Jan Leeming - The Official Website

CALL CENTRES - Saints preserve Us.

16th February 2010

CALL CENTRES - Saints Preserve Us

How many of us absolutely 'loathe' Call Centres.  They are proliferating and getting worse.

What beats me is that in the UK we have growing unemployment and yet Businesses and Employers are allowed to get rid of staff and take their Call Centres Abroad.  And Barclays have just announced the most gargantuan profits at a time when we are all suffering, particularly those of us on pensions - officially 'savers' to whom no life-line is being given.  I can remember when I was paying 15% interest on my mortgage in the 80's and no-one helped out then.  Now, on pension savings, I along with millions of others see my little nest egg depleting because the 'Charges' for administering my savings outweigh the interest which hardly pays for the paper on which they send you a statement.

(We all suffer for the faults of the few - take 'money laundering' and the hoops through which one has to go nowadays even to transfer money from your own Bank Account to another Bank Account of your own - forget it - it's a nightmare.)

So if you are going on holiday you have to inform all Banking organisations of your move so that they don't shut down your account.  I thought I'd be clever today and by-pass the damn Press this button, press that button and now go back to the beginning again - so I registered my Credit Card on line - and that was an abject lesson in frustration as it kept throwing me out.  I finally achieved the well nigh impossible and then found that there was no facility to let them know I would be out of the country for a short while.  So it was back to the Telephone and an expensive dialling number.  I am forced to listen to someone trying to sell me yet more of their products, then I'm given a set of options, and then another set of options and finally I get through to India - then I'm put through the hoops again to the point why I wonder that it's worth going away at all.  And I've got to go through this rigmarole for every card I hold not to mention the large telephone bills.

What a world we live in! 

Sorry, but I think it should be made illegal, or companies should be heavily fined when they  shed staff and  move their businesses to call centres abroad when, at the end of the day, it is we taxpayers who are paying for it when people are made redundant, can't get jobs, and go on the dole. 

Sorry, that's my grump for the day.  Actually, I could spend all my time writing reams of what is wrong with the UK today and there isn't too much right with it.  We've had a Government which for 12 years has chucked money at Education and Hospitals and yet we have Filthy Hospitals and children leaving school unable to read and write.  We have targets and iniatives and the damned MP's are totally out of touch with reality -  surrounded by sycophants who all sing to the same Party Hymn sheet.  They are totally out of touch with reality wasting millions of pounds of our money sending out endless glossy pamphlets telling us how to do this and how to do that - what about PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. And I'd like to know how much money is wasted on all these Radio and TV Adverts extolling us to do this and that and that Tax doesn't have to be Taxing.

 In many respects they are preaching to the converted. Responsible people will be, just that, responsible, and those that aren't don't give a damn. And what about the proposed health warnings on Alcohol!  I doubt that the health warnings on Cigarettes have had much effect. Surely our money could have been better spent on Cancer research.  Those with an addiction are not going to give up just because of large print on the side of the packet.  And with regard to Alcohol - who allowed 24 hour Opening time - the Labour Government.  For some reason, we don't have the Café Culture that they do on the continent where there is far less alcohol abuse and children, from a very young age, accompany their parents to eat out and predominantly behave well.

Sadly I witnessed the results of the Binge Culture  when I had to travel by train for the run of Calendar Girls and I tell you, it is not a pretty sight.  In fact, the last train to East Kent is called 'The Vomit Comet'.  Do I need to elucidate further?

I'd better sign off as I've got so much to do.

I commenced the day full of the joys of empending Spring and all the ruddy Call Centres today have just slowly made me less and less joyful and more and more cross.

GRUMPY OLD WOMAN signing off.

What do you think? Send your feedback to contact@jan-leeming.com.

LIAR by Kwezi Fairfoot

16th February 2010

LIAR by Kwezi Fairfoot

Kwezi is a friend of mine whom I met in the UK back in the early 80's. She was born and brought up in Kwa-Zulu Natal.  Kwezi is the Zulu name given to her by her Nanny - it means 'Morning Star'. She speaks Zulu and it was this ability which saved her life when she was attacked by burglars at her Guest House in the Midlands of Natal.

