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Arson Attacks in Central Norwich

Dear City Councillors, County Councillors, MP, Housing Officer, and anyone else who cares!

I am writing to you with my concerns over a number of incidents which have occurred in West Pottergate, Norwich. I live in a block of six council owned flats with my fiancée and our three year old daughter. We are on the first floor, the communal staircase our only exit.

Since I moved in six months ago there have been numerous incidents involving a resident in the block, Shirley Temple (name changed for legal reasons). We are all aware that she has some mental health difficulties and I have personally witnessed several suicide attempts and episodes involving self harm. This distresses me and has also had an effect on my daughter – it is impossible to hide the fortnightly police and ambulance visits from her, let alone the screaming, shouting and blood in communal areas. I am aware that Ms Temple has a social worker and assumed that she has made the council aware of the situation. In my opinion it has not been safe for Ms Temple to be living in this block and she needs more specialised care.

Recently my concerns have revolved less around the danger Ms Temple presents to herself and more around the dangers faced by my family. On 20^th May of this year there was a fire outside our front door whilst we were sleeping. The fire brigade were able to extinguish the fire and clear the smoke and we considered ourselves very lucky indeed not to have had to escape through a window. The fire officers were certain the fire was arson and our suspicions were that Ms Temple was responsible. After police questioning however, she was released without charge.

On Friday 27^th August my fiancée noticed another fire on the communal landing, and after the fire service made the building safe we were advised to contact the police. As it was late at night we arranged for officers to visit in the morning. I awoke to find that during the night there had been several more fires on each level of the building after the initial incident. On the ground floor a plastic table had been burnt seriously damaging nearby electrics, on the top floor a bike had been stuffed with newspaper and burnt to the ground and several bin bags had also been set alight. Police collected forensic evidence and arrested Ms Temple. She was later bailed for six weeks whilst evidence is examined, but the police were not confident that anything substantial would be uncovered.

On Monday 30^th August my family and I were watching a film when again we smelt burning. A bin bag had been placed in front of my neighbour’s door on our landing and set alight. The fire brigade and police arrived yet again and Ms Temple was arrested and kept in overnight. I am sure you will appreciate how concerned we were when she returned to the building on Tuesday afternoon. Reluctant to let her in, Ms Temple returned with a police escort in order to gain access to the building. All residents voiced their concerns and eventually a social worker arrived to take Ms Temple into respite care for the next week.

We have been told by police and council workers that despite their certainty that Shirley Temple is behind the arson attacks there is nothing they can do. There is a lack of hard evidence and until someone sees her actually set fire to something or she admits it then she is free to continue living in our building. Think about the time and money spent by the emergency services on attending to Ms Temple and the incidents she has caused; the time and money spent by the council on fielding our comments and complaints and cleaning and repairing our building; the stress, worry and ill health all residents in the block are suffering from; the heartache if the worst happens and we aren’t all able to escape the building should one of these fires take hold. None of this is necessary. Someone needs to take control of the situation and do something before the situation becomes even more out of control.

I hope you will take this matter as seriously as needed. I have sent copies of my concerns to several people.

Yours sincerely,

Alexandra Hunter

alex@technosprout.com

Big Green Shambles

Dear Big Green Coach,

Before arranging our travel to and from Global Gathering I checked out all the options available: car share, National Express coach, rail and finally Big Green Coach. At the time, Big Green Coach was going to cost a little more than going by train on an advance ticket, but we thought the ease of going straight to the festival combined with the atmosphere we expected on the coach would make it worthwhile. I am sure you can appreciate just how disappointed we were when our coach was cancelled just 9 days before the event.

At this point I looked again for alternative travel. The only option we could see was to book a train to the event which would cost over £140 each. There was no way we could have afforded that amount at such short notice, and we had to consider selling our festival tickets for a loss and cancelling the whole weekend. Eventually a family member in Lincolnshire suggested an alternative which, despite being fairly complicated, was just about affordable.

We got a train from Norwich to Nottingham at 5.50am on Friday morning, the only train to get us to Nottingham in time for the Big Green departure time of 11.45am. The plan was to have breakfast in Nottingham, catch the coach and head to the festival. This would have been a long and tiring day, but worth it by the time we got to the festival. On the Sunday we planned to get the coach back to Nottingham, where my relative was able to pick us up at our expected arrival time of around 1.30, stay at theirs for the night and travel back to Norwich on Monday morning.

