards (Mrs)

 

Leave a comment

Filed under fun stuff, Letters to the Editor - I think we should be told, The Joys of Shopping

Tagged as , , ,

by | August 13, 2011 · 1:06 pm

letters to the editor – post operative voices

Sir

It may pain me to say it, but I find myself sharing a number of things in common with the current leader of New Labour. Apart from the fact that we are both male and both live in this country, we also share having had ENT surgery.

In my case I was warned that I m ight speak in a very different manner after the op and that there was a small risk that I might not be able to form recognisable speech at all, but this proved not to be the case and my medical team have been very pleased with the results of their handiwork as I sound exactly as I did before they cut and stitched. In this perhaps I diverge from the Leader of the Opposition as he apears to sound even more nasal than he did before.

However, we do share one further post operative speech defect in that we are both still prone to talking through our backsides from time to time.

Your fainthfully

Disgusted of Dorcan

Leave a comment

Filed under fun stuff, Letters to the Editor - I think we should be told

Tagged as , , , , ,

by | August 10, 2011 · 7:55 am

escaped lions+rioters+cancelled football=a good idea?

News that a Russian news agency has claimed that lions and tigers have escaped from London Zoo as a consequence of the rioters and are to be heard roaring on the streets of the capital had me in stiches. It was nice to have something to laugh about.

With the news that Wembley will be unemployed as the footie is cancelled perhaps there is a solution here that suits all. Let’s round up the big cats and set them loose on the pitch and then we can throw the rioters and looters to them. It should be a sell out live and think of the TV rights. Maybe we should get Bernie E on board to help sell them?

Think about it; the ultimate phone in viewer and audience vote; show the looters 10 at a time and have a vote on which order they get thrown to the beasties. Ought to go down a bomb yes? Beats all that Big Brother, X-Factor, Got Talent rubbish hands down, a vote ’em off show that really sends them off.

Hang on. Where was I? I think I’ve just woken up from a dream.

Leave a comment

Filed under fun stuff

Tagged as , , , , , ,

by | August 9, 2011 · 10:39 am

an attitude to death

A couple of readers have question my attitude to death in the wake of recent posts. It is a simple one; we are going to die and we know that it will come to us at some point, so why not just accept it as being a truth and get on with living?

I first encountered death aged about 13. My grandparents were all long gone and the first body that I saw was not anyone that I knew, but there they were. Within months I tripped over the grim reaper again when I witnessed a road accident and one of the victims died despite the efforts of myself and others to save them. Since then I have seen others die in accidents, lost both parents and other relatives, friends, colleagues and acquaintences to a point where I have lost count. Maybe that toll has hardened me, but I think that it may be more that I have become used to death. It hasn’t diminished in its impact, but I have learned to cope perhaps?

My own end will come some day. I have come close more than once and realised some years back that, whilst I enjoy experienceing things in life, the last experience that I will have is that of dying. On that basis, when it comes, I will do my best to enjoy that too.

My belief is that when you die you are dead. There is no afterlife in my world, no heaven or hell, it’s just over and I will be gone. And so I will make the best of what time I have here, trying not to abuse the world around me and its many life forms and helping where I can.

Our time to go is our time to go. It may seem too early to others (or too late to some), but it is our time.Do I get angry over some deaths? Yes I do, and when I do I try to do what I can to speak out, but not to rant because you can’t undo death so why waste the effort? Instead I would rather use reasoned argument to try and change things so that there is less risk for the future.

As for emotional response to death, if you want to wail and nash your teeth over it then that is your choice. I choose to honour the dead my way.

1 Comment

Filed under serious stuff

Tagged as , , , , , ,

by | August 7, 2011 · 6:35 pm

Thoughts on Polar Bear encounters and respect for the environment

It is sad to hear of the loss of a young man in the frozen wastes, and also of the loss of one of the world’s deadly predators, a polar bear. Both were out on paths that brought them together in a way that led to two deaths, and some injuries for others.

To go to somewhere like where the Eton party ventured is dangerous, and that is what makes it attractive. Where there is danger someone might die or get hurt, but no-one expects that it will be them. It is always somebody though, and if you are there then it might be you.

It is a shame that the boys and the bear had to meet, but I do hope that this encounter does not stop the opportunities for people to do dangerous things. They are worthwhile doing; risk is what takes us forward as a species, and to eliminate all risk will kill us off as a race sooner rather than later. As individuals we are all going to die anyway, it is just a question of when. Is it better to stay safe and then die as your organs fail through age or disease, or to die having an adventure?

I can’t answer that question for you, but I would much rather go to my end experiencing something than to just rot away.

As for the bear, well that was just out foraging, doing what it had to.  It didn’t have a lot of choice, and when aromas drew it to the boy’s camp there was going to be a tragic outcome of some sorts.

In amongst the good stuff talked about preserving our environment there is a lot of twaddle spouted, and one of the things that some rampant wannabee greens lose sight of is that we are only one species on this planet. The other species are just as important as the ozone layer, fossil fuels, emmision levels and climate change. I am fairly outspoken against a lot of elf & safety (see above), but one risk assessment I am supportive of is on the environmental consequences of what we do.

