The Speaker

We have just finished watching The Speaker on the iPlayer.  It has been a really interesting watch (it was originally the rest of the family but I got hooked too) and fascinating watching the different personalities and the changes evident in some of the young people taking part.  Duncan drove me mad at first, one dimensional, all froth and no substance, but his performances mellowed, he took on advice and reflected on his performances.  I’m not convinced his speech in the final was actually the best one, but I think he demonstrated huge potential, coupling raw talent with a willingness to learn and develop.  Compare this with the arrogance and lack of self-reflection some of the speakers demonstrated and you can see why the judges made their decision.  I think Irene actually gave a better speech, it was a real cracker, and she also took on board feedback and really lifted her standard, but I think she has reached her peak performance, whereas I felt Duncan had more to come.  I suspect this is what swayed the judges.

Overall though the capacity of these young people to put themselves through some terrible ordeals of public speaking and keep coming back for more was quite inspiring.  I have certainly picked up some tips myself, but am far from sure I can reach the standard these people have.

The only downer on the whole thing is that the Beeb treated us like idiots at points, continually reminding us of what we had seen and letting us know what was about to happen.  Stop.  Please.  Hearing more of the speeches would have been good, instead of this irrelevant padding.

Where next for Eco Island?

"Eco Island is an ambitious change programme. It will turn the Isle of Wight into the ultimate Eco Island, with strong communities and the lowest carbon footprint in England by 2020." (Eco Island website)

So, what happened to Eco Island? I know some things are happening, but after all the flash, whizz and bang of the launch conference and Big Green Picnic it has mostly gone eerily quite. What has happened to the radical thinking portrayed in The Guardian in Nov 2007?

I know I am not alone in wanting to see the Eco Island concept really embraced in a meaningful way, and I know there is a queue of businesses, organisations and individuals already trying to do their part, but wondering what has happened to the IW Council.

So, on the 4th June there are local elections, a chance for us to have our say. So my question to every candidate standing will be "What next for Eco Island?". Points will be awarded for honesty and for understanding of the issues. So, who will join me in asking these questions of our leaders and would-be leaders? Or if you are one of those candidates, how about posting your position on Eco Island? Do you want to see the Island become an "eco trailblazer" and how are you going to make that happen? Do you have the political stomach to take difficult decisions, some of which will be unpopular with sections of society? How can the Council support the groundswell of enthusiasm on the ground?

Worse than locusts....

....is the plague of signs on our esplanades. I think they should all be removed, there are now so many that no-one pays them any attention and they are just a blot on the landscape. If we have to have signs lets have happy friendly ones that welcome people and invite them to have fun, rather than a myriad of metal monsters telling us we can't do anything at all.

Correcting your mistakes

So many times I have problems with companies who compound basic mistakes by completely failing to deal with them. Not so the folks at Outdoor Action. They supplied me with a tent at an excellent price, with no premium for delivery to the Isle of Wight. Good start. Very fast delivery, but unfortunately the additional sun canopy I ordered was supplied in the wrong colour. A simple error, and no-one is immune to them, so I sent a polite email off. Quick response came back with an apology and a choice of two days for the courier to do a straight swap. Courier arrived as arranged with the correct part, leaving me a happy bunny. It's this sort of service that we need more of, well done folks.

British Gas

Just tried to log in to my online British Gas account in order to sort out the complete mess they have made of my billing (having spent half an hour on the phone to submit meter readings for a house move, which I had already submitted online). I got this message:

"Access to your online bill is temporarily unavailable. If the time is between 7am - 11pm Monday to Saturday, please try again in a few minutes. Otherwise, please try again between 7am - 11pm Monday to Saturday. You can still enter meter reads and make payments."

WHAT?

I just want the drugs

I have pneumonia. This is causing no small measure of pain and discomfort, and now it has been diagnosed and my wife has collected by prescription antibiotics I would like to start taking them and getting better. But I can't. Being more diligent than me, Susan read the leaflet in the pack, only to discover that the capsules contain sunset yellow, a colourant which can cause an allergic reaction in people who are asthmatic or allergic to aspirin. I hit both. I have to say the capsules look very pretty, which I'm sure is really important.....


---edit---

Well, the second prescription had the same problem (same coating I think), but the pharmacist found an alternative, phoned the doctor and got a new prescription faxed over. Susan had to hang around Boots for about an hour while it was sorted out. Don't blame doctor or pharmacy at all, but really, what are the drug companies doing????

New cafechurch website

I have recently put together a new site for our Cafe Church efforts. It's at www.cafechurch.info The design is entirely WordPress based, a concept many have used before but I'm just experimenting with as a way of keeping things up to date as easily as possible, having been impressed with WordPress since ditching Blogger on the Island 2000 site. Only laziness prevents me moving this blog over to WP as well.