Unfortunately when we got to the pick-up point in Nottingham none of the staff had heard of Big Green Coach. After several attempts at calling your customer service number we finally got through to someone who said the coach was expected to arrive at around 12.15 after being stuck in heavy traffic. By 12.30 when the coach had still not arrived we called again, and again, and again. The staff had no more information on the location of the coach or what time we could expect to be picked up. At 1.15 I called again and was told the coach was almost there, having been delayed again by needing to stop for a seriously ill passenger.

We eventually left Nottingham bus station at 1.45pm, 2 hours after our departure time. We asked other passengers about why the coach was late and told them what Big Green staff had told us. They were shocked as there had been no heavy traffic on the way, and no seriously (or mildly) ill passengers! I was shocked that your staff felt the need to lie to us at any point. The reasons for the coach being late included an hour waiting at Leeds, which no-one could explain, combined with multiple wrong-turns by the driver. From Nottingham to the festival there were several mishaps by the driver, including wrong turns, missing exits on roundabouts and leaving passengers behind at stops. Needless to say, with some passengers having been on the bus since 9.30am and us having been travelling since 5.30am there wasn’t much of a festival atmosphere. We got to the festival at 5.30pm, a full 3 hours after we were expected to, and enjoyed the festival whilst trying not to think about what Sunday’s return journey would hold for us.

On Sunday our coach was set to depart at 10.30am. It was a bit of a struggle getting all packed up and getting to the pick-up point, but we arrived 15 minutes early as directed on the tickets. On arrival we were told the coaches were all running late, and they had no idea when they would be leaving. Once again, we waited. Finally at 11.30 we boarded a coach, a little dubious about the driver’s lack of knowledge about the stops he was supposed to go to or how he was supposed to get there. Because we arrived so late at Nottingham we had to pay for a train to my family’s house that evening.

In short, we went from a £45 pp coach trip to a £60+ pp coach/train trip plus extra for food and drink whilst waiting around, childcare on Thursday and Monday to cover the extra travelling time and inconvenience for us and our families. We are sorely disappointed with the whole Big Green Coach experience, will never use the company again, and will warn others against the debacle where possible.

I hope for your sake you employ someone with organisational and customer service skills if you want your company to succeed in future.

Sincerely

Disgruntled Ali Sprout

Whoops!

Ok, so I didn't quite start a diet... it always starts tomorrow!

Have started Avon though! Mainly cos I want to get out of the house a bit and get cheap cosmetics. Will keep you posted on progress of course. And if anyone (near Norwich!) would like to order email me alex@technosprout.com

Peace, Ali.

Vital Statistics - Sssshhhhh!

Weight - 9st 11.5lbs

Calf - 13inches

Thigh - 21inches

Hips - 37inches

Waist - 32inches

Boobs - 38inches

Bicep - 10inches

Forearm - 8inches

Dieting

After spending the day with my niece and nephew (Eartha, 7 and Bram, 5) I have decided I need to go on a diet. I have been contemplating it for a while, but the "HA! Look at your fat belly!" comment has spurred me into action.

I know it's technically bad form but I have decided to kick start it with a fad diet. Then I'm going to follow it up with the "9 a day" diet, which is basically a high fruit & veg diet which is naturally low in calories and high in fibre, vitamins and anti-oxidants.

The contenders for the fad diet are:-

The Grapefruit Diet

You get half a grapefruit for breakfast, then half a grapefruit before lunch and dinner, both of which should be low calorie meals. Always wondered where grapefruits got their name... they're nothing like grapes!

The Negative Calorie Diet

All about eating foods which supposedly burn more calories digesting them than you get from them. A list of such foods includes:

Apple, Banana, Grapefruit, Kiwi, Mango, Nectarine, Orange, Peach, Pear, Pineapple, Plum, Melon, Raspberries, Strawberries, Tangerine, Lemon and Lime Juice, Artichokes, Asparagus, Aubergine, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Celery, Courgette, Cucumber, Green Beans, Kale, Leeks, Lettuce, Mushrooms, Onions, Peppers, Radishes, Spinach, Squash, Swiss Chard and Tomatoes... basically fruit and veg then! Best eaten raw of course to preserve all the lovely minerals.

Food Combining

This involves splitting your food into Proteins, Neutrals and Starches and never mixing P & S! Easy peasy eh? Favoured by my granny until her last years, and she was like a rake.

The Caveman Diet

In this one you can only eat food that was available to paleolithic man. So no grains, potatoes, beans, dairy, sugar or salt. But yes to meat, fish, eggs, fruit, veg, nuts and berries.

