NEWS and CHINA DAY 1

Bloggens!

 How the divil are you? We've just had another fantastic day at Shipley Art Gallery, distributing tea and cake to some of the nicest chaps and chapesses you could ever wish to meet. I just wish we were opening somewhere that we could do that on a daily basis. OH WAIT, WE ARE! We have been for 3 years now. 3 YEARS. We were just re doing our business plan, which we hope will convince the bank to give us absolutely loads of money, and we had to write that we had been working on our property for 31 months. It felt horrible. 31 months. Oh what can be achieved in that amount of time. You could watch 22320 episodes of Downton Abbey (44640 episodes of Friends) if you didn't want to sleep/urinate/make your dinner. Even if you did want to do that stuff, you could still squeeze in 15000 Downtons, or 30000 Friends. I would probably bore of that much costume drama, but NEVER would i get sick of that Ross and quippy Chandler and his quips, and Joey. Let's face it, we've all probably seen that many episodes anyhoo.

    Alternatively you could get a degree in most things in that amount of time. We could have been super intelligent (and skint) but we decided to be tea house men (and skint).

  Sometimes it gets a little tiring, all this ridiculous nothing happeningness. But our enthusiasm is still there. And all will be excellent.

    We have started the 3 month renovation works on the building. It's dead old, the building. Not only has it been around for these 3 years, it had over 100 more years standing before we even were born!!! That makes a LOAD of years. Buildings that are a bit old always are hard to fix. This one is NO EXCEPTION. It's got rotten beams, and all sorts of building regs issues. And a chimney full o' soot. It's also listed, so everything takes forever and costs forever, as they say. It's also got no windows. And it is over 4 metres high, with 20 metres of window length. Which totals over £SHITLOTS on just the windows. Just the windows.

        But it's really nice, so it's all worth it. We hope you like it too.

        We are beginning the opening invites. We are having 2 opening events. One for press and official people. One for friends n family n lovely supporters of us. Also we might have a new years bash. Will let you know. Anyone that wants to come to the opening events and feels like they havent made themselves known enough, just send us an email, and we will send you the relevant documentation when the time comes.

    The food menu is looking exciting. The tea menu is, of course, excellent. And our other beverages could thrill the hind legs off a donkey. If thrilling did that sort of thing.

      Today they knocked 2 massive holes in some walls, which was excellent. Destruction is dead good fun. We wish we were allowed to do it ourselves, but apparently you have to have qualifications, and certificates. And a hard hat.

      Tea is excellent.

     Coinciding with the opening will be the all new shpongly website, some new teas, and possibly a nervous breakdown or 3.

       We are really loving the feeling in Newcastle at the moment. Loads of quality independent establishments, and wonderful support for such operations. Can't wait to be well and truly involved.


     HERE'S SOME CHINA TRIP BLOG BUBYE NOW XXX -

DAY 1

I got on the plane, and travelled in the air. I then got off the plane, and travelled on the ground, in HO CHI MINH. Then i got on the plane again, and travelled in the air again, until i got off in CHINA. In GUANGZHOU. During the air travel, there were lots of people that did annoying things. Like the fat fatty man who during the designated sleeping time ordered a sandwich and a beer every half an hour. He kept looking at his watch to see if 30 minutes had passed. That must have been some sort of self regulation system he had devised, because he knew if he didn't give himself strict rules, he would probably just eat every sandwich on the plane. All of the sandwiches. Anyway, this string ordering kept disrupting me. And i wanted him to stop it. He snored as well. And belched always. And was just a hulk of waste. He said he was travelling to southern china for work, and told me how much he hated being there, how he spent all of his time in Irish bars and KFC, and never travelled outside his expat compound. I got his phone number, and now we are bezzies.

 Then there was rudey snob lady, who demanded a wine before we took off, and was deeeeply offended when that wasn't possible. She didn't say please or thanks once, and had a look on her face like she was being forced to watch Mick Hucknall and Janet Street Porter having a dirty romp -

(I now have that look on my face, and hope that you do too). 

