...it cheap

When Jack Cohen set up his barrow stall to sell surplus groceries in the East End of London in 1919, he might not have believed that a new unit of measurement would be coined ninety years later.  The ‘Tesco’ is equivalent to £40billion.  Or to put it another way, Tescos is now worth  1/24th of the UK’s GDP.  Jack Cohen’s business motto was “pile it high and sell it cheap”, although this was quickly replaced with the saying “You Can’t Do Business Sitting On Your Arse”. He distributed items bearing the acronym “YCDBSOYA” to his sales force.  Add the square footage of their UK stores together and Tescos is larger than the State of Monaco.

An interesting report from the BBC on the sheer scale of Tescos.  Some good local news.  Despite receiving planning permission they decided not to proceed with a store (on stilts) in Glastonbury, where many small local retailers thrive. We have an excellent butcher, baker, delicatessen, a lively weekly market and a whole-food store that has taken over the old Woolworths store.  Exactly the sort of retail environment that Jack Cohen would have been familiar with in 1919. Long may it continue.

Four books that I loved reading!

Waterlog by Roger Deakin

Inspired by John Cheever’s memorable classic short story The Swimmer, Roger Deakin decided that he would undertake his own adventure and swim across Britain. Waterlog, is Deakin’s lyrical and evocative account of this journey as seeks out tarns high in the hills of north Wales, swims with salmon in Somerset and eels in the Fens. The British Isles are blessed with a whole variety of waterways often encompassed within beautiful valleys, rolling hills, green fields and rugged coast lines.

He describes the nature he sees around him from his unusual perspective inches above water level. This is a sight of Britain that only a frog will have experienced. His love of swimming away from the confines of a swimming pool comes through strongly in his writing. Wild swimming is an unusual hobby in modern society as we are constantly told how our rivers and lakes have become polluted by large industries disposing of waste via waterways and chemical fertilisers washing off farmers fields into out rivers. Well if the diversity of wildlife is any indication where I swim regularly, I would say that the days of river pollution are behind us. What more powerful way of connecting to the natural countryside around you could there be, as you slip into the earth’s ecstatic skin and immerse yourself in the gentle current? The softness of the water on your skin will take your breath away – either that or the temperature will!                A wonderful read.

Soil and Soul Alastair McIntosh

A must read, that I believe is as important for our generation as Silent Spring was to our parents. Alastair McIntosh reckons that this book is his masterpiece and it is hard to disagree with him. On the surface, it tells such stories as growing up in Lewis, land reform on Eigg and the spirited campaign that stopped the Harris superquarry.

But the real message of the book, and the reason why it has sold into five figures, is much deeper and wider. He uses factual campaign stories as a carrier to express the deeper stories of our times – the struggle of the human spirit to shine, the imperative of making community, the recovery of a credible spirituality. It’s an entirely factual book and yet much of its poetic impact derives from real-life magical realism. Alastair touches some of our deepest hopes and possibilities. His beard is quite impressive too.

Pandaemonium by Humphrey Jennings Pandemonium – The Coming of the Machine Age as Seen by Contemporary Observers

This is an anthology that I turn to time and again to help me put the rapid development of current technologies into historical perspective. It is an extraordinarily moving anthology of how the human imagination experienced the full might of the Industrial Revolution. The texts, dating from 1660 – 1886, are drawn from letters, diaries, old journals, reports, newspaper cuttings and novels to create a seamless narrative as the age of the machine unfolds. Jennings (also an outstanding film-maker) had an exceptional combination of intellectual curiosity and a deep humanity that helped him draw inspiration from the most unlikely of sources.

Dirt – The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth Dirt  William Bryant Logan

A Christmas present from my dear sister. This is a beautiful and lyrical collection of short essays and meditations on Dirt, which as Logan writes in the book ‘ Dirt is a good word. It goes straight back to the Anglo-Saxon and the Norse. Like “love,” “house,” “hearth,”, “earth,” “sky,” “wrath,” and “word ” it is short and strong . Therefore even before you know what it means you want to get a hold of it and chew it.’

Logan gets hold of dirt, with both hands, and dives deep into the humus and layers of geological strata to astonish our creative imaginations about this extraordinary substance. The chapters headings alone sound like lines from a rooty fruity poem: Stardust, Sweet and Sour Soils, The Foundations of Cathedrals, Perception in Earthworms, The Theory and Practice of Manuring, The Dung Beetle, The Compost Man, Moonquakes, The Theory of Silt, Old Quarries and the Pharmacy of Molds.

A book to treasure. It will make you realise that your garden soil is as alive and as riveting as a Victorian novel.

the plot

I was asked to pitch for some work the other day.  The client and I got on very well and he showed me round his delightful premises.  Masses of visual potential for filming I thought and made copious notes.  What will it cost?  I told him that I would work out a budget and check his existing website.  Later that day I looked at his website.  Bad doesn’t come close to describing it. It was severely undercooked. And even though he got a grant the design still cost him thousands. I wrote a friendly email saying his first priority should be to update his website so that his customers would find him more easily on-line.  Multi-media content could always be added later. I sent a second email with lots of design and usability tips. I sent a third email warmly recommending a couple of excellent local designers.   No replies or returned calls. I think I upset him.  Sadly, I don’t think his is the only under-performing, overpriced website out there. 

Avoid at all costs

The other day I turned up at a local Chamber of Commerce event only to be met by an anxious organiser.  One of their speakers had cancelled because of problems with an excessively runny nose or some other man-flu excuse.  Would I mind stepping in and talking for ten minutes about New Media to an audience of about eighty local businesses in an hour?  Well, I prefer some time to prepare entertaining and thought-provoking fare and this wasn’t going to be the evening for that.

I was sitting next to my friend Simon, who is one of the those people who can just casually stand and talk compellingly without notes, PowerPoint, flip charts, laptops, notebooks, projectors, televisions, blackboards or pointy sticks.  Go on he said smiling, Just do it.  I raced home, grabbed my laptop and crashed two old presentations together  (It’s called a ‘cut and shut’ in the motor trade). The floor was littered with bits of old Arial and Helvetica. I dropped the presentation onto a USB and ran back into a full seminar room waiting for the next speaker (me). This was one of those times when you just want everything to work. And it did - thank God. I smiled, took a deep breath and and dived into a world involving a slowly rotting Cheddar Cheese, Morecambe and Wise, San Deigo Zoo and the Evolution of Dance. The more I use applications like PowerPoint or Keynote, the more abstract they become.  The great Seth Godin may have written this excellent piece four years ago, but it is bang on the money.  Forward it to anyone who still uses PowerPoint as a Teleprompter.

It was late in the afternoon, but I needed to get home.  Clasping a large bunch of fresh spring flowers (relationship insurance premium) I walked quickly down Praed Street to Paddington and scanned the train departure screens.  A West Country train in ten minutes!  I ran to the platform barrier to show my ticket but was rebuffed by an inspector saying ‘This is a cheapskate SuperSaver ticket and is only valid on trains after 18.30′ (or words to that effect).

The thought of spending two more hours on that dreary cash-sucking concourse, with its sushi conveyor belts and endless donut concessions was more than I could tolerate.  I found the First Great Western information desk and joined a very short queue. Come on come on.  My turn came.  I laid the flowers down in front of me and handed over my ticket. ‘Is there any chance I could pay for this ticket to be upgraded for the next train – you see I need to get home’. The woman behind the counter looked up at me, looked back down at the flowers and rapidly scribbled some hieroglyphics on the ticket.  How much do I need to pay for the upgrade? I said, getting out my wallet.  ‘Nothing’ she replied, looking down at the flowers and smiling ‘Flowers like that shouldn’t be kept waiting for anyone’. She glanced at her computer terminal ‘You had better be quick, your train is leaving shortly’.  Finally I understood that great line from Seigfried Sassoon ‘Everyone suddenly burst out singing; And I was filled with such delight’.

Westbury Sub Mendip Cider House Gang

After several months of quiet fermentation, our cider is finally ready! Last November we gathered thirty-one bags of apples from our Meeting House orchard at Street and took them over to a friend’s farm at Westbury-sub-Mendip for a communal cider day. About thirty people turned up to help with the harvest and at lunch we broke off to sit round a communal table sharing local cheese, bread, apple cake and tea. The apples were washed and carefully fed into a Victorian scratter. The pulp was layered into a huge cheese and the oak press squeezed to extract the rich sweet apple juice. The juice was poured into old Rum barrels and allowed to ferment over the winter. On Good Friday we carefully turned the wooden taps on the three barrels and allowed the cider to flow into beakers. Lots of sampling and quiet nods of approval as we compared tasting notes and worked out the best blend. There is something deeply satisfying about working hard communally, sharing resources and drinking something that is so intimately connected to this land. It is a million miles away from the crude taste of commercial cider and something to treasure. The great writer, James Crowden, captured the magic of West Country cider in his brilliant book – Ciderland.

choo choo

The other day I brought a return ticket from St.Pancras to Canterbury from the First Great Western website. When I arrived at St. Pancras to collect my ticket, the machine refused to print it out. I missed my connection, had to reschedule my meeting at the University, purchase a replacement ticket and wait an hour and a half for the next train. Feeling rather aggrieved at having spent £60 instead of £30 I rang First Great Western Customer Services only to be told that they would refund my original ticket price less a £10 administration fee. “But it wasn’t my fault!” I explained. “Sorry” they said, “you purchased your ticket from a machine owned by another Train Operating Company (how was I to know?) and you will have to direct your complaint to them”.

I then received a tediously jobsworthy email explaining, in the most granular detail, what a complex operation it was to process my humble refund. I was told how many accounts payable ledger clerks were involved, the number of inkwells and quills used, what security verification and external audit systems had to be deployed and finally I was given a postal address in Plymouth to reclaim the £10 administration fee. At the end of the email there was a P.S. *** Your feedback is really important to First Great Western so we would be very grateful for a couple of moments of your time to complete our customer satisfaction survey. *** I resisted the temptation. You see, at the end of the day it wasn’t about £10. It was about a missed opportunity to make one of their passengers feel happy. And happy customers are the best free marketing resource any business can have.