Let me explain.  I grew up a loner, I spent a lot of time on my own, so I spent a LOT of time watching films.  I got addicted to films with Corey Haim in (look,  I was a teenager, it’s probably the same thing with teenagers and vampire films today).  So anyway, I ended up watching a very obscure film with him in called Watchers.  One thing led to another and a traipse through WH Smiths one Saturday led me to “bumping into” Dean Koontz books.  The rest as they say, is probably history.  I started reading Watchers and then read just about everything else that I could get my hands on by Dean Koontz, then by other similar authors (except Stephen King, don’t like his books for some reason).

If I’m being a bit nostalgic, (which clearly I am as I’m listening to Pearl Jam, REM and Stone Temple Pilots), then it’s worth recalling that I ended up reading a lot of books that films were based on.  Mainly for the reason that we had no cinema in the town where I grew up, and no video rental stores, you either bought it, or relied on Sky.  So I read things like, Silence of the Lambs (great book, well written, the film is very close to the story), What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (the book was OK I seem to remember, but it’s the only film I’ve seen with Leonardo DiCaprio in, he’s a terrible actor), Pride and Prejudice (OK, so I loved the TV series, we did have TV, it wasn’t that archane in Somerset growing up), and Sleeping with the Enemy (great book, great film).

Anyway, it’s just quite sad that he’s died really, he clearly didn’t have a fantastic life, probably a typical sad story of the wasted youth of a child star.  I guess hats off to him for giving me my love of reading the genre I like to read.  I hope he has a better afterlife.

It’s all very well complaining to your friends about how bad something has been, be it service or product, but it’s another thing to stand up and tell the people or company concerned that you are very much dissatisfied with them.  Conversely, the same could be said for if something is really good, if you’re really pleased with something.  In fact, I think people are more likely to complain than they are to pass on their thanks about something.

I don’t know what changed, but suddenly I seem to be taking the time to pass on my thanks to companies where I’ve had good service.  So far this year I have thanked the nice AA man, who came out on the first day of the snow to change my battery in my car.  Even though I was unlikely to be going anywhere that day, it was still really nice of him to come all the way out and do a job, in the cold, and keep a smile on his face.  Today I thanked my hair dresser for giving me the best hair cut I’ve had since leaving London.

On the flip side, in the last month I’ve complained to two Chief Executives about a poor quality service, and failure by the said company to do something very simple.  One of the complaints so far has had an affect, the other, I’ve heard nothing.  At least I’ve had a voice to do something at the end of the day.  If you don’t stand up and be counted, then it makes it hard to justify anything that you might say.  I also find it helps me sleep better at night.

I’m sure there are many of you who think that I’m going to start spouting on about it being an election year, and if you don’t vote, you don’t have a voice.  Well I’m not.  My feelings on the subject of politics are very clear.  A lot of you might not share my sentiments and it’s not really fair to force them upon you, so for now, I’ll say nothing.

So I’ve just spent the last two hours removing all traces.  I spared no mercy on the situation either.  If it looked crap, off to the trash folder it went.  I am now down to 77 posts.  I hope to add more than this over time clearly.  Now I’ve done this I feel like flexing my arm over other areas of my life.  I seem to be looking at everything and questioning whether there’s a way I can pare things down a bit.  Perhaps this is a new challenge, or perhaps it’s a stalling tactic, I don’t know.  Regardless of what I want to call it, I think I’m going to tidy up the junk.  The utensils draw had better watch out, as I think it’s the next victim on my list.