Remembrance VOX

We asked the public if Remembrance day was still relevant in modern society, here is the result.

Mobile Coverage with Orange

You would expect paying £45+ a month would get you a decent amount of network coverage on your mobile. However it seems that Orange decide that they will only give you coverage if you like standing on top of a hill in the pouring rain! It is a bitter disappointment and a rather infuriating one at that. I am pretty sure on those grounds you could instantly terminate your contract on terms of them not fulfilling their side of it. Well no, apparently I would have to pay two hundred pounds just to end it. The fact that I am getting terrible signal and poor service is infuriating to the greatest extremes.
If they were doing what they were meant to I wouldn't lose signal during calls of a business nature. Who do they think they are? It is just incredible that many students and workers are paying out for a service that they aren't fully getting.
The best way to check is to do a little bit opf research, orange have quite a few black areas where network coverage (signal) is minimal. T-mobile seems to get a good reputation as do vodafone. Why on earth can't orange just do a bit more to provide for customers.
However, customer service from them was incredible, calling me back to find out if the service worked out and if they can do anything more for me. A great group of people working for the company, why can't they just work on the coverage service and have happy customers for the reasons they should have. Insanity.

Southwest Trains

With Christmas fast approaching and many people wanting to travel to the popular shopping destination and capital city it would seem that it is the most inconvenient time for railway maintenance to commence. Lasting through the whole of September travellers will have to get off at Southampton and get a bus to Eastleigh in order to continue on the train from destinations such as Weymouth, Poole and Bournemouth. The justification is much needed renovation of a tunnel which goes through the city centre. Why now? Surley it would be more practical after the Christmas rush. Not in the middle of winter when already frustrated passengers would like to stay on theur train.
This isn't the only example of stupidity by Southwest Trains. These works which could wait are underway all over the country. If the tunnels were literally falling apart it wouldn't be so bad, but general maintenance can wait!
Overall the journey time isn't affected. If we are honest though, no one really is happy about getting off the train on a cold December day to get a cramped stuffy coach to Eastleigh or some other random station.
Maybe Southwest Trains should look into upgrading the actual coaches of the trains. The tacky, nauseating, gum ridden seats that are about as inviting a a pile of dung (unless ofcourse you are a dung beetle). With the price of fares I think that would be a luxury worth wanting and having. Until then I suppose all us passengers will have to grin and bare the annoying chore of changing trains to get to London or any other station that is affected by this "maintenance".

Mercury Dreams

This coming sunday marks the 18th year since the death of the talented Freddie Mercury. The Queen frontman has been labelled as one of the most talented musicians and entertainers on the planet.
Since Queen began in the 70's they gained a movement of loyal fans. Mercury himself was in fact a shy man who onstage seemed the most flamboyant extrovert in the world. He faced scrutiny for his sexual preferences and the media gave the frontman grief after his death for only stating he had AIDS after he died. The fact of the matter is he struggled with the disease since 87 and upon his death in 1991 it paid a huge contribution in his death from pnuemonia.
His music has lived on, albums still sell online, in record stores and Bohemian Rhapsody is still one of the most requested Queen songs of all time.
Theoretically Queen is a rock band. What Mercury added to the mix was operatic stylings which worked so well that they continued throughout the (original) bands career. Working with numerous already successful artist include David Bowie and Montserrat Caballé. Momentum was continuous and fluent and maybe that played a huge part in why they were so big, they (and definitely Mercury) were not afraid to be different stand up and be different from all the music that was being produced.
Although Queen do tour still with Brian May and Roger Taylor. Paul Rodgers took the place of Vocals and the band now has the name Queen + Paul Rodger.
It is clear no one could ever really replicate the thought provoking haunting voice of Mercury. The man is a modern legend. Queen are modern legends. Their music will live regardless of whether their frontman (Only frontman) was gay, straight, had AIDS or died. Their music touched millions and the fact they have spent over 27 years in the charts and have had albums out sell The Beatles Sgt. Peppers lonely Hearts band proves that truly they have earnt themselves a hard earned place in the history of music and even British culture.