Kwezi is clairvoyant and really does have an uncanny ability - although not when it comes to her own life as is so often the case with people who have a gift.  I first met her in Bristol when I was, not for the first time, going through a turbulent time.  She told me things that no-one else other than myself could possibly have known and she gave me hope.    Kwezi never charged anyone for the benefit of her 'gift'.  I always took her presents or gave her something to recompense her but she has never capitalized on her gift and for that I respect her.

Kwezi is a very bad correspondent (I asked if I could tell you this) and when she left the UK and went back to Durban in South Africa, keeping tabs on her was very difficult as she rarely writes and usually forgets to give you her telephone number.  When my much beloved husband left me for another woman in 1995, I flew out to Durban and into Kwezi's comforting arms.  She warned me that this man would keep coming back into my life - and she was correct.  She will always be there for you when you do track her down. She's like a fire-fly burning bright in your life one minute and then disappearing.

Fortunately I can usually track her down through her sister who lives in the UK.  I phoned a couple of weeks ago and discovered that Kwezi was in the UK and actually staying with her sister.  She will talk to you as though you had a conversation yesterday yet by my reckoning it's a couple of years since we've spoken.  She told me she'd had a book published - Kwezi - an author! I couldn't believe she would have sat down long enough to write a book.  But she has and I purchased it from Amazon.  It is a most unusual story and I could hardly put it down.  Also, I couldn't even attempt to tell you about the storyline, without giving away the plot.

So if you can get hold of LIAR and like an unusual story, then this is for you and, for heaven's sake, don't go peeking at the end until you get there.  (There are a few typos and one or two errors but it doesn't lessen one's enjoyment of a thoroughly good read.)

Kwesi tells me she has written several other novels but it's very hard to get books published.  It's amazing isn't it, the bookshops are crammed to the gunwhales with books of every description and yet authors always tell you how difficult it is to get published.

Well, dearest Kwezi I hope this little piece will get you some more sales and more importantly a publisher for your next book.

LIAR by Kwezi Fairfoot  - Authorhouse - ISBN 978-1-4490-2475-8

Oh, just a little reminder - Come Dine With Me is being repeated on Wednesday 17th Feb. on More Four.

What do you think? Send your feedback to contact@jan-leeming.com.

THE WALLACE COLLECTION and THE WEEK

14th February 2010

THE WALLACE COLLECTION and THE WEEK

I've taken The Week for several years now and cannot recommend it highly enough.

I don't buy a paper every day - too depressing and I get so angry and frustrated at what's going on both in the UK and abroad - so I take The Week which covers The Main Stories complete with editorials and also what the commentators are saying and it's a broad spectrum from Left to Right - from The Guardian to the Mail.  There are Theatre and Cinema reviews, articles on wine and restaurants and at the back every week there's a two page article, very often extracted from a book or a longer piece e.g. the latest edition had a completely heart-rending extract called 'Night' written by British historian Tony Judt on his Motor Neurone Disorder.  I just wanted to weep.  This intelligent academic encased in a body where nothing works save for his mind.  I don't think I'd have the courage to continue my 'life'.

So why have I put a heading The Wallace Collection and The Week?  I don't know if this was the first of, what I hope will be, many or if The Week have been organising this kind of function for a long time.  We readers were offered an evening at The Wallace Collection with a lecture by Dame Rosalind Savill (Curator of the Gallery), a glass of champagne and, although I'd totally overlooked the fact, a fabulous catalogue of The Wallace Collection which must on its own have been worth the entrance fee.

I asked my son to accompany me and told him that if he fell asleep, at least please don't snore.  To my delight he stayed awake and thoroughly enjoyed Dame Savill's talk. She was gorgeous - an academic in love with her subject but happy to share it with we ordinary folk on  a level at which we could both appreciate and enjoy. She was also very funny.

