The party’s over.....

The party’sover.....or is it? I hope so, all that hype and nothing to show for it again. Let’s go back to amateur sports where all they had to play for is the pride of representing their country. Watching hapless hairdressers (no offence to real hairdressers) trotting about missing the ball then collapsing when any opposition player tackles them, is cringeworthy. Notice how quickly these fairies (you guessed it, no offence to those little creatures found at the bottom of the garden, only visible to those that may have over indulged in smoking something mixed in with their ‘baccy), recover once they have been ignored or they realise they have convinced the poor old ref it really does hurt.

The real game starts today at Headingly. Whoever doubts that test cricket can be exciting didn’t see the last 15 overs, last week at Lords. The game was heading for an uneven draw, when England started to knock over some hard fort for wickets. It then looked possible we could bowl them out and secure a win. Last over (6 balls) with two wickets remaining, first ball of the last 6, a wicket, 4^th ball (second to last ball of the 5 day game!) it looked like we had won with a plumb LBW, only to find out with a slow motion replay the ball had hit the bat first. No one cried, kissed anyone or fell over feigning injury, they just clapped the opposition and shook hands, fair play all round.

And that surely must be the theme of any relationship, employment or business deal? Anything else would fall under the heading of dodgy. When this happens (being lied to, or deliberately miss informed for someone else’s gain), doesn’t that make you feel let down and fed up?  But then if the other party realises what they had done, comes back, apologises, then puts it right, that sometimes has a stronger reaction in the positive direction. (Unless you have jumped your wife’s younger sister, apologies may not be enough!).  But in less tricky situations, you quickly shove all your cross feelings back under the sink and let that wonderful warm wave of relief wash over you. That person you had faith in isn’t a dastardly blaggard after all.

Don’t know where any of this came from, my wife doesn’t have a younger sister, so I am in the clear! Life seems fair at the moment, the sun has got its hat on, hip, hip hurray... and we are off to Solva for the weekend tonight. Solva in the sun is rare (Westests and wettest, West Wales), so when it is sunny it even beats the Maldives.  It’s nearly Pimms o’clock!

Here Comes The Sun

Here comes the sun, dodo do too, here comes the sun.... it just makes you smile when the sun is out and the warmth spreads through you. No I haven’t wet myself, I think.  All those stats coming out of the government, you would think we were piling up so much wealth now. Umm, well not yet. The orders are coming in a little more steadily, and some projects have moved along a little more, but no sign of that much used word BOOM. We aren’t going to boom until those lazy Euro piglets pull their snouts out of the EUtrough and do some work.

I like the word boom, and in fact Baldrick (one of the great philosophers of our time) made up a poem called Boom, boom, boom, boom. Well I hope that made you smile, that is my sole purpose in sending out these epistles. 

 While I am not a fan of Jim Carrey, as he makes me feel uncomfortable in the same way as a British farce does. But I did watch him give a speech at a Business schoolgraduation ceremony. Some of what he said I did like. I apologise right now if I miss quote him, as I scribbled down notes while I listened to the full 26 minutes of his speech. Here we go, 

“Love and fear, being at the two extremes of our emotions. Use love to dream, stop wishing, and get on and try.”

 I like that. 

“Fear, we use practicality, caution, logic (my word) to try to avoid what we fear.” 

He then told us about his father that didn’t think that he (his father) could make it as a comedian, so he became an accountant. (We all know some accountants that that are comedians.) After a few years, his father lost his job and had to re-train as something else. 

“You can fail at what you don’t want, so why not take a chance on doing what you love?” 

I like that one too. How many times have you muttered to yourself, bugger, I should have used my driver in the first place, as you watch your cautious 5 iron shot disappear into the woods?

And lastly:

“Hope is the beggar; its faith that will drive you to heap over your obstacles.” 

Not religious faith but faith in your own abilities.

Smile and make somebody happy!

Aaagh football in the summer!

Aaagh football in the summer! What’s worse, is that our cricket team is sliding back to less than mediocre again. At least we can stay outside and enjoy balmy evenings around a barbecue with a glass of vino, if it just stops raining. Whatever happened to global warming? I think it should be called global soaking.

It is so difficult to believe either side of the climate change argument, there seems to be campaigners on both sides with vested interests. Even University professors have been exposed as dodgy liars. Is it down to lies, damn lies and statistics? We do need to conserve our reserves, and so on that point alone I think we should continue to develop more efficient ways that will slow down the use of these precious reserves.

What about the poor old liberals, I do feel sorry for them. These, supposedly, honest people with no particular axe to grind are not wanted.  Why not have a party for faffers, sorry that is the liberal party. Politics has always been brutal and in Britain nothing has changed, there is no place for innocent, decent thought in that Punch and Judy show called parliament. I think that is why most of us walk away in disgust with the whole lot of them.

For once I support the media in overdoing something; all this D-Day stuff is a great reminder of what our parents had to cope with trying to overcome tyranny. Didn’t see many Germans though, and all those wonderful Stalinists are too busy elsewhere.

Not much mention here about work related thoughts, all quiet on the western front. Only to say we have to conduct long term relations on trust and honesty. Honesty is the hardest test, we try to be good but we all make mistakes. The true test is how do we put things right. In business there are few sayings that I think are worthy of repeating, sods law is the only law that works; if it can go wrong, it will; if you think you should do something, do it; listen to your gut feeling.

Be careful out there.

I'm Free.............!

I am free! The boot is off and I have been out seeing customers, and it feels so good. I love my job, it doesn’t feel like a job, going to see my old chums, enjoyer the banter, catching up. Of course there is pressure to win new business, but then we are hunter gatherers, so why not enjoy the chase?

That old chestnut, motivation.  Most of us need to work to pay the bills and so on, that is some form of motivation, but if we enjoy our work as well, that makes life a lot easier. So then we need a challenge, mine is not only to win new business but to keep current customers happy with what we do, and how we do it. As a salesman one needs to be a micro business owner. Your customers see you, not the whole of your company, you are the company. This was easy for me when I owned Trim Technology, but this feeling hasn’t changed one jot since going in with Darren and Dave. If anything it has helped me go to another level of satisfaction. What I can contribute now gives me the extra buzz one gets from sharing. It is a real buzz and you won’t read that any academic text book (they are full of salami sliced guff regurgitated over and over again, usually written by weird American academics that never left the cosy confines of their stuffy Universities).

I don’t want to take up too much of your time this week, just to leave you with the picture of me with a silly grin on my face.

Nearly forgot, if anyone is near the Celtic Manor this Sunday morning, some middle aged, over weight golfer may burst into song!

Slightly connected to this, Sally and I sing in a community choir, Cardiff City Voices. There are about 180 of us. We sing for charity and our main concert is on 28^th and 29^th June in  BBC Hoddinott Hall - Wales Millennium Centre.Some of the numbers we will be singing include Shine; California Dreaming; Both Sides Now; Creep; I say a little prayer for you; Fix You, and many more. Come along!