Mobile phones

Tesco fishmonger ‘was right over mobile caller’
Mar 27 2009

SOLIHULL News readers have voiced their support for a Tesco worker who refused to serve a customer who was using her phone in the store.

Last week we reported on Jenny Morgan, from Lapworth, who had visited the Stratford Road supermarket. While engaged in a phone conversation at the fish counter, she was confronted by a member of staff who said he did not serve people using mobiles.

Jenny argued that it was common to see shoppers phoning people while walking around shops. Tesco were quick to apologise and said that it was not the store’s policy to discriminate against people who use mobile phones.

However, many people have written in to back the employee at the centre of the row. They have slated the ubiquitous mobile and say it is bad manners to use a phone while waiting to be served.

The Solihull News went into the High Street and asked people where they stand on the issue. Customer Services Assistant,Vicky Whitfield from Hartwell Close was with young son Ben when we stopped her in Drury Lane. She said: “I think it’s quite rude. You should have respect when someone is serving you.”

Agreeing with Vicky, Peter Love who is retired said: “It’s gross bad manners.” The Church Hill Close resident added: “It’s absolutely right - you shouldn’t treat people like that. The shop assistant was quite right.”

Bucking the opinion of many shopping on the High Street, Irene Agg was adamant that the customer is always right. “The Tesco shop assistant was there to serve the public. If he wants to make a sale then he should serve the customer . I was brought up in a shop and so many people say ‘hang the customer’. Irene, from Kings Norton added: “The assistant had no right, he is an employee. What if a mother was seeing to her baby who had dropped its dummy, would he have done the same thing?”

Louise Campbell from Shirley was texting on her mobile phone when we asked her opinion. The 21-year-old part-time care assistant agreed it was rude to use a mobile when being served. “I would ask them to call back.”

Shop assistant Kate Melhuish has first hand experience of serving customers using their mobiles. The 21-year-old who works at health store Revital said:”You can’t serve them really.If there is a problem with a transaction then they are not listening to you.”

Nice World music

I've just found a link to this record company and I like their site as you can listen to different types of world music:

Our first spotlight is on Kiran Ahluwalia, who explores the language of the heart through her poetry and music. Born in India, raised in Canada, and now living in New York City, her music has garnered glowing praise from critics around the world. Her's is "a voice destined to enchant more than one generation" (fROOTS).

http://vimeo.com/3174627?pg=embed&sec=3174627

Go and have a look and there are many others too.

Please take note...

If you log on to the blog you will see that I have created another blog called ESF. It's for my students in Bressuire who are studying social care....so many things about the society and general problems and debates.

When you post a message please make sure that you put it on the right blog.

Many thanks

Juliet

Hello from France

mardi 24 mars 2009
a new penfriend marie-Louise
my friend Christiane incites me to write on this blog ;I take part in the little tuesday english coversation group at the social center horizon .
I went three times to Solihull;I was hosted by Richard and Jean Crane living in Bermingham .
I enjoye going to Solihull in may ; I go alone so David carrington ,a blind person accepts welcome me ; He came at home the last time our friends came to Cholet ;
He isa very kind man ,sportman ...
my regards

Marie-Louise

Online magazine

http://www.solihull.gov.uk/news/yoursolihull.htm

This is a link to go and visit the Solihull council website and on this page on the right you will see that you can download a magazine and see what is being organized in this town.

Red Nose Day

http://www.rednoseday.com/about_rnd


It's today....but what is it??

Juliet

Saint Patricks Day in Birmingham

Since 1996 Birmingham has celebrated St. Patrick's Day in style, with an internationally recognised parade only surpassed by Dublin and New York in terms of size.

Tens of thousands are expected to line the streets of Digbeth – the heart of Birmingham's Irish community - to watch the procession march from Camp Hill to the Bullring.

This year though, the festivities don't end when the parade crosses the finish line; a range of activities begin at 2pm and BBC WM will be broadcasting live all afternoon from the BBC Bus.

In addition, BBC Birmingham website photographers will be out and about all day – so smile for the camera if you spot them!
Irish Pipes and Drums, Victoria Square

Irish Pipes and Drums
The parade: midday – 2pm

Over the last 14 years, Birmingham's St. Patrick's parade has evolved into into one of the world's leading Irish processions, having been enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people.