No wonder air hostesses end up hating all humans, with people like her making their life generally unpleasant. It's just unnecessary, and actually quite cruel. I think i tried to over compensate for her impoliteness, and it probably made the hostesses feel uneasy the way i shouted 'THANKYOU EVER SO MUCH' every time they walked past.

    Guangzhou airport is super well run and dead nice. It was thrilling to be there. Completely.
I spent 5 Yuan (50 british pence) on a metro ticket to zoom me into the centre. You get a little plastic token which you scan against the entry gate, and you pop it into a slot on exiting. So no messy tickets or anything. And blimey it's well organised. Wonderfully air conditioned, and well sign posted, speedy. They are numbered, the metro lines, from 1-8. I got on the number 2. Then changed to 3. First thing i noticed was the excellent array of haircuts, and fashions. When getting on an airport metro, you are amongst many a foreigner, so you are by no means a point of interest. But as the metro progresses, and people get on/off, your dilution gradually lessens. By the time I hit town, about 25 minutes, I felt the stares beginning. Guangzhou isn't a touristy place, really. Many people travel through it, as you often cannot avoid it. But it is not a destination city. So, we funny foreigners get a fair bit of eye attention. That's ok.

I emerged from the cool metro land, giddy with excite, into the sweltering, muggy, heavy air.

This feeling is amazing.

This is what i did see, initially -

This was on the leisurely stroll to my hostel along this route -


View Larger Map


It should take an hour. But it took 2 hours. What with all the sitting and watching and sweating.

       It felt amazing, AND OMG EXCITING AND THRILLING to be there. I simply couldn't wait to get stuck into tea stuff.

   I enjoyed the hunt for the hostel. It was exactly how i love hostels to be - in someone's flat, laid back, not corporate in any way and with a nice wrinkly man to check me in. It was my first proper communication with an actual real life chinaman. And i enjoyed it terribly. I love communication. I'm a rubbish english socialiser, as i fear sounding like a div too much. So when we both know we are going to sound like divs to each other, i relax much more, and just have fun. WOOOP.

Here is the view from the hostel -

   That eve a rendezvous with a mate (who was born at the same moment i was being born, in the room next to me, interestingly enough) was on the cards. A call was made from the lovely wrinkly mans phone. And we arranged to meet at a metro station. I washed, pointlessly, the current sweatiness away, before i got sweaty putting a t shirt on. I sat and drank 12 litres of water and a litre of iced green tea (v v v v popular) and ventured out again. 

   Unfortunately, the activities of that evening cannot be shared. Not because they are rude or anything, but because i am embarrassed at the choice of activity (not made by me).

          But here is what i saw on the way home - It was a 3 hour walk at midnight, and oh so oh so amazing. 

These chaps are playing hacky sack. Together. Adults. Happy. At 1 am. This is amazing. A HUGE cultural difference.

   So many people were out, playing games. Chatting. Dancing.

   At 1.30 oclock, i saw an illuminated sign saying tea. So i followed it, like an excitable moth with my ganglionic instincts. Inside was a lovely man. We had lots of tea together, and discussed Man City. Now, sport isn't something i know a lot about. But, i think i pulled it off. (Man City ARE a good rugby team aren't they?) This is the man -

   We shared some incredible Pu Erhs, and a fine fine high grade jade tie guan yen oolong.

  This was my first encounter with the chinese tea drinking ritual. And he was happy to answer my many questions. I couldn't have happened across a more lovely man to take my chinese tea drinking virginity. I will never forget him. When i forgot to discard the first infusion, he said 'It doesn't matter, it happens to everyone, we will try again when you are ready.' 

       I was starting to feel very happy to be there, all concerns had dissipated, and as soon as you relax when travelling, the enjoyment grows exponentially, and you can feel the joy going off in bursts the more you think about it. 