I think I'll probably try the caveman diet first, it sounds fun! I might even start dressing in animal fur... or maybe not.

So, on to the all important vitals... oh god... no I'll do that tomorrow, best to do it in the morning I think! I will update tomorrow.

Peace. Ali. xxx

Health kick!

I've been feeling really groggy recently, you know, sleep for hours then still tired when I wake up. My skinny jeans are just an inch too skinny, and the scales are starting to appear in my nightmares. So I decided it's about time to get healthy - again.

I've dug out my old "Yoga Mind and Body" book (still available on Amazon!) and started planning my meals for the next week. The yoga is on hold for now though, I seem to have injured my back taking the kid to gymnastics!

One thing a lot of people might not know about me is that I used to be a vegetarian - between the ages of 10 & 22 - and for the last three years I've been living with a vegetarian housemate. I've never been a big fan of eating animals, and have decided that for the next couple of weeks my detox(-ish) diet will go back to my teenage roots.

Unfortunately it won't be quite the same this time round. Growing up we lived in a big farmhouse with a gorgeous deep red Aga. My friends' houses had Agas, my Grandma had an Aga, my Mum had... well she had a Rayburn but she was only 4"11 or something and the Aga was too high to lean her bum on! Sorry, going off on a tangent there... All I mean is that a lot of the food I cook nowadays I learnt to cook on an Aga. I get all confused when you have to pre-heat the oven, or cook on a medium heat. And things just taste different out of an Aga. Perfect jacket potatoes, vegetable casserole cooked slowly in the bottom oven, the best meringues just left on the top overnight.

Living in a small city flat doesn't lend itself to having an Aga, so I find myself settling for second best. There is, of course, always a way to get that little Aga/vegetarian fix... Aga shops countrywide (including the Norwich one!) are having an open day this Saturday in the build-up to national Vegetarian Week (which is May 24th - 30th). I'll be cycling down in the hope that I won't feel so guilty for sampling as much of the food as humanly possible, or be too tempted to buy any of the Aga accessories.

Maybe just an apron though...?

The weekend... etc.

Had a lovely weekend. Quiet night in Friday with a curry and Fifth Element (love love love Milla Jovovich and the Jean-Paul Gaultier costumes!). Saturday was not so quiet... Went to @jetlbomb's house with @emboparko for some pre-party drinks and to get ready. We were all headed to our (lesbian) ex-boss and her fianace's hen night. The catch for the evening? We all had to wear wigs. I went kind of Chicago style...

@emboparko went the whole hog with a brightly patterned dress and co-ordinating wigs/eyes combo.

@jetlbomb had a bizarre two tone boffant pink wig she found at The Hague which she just couldn't get to look right, so in the end opted for a real human hair uncut wig and styled it herself! Only she could mak that look cool! awesome dress she had on too, tulip skirt gorgeous flattering... perfick!

There were some interesting looking people there... best leave the rest un-said.

Yesterday was boring, spent the whole day cleaning! Off shopping today for a couple of bits and bobs, college this evening.

If anyone wants some interesting stuff to look at on a boring Monday, check out @jetlbomb and @emboparko on twitter, jet's blog, feelingstylish.co.uk is always interesting, and take a look at zairabrilhante.co.uk - she's a really talented film-maker and there are some great entertaining shorts on her site.

Moving in

movin in with my boyfriend is an odd thing. Not such a big thing for him, nothing in his life changes really, except the place is cleaner and there's always food in the cupboards! But for me it's a little different. My whole life is changing. It's also interesting to see what this does to our relationship.

His "Why on earth do you need 15 different handbags?" is countered by my "Is there any need to have three bags full of wires and cables when every piece of electrical equipment in the house is connected and working?"

My "Eeeeew! You left the seat up AGAIN!" is met with his "Why is there a box of tampons in the bathroom cupboard?!"

But we're working it out, getting used to each other's cooking (although I'm the best). He's accepted my gnomes and Celli (my BJD) and even bought me a couple of Star Trek dolls too! I'm getting used to his decks and CDs and the lack of cupboard space.

In the meantime I'm still looking for a job, emailed Kettle Chips to see how things are going since the takeover at the beginning of the year. No response. Applied for loads of marketing jobs last week. No response. Where next... Tesco?

Star Trek Photo Story

Hello! My name is Spock. That, of course, is not my full name, which is unpronounceable to humans. I am a Starfleet officer - this is the badge I wear to prove it. The blue of my uniform shows that I am a Science Officer. I am very clever.

