Monday Moan 54

Andy Murray – who would have believed it?

The Moan cannot start anywhere this week other than by congratulating Andy Murray on winning Wimbledon.  Having come so close last year and then blubbing his disappointment in front of the watching world, he returned this time and played a brilliant final against the awesome Novak Djokovic to win the title.  He kept the public on the edge of their seats leading up to the final by flirting with defeat against both Fernando Verdasco and Jerzy Janowicz, but in the final he avoided the early stutters of the two previous rounds and produced compelling and overpowering tennis.

There is something fascinating in watching his development from a gangling, surly, unlovable character, seemingly destined to be another in a long line of British tennis hopefuls who ultimately failed to reach the top of the pile, into the world-class player he is today, who will undoubtedly be adored by the public for years to come.

 

And then what about our traditional ‘love’ of the gallant loser?  Surely this came about only through necessity over the years, in the absence of having many winners to love?  Maybe this character has been consigned to history over the past year, with the cycling feats in the Tour de France, the countless Olympic triumphs, golfing victories galore and even a Lions rugby victory to savour?

 

Anyway, this year's Sports Personality of the Year contest is over before it even got started.

 

 

I saw it with my own eyes?

We appear to have been so seduced by our camera-phones that we now see everything through the windows that they provide rather than directly through our own eyes. We all want our own pictures of things, no matter how inadequate those pictures might be, rather than to drink in the scene or event with our own eyes and then rely on the professional photographers to capture the high quality pictures.

Evolution will see to it that our arms will gradually become longer and stronger, as the need to hold a camera phone above our heads for long periods of time becomes one of the key elements in the survival of the fittest.

 

 

 

 

Wonder if they queued for their tickets?

One of the traditions at Wimbledon is the dedication (madness?) of those who queue overnight and for hours beforehand in order to claim their place in the ground on the big days in the tournament – particularly the finals and those days when a British hopeful is due on the show courts.

 

It's not just in tennis, of course, but a new tradition seems to have emerged in the way that ‘celebrities’ are given free tickets for sporting finals, no matter their level of interest in the sport in question.  So yesterday, we had the ‘pleasure’ of seeing in prime seats such people as Victoria Beckham, Wayne and Coleen Rooney, and actors Gerard Butler and Bradley Cooper.

 

And, of course, the politicians.  David Cameron and, for balance, Ed Miliband, both took time off from their day jobs to be seen enjoying the sporting action.  At least it told us that Ed was still with us.  And no event featuring a Scotsman would be complete without Alex Salmond sliding his ample, smiling face into shot at every opportunity.  True to form, Alex displayed his customary dignity and desire to avoid the limelight, this time by unveiling a Scottish flag behind David Cameron’s back – just supporting Andy, of course.

 

Sad, but predictable.

 

 

Must try harder

We have all heard a lot about how big businesses are squeezing the life out of small businesses and that we should be supporting those small companies where we can in order to ensure that they survive, that we maintain consumer choice and that we do not end up with faceless and uncaring companies as our only option.

 

I’m in favour of this as a principle. But this doesn’t mean that small companies can just assume that consumers will be there when they need them – they have to work at it too.  On a number of occasions recently I have approached small companies with enquiries about their products, wanting to see what they could offer in comparison with the well-known and large companies.  Disappointingly, most of these small concerns have not even bothered to reply.  Some have but have not been able to offer what I wanted – having a small and inflexible portfolio of products. 

 

One company seemed better than the rest and very keen to tell me how they looked upon customer service as their key selling point.  Brilliant, I thought.  I arranged to visit their showroom to look at their products and have a face to face discussion with the person who had been responding to my online enquiries.  Unfortunately, when I turned up at the appointed time the showroom door was locked.  The person inside tried his best to pretend that he hadn’t seen me, but persistent banging on the door eventually got him to open up.  I announced myself and asked to see the person who was expecting me.  “Hang on a minute”, he said and then called out through to the adjoining office that I had arrived.  It was quite obvious that the person who should have been expecting me was taken by surprise – probably hadn’t written down that I was coming and had just forgotten our exchange and arrangement.  No apology when he was persuaded to come to speak with me.  Their products were not very good either – well short of what I have been led to believe in our exchange.

 

I don’t want to use the High Street name that is the obvious alternative, but it is proving so hard to find someone else that I fear being driven in their direction.  We keep hearing that it’s a competitive market and the odds are unfairly stacked in favour of the big companies. But that’s not the whole story, is it?  Small companies need to try at least as hard as the big ones, not less hard because it’s too much bother.