 And so i slept on the hardest mattress that could ever exist, with different parts of my body going numb at different times during the night. But i didn't care. In the slightest.

  

    

 

Yes. Hello.

      So. The brother that went, has unwented. The brothers that didn't went, have been grafting very hard, to compensate for the wenting brother -

          We have a nice little (actually quite big) article in Appetite Magazine this month, distributed amongst delis and cafes and other places where one goes to sate appetites. If you find a copy, then read it. It's nice; a lovely first spread. Hopefully the first of many, because we are going to be media whores. Classy media whores. Ones that have to be wined and dined first, and have to have a certificate to prove that there are no diseases.

   Our work with the farm is going very well. So well that our pigs are going to be housed as from the end of this monthish. And until they are ready to be slaughtered and consumed, the farm has many a rare breed that we can sample and use in the tea house. They are simply delightful people, and we will tell you all about them, and what they do, when we are ready, and they say we can.

         We have 2 hives all made n that, and we are waiting for our local lovely bee keeper to have surplus bees. Rather annoyingly, for the first time in 12 years we had a wild swarm visit our house. They ignored our hives, and decided that a hole in the wall would suit them better. So we now have a colony living in our wall. They give off a low hum. We like them. But are a little bitter.

        The blogging of CHINA TRIP Y2K12. First, here it is in numbers-



Days in China - 19
Kinds of tea tried - 47
Kilometres travelled in China - 4394
Bowls of noodles - 27
Times a disgrace was made of myself - Hard to say. Many.
Kilos of MSG consumed - 12.5
Kilos of tea purchased - 12
Tea cups ordered - 2000
Times I knew exactly what was being eaten - 2

Day 0 Newcastle - London

Tea Experience of the day - My morning cup of Quilliam Brothers Breakfast Blend of course!!!


With a good friend a meal was had. And then we saw the loveable Dara O'Briain at the city hall. We laughed, and the fact that i was leaving to China left my head. We went to Weatherspoons and had 2 jagerbombs for a fiver, and the fact that i was leaving to China left my head a little bit more. We parted ways and then i got on the Megabus. It was multi racial, and quite pleasant. I woke up in London, then got a 'tube' to somewhere, where i got an Easybus to an airport. Then i got on a plane.

I like leaving England. It always fills me with much joy. Though Newcastle is frustratingly crap at having flights to anywhere other than Benidorm and Scallios, the added nuisance of getting to another UK city makes the travel a little bit more like travel. It makes you appreciate the distance a little bit more. Makes the journey that little bit more epic. I like the infamous midnight Newcastle - London Megabus. Sailing through the muted orange glow of a drizzly Northern England, head tilted window-wards, ears plugged with music, safe in the knowledge that you are ON YOUR WAY, makes me buzzy with excite. I like waking intermittently, as the sleeping head lollops, taking stock, seeing the silhouettes of wizened humans, sleeping how they never were meant, remembering where you are, before nodding off again, warmed and comforted by the motion of the coach. I like it. Even if bits of the body ache and you sit next to the pungently offensive.

And then, we stopped at Woolley Edge.


And then, the sun began to rise. The dull orange of the North replaced with an exciting new orange, glowing over green green rolling hills and crap suburbs.


And then, London Victoria.


It was then that i realised i had forgotten my Oyster card! I was livid, and considered leaving the flipping capital there and then! But, after angrily bashing my shoulders into many commuters full of hurry, i felt the anger depart, and i soldiered on. A trooper to the end.


Not really; i just paid full price, and that was absolutely fine.


Easybus service was excellent. Lovely enthusiastic bus driver, and bang on schedule. Who would win in a busfight? Mega or Easy? Easy - nimble and efficient. Mega - lumbering and determined.


I had pre ordered my Renminbi for collection at Heathwick, and the woman serving was just so delightful in her confabulation. The sort of playful but intense enquiry into your trip that seems completely sincere. Like she gleans vicarious pleasure from the description of your upcoming travel. I hope she does, and every day visits the world from behind her desk.

