A young friend posted via Facebook a link to the following interesting on-line article.
https://www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/2016/richard-jordan-is-this-worst-west-end-audience-ever/
Its very much worth a read - and for me it showed multiple similarities in a non aligned industry - professional sport. Particularly cricket where the promotion of increasingly shorter forms of the game allied to crowd "involving" antics has led to a new genre of supporter... one that clearly brings much revenue into the game but at the same time is poles apart from a more traditional (for want of a better word) involvement and match. Rugby internationals rather than just provide a marching band at half time and pre-match now seem to "have" to provide an hour of pre-match entertainment, plus half time shows ... and I have to really ask "why" ? But then maybe I have to accept I'm just a miserable old git. It just seems such emperor's new clothes to me. Though like the author I see parallels in "reality" TV, soap operas and other instant amusement style shows which actually don't really provide anything but something to watch while filling the time before the next program comes along providing an opportunity to watch something until the next... etc. While real drama and actual comedy gets sidelined.
I suppose in theory these moves broaden the audience - which is an excellent concept especially to help theatre (and sport!) survive. But having expanded the audience what potentially happens is the "new" approach becomes the defacto approach. The audience instead of evolving towards more traditional standards of behaviour, appreciation and expectation, stays where their perceived position is and the theatre has to at least maintain that or - arguably worse still - migrates itself towards that new norm. In cricket we see the most traditional arena of the game, the test match, now have an almost mandatory audience participation level, nay competition, of the most outrageous fancy dress parties within the spectators. Arguably it doesn't affect from the actual cricket played a hundred and thirty metres away - in the same way that the burger eating audience member doesn't affect the play being performed. But they both detract possibly from some others' appreciation of it. Its hard to concentrate on a tension building hour of pressure from a spinner against a set batsman when a dozen Dolly Partons are drenching each other in beer twenty feet in front of you. Its hard to gain the full emotion of a tragic scene played out before you when the smell of chips and fried onions keeps drifting under your nose. Let alone the person who needs to go to the toilet and bar every twenty minutes.
So the once standard variation with accepted levels of interaction becomes sidelined to almost a side show, a freak show where old duffers sit and contemplate and the participants tread the boards, or play their game, in a more muted and historical environment whilst having their own existence threatened. Within the County Championship in English cricket with its two innings format, played in all whites (on the whole!), the calendar and focus has moved to season fringes and often away from weekend days so the working demographic cannot see it. English cricket is, while not abandoning its heritage entirely, moving to a situation if not already attained, or making that bedrock of its game irrelevant while more raucous and immediately entertaining variations grab the weekends, the limelight and define a whole new de facto environment for its new audiences.
Whither historical context and tradition. Welcome to the brave new world of chasing the pound signs, 3D television in effect, and being careful what you wish for.
And watch out for a dozen Dolly Partons in the upper circle, coming to a theatre near you... soon....
(c) Ian Diddams 2016
Tuesday 12 July 2016
Monday 18 April 2016
Corporate Stupidity and inflexibility
Yes I know. It's me having a moan again. But really... if a bloke can't have a dashed good moan now and again what IS the world coming to?
Yesterday I had the great misfortune to visit - and there's a word one may use advisedly - Tesco's at Cirencester. Now, I do feel it only fair to say that what I am about to relate could well have happened at any Tesco's, not just the one at Cirencester. Or indeed at any of the other supermarkets that may be available at Cirencester or indeed elsewhere. It's just as likely - within certain offers and caveats - to have happened at any supermarket anywhere.
It was the occasion of my beloved's 50th birthday. We had a picnic day arranged at a beautiful location, but I need a couple of last minute things. like food. And something to drink. Nothing major - especially as a Tesco's the size of a small central American nation was only a few miles away. So as the wifelet exercised herself and our two dogs, I set off for what could only be a 30 minute errand ... surely?
I should have known. As the bank holiday weekend loomed over the horizon where as far as I understand it supermarkets would be open as normal except for Sunday hours on Monday (i.e. ONLY 6 hours available!) half of Gloucestershire had descended on this Tesco's. You never know what you might run out of at 16:01 on Monday after all. Better make sure we are stocked up with car freshener, and light bulbs after all.
That notwithstanding, my shopping was done in no more than 10 minutes, and I joined a queue at a checkout. The woman in front did appear to be shopping for an entire nation - one like Brazil, 5th largest country in the world. That's OK and fair enough of course. Except... she had money off vouchers.
Again... nothing wrong with that - in itself. I am certainly one for a bit of value and saving the pennies in life. However, these vouchers were of the "fiver off a £40 shop variety". But it transpires that one cannot join these up... so if you have an £80 shop you cannot get a tenner off. Oh no. that would be FAR too BLOODY OBVIOUS!!!
