Lamborghini and Bus Stand Off

I was walking to a meeting in South Kensington today when I was saw this. The stand off lasted about 20 minutes. The Lambo wouldn't mount the kerb. It was funny to watch!

Special #mugshot mention to @robwatts

Razorsharp as always @robwatts His favorite mug!

Fresh Set of Mugs from my Twitter Friends Friday

Merry Christmas from @janedebond

First one from @tad40

2nd one from @tad40

3rd one!

4th one!

5th one!

Tweeted by new dad @sozuk (come on you IRONS!)

Hand Painted in USA Westie Mug from @lyndakelly

Mugshots today from my Twitter Friends

Lovely hand made mug from @jackiedpepper

Harley Mugshot from @geoffdicks

Michael Jackson mugshot from @tad40

This expensive looking mug from @bigalessex

This regal mug from @anjeebaby

Thankyou all! If you have an interesting mug, please tweet me a pic @jayman888

#mugshots from today Tuesday 24th November 2009

Thanks to everyone who tweeted me pictures of their favorite mugs. This all started last weekend when I was having a rummage through my Mum's cupboards looking for something to eat during a visit and I found a load of old mugs, some of which I remember using daily as a child. Then I got thinking that I'm quite particular about what mug I drink tea from in the morning and wondered whether other people had the same 'affliction' . I work mostly from home and would put my mug usage up there with my Macbook, internet access and being on the telephone.

The first thing I do in the morning in the kitchen is put the kettle on and look for my big Titan Double sized Mug! Keep those pictures coming in!

The other #mugshot here is from @mummabear

A mug picture from @curiousg3orge my twitter mate

Thanks Barry for this picture of his current mug!

Check out the lovely apple keyboard too..... Nice!

Tweet me your mug pics please!! @jayman888

Old Mugs

Check out these old mugs I found in my mums cupboards.

I wonder if they are worth anything?














-- Post From My iPhone

Is it Swine Flu? probably not!

What a terrible weekend of coughing and spluttering. On Saturday I felt achy all over and had a temperature. The kids were both coughing all day. On Sunday morning I thought I was going to die I felt so hot. I turned the heating off and logged onto the NHS Swineflu website to 'self diagnose'

After answering the questions I was offered some tamiflu and advice to stay at home. I made the wife do the swineflu test and she was offered the same advice. We were both given a reference number and decided to go and collect the tablets.

We haven't taken the tablets yet. We are not 'hoarding' the drugs however it was unclear that if we didn't collect the drugs after being offered the special code would we be able to get some at a later date. I was under the impression that if we had received a code we would have to collect.

What's the score? Does anyone know? All I did was do a self assessment. Has anyone else had this issue?

I subsequently realised that my 'achy' legs were probably caused by wearing 'skinny jeans' A man of my age should not be made to wear 'skinny jeans'. I'm not in Razorlight or indeed a skinny 17 year old anymore.

By the way, the wife and I still have flu like symptoms and the kids are 'snotty'. We're hoping it's just flu of the seasonal type.

Carphone Warehouse Complaint Update Thursday

I'm pleased to report that the Customer Care team contacted me about my complaint about the iphone case and I have been offered a full refund as a goodwill gesture. I was contacted by 3 different people from Carphone Warehouse and I was told to post back the case and a cheque would be raised.

This has proved that if you go through the correct channels and procedures a positive resolution is possible.

Thankyou!

Carphone Warehouse Complaint Update Tuesday PM

I've had a couple of @replies from Twitter but nothing from the company website. I've been asked to send an email to 2 real people at CPWplc so hopefully this issue will be sorted out quickly.

Tuesday Update on the Carphone Warehouse refund complaint issue

No news from CPW today. I tweeted the Twitter account this morning and also just now. I have not had any missed calls or emails from them either.

I do hope that someone calls me soon. I am losing all faith and respect for the Carphone Warehouse brand.


-- Post From My iPhone

Hello and please leave a message

I'm sitting here wondering whether anyone actually reads this blog. If you have been here please leave a message here or @jayman888 me on Twitter. Cheers

Carphone Warehouse Complaint Update

Evening All

Just a quick update on today's developments. Emails sent to CPW with morning at about 9am. I also sent a tweet to @cpwcares. I've had an automated reply from the website but no return tweet. I know the twitter account has been active because it tweeted today.

I wait with baited breath... ( amusingly and ironically I noticed a Carphone Warehouse Ad supplied by Google beside my blog post earlier)

My email to Carphone Warehouse about non refund of iphone case

I've pasted a copy of the email I sent to Car Phone Warehouse this morning. Here's the background.