What is so lovely about the Wallace Collection is that it's housed in what used to be the family home and it is 'intimate'.  You can actually walk up to the paintings and admire them - as yet there are no barriers.  And there is the most superb furniture dotted around - stunning marquetry work and beautiful carvings - and the only restriction is that you are asked not to touch them. 

As a woman, I was stunned by the fantastic drapes in all the rooms and the décor has been remodelled so as to look the way the house would have been when the Marquesses of Hertford and Richard Wallace lived there.  They must have been stunningly rich to have amassed the treasures that are now on show for us all to see and share.  One rather sad exhibit was the framed Bill of Sale of the Ci-devant Reine of France - poor old Marie Antoinette.

The story of the Hertfords is fascinating.  If you want to know more - just look them up on the Internet.

There were a few surprises for me - I'd always thought that Fragonard's Lady on a Swing and the less well known The Souvenir were very large paintings  - in fact they are both relatively small.  Reminded me of the time I saw the Mona Lisa in the Louvre - very tiny indeed.

We dined in the restaurant - the ambience and décor were simply stunning.  I don't eat out in London very much  but this has to be one of the most gorgeous restaurants around.

A predominantly glass roof has been erected over what would have been the old Courtyard.  The building is about 3 storeys high so you get a fantastic feeling of space and the tables are set well apart.  I don't like restaurants where one is on top of the other customers. 

The meal was a Set Menu for The Week subscribers and the choice was small but excellent.  I don't enjoy being given a huge menu so that by the time you get to the end, you've forgotten what was at the beginning!!  Also, how can the kitchen possibly offer so much choice without being detrimental to the quality of the food.  Having worked in a kitchen for Children in Need and also for Celebrity Masterchef, I'm well aware of the difficulties of providing a huge menu.  I think I'd say 'less is more' and would far rather be given a menu with a few good dishes to suit the tastes of everyone be it fish, meat, or vegetarian.

Don't know what the A la Carte menu might have been nor what sort of prices they would have charged but our Set Meal was excellent in presentation, taste and value.

So, I can heartily recommend both the Wallace Collection and their fabulous restaurant.  And if you ever have the opportunity of hearing Dame Rosalind Savill, do go and listen - she is great - an Academic with a great sense of fun.

I have to say that if I lived closer to London, the Wallace Collection would have me as a regular visitor.  I think you could visit it every week for years and still not take in the minutiae of everything it has to offer.  And the intimate setting was wonderful.

What do you think? Send your feedback to contact@jan-leeming.com.

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA

7th February 2010

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA

Well before the Computer gives up on me and goes into dock I thought I'd add  a little piece to my Blog.

I'd seen the film before and had no intention of watching it again but a look at the programme offerings for tonight - they were not at all enticing.  As so many people say nowadays 'We have so much choice and nothing to watch' and I heartily endorse that sentiment.  We have a plethora of channels and not a lot of choice.  Take tonight for example, apart from the odd documentary, there really was nothing that grabbed me.  I was tired of paper work, tired of wrestling with computer problems, and there wasn't much choice so I decided to watch 'The Devil Wears Prada' again.  I enjoyed it first time round but didn't think it a great film.  Having watched it again, I actually think it encapsulates a great deal of what is going on in society today - take it that what you see in the world of High Fashion is also indicative of the way so many businesss work.  You get a total Bitch in charge (Meryl Streep as Miranda) and her staff sacrifice everything ....... For What!!  If you watch this film, it really does say a lot about how so many today sacrifice their lives for money and 'status' in vacuous industries.  I saw a great deal more in the film tonight, as a social commentary, but enjoyed it enormously and found myself vocalising 'You total Bitch' at the screen.  Having said that, I think Meryl Streep is one of the greatest actresses we have today. Look at the range of her characters - she is the USA's Judi Dench.  How many of today's 'Soap- Stars' could actually cross the boundary and throw themselves into such diverse characters as Meryl Streep is able to do.  I take my hat off to her.  She is simply brilliant and if I ever got the chance to meet her, I would feel honoured.  She represents, like Judi Dench and Eileen Atkins to mention just two, what is all that the Acting Profession should stand for.