As is traditional, the 2009 march begins at Camp Hill at midday, travels up to the back of the Bullring and flows back into the heart of Birmingham's Irish community. Digbeth High Street and many surrounding routes will be sealed off.

BBC WM's Bob Brolly will be broadcasting live from Camp Hill from midday – 2pm.

One more week until Mothers Day in the UK

If you think your mum deserves a special treat this Mother’s Day then why not let us know and be in with a chance to win the prestigious title of Marvellous Mum for 2009 and £250 to spend in Mell Square.

To enter your mum into the competition, tell us why your mum deserves a special treat. Closing date for entries is Friday March 13 2009.

All nominations received from the public will be judged and a winner will selected and named Marvellous Mum 2009.

Paul Round, centre manager at Mell Square shopping centre said: “Every mum deserves a treat this Mother’s Day.

They work hard every day of the year so this is a brilliant opportunity for readers to show their mums just how much they mean to them.”

With a fantastic selection of independent and high street shops, Mell Square has everything you need for mum this Mother’s Day.

For further information, call 0121 704 3941 or alternatively visit the website at www.mellsquare-shopping.com.

"j'irai dormir chez vous" by Antoine De Maximy

Do you know the internet site named "j'irai dormir chez vous" ?
It's a man, Antoine De Maximy, who travels alone in many different countries of the world (in french globe-trotter), filming himself and people around him (he has 2 cameras, one on his shoulder). He tries to meet people and if it's possible,to be invited in their house. Their reactions are sometimes surprising.
For exemple, you can look at "j'irai dormir chez vous U.K. (London, Liverpool, Pays de Galles, Ecosse....). This video is funny and very interesting.
Last year, he made a film for cinema "j'irai dormir à Hollywood"
I wish you a very good week-end under the sun !
Christiane

Evesham...where I used to go to school

I've found this video clip about Evesham on the bbc.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7929593.stm

Have a look and you can see what the recession is like in the UK.

Juliet

Ryanair

Ryanair says its choice of Electron as the only fee-free card is down to a deal to boost the card's popularity. "We're working with Visa to promote the Visa Electron card, and we do so by encouraging all passengers booking on Ryanair to use it, as this enables passengers to avoid any optional debit- or credit-card handling fees," a spokesman for the budget airline says.

However, its website says that, as a special offer to Visa Electron card holders, no handling fee will be charged for "a limited period only". Flights bought fee-free with Visa Electron cards began in 2004. The Electron promotion also allows the airline to continue to advertise its flight deals at rock-bottom prices despite much higher final costs for most customers.

Ryanair's new £4 fee brings debit cards into line with credit card payments, and joins the growing list of Ryanair charges to watch out for, including checked baggage, airport check-in and excess baggage fees.

Giles Howard, a 42-year-old businessman from St Albans, Herts, says he was let down by the debit-card charge that he says was not up-front or made clear until his flight confirmation.

Enticed by an advert for a £2 Ryanair flight sent to him in an email, and having booked plenty of budget seats before, he was savvy enough to know he would have to book carefully to avoid add-ons. He painstakingly picked four £2 return flights to France last month.

Delighted at his £8 bargain holiday, he was then gobsmacked to receive a flight confirmation email telling him he owed £40. "I knew I was going to pay with a debit card - usually the cheapest way - and I did check the running total after each selection to make sure that the total was as advertised," he says. "But you certainly do not expect your method of payment to make a five-fold increase to the price."

Ryanair disputes this and says that the terms and conditions of handling fees are made very clear. Of course, Howard would not have had to fork out £40 if he had paid with Visa Electron - a detail he says he discovered too late.

"Even though it was still a cheap deal, I feel the airline relies on not many people having Electron cards to be able to advertise those flights at £2," Howard says.

In response, the Ryanair spokesman says that "almost 20% of our customers book with Visa Electron", and stresses that Howard benefited from its lowest fares.

The Office of Fair Trading says it believes any decision over whether to charge for making payments by credit or debit card is one for the trading company. "However, we are of the view that fixed non-optional charges should be included in all prices so that consumers are not misled," a spokesman says.