I was sold a Griffin Élan Leather Backed case with my iphone in Feb 2009. In the excitement of the purchase the sales guy at CPW Bishopsgate London realised I was weak with euphoria and moved in to close me down on a £19.99 case. I had already turned the rip off insurance down so he then 'sold' me the case. I didn't really want it at the time but no worries. I never used the case until a couple of months ago.

I have noticed that the leather 'slides' off the case when the phone gets warm. i.e. in pocket of jeans or during call. Not ideal so I decided to get a refund. The case, as far as I could see is 'not fit for purpose'. The fella in Colchester said that CPW do not give refund on accessories and that I should know this? He did not offer me any solution to the problem apart from the same response to all my questions.

'Car Phone Warehouse do not give refunds on accessories, my manager is not here and you need to go back to Bishopsgate in London and speak to their manager' He said this about 5 times.

I must admit the red mist did rise and as I walked out of the packed shop I did shout 'Car Phone Warehouse do not give refunds on accessories so please don't buy any from here. you'll get better service on ebay!'

Now I'm sure that this can't be the case. My product is faulty and I'd like either one that works or my money back. I was fuming, but only for a while. They have a twitter account @cpwcares and I have emailed their complaints department. email below. I'll post up responses and progress here. Any comments or help will be greatly appreciated from the readers.

sent to CPW customer complaints 9.00am Monday 16th November 2009

Morning. I was sold a case with my iphone in Feb and have not used it until the last couple of months. It's a Leather backed Griffin Elan. The problem with it is that when it gets warm in my pocket or I hold it to my ear and gets warm during a call the leather becomes unstuck and slips about and comes off in my hand. I went into the local CPW to ask for a refund or replacement and the Sunday staff said that CPW didn't do refunds on accessories and that I should know this. In fact the 2 guys I spoke to actually admitted that they had seen the same fault on their own Elan cases! There is obviously a fault with the case and one of your staff admitted it was a rubbish case. If I knew that CarPhone Warehouse didn't refund on accessories I wouldn't have bought it from you. I find this incredible and surely it's illegal. How do I get my money back please, or get a replacement product. Both your Colchester branches were unable to help me The product is obviously faulty and not fit for purpose, can you let me know how to get my money back or get this product replaced with something else. Look forward to your comments

UK facing 'worst storm of year'

Heavy rain and high winds have caused flooding in parts of southern England, as the year's worst storm is forecast for the start of the weekend.

A severe flood warning is in place for Christchurch Harbour in Dorset, while there have been reports of flooding across southern England.

Winds in the south are due to peak at 80mph (129km/h) on Saturday morning.

The Met Office predicts a "brief respite" at the end of the weekend ahead of more storms next week.

In Haywards Heath, West Sussex, people had to be rescued from four units on an industrial estate after floods from about 2ft (60cm) of water.

West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service advised people to go up to the first floor of the premises.

"We have got one of our technical rescue units at the scene and they are going to be moving people out on boats. There are no reports of anyone being hurt," a service spokesman said.

Other developments include:

• In west Cornwall, there are reports of water up to 2ft (61cm) deep making some roads impassable. Water is coming over the sea wall at West Promenade in Penzance, flooding the street, while in Padstow several properties are reported to have been affected by flash floods
• Some SeaFrance crossings from Dover to Calais and LD Lines services to Boulogne suffered delays on Friday. A Port of Dover spokesman warned passengers to expect disruptions
• Brittany Ferries has cancelled sailings from Plymouth to Roscoff and Poole to Cherbourg, although its services from Portsmouth to the French ports of Caen and St Malo are not affected
• A windsurfer had to be rescued from "treacherous" conditions after getting into difficulty at Bigbury, near Kingsbridge in south Devon
• Bennett Memorial Diocesan School in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, was closed because of flooding and sewage contamination
• In Guernsey, an activity centre for dementia sufferers at Castel Hospital was closed after heavy rain caused a ceiling collapse

By 2000 GMT, the Environment Agency had issued one severe flood warning, along with 14 flood warnings - 11 in the South, two in the South West and one in Wales - as well as 65 lower "flood watch" alerts across England and Wales.

The agency and Met Office are warning people living along the coast in Hampshire, West Sussex, Dorset and South Wales of a risk of sea flooding this weekend, due to high tides, strong winds and significant wave heights.

People should move valuables and irreplaceable items such as passports, certificates and wedding photos upstairs and out of the way Councillor David Sparks Local Government Association Heavy rain and gales cause chaos Homes flood amid weather warning Unit shut after ceiling collapse

Councillor David Sparks, of the Local Government Association, said: "People living by a river, coastal or flood risk area must be prepared.

"There are lots of precautions they can take. People should sign up to the Environment Agency's automated warning system, so they get a call the moment there is a risk their home could flood.

"People should also move all their valuables and irreplaceable items such as passports, certificates and wedding photos upstairs and out of the way."