This is a standard issue phaser. I normally have it set to stun, but today, my away mission is to a remote planet at the edge of the Alpha quadrant, near to unclaimed space. The inhabitants are hostile and I need to be fully prepared. So I will be setting it to maximum.

This is how I aim my phaser. At such a high setting anything I hit will be instantly vaporised, so I must concentrate. See how I am concentrating?

*POW*

*POW*

*POW*

HAHAHAHAHA! Eat phaser tribble face!

I will also be taking my communicator. It is a highly sophisticated piece of equipment which can remotely talk to other communicators in close range. Very high-tech stuff this...

See how I talk into it? No need for wires or a power supply at all! It's great stuff, great stuff...

Live long, and prosper.

It's been a while...

So, it's been a while since I have posted anything on here, and it looks like my SRM post got a bit of interest! I'm still working for the charity (Lincolnshire Community Foundation) on all their marketing operations.

I've not had a lot of time for internet things recently... Been doing my CIM course (I got a B in the first exam!) and also I gave up blogging, facebook and twitter for lent. I've been busy growing plants - sweetcorn, courgette, pumpkin, tomato, capsicum and lettuce - although technically that only takes a couple of minutes a day! Been doing better with learning Brazilian Portuguese with the help of a Rosetta Stone programme. I've also moved house, I'm now living with my boyfriend and his (really annoying) three year old daughter. She is driving me mad today.

So I can't say this blog will be riveting, it may in fact be boring! But at least it will give me an outlet for all my gripes and groans. And hopefully I will get some time to talk about marketing, music promotion (the boyfriend, Matt, is a DJ and needs my help), growing my own food, and all those crafty activities I enjoy so much!

So, tchau for now.

xxx

SRM Marketing

The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.

CIM definition of Marketing

Now that I've really got going on my CIM course, I've been applying for some jobs. I was invited to an interview with SRM Marketing at 2:30 today. I was pretty dubious about the whole thing because of the huge number of adverts they have posted on every single job site. None of them were particularly well written, and despite the months of advertising they have done, they are still looking for "20+ people for immediate start" - never a good sign. I had a quick look on their website and was, again, worried. It's really badly written, it's designed by Vistaprint (one of their free designs) and says they are based in Nottingham. Odd, very odd. Anyway, I didn't think much about it after that because I was pretty busy.

So I headed to the library (in the pouring rain) and printed out a CV and a couple of bits to add to my portfolio. I found the office, eventually, and climbed the delapidated staircase to the first floor. The only sign that anyone had been there in the past 100 years were the A4 printed signs saying "SRM Marketing" and "Interviews". I walked into a small room with a dirty carpet and some awful music playing loudly on the radio. There were loads of chairs around the edge of the room and a desk and phone in the corner. Bizarrely no computer - how did they even get my application?! There was a girl sat there who said she'd been waiting 10 minutes and still hadn't seen anyone, but, as directed by another shoddy printout, we dutifully began filling in the application forms sat on the desk. I just wrote "see CV attached" in most of the boxes and left it at that. Eventually baby-faced Simon appeared and invited me through for a "chat".

The main interview room was much bigger than the first, but pretty empty. There was a desk with a chair on each side, and a "Talk Talk" poster on a stand. Simon looked through my CV quickly and asked how I felt about working to targets (I said it's good as long as they're achieveable). He spent a good ten minutes telling me about all aspects of the company, I didn't follow much because he was speaking so damn fast! From what he was saying I got the impression that it's going to be a sales job, but when I asked him what the job is he started drawing arrows on the back of my CV. I was told that from entry level to a senior management position managing 50+ people would take just 6 - 10 months for the right candidate. I couldn't help but wonder where these people are, what they are doing, and how the alleged FTSE100 customers hired them to design marketing campaigns.

And that was it. My 'interview' was done and I was barely given the chance to talk. I was told to expect a call later if I was succesful. I left feeling incredibly bemused, and wasn't surprised to receive the call inviting me to a second interview tomorrow. Simon told me to dress smart, but wear comfortable shoes because I'll be on my feet most of the day (I'm going to be there 12:30 - 8:30 apparently!) observing one of their campaigns. I'm going to go, but I doubt I'll stay.

High Sheriff Award

Gord has suggested I make a nomination for the High Sheriff's award. Absolutely going to be picking 3D Youth. So I have to fill in a form about Ken & Di and how hard they work. I really hope they win, they do so much for the community in Lincoln they really do deserve some recognition.

