May 17, 2009
I have been running too and from work lately, partly to keep fit, lose weight and save a bit of cash. Yes that’s me!.
I have been really enjoying it, but something really gets to me.
My route takes me up and down Richmond Hill and I am sure every local would agree that the road is not ideal. What really gets me is on the way home about 5.20pm – 5.30pm the amount of drivers that are absolutely flooring it up there on the “dual carriageway” / overtaking lane like complete arseholes to only get one or two cars ahead of the queue. Bearing in mind that it is probably the only place you can overtake on your route south (well at that time of day anyway) I reckon that would lesson your journey time by about 15 seconds! Wow that was really worth it wasn’t it!
The thing is the number of people who do this is pretty staggering, well I think so anyway. I have been doing a rough count to distract me from the fatigue and I reckon it is roughly three cars for every ten. And just to please all you motorbike riders, you are pure angels, believe me!
Sort it out people. I am quite happy for you idiots to kill yourselves, just don’t get me or any other driver at the same time!
And I think I have been quite restrained writing this so consider yourselves lucky. You know who you are!
Posted in IOM, Isle of Man, Life, drivers, rant | Tagged drivers, Dual carriageway, Isle of Man, Manx Drivers, Roads and Highways | 1 Comment »
February 24, 2009
Image by d70focus via Flickr
There is a new look Money media in circulation and I have to say I am quite impressed with the new look. Its a more modern layout using softer fonts with much clearer and well defined articles that are much more pleasing on the eye to read.
I also noticed an advert for the new online money media ‘the islands first dedicated business website’ so I checked it out only to find that the site wasn’t live yet and was under construction. I have since noticed that more recent adverts indicate that the site is not launching until early March.
There are also quite a few online news suppliers in the Isle of Man media arena already, maybe not specialising just on business, but certainly covering Isle of Man business news in a fairly substantial way!
The main news providers on the island are:
isleofman.com
iomtoday
Manx radio
BBC news – Isle of Man
3FM
Isle news
Energy fm
The Manx Herald
It will be interesting to see how the new site turns out and also to see if there is any legs still left in the printed version?
Posted in IOM, Isle of Man | Tagged Business and Economy, Government, Island, Isle of Man, Money, Money Media, News, Recreation and Sports, Society and Culture, Website | 3 Comments »
February 21, 2009
Why you smiling Tony Brown?
I was driving back from a meeting this morning and was stopped at the traffic lights. I noticed by the side of the road a poster campaign that has sprouted up around the Isle of Man.
You see Tony, I would guess that in the current economic climate you have to be 100% transparent and it won’t do your popularity on the Isle of Man any good if your not seen to be practicing what you preach in terms of government spending!
Maybe you don’t care, after all when your term is up you can sit back with a nice little pension and enjoy the finer things the Isle of Man.
You have to laugh!
Posted in Advertising, IOM, Isle of Man, Manx | Tagged Government, Isle of Man, Politics, Tony Brown | 1 Comment »
February 11, 2009
There is a new online news service just gone live distributing news across the web available to Isle of Man and Channel Island business’s and organisations. Isle News looks like its just started up, but it looks like a great service and all for free.
If you not up to to speed on the benefits of online PR yet, its all very simple to understand and undertake.
You simply email your news release to the site, if you want you can optimise your news release with some key words or the site can do this for a small charge. The you leave the rest to the site.
The benefits include reaching a new audience and driving traffic to your site, as well as getting listed in key news sites such as Google News and Yahoo News, they help to increase your organic search ranking by building new links to your site!
How good is that!
Posted in Channel Islands, IOM, Isle of Man, Manx | Tagged Channel Island, Google News, Isle of Man, News, News release, Online newspaper, Organic search, search, Yahoo | 1 Comment »
January 19, 2009
How much has the Isle of Man Government spent on the Freedom to Flourish campaign or whatever they call it?
I think they should invest more time in a robust email policy!
Need I say more…….?
Actual screen shot from an email I received today! Believe me, I have seen far worse, but is this the freedom flourish?
Posted in IOM, Isle of Man, Marketing, wise words | Tagged Bad email, branding, Freedom to Flourish, Isle of Man, Isle of Man Government | Leave a Comment »
December 31, 2008
In no particular order!
1. Island Seafare – fantastic range of fresh local fish and locally smoked salmon. Must have buys are the hot smoked salmon and Manx Queenies, all fantastic. The staff are really freindly and helpful and nothing is too much trouble.
2. Farmers Market – every Saturday at the Villa Marina – great local fresh vegetables all without stupid plastic packaging!
3. Deli 35 – if your looking for that something different, Deli 35 has it.
4. Anagh Coar Butchers – all locally sourced products with the exeption of Crocodile, Ostrich and Kangaroo. Oh and not forgetting the Reindeer burgers that I picked up for my bbq on Boxing Day . Must buys are the pork sausages and Manx Mutton, haven’t had a chance to try the homemade pies, but they look great!
5. Davisons chocolate shop on regent street – if you like chocolate you will love this shop. Friendly staff and all great presentation.
And no I didn’t bother with Woolworths!
Posted in Isle of Man | Tagged Business and Economy, Fish, Isle of Man, Jeremy Clarkson, shopping, Tynwald, United Kingdom, Woolworths | 3 Comments »
December 11, 2008
I feel really sad today, and not because we will be seeing the end of Woolworth’s on the high street and the local Strand Street of Douglas. To be honest its was on the cards for years.