The Met Office said it had recorded gusts of 78mph (125km/h) at Pembrey Sands in Carmarthenshire, while Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire had witnessed gusts of 68mph (109km/h).

Damage fears

Forecasts suggest there could be up to 75mm (3in) of rain on hills of Dartmoor, Exmoor and Wales, while much of the UK will see 25mm (1in).

BBC forecaster Tomasz Schafernaker said the weekend would have a "stormy first half" before quietening down.

The Highways Agency urged drivers to check travel information before setting out on Friday evening and into the night.

AA driving expert Mark Peacock said: "Even experienced drivers can be caught out, so it's important to drive more cautiously and allow extra time for your journey."

The high winds could cause damage to trees, railway lines and bridges. Air travel could also be disrupted.

The Met Office website warns: "At this stage, forecasts suggest that there may be a brief respite at the end of the weekend ahead of more unsettled weather into next week."

Windows 7 borrowed 'look' of Mac

A Microsoft executive was quoted in an interview as saying "what we've tried to do with Windows 7...is create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics".

The comments, by partner group manager Simon Aldous, appeared in UK computing trade magazine PCR.

Microsoft countered that Mr Aldous was not involved with the development of Windows 7.

Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc said in a blog that Mr Aldous's comments were "inaccurate and uninformed".

Suggestions that Microsoft has borrowed technology ideas has been rife for as long as the Windows and Mac operating systems have been around.

The very idea of who invented the "windows" on a "desktop" in Windows 1.0 was the basis of a 1988 lawsuit and remains a point of contention.

'One of our own'

However, many of the significant graphical changes present in Windows 7 have analogues in Mac's OS X - although neither firm has made an official statement about the apparent similarities.

"One of the things that people say an awful lot about the Apple Mac is that the OS is fantastic, that it's very graphical and easy to use," Mr Aldous told PCR.

"What we've tried to do with Windows 7 - whether it's traditional format or in a touch format - is create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics. We've significantly improved the graphical user interface, but it's built on that very stable core Vista technology, which is far more stable than the current Mac platform, for instance."

Mr LeBlanc countered the claims in a post on the official Windows blog.

"Unfortunately this came from a Microsoft employee who was not involved in any aspect of designing Windows 7," he wrote.

"I hate to say this about one of our own, but his comments were inaccurate and uninformed."

Robbie William's joins Take That on stage

Robbie Williams has joined his former Take That bandmates on stage at the Children in Need charity concert, but there was no reunion performance.

Take That opened the show at London's Royal Albert Hall before Gary Barlow introduced "old friend" Williams, who then performed solo material.

However, Williams and Barlow were later back on stage singing alongside the show's other artists during its finale.

Sir Paul McCartney and Dame Shirley Bassey were among other performers.

Take That perform Rule The World

The event was organised by Barlow, with more than £500,000 raised from ticket sales, which were allocated by ballot.

After Take That's opening performance of their song Greatest Day, Barlow told the 4,500-strong crowd: "What a perfect night for us to introduce an old friend."

Awww.... Robbie and Gary have left the stage arm in arm, and the show is done BBC Twitter reports from the gig

Williams, who left Take That in 1995, then appeared on stage before moments later being left to perform songs from his new album, Bodies and You Know Me.

Afterwards, he said: "I started tearing up just before I came on, and the lads were singing and knowing it was just about to happen and knowing what the reactions were going to be like, and then all my team were like 'Please don't cry'.

"And I think we should have milked it for a lot longer than we actually did. I think Gaz, in his wisdom, went, 'Right, we should get off now, let the lad do his singing.'

"I was trying to get them back to do a bow and everything. That's the first time in 15 years, we should have at least stayed there for 10 minutes."

Of speculation about him performing with the band again, he said plans were "shaping up to be very exciting" but added that he did not know where, when or how it would happen.

Robbie Williams on appearing with Take That: "This feels good"

"I just hope people don't get bored of the idea before it actually happens," he said.

Williams and Take That returned to the stage with all the other artists to round off the show with a performance of The Beatles' Hey Jude.

Other acts on the bill included Leona Lewis, Lily Allen, Mika, Muse, Dizzee Rascal and Katherine Jenkins.

Among "one-off" duets planned as a key feature of the show, Dame Shirley sang This Time accompanied by Barlow on piano, before rapper Dizzee Rascal joined her to perform her classic song Diamonds Are Forever.

Cheryl Cole appeared with Snow Patrol, with the Girls Aloud and X Factor star singing Martha Wainwright's lines from the guitar band's song Set The Fire To The Third Bar.

Frontman Gary Lightbody had told the Spinner Music website that some people had "raised an eyebrow" when they heard about the collaboration.

"Everyone doing that gig has to duet with someone from the gig," he said.