Also my check in fella was great. From SriLanka, he visits South China often, and he suggested a few places to visit upon arrival whilst simultaneously skiving from checking in the next 4 people in line. I didn't look round to see their grumpy faces.

Then i got on the plane. Though not immediately. I obediently perused the goods on offer at the departure lounge, did some rubiks cube graft, and then fell asleep to this, before waking for boarding. Disoriented. AND READY FOR SOME KILLER PLANE MOVIES!


NO PHOTOS THIS TIME AS THEY WOULD ALL HAVE BEEN BORING.

xxx

Recent News. GOD THAT'S EXCITING.

Dear Bloggens.

           Salutations!

                I hope this finds you in good health.

     Here at QBHQ a whole host of activities have been on the go.

               Let us first tell you of our new chef chap. He is a fabulous bloke of a similar mindset that is working with us to create a menu. This menu promises to be dead exciting and like nothing you probably would have experienced elsewhere. But not so scary that you wouldn't want to eat anything. Beautiful presentation meets filling, rustic choices, probably with a slight twist. Not a jus in sight. Or if there is, we will not call it a jus. We have been meeting now for a few months, having many chats and cook offs. And we are getting to the point of positive decision making. If you have any particular requests, now is the time to speak up.

        Not only are our menu choices going to be delish, we are also striving to run a kitchen with minimal waste. We will only be using suppliers that give the bare minimum of packaging. We will be using suppliers that are as local as possible, to cut down on fuel usage. We will be recycling everything we possibly can. We will be pushing seasonal crops in our tri annual menu and our specials choices. And also using the best in foraged goods.

      On top of this, we have put thought into other sides of our supplies. We have begun a herb/veg and salad farm that will be operating in Wylam, at an old farm. This will hopefully begin by supplementing our veg/salads/herbs, but will gently start becoming the supply for a lot of our needs.

      We have begun bee keeping. Having attended meetings with the beekeepers associations of Northumberland and Newcastle, we took the plunge and purchased 2 hives. After much deciphering of instructions, we managed to erect them, with only minor defects. Defects that we hope the bees wont mind about. A spot on the aforementioned farm in Wylam was found, and we will be getting bees in a month or so. So that's honey enough for all the teahousey needs. Here one is freshly oiled and ready to go -

        Also, we have had chats with local farms with the view to keeping 3 special pigs on their land. These pigs are a rare extra delicious breed and will provide you with amazing meaty what nots in just over a year, and you can be safe in the knowledge that it was a happy pig.

     This all enables us to close more loops with our refuse. Most of our vegetable waste can go to the pigs (if we show H & S that we are not contaminating it with meat), and other green waste (and all our tea/coffee remnants) can go to our big compost unit on the Wylam Farm that will then compost our herbs/veg/flowers which will then provide pollen for our bees. How glorious. There are other routes to take, for example including the pig manure in our compost. But that is a more complicated procedure, and will require some ironing out. Bear with us.

       So this is all nice. I hope the good nature of it all doesn't offend you. We will not ram it down the customers throat. Just if asked, we will tell.

     We have also been working on the tea house fit out. This requires special engineering skills, and as none of us have a clue, it is slow progress. Albeit interesting. There will be moving parts. That's all imagunnasay. Oh, and brass. That is DEFINITELY all imagunnasay.

      We are on for a September opening time. When invites are sent out, you will be the first to know.

   Recently we started working with a Sri Lankan tea company. Our first batch of their ace teas will be arriving in a month or so, so we look forward to that. Expect many annoying tweets/status updates about it all.

    We also are restocking our glorious Darjeeling first flush teas, and are expecting their arrival in the next coupla weeks.


         To keep our tea knowledge expanding, one Brother has managed to squeeze in a trip!-

     
Here is the rough route that will be taken-

   
View Larger Map

There are numerous goals for the trip.

