The GP surgery used by my mum has changed the way it organises appointments for patients. She's been given a printed leaflet that ends "Our current arrangement with two local practices will cease to enable us to provide continuity of care for our registered patients."
The receptionist is hand-writing a comma in the final sentence before she hands each leaflet out.
Wednesday, 27 March 2013
Thursday, 21 February 2013
Britain's Secret Shoppers
I'm him off the telly. Yes, that's me - credited as Mark Bridge, Technology Writer - offering some mobile phone shopping tips on the Channel 4 "Britain's Secret Shoppers" television programme. A few appeared in tonight's show and I'm expecting to see some more next week. Meanwhile, if you missed it, the series is on 4oD for a while.
Wednesday, 30 January 2013
A couple of gems from the Advertising Standards Authority
There are some absolute gems in the Advertising Standards Authority adjudications released today.
It’s good news for Honda...
We considered that viewers would recognise that the action of driving towards a supernatural opening portal was not realistic behaviour
...and good news for Converse, too.
We noted that one woman was wearing her bikini near palm trees and another appeared to be having a water fight, which suggested circumstances where women might ordinarily be in bikinis
It’s good news for Honda...
We considered that viewers would recognise that the action of driving towards a supernatural opening portal was not realistic behaviour
...and good news for Converse, too.
We noted that one woman was wearing her bikini near palm trees and another appeared to be having a water fight, which suggested circumstances where women might ordinarily be in bikinis
Saturday, 26 January 2013
CD review: Not Waving, But Drowning by The Self Help Group
CD review from Viva Lewes magazine, February 2013:
Not Waving, But Drowning sits firmly in the centre of the melodic Venn diagram embracing alt-country, folk and gentle rock music. If it were a place, it would be Laurel Canyon – the Los Angeles suburb where Crosby, Stills & Nash sang about a very, very, very fine house. Yet this album was born in Sussex; five-piece band The Self Help Group is based in Brighton, while Lewes’s Union Music Store produced the recordings. Each track has the warmth of Californian sunshine, with bright harmonies and rhythmic guitars partnered by lyrics that move from joyful humour to almost unbearable sadness. Despite the heartbreak, I can't stop listening.
The album costs £11.99 and is released on Monday 11 February. Needles, the first single from the album, can be found on iTunes and on YouTube.
Not Waving, But Drowning sits firmly in the centre of the melodic Venn diagram embracing alt-country, folk and gentle rock music. If it were a place, it would be Laurel Canyon – the Los Angeles suburb where Crosby, Stills & Nash sang about a very, very, very fine house. Yet this album was born in Sussex; five-piece band The Self Help Group is based in Brighton, while Lewes’s Union Music Store produced the recordings. Each track has the warmth of Californian sunshine, with bright harmonies and rhythmic guitars partnered by lyrics that move from joyful humour to almost unbearable sadness. Despite the heartbreak, I can't stop listening.
Sunday, 20 January 2013
Lewes weather
I've just discovered that the Met Office offers a website widget. I don't really have any reason to embed it here but... well...
This Weather Widget is provided by the Met Office
Sunday, 6 January 2013
The mystery of writing
I've just been reading a blog post from last year by writer/artist Austin Kleon. It's entitled 'Writing: it doesn’t get any easier' and talks about the late David Rakoff, who'd described the challenge of writing as being like "having to reverse-engineer a meal out of rotten food".
That's enormously reassuring
Back in spring 2011, when reading 'The Writing Life' by Annie Dillard, I suddenly realised I didn't know how to be a copywriter. I could do it... but I couldn't really explain how I did it, so wasn't sure if I was doing it 'right'. Perhaps there was a better way.
In the movie of my life, this would be the part where Nicolas Cage (who's playing me) sees a beam of light shining through the bedroom curtains. He leaps from his bed and runs to his well-stocked library, scrabbling to find copies of advertising classics; dog-eared editions by Claude Hopkins, David Ogilvy, Drayton Bird and Philip Kotler. He pulls them from the shelves and sits on the floor reading them as the sun rises outside.
In the film, Nicolas Cage would find some kind of revelation and would walk off into a warm orange sunrise with a mug of coffee in his hand. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised he'd be missing the point.
That's enormously reassuring
Back in spring 2011, when reading 'The Writing Life' by Annie Dillard, I suddenly realised I didn't know how to be a copywriter. I could do it... but I couldn't really explain how I did it, so wasn't sure if I was doing it 'right'. Perhaps there was a better way.
In the movie of my life, this would be the part where Nicolas Cage (who's playing me) sees a beam of light shining through the bedroom curtains. He leaps from his bed and runs to his well-stocked library, scrabbling to find copies of advertising classics; dog-eared editions by Claude Hopkins, David Ogilvy, Drayton Bird and Philip Kotler. He pulls them from the shelves and sits on the floor reading them as the sun rises outside.
In the film, Nicolas Cage would find some kind of revelation and would walk off into a warm orange sunrise with a mug of coffee in his hand. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised he'd be missing the point.
Wednesday, 26 December 2012
The route to a router
Belkin! BELKIN! Our old internet router doesn't always answer when we call. Maybe it's suffering from selective deafness like an old dog. It's also getting a bit shaky and ill-tempered, so I begin to wonder whether it might be better for everyone if I bought a smarter, faster version. That way I can introduce the youngster and let dear old Belkin live out his days in a box in the corner of the room. Well, it's better than waiting for the elderly chap to collapse, leaving me on my own with nobody to talk to during the day.
Much like shopping for a puppy, when you buy a new router you're often a bit desperate and more than a little upset. You're also wondering whether the current router really is on its last legs or whether there's life in the old dog yet. Perhaps it's not the router at all. Is it too soon to say goodbye to Belkin? Could be he's picked up something nasty. Has the lead started to fray?
And so I was racked with insecurity and guilt when I eventually picked a new router. I tucked the old one away and showed my new companion to family and friends. Then there was lengthy training before I could trust it enough to leave it on its own. Ultimately, a lot of work I'd rather avoid.
But things still aren't quite the same without old Belkin. Something's wrong. Maybe there was a fault with the line after all. I look at the new router. No, everything's fine. It's responding quickly when I call. Time for self-doubt. I start peering round corners to see what it's doing when I'm not in the room.
Then, one morning, no internet. I run to the new router. It sits with a guilty expression, blinking angrily. It's out of control. Unstable. Ha! I knew there was something wrong all along. You're going back to your original owner.
Come on, old chap. Wake up, Belkin. We've got work to do.
Much like shopping for a puppy, when you buy a new router you're often a bit desperate and more than a little upset. You're also wondering whether the current router really is on its last legs or whether there's life in the old dog yet. Perhaps it's not the router at all. Is it too soon to say goodbye to Belkin? Could be he's picked up something nasty. Has the lead started to fray?
And so I was racked with insecurity and guilt when I eventually picked a new router. I tucked the old one away and showed my new companion to family and friends. Then there was lengthy training before I could trust it enough to leave it on its own. Ultimately, a lot of work I'd rather avoid.
But things still aren't quite the same without old Belkin. Something's wrong. Maybe there was a fault with the line after all. I look at the new router. No, everything's fine. It's responding quickly when I call. Time for self-doubt. I start peering round corners to see what it's doing when I'm not in the room.
Then, one morning, no internet. I run to the new router. It sits with a guilty expression, blinking angrily. It's out of control. Unstable. Ha! I knew there was something wrong all along. You're going back to your original owner.
Come on, old chap. Wake up, Belkin. We've got work to do.
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