Yes I am in favour of people taking risk and doing dangerous things, but only in terms of personal risk. If you are in a group and agree to take group riskd that is fine, but when it comes to doing things that put other things that have no choice about joining in at risk then no: If you are up a mountain don’t risk an avalanche, if you are in the forest don’t set the place on fire, if you are poking your nose in where there are creatures that might kill you…..

Our environment is now short of one bear and one human and I don’t think that that was necessary.

Leave a comment

Filed under random rants, serious stuff, wildlife encounters

Tagged as , , ,

by | August 7, 2011 · 4:25 pm

Lucy Snivelshed is dead – let her rest in peace

So Lucy Snivelshed is dead? I can’t say that I am especially interested in this news other than because it still rumbles on. Of course there are those that miss her dreadfully, and I can empathise with that; I have lost people I loved too. But is there not something of a whiff of profit in the air here once again?

We all know that anyone in an artistic field will have their work become more valuable posthumously, and to see that two of her albums are in the top 10 with a third top ten entry of, oh yes, a double album of the first two. I gather these days just someone looking at the album on Amazon counts towards sales, and you only need to sell about 5 to go platinum, but even so…

I have never deliberately listened to anything of the lady’s work, but I do recall my browsing amongst the CDs in the late lamented local Border’s store being made less pleasurable by the noise coming from the speakers above. When asked for about the fourth time “can I help you with anything?” I suggested that I might be more likely to buy something if they could turn off that dreadful racket. “But that’s Lucy Snivelshed” they said, adding “she’s won awards”.

Perhaps, but my personal pantheon of favourite lady singers features the likes of Nina Simone, Dionne Warwick, Doris Day, Dusty Springfield, Judith Durham and more. Maybe Lucy S did have talent, but my brief encounter with her work did nothing to suggest that I listen further, or to add her to those that grace my i-Pod.

Those that might have helped her defeat the trouble that surrounded her are now profiting from her demise. Fortunately she is now safe from the grasp of the demons that troubled her, and perhaps her squalid demise might save another soul from following the same path. If she is to be any sort of role model, that would, at least, add up to something.

 

4 Comments

Filed under fun stuff, Music, serious stuff

Tagged as , , ,

by | August 2, 2011 · 6:36 pm

more fun at the NHS

I had a bad feeling about a late afternoon appointment for a check up and, sure enough, things were running an hour late. This sort of thing drives me to distraction and I ended up having to leave part way through what they had planned for me as I had something else that I needed to be doing.

Whilst I do have some sympathy there are some aspects of my NHS encounters where they just play themselves into trouble. My GP will arrange appointments from 0830 but they wait until exactly 0830 to walk around and unlock the door, so even if you are first through the door it will be a couple of minutes before you are sat down and the Doc is never standing at the consulting suite entrance waiting for you. By their own clocks it is usually 0835 before anyone is called, so they are late from the first appointment.

In the Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin Reggie dictates a letter to the British Railways chief suggesting that, as his train is always 11 minutes late, they reissue the timetables adjusted accordingly. Same sort of issue really.

So I’m sat here this evening feeling pretty low. I’ve had time wasted that means, to avoid letting someone down, I’ve had to do an hour’s work this evening when I had plans to do something personal.

Such is life, but I doubt that anyone else cares too much.

Leave a comment

Filed under random rants

Tagged as , , ,

by | July 25, 2011 · 7:43 pm

Garden progress here in North Wiltshire

Tonight dinner was enhanced by the first potatoes from what used to be our rockery. We dug it out a couple or three years ago and made a raised be into with we’ve planted various greens and potatoes. Tonight’s are the result of a potato that I just planted because it was sprouting in the veg drawer. A nice change from some of the shop bought (we were very disappoited with the Jersey Royals this year – almost tasteless).

Earlier in the year we had a great crop of strawberries that lasted us throigh about 3 weeks of enhancing puddings. Not so many coming through now though.

The tomato hanging basket (Tumbler) is cropping like mad and making salads nicer as are lettuce from the garden. The plum and full size tomatoes are flowering, but no crops yet.

We tried Pak Choi this year for the first time and managed to use 4 or 5 in stir fries before they went to flower.

Fennel, garlic, round carrotts and beans all coming along.

We’ll never match Tom & Barbara, but it is a bit of fun and relaxation, the food miles are minimal and it all tastes good, so we’ll be doing it all again next year.

Leave a comment

Filed under about me, In our garden

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

by | July 11, 2011 · 6:56 pm

Excellent news of our Florida villa – another award

Hot on the heels of winning an award for the second year running in the Florida local business reviews we’ve just been awarded Rated Excellent status for our Florida villa by internet travel web site FlipKey. This is based on the level of feedback from our guests. Happy customers can’t be wrong!

Click here to view the web site and you’ll find we already have the coveted “Rated Excellent” badge displayed. Better still come and stay in the villa.

Leave a comment

Filed under america, florida

Tagged as , , , ,