1. Meet with crockery makers and get 1500 custom tea cups and saucers made, and 300 tea pots. 

2. Meet with tea companies in Hunnan and Fujian provinces and taste their offerings. 

3. Get to know the Chinese tea drinking culture first hand.

4. Spend some time on tea estates, discovering the differences in production from others we have seen.

5. Buy some fake Nikes.

6. Eat a weird something.

7. See some beautiful things (of which there are many).

8. Travel on many trains.

We are dead excited about the crockery. When does anyone get an opportunity to design a tea cup???!?!?!!?!!!1 We hope you like them when they are unveiled at the opening.

   We don't take these opportunities for granted, and cannot wait to share everything we learn with anyone who cares to listen. Expect a heavy influx of incredible chinese teas in mid June. 

          So, we think that is most of the news. There is more, but it's quite, quite dull.

   Wishing you all well, 

       Sincerely.

THE QUILLIAM BROTHERS.

        

Christmas Is The Greatest Time Of Year

But to enjoy it most, we need to get out of bed.

HI!

Here's a thing from 2 years ago -



And here's a new thing.

An anagram of 'Merry Christmas To You' - 'Curios? Hmm, Try Rosy Tea.'

Your support this season has been oh so gratefully received. We've met some truly delightful people, and caught up with some delightful people that we already knew. DELIGHTFUL. THANKYOU.

LOTS OF LOVE AND FESTIVE INFUSIONS

THE QUILLIAM BROTHERS

FESTIVE MESSAGE

HI CHAPS!


AN ANNOYING FESTIVE MESSAGE!


"TEA MAKES AMAZING GIFTS FOR THOSE THAT YOU LOVE AND FOR THOSE THAT YOU HAVEN'T GOT A CLUE WHAT TO BUY."

- TEAna tURNa
(thats 2 tea puns in one name)


May we recommend our gift packs (Which come in three flavaz), for that perfect £10 present (i mean, who wants to spend more than £10? And if you spend less than £10, you're a cheap skate, frankly). They are available online, and if you live in Newcastle we will knock off the delivery fee when it comes to processing your payment. Also, the packs are available at Olive and Bean on Clayton street. Or Teasy Does it on Heaton Park Road.

We had an amazing day at Newcastle Christmas Market. So many lovely people came by to say hello. A day that reminded us how much we love Newcastle and its people.

Ed bookless came on down and took some photos -



WHAT A NICE MAN.


As always, our massive selection of tea is still perusable/purchasable online at www.quilliambrothers.com.


MORE NEWS TO FOLLOW


LOVEYOUBYE

RELEASE OF GIFTY PACKS 2011!

Hi There Chappies.

Just a Quick'un as it's late, and we've just eaten loads of apple and blackberry crumble, and it's made us sleepy.

I hereby announce the release of The Black Tea Gift Pack and the Orthodox Tea Gift Pack! -






And, once again, our Christmas Gift Pack is alive n kicking -





It was a furious weekend of packing, and we thank all the helpers that helped, and all the others who were just there being entertaining.


We are very happy with our selections, and are proud to be able to offer them to you.

We hope you enjoy them, and can feel the love that we have put into each and every bloody sticky label (we did over 1500 of them).


GOOD NIGHT WORLD (unless you are in Australia and are just waking up).

OCTOBER 2011 IT IS. EH?

This weekend we will be packing our NEW GIFT SETS!

We will be having 3 gift boxes this winter season. An Orthodox gift set containing a gorgeous Yunnan green tea, a fabulous Fujian white tea and an incredible Ceylon black tea. Also we will have our Black Tea set with the intoxicating kick of Quilliam Brothers Breakfast Blend, the citrusy delights of our Organic Darjeeling Earl Grey and the aromatic smooth maltiness of our Assam Dikom black tea. And, as it is, unfortunately, the season again, the Christmas Gift Pack will be back with a vengeance, containing three festive favourites.

As usual you will get a FREE infuser with the pack and a nice sample to try of sumfink else.