Snow Patrol and Cheryl Cole were one of the show's unlikely collaborations

"Everyone gets a partner, it was like getting a partner at school. We got the prettiest girl in the class.

"People have raised an eyebrow now and again when we've mentioned we're doing it with Cheryl Cole."

Other duets saw Lily Allen joining Take That on the boy band's song Shine, while Dizzee Rascal and Noisettes' Shingai Shoniwa performed Dirty Cash (Money Talks).

Barlow also dedicated a performance of Rule The World to his father, Colin, who died last month.

"This song is dedicated to everybody who's lost somebody they love. Dad, this one's for you," Barlow said.

The concert will be shown on BBC One next Thursday, 19 November, from 2000 GMT.

Thriving trade in out-of-date best-before foods

Thousands of tonnes of food are binned annually in the UK because of confusion over use-by dates. But those willing to overlook the labels are finding big online discounts on food past its prime.

The UK appears to be a nation of food wasters, throwing away 8.3 million tonnes every year. That is a mountain of leftovers, enough to fill 4,700 Olympic-sized swimming pools, says the government's anti-waste arm, Wrap.

FOOD LABELS EXPLAINED Use-by: the key date in terms of safety. Never eat food after this date. Found on cooked meats, soft cheeses and dairy-based desserts Best-before: is about quality not safety. Food should be safe to eat after this date, but it might not be at its best. One exception is eggs Sell-by/Display-until: this information is for the retailer, not the customer. It is mainly used for stock control purposes

Of that, 5.3 million tonnes could have been eaten, it claims.

The cause of much of this waste is down to confusion over date labels. A recent survey suggests half of people do not understand the differences between them.

More than one-third believe any product past its best-before date should not be eaten and 53% never eat fruit or vegetables after they have reached that date.

"We lead extremely busy lives and taking an interest in what's written on the date label and then understanding what that actually means is a step too far for a lot of us," says Julia Falcon from the Love Food Hate Waste Campaign.

"If people were more confident about what date labels mean they'd get round to eating more of their food rather than throwing it away."

Offers online

Some are already comfortable with eating food past its prime. Two years ago Dan Cluderay quit his job as a market stall holder and set up an online supermarket specialising in products past their best-before date.

The recession has boosted sales of old fashioned cuts of meat

His stock includes tinned and packaged groceries, biscuits, crisps and fizzy drinks.

"In the last year sales have gone up 500%. The reason we've done well is that we're offering value for money," says Mr Cluderay. His Approved Foods site is one of a small number of online retailers selling short-dated or out-of-date best-before produce.

"At one time, health inspectors would say you can't have that if it's past the best-before date and now there's a complete shift in the way people think. Perhaps it is more acceptable to drink a can of pop that's a week out of date."

And, comparing the offers of such sites with High Street retail prices, it is easy to see where its success lies.

I've made a career of selling food past its best-before and never once had someone say 'you've made me ill' Dan Cluderay Founder, Approved Foods

Chocolate brownies two weeks past their best-before date are 20p instead of 89p. A dozen tins of olives with a best-before date of last August are going for £1 - as are 10 bags of crisps a week out of date.

Brand names are often erased, but otherwise the website looks like any other online supermarket: customers add products to a basket, pay up and a courier delivers the shopping.

Customers are asked: "Can you find it cheaper? Tell us."

It is perfectly legal, and other online retailers are following suit. "Shops are allowed to sell food after its best-before date has passed," says Sam Montell, nutritionist for the Food Standards Agency.

"Best-before dates are concerned with quality rather than safety, so it doesn't mean that the food is dangerous if the date has passed."

Consumer advice

Although date labels are now a ubiquitous part of grocery shopping, they were introduced relatively recently. Sell-by dates came in when supermarkets began to take over from milkmen, selling milk and cream.

Marks and Spencer started using them in the 1950s, to give people confidence in the products in their chilled cabinets.

Date labels came in in the 1950s

For some, attitudes towards food labels are now changing. Perhaps it is down to a rising awareness of how much food and drink is wasted, and the cost.

Recent Wrap data suggests £12bn worth is binned every year in the UK, or around £680 for the average family.

Secretary of State for the Environment Hilary Benn has suggested sell-by dates should be scrapped and best-befores ignored.

It is a notion many market traders subscribe to. At the Bullring Open Market in Birmingham, renowned for hundreds of stalls selling fresh produce, much of the food is sold without packaging or date labels

"We're much too fussy now, it's out of all proportion. We don't use best-before or sell-by dates here," says stallholder John Harris. "A piece of cheese, you can take it home and it'll keep for a good three weeks."

But retailers argue that doing away with date labels would not reduce food waste. "Customer education will," says Stephen Robertson, director general of the British Retail Consortium.

"Date labels are there to help customers but they need to understand what they mean.