I have an interview for SRM Marketing on Monday. I'm a bit apprehensive, don't want it to end up being just another door-to-door in disguise, but we'll see. Never know, could be my dream job!

Time to drink some tea, and continue working my way through this bar of Bournville!

BB (Busy Bee!)

Wow! Had a really good response from my piece on 3D Youth (see http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/note.php?note_id=194505788011&ref=mf) had emails from various Foundation trustees. Makes me smile :o)

Spent a good proportion of today playing with my new BlackBerry Storm2 ... shame Vodafone didn't manage to include MicroSD Cards or BIS (to get emails) with the handset, but I've ordered an 8GB card from play.com and will be ringing Vodafone tomorrow to sort out the emails.

Also spent a while today looking at local charities which I think could use some Techno Sprout freelance expertise and have drafted a letter to send them. Will be sending that out soon so fingers crossed!

Other than that, chased up some advertising changes, renewed Gumtree ad, tweeted, facebooked and updated lincolnshirecf.co.uk. So all in all, pretty productive!

Peace. x

A bit lost

I'm feeling a bit lost today actually. I've been looking for a job pretty much every day for the last few months and am getting nowhere.

Loads of the ones claiming to be marketing roles ("Marketing Enterprises" "SRM Marketing") are just door-to-door sales. And they post new ads every day for the same things! It really is driving me crazy. All the others ask for at least 2 years experience in a marketing role.

The thing is I know I can do the job, I've been doing it for LCF for months now. I know I'm good, really good, but it's just so hard to get a foot in the door.

So I suppose I should start concentrating on getting some freelance work. I'll send out my details (again) to local charities and try to get someone to believe in me as much as I believe in myself.

Failing that I could always start traipsing round Norwich in the freezing cold trying to convince people they need Sky TV...

Vodafone World of Difference Charity Needed! - 19/10/09

So the Vodafone World of Difference competition is back, and this time there are 500 two month placements up for grabs. Everyone knows that charity work is my passion, and the chance to help an organisation without them having to cough up the cash is just too good an opportunity to miss!

I have a few ideas for charities I'd like to get involved with, but would love you suggestions too.

The Rules


•Must be registered with the Charities Commission.
•Must be in Norwich & surrounding area.
•Must have a need for my services (ie not a big organisation with a dedicated marketing department!).

Email me at alex@technosprout.com with any ideas you have!

xxx

Green Burials - 08/10/09

Did you know...?


•60 million trees are cut down every year to make coffins.
•16% of mercury emissions in the UK are the result of gases from cremations.
•1.6 million tons of reinforced concrete is introduced into United States soil each year in the construction of burial vaults.
•Each year, North America puts enough metal into casket production to build the Golden Gate Bridge.
•Embalming fluid seriously damages the enzymes in soil making it infertile.
•By 2038 all the available land for cemtaries will be gone.

There is an alternative though - Green burials. I am helping do develop the scheme throughout Lincolnshire and I want to know what your thoughts are on the more eco friendly end to life.

So, what do you know about green burials already? How do you feel about having a more natural "cemetary" with trees, flowers and other wildlife thriving? What do you think about eco coffins such as cardboard, wicker and felt? Most green burial sites do not allow permanent memorials such as headstones - would that effect your opinion?

Let me know your thoughts, email alex@technosprout.com xxx

CIM course - 08/09/09

I started my CIM Professional Certificate in Marketing last night at City College Norwich. It's supposed to help broaden and deepen my knowledge of marketing and communications, looking at the course structure I really think it will! It is a lot of money, but I suppose any course is really. Obviously there's going to be practical coursework to do and so I have an offer for all you philanthropists out there. Ready?

For any person/organisation who is willing to sponsor me on the course by paying my tuition fees (I will pay for assesments, CIM membership and textbooks) I will devote all my coursework PLUS one day a week of my time to working for you. That means that over the next 15 months (the duration of the course) you will get over 500 hours of work for just £1200 - that's less than £2.50 an hour!

What I'm asking is for anyone who is interested to send me an email with details of your organisation, including any current marketing practices you use, and your aims for the next 12 months. I will create a short-list of 5 organisations who I think would benefit the most, and the final decision will be made after meeting personally with each organisation to discuss the possibilities of working together. Anyone who makes the short-list but isn't chosen will be offered a huge 25% discount on my prices until December 2010!

So, what are you waiting for?! Email me on alex@technosprout.com ASAP - closing date is Monday 14th September 2009.