What really made me sad was seeing the vultures, the scavengers and the bargain hunters all queueing outside and later inside once the store opened. The queue must have been 40 people long when I walked passed. People with hoards of selection boxes, discount cds other tacky clothes and cheap electrical goods – and all for what?
I know it’s Christmas soon, but I just cannot stand what the human race has become, obsessed by material goods and spending money, and all for what I ask myself?
Call me cynical and baa humbug, but honestly I am not like that. Yeah I like nice clothes, my ipod touch, and my macbook but I just cannot be bothered fighting, queing and squabbling tooth and nail to get my hands on any of it, no matter how much of a bargain it is!
I really think it’s sad, even despite this current recession, doom and gloom that we still think we can buy our way out of it and make our lives that much better. Sorry I just don’t buy it.
One thing is for sure, I wont be fighting over Brussel sprouts in Tesco! Unlike other sad bastards!
Posted in Isle of Man, shopping | Tagged Asda, Business and Economy, Christmas, Consumer Electronics, Isle of Man, Retail, shopping, Strand Street, tesco, Woolworth | Leave a Comment »
December 10, 2008
Went to Howards Butchers in Anagh Coar today and was really pleasantly surprised at the fantastic selection of quality manx produce, sausages and home made pies plus a more exotic range which included the likes of ostrich and buffalo.
Apparently he has been there for over six years, well what can I say ,its been a bit of an unknown little gem.
I ended up going for a shoulder of local Manx Mutton in the end which I cooked for over 3 hours and then made into a curry. The flavour was deep and blew me away and it just melted in my mouth mmmmmmm.
Got some sirloin steak for tomorrow and I can’t wait!
Great small butchers with feindly service.
My Christmas order will be going in soon.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Agriculture and Forestry, business, butchers, Christmas, Curry, Domestic sheep, Isle of Man, Isle of Man Food Seafood Manx Pure Produce, Livestock, Manx, Ostrich, Sheep | Leave a Comment »
December 2, 2008
I popped in to the Manx Telecom mobile shop along Strand Street on the Saturday before last just to have a look at the latest Blackberry Bold and what a nice piece of kit it is too.
I have been looking for a phone with wifi capability for a little while now plus I really liked my current Blackberry.
It’s also a toss up between a new Blackberry and Apples iphone, so I would regard myself as a reasonably warm to hot customer in terms of selling too.
So here is the scenario.
I walked in to the Manx Telecom shop on Strand Street.
The sales lady came over and asked if I needed any help, to which I answered ” I am an exisitng cusotmer who is interested in the new Blackberry Bold and what were the terms on my contract?”
She went away and checked for me.
I was told that my current contract has several months to expire and if I wanted to have one I would need to pay the full price. I was fine with that and didn’t have an issue with it at all.
I then asked if I could purchase a iPhone at the Manx Telecom shop to which the reply was “we are working on it.” So I replied, “that’s a no then?” At this point the sales person got very uptight and went on the defensive saying that I was wrong to say that! So I asked the question again, “could I purchase an IPhone at the store?” She again repeated the same answer “we are working on it.” At which point I replied “so that means I can’t buy one now then?”
The person then got all hot and bothered and admitted correctly that I couldn’t buy one but they were working on it in a rather abrubt and aggresive tone. By this time I was rather taken a back by both the level of service and the behaviour of the person in question – I left the store.
Now to me if this situation was to be replayed and I was the sales person I might have done things a little different.
Firstly, I wouldnt have assumed that the because the customer owned a Blackberry already that the IPhone was for them! It might have been a gift?
Next, I would have replied honestly and truthfully and not tried to be clever and simply replied “No they are not on sale at the moment, but we are hoping to get some soon.”
And finally, I would have asked if the cusotmer would like to give me there email address or contact details so that when the Iphones did come into the store they could contact the customer and let them know.
How easy is that, and how pleased would I be with that level of service – pretty chuffed if you ask me!
Sorry Manx Telecom, but you still have a lot to learn… and thats just the basics!
I went for a look in the Sure shop after that.
Since then the Iphone is on sale at Manx Telecom.
Sorry but they won’t be getting my custom after that experience!
Posted in Isle of Man, Manx Telecom, Marketing, Moan, Poor Service, Sales, rant, shopping | Tagged Add new tag, BlackBerry, BlackberryBold, Handhelds, IPhone, Isle of Man, Manx Telecom, Mobile, rim, Smartphone | 3 Comments »
November 22, 2008
As the winding up by liquidators continues so does the blaming, naming and political sideshow. The process is due to be completed at the end of November and it is likely that everyone who had deposits will get their money back up to the ceiling limit of 50k as per the revised Isle of Man Depositors Compensation Scheme however that is little comfort to those ho deposited amounts over this level! Which will be a considerable number!
The Kaupthing Action group set up by depositors has continued to rally and gain support with a recent appointment of a legal team to assist in claiming money lost.
One things is for sure, the issue will continue for a long time to to come and will have ramifications to the Isle of Man as an offshore jurisdition.
Lets hope that a some positive news comes along soon – it’s not like we don’t need some!
Posted in Banking, Isle of Man, Manx | Tagged Bank, Deposit account, Government, IOM, Isle of Man, Kaupthing Bank, Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander, Offshore savings | Leave a Comment »
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