I've had a little problem with this blog as it's on a new server and I hadn't got the setup quite sorted out. It seems to be working ok now. I have been trying out Xanga and TypePad recently - both excellent products in their own way. I liked the photo gallery in TypePad but now the beta test has finished I'm going to have to move it elsewhere. Xanga has been having problems with a DoS attack. Where do these people get off. What fun or excitement can there be in destroying other people's work and pleasure. If they are as skilled as they claim to be surely they would be able to create something useful. Anyway enough for now. I'm off out on my motorbike today and shall be out for the best part of the day.

 
Reward Points, Clubcard, Air Miles and all sorts of other loyalty cards and points schemes. Aren't they wonderful. I recently got 80 pounds worth of vouchers for Marks & Spencers, from Goldfish. Now the only reason I bothered cashing them in, and I realise it was worthwhile, was because I was about to cancel the card. We get vouchers from Tesco and Homebase which can be useful. However, I feel the whole business is a pain in the arse. I recently started using a garage in Salisbury. As I do a long commute I have to fill up every day. It took almost two weeks before the staff stoped offering me a Nectar card. I bought a DVD in a local Electronic Games shop. They wanted to sign me up for their loyalty card. The whole thing is a bit of a con. Each point you collect is worth less than a tenth of a penny - often far less. For that you have to waste time giving them all sort os personal details about your life and lifestyle. You have to add a little time to each transaction every time you shop - and wait for the people in front to finish adding their points. And why do these companies feel so generous about giving you money in the form of spending vouchers or money off coupons. It's because the information you give them is worth a fortune - they know where you live and by using things like CACI, a system for matching post code and lifestyle, they can estimate your spending power and spending preferences. And don't worry if you think you're poor they still want as much of your money as they can get so they will tailor offers to your personal profile.

In some ways it could be a good thing to have offers tailored to your profile - the store's computer work out what you're likely to need and offer it to you at a price you can afford and also make sure that the local store has sufficient stocks. Except this isn't how it works. They will apply all sorts of clever marketing techniques to pressurise you into buying products you don't really need and possibly don't even want. Then they'll lend you the money to buy the latest 'must have'. Have you noticed that all of the big stores now offer loans and other banking services. It can't be because they want to give you a better service. It's the profit margin.

That's enough for today - who knows there might be more tomorrow.
Dave

 
The first post to a new log is always a little bit of an adventure. Well this is also on a brand new server. There is nothing else on this server apart from my dream of putting something here that people will want to use. I want to create a site where people can tell me about where they live - what's great about it and what's not so great, why they like to live there or why they'd like to move almost anywhere else. If you tell me what it's really like then perhaps someone else will like it so much that they decide they want to live there. If it's not so hot perhaps you'll see somewhere that sounds better, and that better place may not be so far away. I'm not looking for statistics or maps, although links to them do help. I'm looking for what it feels like, where is great to go, where you meet your friends or where you look for friends. I'm looking for what you'd tell someone you like about somewhere you like.

 
The first post to a new log is always a little bit of an adventure. Well this is also on a brand new server. There is nothing else on this server apart from my dream of putting something here that people will want to use. I want to create a site where people can tell me about where they live - what's great about it and what's not so great, why they like to live there or why they'd like to move almost anywhere else. If you tell me what it's really like then perhaps someone else will like it so much that they decide they want to live there. If it's not so hot perhaps you'll see somewhere that sounds better, and that better place may not be so far away. I'm not looking for statistics or maps, although links to them do help. I'm looking for waht it feels like, where is great to go, where you meet your friends or where you look for friends. I'm looking for what you'd tell someone you like about somewhere you like.