Bank Charges

It seems to me that sometimes banks are run in a unfair and slightly exploitative manner. I can find no justification for a bank to charge me £35 on the grounds that I had insufficient money in my account, it seems to me that the bank should possibly stop my transfers if there isn't enough. Instead they let me go over my agreed overdraft by the most ridiculously small amount and as a result they get to earn more than a 1000% of what I have gone over by.
Now it is my understanding that this isn't legal as such. Thousands of claims are made against banks and their unfair charges. If I was to send someone to the shop with precisely £1 to get a 2 litre bottle of coke and they used some of their own money as £1 wasn't enough they wouldn't charge a bogus administration fee.
As a student I can't afford to pay this charge so instead I will happily tell the bank to close my account as it has no use to me any more. Arrange to pay my overdraft back and I will take my financial management elsewhere (currently mafia money holders would be a safer and less hypocritical way to store cash).
As I find banking a tedious and troubling job I think that I shlould next time maybe charge them administration fees as I have had to wait to pay phone bills and other such utilities and couldn't because they were taking a stupid amount of time sending me a new bank card.
A clear message for those who are considering overdrafts. Get the most you can out of it, read the fine print and don't be conned into believeing it is your fault you've gone over.

The cost of a belief

I think it is safe to say that as a student life can be difficult at the best of times. Many are living away from home for the first time, struggling to balance incoming money with out goings.
Much to my dissapproval the nearest supermarket to my university is a Waitrose. I love the idea of Waitrose, a company whose workers get a share in the profit. What I do not like is that it is making life for me expensive.
There is a sainsbury's nearby which will sell the products that waitrose sell or something very similar. They do, but why do vegetarian alternatives have to be so expensive. What I don't understand is how something that is produced from beans and seeds and things that are VERY cheap to come across can cost so much. Is that reasonable? £3 for a small tray of chicken style strips when you can buy the actual meat one for half that?
Somewhere, being a vegetarian became an expensive business. Even vegetables don't seem to be worth the money you're paying, £2.59 for a small bag? It would take a fraction of that to both grow and harvest them.
I love being a vegetarian, I feel a lot healthier. I eat more fruit and I am less depressed about consuming something that once lived. What I do hate is having to fork out a stupid amount of money to continue a belief.
If anyone knows why it is so expensive to buy Quorn type products let me know, personally I feel like I am being robbed by corporations who should know better.

Is TV Comedy Off The Hook?

As far as TV comedies go, Off The Hook is imaginative and simple. The story follows a group of friends sharing a flat at university and the various situations they get themselves into. For years TV comedy has been stale and very often teen audiences left unsatisfied by over the top humor and bad jokes. However, it is being saved by rising popularity of shows susch as Off The Hook, Peep Show and The Inbetweeners. So is this the best of the group? I am not saying that TV comedy is not funny, it is just contrived. The sense of humor is to be quick, quirky and simple not over the top garble that functions purely on elaborate humor and an element of sophistication!
TV COMEDY DOESN'T HAVE TO BE SOPHISTICATED! JUST SIMPLE!
So what is it about off the hook that I like?
The show can in effect represent a group of several youthes. The title character, slightly nerdy but still socially able. The dark and sinister emo type flat mate who makes dispair and angst something ironic and hilarious.
So what is the future of TV comedy. Will we be overrun by American Comedy that although witty doesn't quite hold the dark in your face attitude that British comedy has.
Comedy has been a huge part of British culture. Growing up on carry on films, Allo' Allo and the ever so funny Fawlty Towers, you come to set standards for what comedy is.
For me it is as simple as a depressed uni student reflectiong the emo social group with the simple stereotype of saying
"What's the point of going to uni and learning more information? We're all going to be dead in a hundred years anyway."
With the quality of shows ever increasing the BBC, Channel 4 and any other station showing them are reinventing the wheel, create something new from the old and making sure that audiences as a whole don't change the channel because TV comedy has just become stale.

Check some links:

I-player

Off the Hook BBC web page

The Best of British Comedy