Slumdog Millionaire

The film opens with a police inspector (Irrfan Khan) in Mumbai, India, interrogating and torturing Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), a former street child from the Dharavi slums. At the opening scene, a title card is presented: "Jamal Malik is one question away from winning 20 Million Rupees. How did he do it? A) He cheated, B) He's lucky, C) He's a genius, D) It is written." At the end of the film, the answer is given. Jamal is a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire (Kaun Banega Crorepati) hosted by Prem Kumar (Anil Kapoor). Jamal has made it to the final question, scheduled for the next day, but the police are now accusing him of cheating, because the other possibilities, that he has a vast knowledge, or that he is very lucky, both seem unlikely.

Jamal then explains that, while at least the question about Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan was very simple, he knew the answers of most questions by chance, because of things that happened in his life. This is conveyed in a series of flashbacks documenting the particulars of his childhood. This includes scenes of him obtaining the autograph of Amitabh Bachchan, the death of his mother during Hindu-Muslim riots in the slums, and how he and his brother Salim (Madhur Mittal) befriended the orphan girl Latika (Freida Pinto). As Jamal's favorite book from his short period in school was The Three Musketeers, he refers to Salim and himself as Athos and Porthos, and Latika as the third Musketeer.

The children are eventually discovered by Maman (Ankur Vikal) while they live in the trash heaps. Maman is a gangster (a fact they do not actually know at the time they meet him) who "collects" street children so that he can ultimately train them to beg for money. Salim is groomed to become a part of Maman’s operation and is asked to bring Jamal to Maman in order to be blinded (which would improve his income potential as a singing beggar). Salim rebels against Maman to protect his brother, and the three children try to escape, but only Salim and Jamal are successful as Salim purposely lets go of Latika's hand as she tries to board a train they are hopping while trying to escape. Latika is re-captured by Maman's organization and raised as a culturally talented prostitute whose virginity will fetch a high price.
The brothers make a living, traveling on top of trains, selling goods, pretending to be tour guides at the Taj Mahal, and pickpocketing. Jamal eventually insists that they return to Mumbai since he wishes to locate Latika. When he finds her working as a dancer in a brothel, the brothers attempt to rescue her, but Maman intrudes, and in the resulting conflict Salim draws a gun and kills Maman. Salim then uses the fact that he killed Maman to obtain a job with Javed (Mahesh Manjrekar), a rival crime lord. Salim claims Latika as his own and when Jamal protests, Salim threatens to kill him and Latika intervenes, accepting her destiny with Salim and breaking Jamal's heart.

Years later, Jamal has a position as a "chai-wallah" (a boy or young man who serves tea) at a call centre. When he is asked to cover for a co-worker for a couple of minutes, he searches the database for Salim and Latika. He gets in touch with Salim, who has become an important lieutenant in Javed’s organization and confronts a regretful Salim. Salim invites Jamal to live with him and, after following Salim to Javed's house, he sees Latika living there. He talks his way in as the new dishwasher and tries to convince Latika to leave. She refuses his advances, but he promises to be at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station every day at 5 p.m. for her.She tries to discourage him, but on the first day that Jamal waits there, Latika attempts to rendezvous with him, but is recaptured by Salim and Javed's men. One of the men then slashes her cheek with a knife, scarring her as Salim drives off.

Jamal again loses contact with Latika when Javed moves to another house. In another attempt to find Latika, Jamal tries out for the popular game show because he knows that she will be watching. He makes it to the final question, despite the hostile attitude of the host who feeds Jamal a wrong answer during a break. At the end of the show, Jamal has one question left to win 20 million, and is taken into police custody, where he is tortured as the police attempt to learn how Jamal, a simple "slumdog", could know the answers to so many questions. After Jamal tells his whole story, explaining how his life experiences coincidentally enabled him to know the answer to each question, the police inspector calls his explanation "bizarrely plausible" and allows Jamal to return to the show for the final question.

At Javed's safehouse, Latika watches the news coverage of Jamal's miraculous run on the show. Salim gives Latika his phone, and the keys to his car, and urges her to run away. When Jamal uses his Phone-A-Friend lifeline to call Salim, Latika answers his phone and they reconnect. She does not know the answer to the final question either, but believing it is "it is written", Jamal guesses the correct answer (Aramis) to the question of the one Musketeer whose name they never learned, and wins the grand prize.

Simultaneously, Salim is discovered to have helped Latika escape and allows himself to be killed in a bathtub full of money after shooting and killing Javed. Salim's last words are "God is great".

Later that night, Jamal and Latika meet at the railway station and they share a kiss. It is then revealed that the correct answer to the question is: D) it is written. And with many others in the train station, they dance.