This is going to be a bit of a rant, I’ll try to stay calm but the truth is I need to get this off my chest.

Image by guyweb via Flickr

Like many people I’ve got a gas central heating system and also, like a good number of people I’ve got – or rather been sold – a maintenance contract that covers “all you plumbing”. So on Friday night when we found water under our sink we phoned the Gas company to ask for help. The first response, to my wife, was that this wasn’t an emergency and they would get someone out on Monday sometime. We were given a reference number just to reassure us.

Not impressed with this answer, I called to explain that the water was causing damage. When I offered the reference number I was told that it wasn’t a Gas number, but a third party’s reference -  but they kindly upgraded the problem to an “Emergency” which meant that someone would call that night.

My wife went out and I stayed to await a plumber. He didn’t come! At just before 9, the usual knocking off time for a call centre, I called again to check on progress and was told that the job was scheduled for Monday morning. An exchange of opinions followed, after which I agreed to call again in the morning to set the ball rolling again.

Saturday: 08:00 I was on the phone and 15 minutes later had a new reference number for a new emergency. The plumber would be with us before 12. At 11:30 I called to check on progress and was advised that he was on his way. But would I like to insure my wiring. Er… not just now!

Within 2 minutes of putting the phone down the plumber called: he had only just been allocated the job, that is 3.5 hours after it had been rated an emergency for the second time.

When he arrived, 4 hours later, it tool him 2 minutes to decide that the job wasn’t covered by the insurance and that I’d need to get it fixed privately.

He then issued us a written quote for the work, but made it clear that he was not able, or allowed to do the work. Despite a number of questions we never did ascertain the purpose of the quote for work that could not be done.

Finally, on Monday morning we had a call from the same plumber who had now been allocated the original job from Friday night’s call. The work was allocated to him at around 11:00.

All in all a very poor performance from a company that takes a lot of money off me every year for both Gas and insurance. Is it all surprising that I rejected their sales pitch to insure my wiring when I was trying to get a leak fixed during the Saturday morning call.

I won’t divulge the name of the company, save to say that it is an anagram of “I Grabs Shit”!

Now that the starting gun has been fired at the National Assembly for Wales to hold a referendum on “powers” I wasn’t sure if this left me feeling positive or not.

Image via Wikipedia

For some strange reason I can’t help but think that the arguments are still all about process, the process of law making that is.

For the life of me I can’t see how we will be able to make any more laws, it’s just that the laws that will be made won’t have to go through a process involving MP’s. And they might, yes only might, get made faster.

So on the one hand I feel something positive will come from it: legislation for Wales, made in Wales.

But on the other hand I can’t help thinking that we are still missing the bigger picture. The Government of Wales Act appears to be such a dog’s dinner of legislation, rushed through with improper thought and scrutiny, that it needs to be serisouly overhauled or replaced.

Which leads me to my concern: the excitement over a referendum for more “powers” will be a smoke screen that takes away the focus for what we really need in Wales, namely a bigger review for the creation of an acceptable, workable and sustainable means of governing our country.

If the referendum does become a smokescreen then I’m not in favour of it, but will still be voting Yes.

Image via Wikipedia

I stayed in a nice hotel in Swansea last night, city centre, 4 star, amazing old building done up to a very high standard etc etc. But when  you get into the experience it’s not all that it might be.

Yes of course; it looked great. But it was the small things that were irritating: the nice bathroom that had a modern toilet that was so low that my arthritic hips made it very difficult to get up and down on it. Looked pretty though.

A modern shower unit that could not be turned on without me getting soaked with cold water first, because the controls were in the wrong place.

A luxury double bed, made of two singles joined together with a dip in the centre so that I slept rolling down a hill.

The heating system was probably the best that money could buy – but I couldn’t work out how to use the controls. So we were cold. And when we did turn it on it laucnhed some jet engines that could have woken the dead.

So on the surface and onf first impression, it was great – indeed good enough to get its tourism awards. But would I really want to stay there again? No. Sorry, but the focus on modern minimalism at the expense of true utility and comfort showed that the designers were more taken with form rather than function. That for me is the wrong focus.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I hate manufactured photo shoots for rugby, somehow they just don’t seem to work, and today’s 6 Nations Captains’ gathering did nothing to change my mind.

They were on the BBC news – so well done for the PR – but as the camera angle turned to show their backs I spotted something worrying – or am I paranoid?

The Scottish captain had a number 9 on his back, the English Captain had no number on his back – cos he’s might not be there – but Ryan Jones (the Welsh captain) had no number on his back either!

FFS: Ryan is the best No 8 in the UK! There almost needs to be a monopolies commission investigation into his Man of the Match performances for the Ospreys since he recovered from the North America and Lions tours.

But it just shows that when someone plays to his strengths he performs, no: out-performs and places himself above the competition.

So if your name is Warren Gatland and you are reading this blog: make sure that there’s a No 8 on Ryan’s back at Twickers next week. And if you’re not WG, tell him is you see him!

I really laughed when I saw this for the first, second and third time!

Have the lunatics taken over the Asylum Assembly? Well it certainly looks that way if Martin Shipton’s report in the Western Mail today is correct.

Civil Servants are going to be paid a one off grant of upto £2500 for moving to work in offices that could be closer to their home.

Just read that sentence again slowly and wonder if there really is an understanding in our bloated and out of touch public sector of a need to be a little bit tighter with the purse strings?

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I’m an ex Army man – so I’m probably a bit biased, but the message from the First Sea Lord this week about our future defence cannot go without comment.

And the comment is simple: where the bloody hell is the Royal Navy in support of the disaster in Haiti?

If we’ve a need to project power globally, and all our current fighting in Afghanistan is about as far as you can get from water, why isn’t the Royal Navy doing something to support the efforts in Haiti?

This is Ben

I think he’s the most beautiful Labrador in Cardiff, Wales, UK, the world!

When I heard about the disaster in Haiti I was saddened, but then I heard about the USA’s response of active and vigorous action and I felt proud that some people in the world were able to do something really useful. I wish we were with them.

Television footage of people suffering and cities destroyed, or is that people destroyed and cities suffering? Whatever way you looked at the early reports the news was almost beyond understanding. But eventually we understood, or at least I thought we did. This is a natural disaster in a country that has a history of dealing with man made and natural disasters.

But understanding meant nothing: people have been killed, so there’s not much one can do for them, but millions still live and it is the living that are suffering. Millions in need of help, millions without the basics of life: shelter, water, food and security. Beyond that they are now in a state that had no means of control, no communications and certainly no means of dealing with the challenges they face.

What can we do, what should I do, why should I do anything?

All questions that ran through my soul, deeply. If only I were younger I could “volunteer”. But I’m not young, so maybe they need my money: but will it get there? And anyway: why should it come to me to give or do something? We’ve a department of Government that deals with international aid, can’t they take care of it all for me, for us, for them?

The more I saw TV footage from Haiti, the worse I have felt.

The suffering is beyond understanding, and the sense of frustration about the slow progress of international aid is growing. And the talk is now about money.

To hear today that the First Minister of the Welsh Assembly Government has suggest that we, in Wales, should give money to the Disaster Emergency Committee has left me seriously disappointed. The cause is so obvious that is hard to imagine anyone in Wales objecting to Government action.

There are 3 million people in Haiti affected by this disaster, roughly the population of Wales. A well lead country would stump up a valuable and immediate donation at a rate of at least £1 per head.

Some years ago it was illegal to broadcast Gerry Adams speeches on the TV or radio, as he spouted his version of the truth of life in Northern Ireland. So voice over artists were used instead to speak his words. This generated an uplift in the number of people who heard his message as they were now interested in the way the broadcasters were getting around the ban. Read more »