What do you think? Send your feedback to contact@jan-leeming.com.

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE SINGLE AND THE ELDERLY

7th February 2010

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST SINGLE PEOPLE AND THE ELDERLY

Ok, I'm on a grumble roll.  I get absolutely furious at this 'Two for the price of One' or 'Buy one, get one half price'.  That maybe Ok for families who need a great deal of food but it's we singletons who are subsidising the 'cheaper!!' food.  Give you an example - I needed some Salad the other day.  I won't tell you which supermarket except it's one of the best - because they are all doing it.  I cannot get through two packets of Salad so was forced to pay £1.99 for one packet and for one extra penny - £2 - I could have had 2 packs.  Yesterday it was Anya potatoes - buy one, get one free.  I have neither the eating or storage capacity to buy in bulk.  As the check out girl said and I've been saying for years - 'If they can afford to do that, why don't they put the realistic price on the product'  You aren't getting one free at all.  I do know that Tesco are going to introduce a 'Buy One now - and get another one later'.  But that still begs the question - Why don't they sell one at the correct price.

This 'Bulk' discrimination works against Single People and the Elderly.

And whilst on a grumble against Supermarkets, I wonder if any of the Buyers have EVER tasted Ripe Fruit.  I am tired of buying the - Ripe and Ready to Eat varieties of e.g. avocadoes, nectarines, papaya, mango etc. and so forth.  Nine times out of ten you can't get the Nectarines off the stone - the papayas are bullet hard and never really do ripen and I could go on and on.  I know we can't re-invent the wheel, but how I long for the days when we had 'seasonal' fruit and vegetables and they actually 'TASTED' of something.  The only Tomatoes I ever taste these days which really do smell and taste of Tomato are those grown by my Father.  Those you buy in the supermarkets - even the supposed 'on the vine' ones, simply do not have the flavour they used to have and as for the Big Tomatoes - they are full of water and not much else.

OK I'll stop bleating now but I could write pages and pages on the subject.

I know I promised to put into the Gallery some photos of Winter in Trafalgar Square.  I apologise for not doing so but it takes so long to upload each single photo.  But I will try and put a few in for you in case the Computer has to stay in 'hospital'.  We don't realise how much we rely on computers and IT.  For example, most of my phone numbers are on my computer - so no computer, no phone book.  And I'm too untechnical to buy an Iphone.  Oh, how I wish I were less of a Technophobe.

What do you think? Send your feedback to contact@jan-leeming.com.

COMPUTER CRASH

7th February 2010

COMPUTER CRASH

If you don't hear from me for a while, it will be because my Computer is 'in hospital'.  I had a major crash called a 'Kernel' (if I've spelled it correctly) and after reinstating all sorts of discs etc. Paul, the lovely chap who helps me with my computer, suggested it really does need to be looked at.

This means I have to make a 120 mile round trip and probably leave the Computer at the Apple Store.  I've had Apple Computers for over 25 years and they've always been virtually foolproof.  However, I've had several problems with this Laptop and can't help thinking - this is what you get when you outsource the production to the Far East.  Sorry to say it but it might make economic sense to Mr. Jobs as he's getting his computers made for less but have you seen the price of Apples come down - NO.

I think Apple used to be made within Europe and I never ever had a problem - in fact I've been able to give them away each time I've upgraded.  So production is taken abroad -  people lose their jobs and if they can't get re-employment, they have to go on benefit and who pays for that - we do - the taxpayers.  And it's happening all the time. 

On the train going to London one day a couple were discussing the fact that their firm were cutting jobs and outsourcing to a Call Centre abroad. Same problem.  We've got massive unemployment and yet Companies and Businesses are allowed to take the jobs away from the UK and take them where they don't have to pay so much.  OK - so apparently we all want less expensive goods but in the end we are paying more indirectly through our taxes.  Bit like Independent TV - their advertising costs are reflected in everything you buy.

What do you think? Send your feedback to contact@jan-leeming.com.

COME DINE WITH ME

6th February 2010

COME DINE WITH ME

Well, I don't know what you thought of the programme but I was astounded to see that my Website received 5,545 hits on Sunday night.  I usually get around 300 in a week.  And, NO, they weren't all looking for the 'Nude' photo of Yours Truly. 

As Tim Firth so beautifully puts it in 'Calendar Girls' - Nude is suggestion - Naked is detail.  I was covered in Butterflies and was showing no more than I would have done in my Bikini-wearing days.

I was delighted to receive so much feed back on the programme - and the over-riding comment was 'How pleasant to see people enjoying themselves and being nice and not bitching each other'.  I got stopped on the street whilst shopping, had comments sent through my Website and a constant stream of favourable comments sent on by my son Jonathan who works in a business where I shouldn't think anyone is much over 40 years of age!  The Producers can edit a programme how they wish, but if they haven't got 'bitchiness' then they can't add it.  We all enjoyed ourselves and each other's company.  I haven't enjoyed myself so much in years working on a programme.

When I saw Donal receiving lots of help, I asked if my son Jonathan could help me by serving the wine.  Well, he got cut out of the one hour version but if the programme is re-cut into 4 half hours, he might make a miraculous re-appearance and, hopefully, you might see more of Mike Parker - the harpist. 

I must admit after I asked if I could invite Mike to play at my Dinner Party, I had terrible mis-givings because of the caustic comments made by the Narrator.  However, after attending Donal's Dinner at which he had a classical guitarist, I felt far more comfortable.

Don't know if you saw the piece in The Guardian on line.  Still can't decide whether the guy likes me or not - he was certainly incredibly sarcastic.  Mind you, I shouldn't object to being called Eccentric at my age - I'd rather be eccentric than dull.  And Donal called me 'Wacky' - and I always thought of myself as very conservative!  I suppose it all comes down to Stereotyping.  At my grand old age, I should be sporting a cardigan (done up on all the wrong buttons), flat comfortable shoes, a perm or a short hair cut and should be happy to be spreading - size wise.  Well I'm not doing any of the afore-mentioned and if I were even fitter, there'd be no stopping me - I'd be up Kilimanjaro, walking the Great Wall and doing all the things I never even thought of doing when I was younger.  Mind you, by way of excuse, many pursuits were simply not there and available when I was younger. I'm delighted that my son still thinks I'm 'wacky' enough to go Disco-Dancing and is more than happy to accompany me on Cruises when I'm invited to give talks.  You are a long time dead and I intend to pack as much as I'm able to into my Autumnal years.

Incidentally, sorry to disappoint but there was NO Romance between Dave and myself.  I think we are both outgoing people and, speaking for myself, he was a man with a great deal more to him than met the eye.  I think I too surprised him as he was probably expecting some 'po-faced' newsreader.  Yes, I did comment on his Aftershave but I hand out compliments to both sexes.  I've often told a total stranger how very nice she looked and asked where she might have purchased her outfit.  When I was in my twenties and working for Granada TV in Manchester, I was commuting up on Monday and sat next to a woman with the most gorgeous perfume.  As we approached Manchester I plucked up courage to compliment her and ask her what was the Perfume.  To my surprise, she was wearing exactly the same perfume as I was but it smelled totally different on her.  It was Guerlain's Mitsouko which is still available.  I do get cross over the plethora of new perfumes being released almost monthly but Thank Goodness some of the old stalwarts are still there.  I now have to order The Vert by Bulgari and wonder how long before that is discontinued.  It's like all forms of make-up.  You've been using it for years and then it disappears.  The hapless assistant tells you it's been deleted and then, more often than not, lets you know you are the tenth client who has asked for it that day.  

Now how did I get on to Perfume!  Oh yes, David's Aftershave.

Thank you for all your support and I DO respond to emails sent via my Agent on the Website.

Fond wishes,  Jan

What do you think? Send your feedback to contact@jan-leeming.com.