I am sure, dear reader, that you are already "there". So the shopper - whose fault it is not that this stupid scenario exists - would get the cashier to ring through just over £40 shopping... then cash that through. Having completed one £40 shop (with a fiver off), the next £40 was then rung through... and repeat. Twenty-five minutes later three loads - and three refunds - had eventually been completed. It was like being forcibly stuck watching the chuckle brothers for 25 minutes. Only less amusing - if that is actually at all possible. I enviously watched other queues dispatching shoppers at a rate of dozens per minute (prob'ly) while this glacial experience unfolded before my eyes. Eventually the shopping was done, the cashier apologised for the delay, and life returned to its normal pace.
But why, oh why, does this occur? Is it really beyond the wit of man, and the capabilities of software designers and programmers to understand that 2 x £40 = 2 x vouchers = one ring though and one refund? Really? We can put men on the moon, replace body organs, operate on people via cameras and tools inserted within a pin hole and broadcast vast quantities of drivel across the globe via satellites 22,000 miles above the Earth.
But we cannot work out a way to make a shopping experience as efficient as it could or even should be.
Its enough to drive one to drink. As long as you don't need to queue in a supermarket for it that is. (c) Ian Diddams 2016
Yesterday I had the great misfortune to visit - and there's a word one may use advisedly - Tesco's at Cirencester. Now, I do feel it only fair to say that what I am about to relate could well have happened at any Tesco's, not just the one at Cirencester. Or indeed at any of the other supermarkets that may be available at Cirencester or indeed elsewhere. It's just as likely - within certain offers and caveats - to have happened at any supermarket anywhere.
It was the occasion of my beloved's 50th birthday. We had a picnic day arranged at a beautiful location, but I need a couple of last minute things. like food. And something to drink. Nothing major - especially as a Tesco's the size of a small central American nation was only a few miles away. So as the wifelet exercised herself and our two dogs, I set off for what could only be a 30 minute errand ... surely?
I should have known. As the bank holiday weekend loomed over the horizon where as far as I understand it supermarkets would be open as normal except for Sunday hours on Monday (i.e. ONLY 6 hours available!) half of Gloucestershire had descended on this Tesco's. You never know what you might run out of at 16:01 on Monday after all. Better make sure we are stocked up with car freshener, and light bulbs after all.
That notwithstanding, my shopping was done in no more than 10 minutes, and I joined a queue at a checkout. The woman in front did appear to be shopping for an entire nation - one like Brazil, 5th largest country in the world. That's OK and fair enough of course. Except... she had money off vouchers.
Again... nothing wrong with that - in itself. I am certainly one for a bit of value and saving the pennies in life. However, these vouchers were of the "fiver off a £40 shop variety". But it transpires that one cannot join these up... so if you have an £80 shop you cannot get a tenner off. Oh no. that would be FAR too BLOODY OBVIOUS!!!
I am sure, dear reader, that you are already "there". So the shopper - whose fault it is not that this stupid scenario exists - would get the cashier to ring through just over £40 shopping... then cash that through. Having completed one £40 shop (with a fiver off), the next £40 was then rung through... and repeat. Twenty-five minutes later three loads - and three refunds - had eventually been completed. It was like being forcibly stuck watching the chuckle brothers for 25 minutes. Only less amusing - if that is actually at all possible. I enviously watched other queues dispatching shoppers at a rate of dozens per minute (prob'ly) while this glacial experience unfolded before my eyes. Eventually the shopping was done, the cashier apologised for the delay, and life returned to its normal pace.
But why, oh why, does this occur? Is it really beyond the wit of man, and the capabilities of software designers and programmers to understand that 2 x £40 = 2 x vouchers = one ring though and one refund? Really? We can put men on the moon, replace body organs, operate on people via cameras and tools inserted within a pin hole and broadcast vast quantities of drivel across the globe via satellites 22,000 miles above the Earth.
But we cannot work out a way to make a shopping experience as efficient as it could or even should be.
Its enough to drive one to drink. As long as you don't need to queue in a supermarket for it that is. (c) Ian Diddams 2016
Gap Yahh!
Far too many years ago I was fortunate enough to travel the oceans blue, or at least the world with a backpack blue. North, Central, South America, Australia and New Zealand, then Thailand and Europe in the late '80s, before settling in (initially West, then reunified) Germany and enjoying traveling around Europe more, and a brief sojourn in Egypt. That was followed by another couple of years in the early 90s traveling in Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific before again returning to the UK via the USA.
My wife at a similar time spent well in excess of a year in India, south-east Asia and Nepal. Her experiences were similar - of a backpacking camaraderie, and limited connections with parents and friends at home. She must have been desperate for company maybe - we met in Indonesia and now have a house, three children and two dogs together ;-)
Traveling was always hard work, but rewarding and there were always other travelers to share good times, beers and information with. Contact with "home" was limited, mainly by letter and postcard though expensive phone calls were always an option of course.