Check 'em all out from Monday the 17th at The Quilliam Brothers Webshop.

Things are moving nicely with the building for the Tea House. We actually have a bit of paper with official words on to sign n that. Which is almost a champagne moment. Almost, but not quite. Tum te tum.



BLOG BLOG BLOG BLOG BLOG

Today i am talking about companies, corporations and chains.

SOUNDS A BIT SERIOUS?!! Bear with me; it isn't.

This topic will be addressed anecdotally. Though there will be not much in the way of comprehensible flow, there is one word that unites it all - 'EXPRESS'.

I start with the tale of a musical trip to the Burh of Eidyn, some 5 months ago...

'Twas nearing summer darkness, the moon light began to glow.
Through the gentle drizzle, our hungry Pimptones did go.
In search of grub, though nothing too dear,
as with the current economic crisis you kind of have to watch the pennies you see. " 'Ere,
look yonder, look over there.
A 'Pizza EXPRESS' sign doth shine, doth glare."
"But look!" I retorted "Just next door, it's a
Private run gaff, called 'Paradise Pizza'"

Grumbling, mumbling, humbly they agreed,
to support the underdog in our quest for a feed.
So in to Paradise we five did trot,
selected our table, chose our spots.
Menu perused, drinks decided,
we ordered our food with smiles and politeness.

So i sat.

In silence.

Feverish with excite.

Primed and ready to sate my appetite.



-Unfortunately, turns out Paradise is shite.


And it really was awful. We should've baulked at the sight of the peeling wallpaper, naff naff interior design, tacky laminated menus. But with the blindness brought on by my hatred of chains, i brushed all these little issues off as 'quirks'. Unfortunately, the food can't be forgiven for being quirky. It can only be nice or not nice. And it was not nice. And it cost the same as, if not more than, going to Pizza EXPRESS.

The owner, who had the obligatory 'Italian restaurant owner' image complete with FUNNY FOREIGN ACCENT, must've only been there to make the experience just that little bit more authentic, as he certainly wasn't there to maintain the high standards of his restaurant. And the waitresses were well aware of the crap establishment in which they worked, as they couldn't give a gnats doodle about anything. The pizzas were the worst i have ever eaten. Worse than Morrisons value ham and pineapple pizza, which is saying something. Grease and Salt were the 2 overpowering flavours.

Anyway, i was saddened by the whole fiasco. Because necks were stuck out and promptly guillotined and because places like that are ruining the small chance that small businesses have against chainy giants in city centres.

One of our party said - "They are successful chains for a reason." And it broke my heart. Because it's true. 10 points on offer if you know what the reason is.


ANECDOTE 2

Coffee.

We were waiting for a bus. Me and a person. In view of the bus station was an established coffee vendor. Starbucks was his name-o. I nominated myself to go on a coffee run. And run i did. I ran to find somewhere that wasn't Starbucks. Coffee XPRESS was his name-o. lesson learnt, I thought 'This looks nice. Not too scruffy. A touch of the tokyo modern about it. People inside, drinking. Which can only be a good thing'. And in i popped.

I was greeted by a lovely lady, who sounded possibly New Zealandy. She said "I'm sorry, i can only do take away". That was fine, i only wanted take away. The man after me didn't want only takeaway, so off he trotted, f-ing and blinding. I ordered a latte for me and an americano for the person. And paid the same i would've paid in the 'Bucks.

Heroically i returned to the person. And gave the coffee to her (yes, it was a her!). And i put my 24 sugars in mine, and started drinking. It was ok, though VERY weak. Her's, however, was vile. And she couldn't finish it. The woman in the coffee shop had made it by running water through the group head and the coffee until it was a full cup, then heated it by putting the steamer through it for a few seconds. That is WRONG. So either she couldn't be arsed to do it properly, or didn't know how to do it properly. Either way, it is unforgivable for a cafe with 'Coffee' in the title to not know how to serve coffee.

Here, again, my faith in private enterprises has made me look SILLY.

