Sky

Sky as in, Sky TV

I have been a long serving customer of Sky. For about 7 years.
About 2 years ago I got Sky+ installed and its been great to be honest, no complaints.

However, over the past month I have noticed two distinct problems.
The first was that programmes I was watching and recording were not playing back properly.
The second was that I realised I had not been receiving the Sky magazine.

On the first point, I ended up paying £65 for an engineer to come out and solve my problems. This was because I my system was out of warranty. I was dubious whether it would make much difference. However, the £65 included 3 months warranty and they replaced the whole system AND redid the cabling more effectively to get a better signal. This alone was worth the money.

On the second point, I rang up and spoke to one chap and explained I had not received it for at least a year. He said I or Emma must have rang up and requested the Opt out option. This I knew was total rubbish and the first guy said there was nothing he could do. So I said, in that case pass me onto someone to talk to about cancelling my subscription. He did this, and the next woman was very polite. She apologised profusely and she reduced my subscription by half for the next three month.

So - in a company where the service etc is generally excellent, when something went wrong, they were very good to me. This is the way I expect to be treated. Great.

Mount Zion Destroyed

Prayers and thoughts go to the guys at Mount Zion Family whose church has been completley ravaged by fire tonight, article below taken from the EDP website................

Ninety firefighters from across Norfolk battled in vain last night as one of Norwich's best know churches was destroyed in a massive blaze.
Flames were reported coming from the Heartsease Mount Zion Family Life Centre at about 10pm, and by midnight the building was totally wrecked.

At the height of the blaze 15 fire engines and a number of support units were deployed at the scene on Norwich's ring road, which police closed to traffic.

"We have no indication at this stage what might have caused the fire, but we do know that the building had been in use earlier in the evening. One of the problems has been that the building, we believe, was largely a timber structure, and as a result the fire spread quickly and with great intensity. I would say that the temperatures within the family centre were in the region of 1500C at the height of the fire."

Indications last night were that nobody had been injured in the fire.

At about 12.30am an outer part of the building collapsed and fire crews were forced to retreat quickly to avoid falling masonry.

One of the pastors of the church, Steve Mawston, speaking at the scene just before 1am, said: "I got a call to come to the church at around 10pm and when I got here I was just shocked.

"It felt so surreal seeing the church going up in flames in this way.

He said: "It is a great tragedy what has happened here tonight but my feeling is that this will bring our church closer together and it will make us stronger.

"We believe we still have a great future. Our church is not a building - it is about people."

Church Photos

Went to a wedding blessing the other day at St Johns Cathedral in Norwich. Really is a beautiful place and is also where me and Emma got married. Took some photos with my phone and are shown below:

Moving Image

I thought this image was quite moving, image of a father hugging his child after finding him alive from the Phillipines landslide.

Milk'init

Being on a diet you start to realise the things that don't help with weight. One of them is the regular coffee. I don't really mean standard filter coffee with a splash of milk, but things such as cafe latte or mochas.

These are typically milky drinks with an espresso shot or two. I guess one a day is fine, but if like me you can have up to 3 large ones, that can equate to nearly three pints of semi skimmed a day - which is an awful lot.

Just made me think...........

The Quiet Zone....

Yesterday I came back on a train and someone (probably unintentionally) really annoyed me.
Basically, for those that don't / haven't travelled on Anglia and what is now One Rail most will know there never has been the concept of a Quiet Coach.

Quiet Zones have been used on GNER services for ages and I quite like them. Basically on here people don't use laptops, mobile phones and don't chat - its very quiet. But this is new to most travellers on the trains between Norwich and London.

So yesterday, I was travelling back. There were kids on the train making noise, people chatting away merrily and a general hub hub. I was on my mobile talking just as normal as anyone else when this woman came and stuck her finger in and talked over my conversation. She told me "this was a quiet coach and was not able to use my mobile". Fair enough. But I was speaking quiter than the kids, and no louder than other conversations going on. She annoyed me because she didn't bother having a go at anyone else, but figured here is a guy on his own on a mobile (which she probably didn't own) to have a go at.

I just thought it was incredibly rude of her - yes, she may have been in her right to say it - but if the rest of the coach makes my contribution no louder I see no problem. Doesn't have integrity in my mind .... Gonna ask One for a noisy coach and see what they say.

Weight Loss

Surprised to find I lost almost half a stone this week. 6.5 lb to precise.
Wahoo

Champion.

Horsham

Today has been a long day and I wanted to get this down or I would forget.
I was asked to go to a meeting today in Horsham (about 20 miles south west of Gatwick). I had to be there for 9.30.

I was planning on staying in a hotel, but various reasons made it impossible so I had to travel down first thing. This meant leaving the house at 4.45 this morning to catch the first London train at 5.10am. Annoying thing was is I never actually needed to be at this meeting in the first place. Still, all hours accrued.

Anyway, when I was leaving I found what I considered the most ugliest looking water fountain I ever saw:


It looks like something out of war of the worlds - just mental.....

Cold Snap

Got the following from seehere.blogspot.com.
Very Funny......

Firsts

This year I am hoping is going to be a year of firsts for me.
Things I am looking to do:

1. Begin to learn to play the drums
2. Start to get proffesional singing lessons
3. Learn to tap dance
4. Visit New York
5. Be a family of four people.
6. Weigh less than 16.5 stone.

I will also start rehearsing in September for 42nd Street (www.nnos.co.uk).

Looking forward to it already.... wahoooo

Train Station

This will seem like a silly post.
Basically I regularly catch the train out of Norwich station each week.
For a while now they have been doing upgrades to the platforms and its been blocked and dark.

However recently they have started recently to unveil the work and I have to say its made a fantastic difference. Its so much more light and bright and will be great in the summer. I noticed it so much I wanted to mention it here. Here is a photo from my phone that doesn't really do it justice: