Like my friend asked, “When did a documentary last make you cry?”. I certainly could not remember when, if it ever did happen to me. The nature has been for too long far too underrated. To put it in figures, according to David Suzuki, it will cost the world approximately $35 trillion dollars a year to replace what nature does for us for free! Hence it is baffling when we talk about economy, growth, and whatnot, the wonders of nature are not included in the equation. It is as though humans are above everything else in nature, and that we have the rights to take it for granted. Makes me very sad. It really does not matter to me if human eventually extincts. The Earth will survive, so as other life forms, albeit simpler ones. We just don’t deserve to live if we do not change the way we think and live, so as to maintain the Earth at a condition suitable for human to live. Keep living irresponsibly, and keep coming up with theories to justify your existence above everything else.
The thing with customer services in the UK is, the labour cost is so expensive that they can’t afford to pay the bank staff to work on the weekends. In this case, the HSBC staff from the “lending team” for business accounts. What’s the point of setting up customer service department when these people can’t bloody make decision?! Oh, it’s weekend and the “lending team” is not working, you’ll have to wait till Monday. For god’s sake, I just want to find a way to pay for my next purchase now that my credit limit is exceeded. I have already transferred money to my credit card account in an attempt to offset some of the money outstanding. But hey, you can only spend the amount equal to your credit limit in a month. If you want to spend more, tough, you’ll HAVE TO speak to our lending team. Even paying money into your credit card account won’t work either. Lending team, is the answer!
If they are so important in the decision tree, then bloody get them to work on weekends as well! It’s not good enough to have a bunch of staff sitting around answering phone calls when none of them can make decisions! It’s just pathethic.
Huge findings! I haven’t realised that there is subtle difference between Great Britain and the United Kingdom. I know Republic of Ireland is not part of the UK. But I didn’t know that Northern Ireland is not part of Great Britain! A friend of mine also then see the slightly misleading name given to the Olympic team, called “Team GB”. I wonder if this has caused outrage in the past among the Northern Irish.
What was confusing for me before was that the International Irish Rugby team is made up of both sides of Irish players. Anyway, this is a great Euler diagram that explains the relationships among the British Isles PERFECTLY!
Have been overwhelmed with queries lately. Businesses in terms of revenue that we can secure this month can potentially exceed what we managed to achieve last year! Future is looking a bit better for our travel business once again. Just when we thought everything will remain quiet for the foreseeable future, and W has gone home on holiday, big clients started coming in. W is sorely missed and I have been working almost non-stop for the past one week. Through the process I have also discovered new things, which is really good.
Think the sudden surge in queries could be to down to a number of factors:
1) the holiday season is coming,
2) troubles in Thailand are sending tourists to alternative destinations like Malaysia,
3) our website ranks much higher recently on certain key search terms which might have helped,
4) people feel more “secure” now that the UK economy is more stable, despite the fact that Pounds have taken some beatings, which I find difficult to believe.
But anyway am glad that the business is doing better, and that clients are happy with our services. What’s more, a client took time to tell me what a wonderful country Malaysia is. We Malaysians must be doing something right to merit such praises. Let’s not sell our country short.
I must have been cycling for 5 years now, on the same bike I bought through the Cycle-2-Work scheme. I have mended punctures numerous times, changed brake pads at least once for both wheels, and replaced freewheel and chain a year and a half ago. But not once have I really serviced my bike. In fact I have not even cleaned my bike before! I mean I have put on the odd lubricants on my chain every now and then, and tightening the brake cables when absolutely need to. But I really haven’t found the need to bring my bike in to a bike shop to get it serviced, until my brake cable got so dodgy that I can hardly brake my rear wheel.
Cycled to Halfords about a week ago, looking to buy a fixed lock that I can mount onto external wall to secure W’s bike. Then found out that I can still purchase their one-year bike plan, which includes bike servicing, because my bike was bought from Halford. In fact the bike mechanic can still recall that I bought the bike there! I found this rather unbelievable, but anyway he had a look at my bike to confirm and thought my bike was still in, well, tolerable condition. Fantastic! Because I was toying with the idea of bringing my bike to a local bike shop in Reading town centre instead, as it is easier for me to leave and collect. But at only £18 for a one-year bike plan, it was an easy decision.
Collected my bike today. And I honestly could not remember that I can cycle so quickly with my bike! I know my bike has now been pumped up, more than I usually am accustomed to. But it is still incredibly quick. Gear changes are much smoother, and I don’t miss certain gears anymore. The brakes are very responsive as well. Had I known that maintaining my bike in good conditions can make such big differences I would have sent my bike in to the bike shop more frequently, perhaps once a year. Wasted too much energy cycling for too long!
May 3, 2010 
Posted in General, Wisdom 
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