Runny Nose

I have a bloody cold. What's more my daughter has one too. Who thought up colds? What is the point? I feel dreadful.

13

I don't much like being 13 stone and a having 36 inch waist. I need to lose weight. I once got down to 11 stone, from 12. Too many school dinners (puddings mainly) don't help.

I played croquet today but I was bushed after 2 hours. The Octogenarians I play with just kept going!

I'll keep you posted - maybe.

What a laugh

Anglican chant may not be everybody's cup of tea but I was directed to this video by The Cathedral Choir. The most hilarious bit is the 'Amen' at the end. Do not watch if you are easily offended.

As a boy I spent many an hour singing psalms and then many an hour accompanying them as an organist. I grew to love the chants which I sang as a chorister and, when I go to hear psalms at Evensong and they use different chants, part of the magic is lost. Stanley Vann wrote many a good chant for Peterborough some of which are still in circulation.

Here is how psalms should sound (but I've heard better).

Carlo Curley

I went to hear Carlo Curley yesterday, at Higham Ferrers church. They have installed a new organ built by Peter Collins. By the way why, do website designers think white type on a black background is remotely easy to read and what's with the noise every time you click a link on his site? But I digress.

This has been a difficult few months for me and I am only now starting to feel like my old self again. I've been difficult to get along with ('no change there', some say) and generally sour. So it was all the nicer to have fixed up to go to the recital with some friends and to be made so welcome. Mr. R (as I'll call him) and I just have a good laugh about organs and organists when we meet; if you are not an organist you will not know what I mean.

Anyway the new organ is a hybrid - a digital instrument with a few ranks of real pipes. This seriously keeps down the cost of a new organ as well as maintenance expenses. To be fair I thought the digital sounds matched the pipes well, although the organ seemed to lack power; it was not meaty enough at full pelt.

However, the organ should have been ready 6 months ago. The recital was at 7.30 and they were still working on it at 7.25. Carlo had not had a chance to play it. During the evening it went gradually out of tune; two stops had not even been installed. Well, an organ builder lives by his reputation so one expects things to be rectified as soon as possible.

I have been to a few Carlo Curley recitals in my time, but not for a while. The poor guy has lost a lot of weight (well he needed to so) and uses a walking stick - not when he is playing! In a way this makes me feel a bit better about my slightly painful hip. Still, it is always sad to see the effects of the passage of time.

It was sad to think that the organ I played for many years is no longer there but it was starting to fail and needed to be replaced.

Insurance

The Home insurance on Saw mansions has just been renewed. I did it yesterday and used Confused.com to get a quote. Last year I changed company; they sent the paperwork a month in advance asking me to renew stating that this was quick and easy. It wasn't. I phoned the number they gave and reached a call centre outside the UK. As far as I could understand I then had to wait (cue piped music) to be transferred to another operator. I hung up. It was from that point, More Than likely that I would search for another company; if you see what I mean.

I left them a message on their website telling them all this. I arrived home a while ago (we have a long weekend) and had a call from the company. However it was not in response to my complaint; they just wanted to see if I was going to renew. I told the lady the story - there was no apology; no "we'll look into it". Merely a, "Well that's your problem" to which I replied, "No, it isn't my problem"; "I didn't say 'that's your problem', Goodbye".

I suppose you get what you pay for. Big companies were quoting over £300 to insure me, even those which claimed to be good value. Time will tell I daresay. I've saved £100 anyway.

Booking Fee 4 (Please explain)

I have finally had a reply. I had to e-mail the Castle again and only then did I receive an interim reply. Apparently Mr. Money had forwarded my e-mail to a colleague and hadn't bothered to let me know. He could have scored points here because, had he told me, I would have felt he was being efficient rather than ignoring me. His time is obviously too precious to reply to customers.

I shall not take the matter further but, apart from being the kind of reply I expected all along, there is one section I really don't understand.

As promised I am responding to your letter concerning the booking fee introduced by The Castle in July 2008.

I am sorry that the introduction of this has convinced you that The Castle is not being customer friendly, and that we are being unfair in levying a fixed charge per booking, rather than per ticket, but the background to this was that we were faced with a difficult decision in the Spring of 2008, when attempting to balance the budget for 2008-9, in view of the reduced level of funding received from the Borough Council for that year. Our research confirmed that the majority of theatres do levy a charge of this kind, and therefore we took the decision to introduce a charge as the “least worst” option. (I was aware that when the Royal and Derngate reopened after renovation they dropped their booking fee in favour of other revenue raising options.)

We could have introduced the charge on all transactions, including cash transactions, but we decided to give customers the opportunity to bypass it by coming to the box office in person, and paying in cash. We could have charged per ticket rather than per booking, but we are always striving for efficiency, and this charge aims to help that. It is most definitely not the case that the charge is a credit card charge in disguise. It is purely and simply a means to raise revenue from earned income to offset the reduction in funding. I did take legal advice, prior to the introduction last year, which confirmed that we are able to levy any charge that we decide appropriate, provided we make it clear in our terms and conditions.

I hope that goes some way to answering your concerns, and that we see you back here in the near future.

Excuse me, but if they had also introduced a booking fee on cash purchases (i.e. ALL purchases) is that not the same as saying they have pitched the price of their tickets too low? If everybody needs to pay more for tickets so they can make ends meet, then just put the ticket prices up! That way folk will not be disgruntled about paying a surcharge.

I give up!

Booking Fee 3

No reply yet.

Booking Fee 2

You couldn't make it up - the Theatre Administrator at The Castle is Mr Money. I have now written to him pointing out that a Credit Card Surcharge is not the same as a Booking Fee. I don't expect to pay a Booking Fee if I book a table at a restaurant.

Booking Fee

I went to see "Whistle Down the Wind" [not the Lloyd-Webber version] tonight at The Castle, Wellingborough as one of my private singing pupils was in it.

I had phoned up at about 2.00pm for a ticket (not trusting the virus/Trojan ridden staffroom PCs at school to book on line) and was asked if I would hold; I said I would for a while. When I eventually got fed up of the electronic version of "Für Elise" I hung up and called back later. Having selected my seat I was told there was a £1.50 booking fee on top of the £10.50 ticket. I refused to pay. Instead I got there a little early and bought a ticket at the Box Office; there were plenty left! A lady in front of me paid by card and was charged the extra. This is my first complaint (which I shall e-mail tomorrow) that the damned fee isn't a booking fee; it's a credit card surcharge.

I was wound up by this fee all afternoon and nearly didn't go, not that they would have noticed so it would have been a daft protest. I was cross because in the current financial crisis theatres are silly to provide a disincentive for people to give them their custom. Furthermore, if I buy a ticket up front they then have my money and a confirmed (and happy) member of the audience. This fee is new for this theatre I have discovered.

Which of you when paying for your groceries at the supermarket expect to pay a credit card surcharge? No, I thought not. Similarly if goods are advertised at one price I don't expect to pay another to obtain them. I am not being naïve, I know the practice is common at London theatres but it is frowned on and, I believe, being looked at by the OFT.

Anyway, the show was excellent. Brilliant staging (a revolving affair which served as many locations) and lighting; the band was top notch. The singers had been superbly matched to their roles. The music was atmospheric and carried the story well but I'm blowed if I can hum even a single tune from it; there were a few 'big numbers' but hooks no - not that I can recall. One audience member I spoke to said I'd like the music once I got to know it; I rather expect to leave a theatre humming to myself, however. Still, the music was complex and so the cast did a fantastic job in learning it and singing non-conducted, save a few gesticulations from the pit.