ANECDOTE 3

Buses.

Once upon a time, i was on a bus to London from Newcastle, on my way to catch a flight. 5 hours into the 7 hour slog, i realised i didn't have my passport. A useful item. So, i thought n thought, and realised the only way i could get it to London in time would be to put it on a bus or a train. So i called National EXPRESS and asked if they could bring it down. They said NO. I told my brother that they had said YES, and he wonderfully convinced the bus driver that National EXPRESS had said YES also. I met the bus driver in London with an 8 pack of nice beers, and everyone was happy. Though the bus driver was a bit jobs worthy and did try and milk it somewhat, by saying that it was his neck on the line, and that it would've been his job had he been caught, et ladeda, at least he did it.
Alas, I missed my flight anyway and had to get there via other means, but that's neither here nor there.

SAME BUS COMPANY, but forward 2 years. I was queuing, having failed to print off my e ticket. The bus driver was looking at everyones printed e ticket, not scanning or writing anything. So i showed him my e ticket on my laptop screen. And he said i wasn't allowed on. Anger flowed through my veins, and out of my mouth. WHATS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOU NOT MARKING A BIT OF PAPER, AND NOT MARKING A COMPUTER SCREEN? Well, it's company policy. And it needs to be paper to show that it's authentic, and so we can mark it so it can't be used again. IDIOT. (you can print 10 copies of your ticket if you want.)

Anyway, eventually i was allowed on, but i am sure he drove more angrily to try and make me hit my head on the window.


SAME BUS COMPANY, but forward 2 more years, to me and the person sitting in the bus stop considering coffee purchases. I needed to charge my phone, for emergency reasons. There were no sockets in the waiting room. The lovely person i was with went to ask the lady behind the desk if she could charge my phone. She said that she could.
Whilst sitting with our disgusting coffees some minutes later, 2 girls asked if the woman had let us charge our phone behind the counter. We said yes, but it's for an emergency. They then proceeded to slag off National EXPRESS, as NE had refused to charge the girls' phones. (they were playing games on their phones)

UNFORTUNATELY...
those two obnoxious girls are mistaking the person for the company. But who can blame them? The vast majority of the people that work for large companies do everything they can to hide behind the company, use it as a safety net whenever they have to make commonsensical decisions. There's no room for personality in large companies. The brand is the personality. And no employee should show otherwise. Because of this, whenever someone DOES do something against company policy, they then run the risk of being criticised, and they no longer have anything to hide behind. What the wonderful phone charger woman and the excellent passport bus driver did is the daring human thing, and fucked the company policy in favour of common sense. And for that I LOVE THEM. I got the phone charger woman a chocolate bar and told National Express that she was excellent.


A PLEA..

If you find anyone who is truly excellent in a company, someone who is a person not a drone, someone who WANTS to help you, not just helps you because they are told to, someone who has gone beyond the call of duty because they enjoy seeing a problem resolved, or enjoys receiving a thank you, OR if you eat at a fabulous restaurant, go to a wonderful little shop, find a cosy cafe that serves amazing stuff then SHOUT ABOUT IT. TELL EVERYONE. TELL THE PERSON IN QUESTION THAT THEY'RE MINT AND SHOULD KEEP AT IT. TWEETLE ABOUT IT. FACEBOOKEN IT. DO EVERYTHING IN YOUR POWER TO MAKE THEM KNOWN AND APPRECIATED.

Keep trying out the private operations, even if you cant say goodbye to the big chains altogether. Chains are soul-less, devious, manipulative and are turning our lovely city centres into clone towns. You get assured quality of goods and quality of service, that is true. And sometimes that is nice. It's safe. But i pity anyone who is happy with safe.

THE QUILLIAM BROTHERS TEA HOUSE (EXPRESS) WILL NOT BE SAFE. But in a good way. Not in a hard hat wearing/lawsuity way.

LONG, BUT THE WORDS KEPT COMING.

xxxx