Last month my son traveled to India for adventures and a good time. He had the MOST amazing time, particularly driven by his interest in Buddhism. His adventures included those shared by his mum - the Rajasthan desert, Agra and The Taj Mahal, Varanassi's ghats. He also enjoyed areas that I included in some of my travels - watching international cricket live, eating indistinguishable foodstuffs and trying to find a cold beer. All in all a hugely positive experience.
But in the intervening years something has changed. Of course modern communications now mean the monthly postcard proving to your parents that you are still alive is usurped by immediate internet chatting. A regular alarm call (!) at about 0430 every day would wake us as he sent us a "Good Morning" message, and we were able to share his experiences and travels with him as he sent photographs and updates via facebook, and we were able to help investigate queries and check out concerns instantaneously for him - it became very much a shared experience, albeit of course a vicarious one for us. I wasn't sure before how the internet would affect backpacking today, but with this experience I would say it is actually positive.
There is however it would seem - at least in India - a downside to the presence of the internet and immediate comms - and smartphones. In a month of traveling he met ONE other traveler to interact with. Have a coffee, see some sites (and sights!) together, have a chat with. One. Every other backpacker/traveler he encountered just wasn't interested in any social interaction at all. At best totally indifferent, at worst down right rudeness. It came to a head in Goa, where in a hostel with a shared communal area he sat with seven other travelers. All of them to a man (or woman) watching youtube videos in silence. Not even chatting with friends at home - just watching youtube videos. Ignoring everybody else in the room, not engaging, even to chat over making a coffee in the tiny kitchenette provided. Nothing. "Nada" - as they would have said in South America in 1987.
I would always support people's own reasons for doing something. But simple rudeness and a lack of social cohesion I find very difficult to comprehend and accept. I am very proud of my son, who traveled somewhere totally different from his roots, at what is still really a young age, on his own. But I have to say this from a parent's and ex-traveler's perspective; this is for the (mostly) rest of the backpacking fraternity on the sub-continent... and thanks to George Formby for the meter.
Bless'em all.
bless 'em all! bless 'em all,
the boorish, and with minds so small,
gone to India, to travel and learn,
sat in their hostels avoiding sunburn,
never speaking to others at all,
as back to their smartphones they crawl,
There's no conversation, in the Indian nation,
By gap-yearers less than enthralled! (c) Ian Diddams 2016
My wife at a similar time spent well in excess of a year in India, south-east Asia and Nepal. Her experiences were similar - of a backpacking camaraderie, and limited connections with parents and friends at home. She must have been desperate for company maybe - we met in Indonesia and now have a house, three children and two dogs together ;-)
Traveling was always hard work, but rewarding and there were always other travelers to share good times, beers and information with. Contact with "home" was limited, mainly by letter and postcard though expensive phone calls were always an option of course.
Last month my son traveled to India for adventures and a good time. He had the MOST amazing time, particularly driven by his interest in Buddhism. His adventures included those shared by his mum - the Rajasthan desert, Agra and The Taj Mahal, Varanassi's ghats. He also enjoyed areas that I included in some of my travels - watching international cricket live, eating indistinguishable foodstuffs and trying to find a cold beer. All in all a hugely positive experience.
But in the intervening years something has changed. Of course modern communications now mean the monthly postcard proving to your parents that you are still alive is usurped by immediate internet chatting. A regular alarm call (!) at about 0430 every day would wake us as he sent us a "Good Morning" message, and we were able to share his experiences and travels with him as he sent photographs and updates via facebook, and we were able to help investigate queries and check out concerns instantaneously for him - it became very much a shared experience, albeit of course a vicarious one for us. I wasn't sure before how the internet would affect backpacking today, but with this experience I would say it is actually positive.
There is however it would seem - at least in India - a downside to the presence of the internet and immediate comms - and smartphones. In a month of traveling he met ONE other traveler to interact with. Have a coffee, see some sites (and sights!) together, have a chat with. One. Every other backpacker/traveler he encountered just wasn't interested in any social interaction at all. At best totally indifferent, at worst down right rudeness. It came to a head in Goa, where in a hostel with a shared communal area he sat with seven other travelers. All of them to a man (or woman) watching youtube videos in silence. Not even chatting with friends at home - just watching youtube videos. Ignoring everybody else in the room, not engaging, even to chat over making a coffee in the tiny kitchenette provided. Nothing. "Nada" - as they would have said in South America in 1987.
I would always support people's own reasons for doing something. But simple rudeness and a lack of social cohesion I find very difficult to comprehend and accept. I am very proud of my son, who traveled somewhere totally different from his roots, at what is still really a young age, on his own. But I have to say this from a parent's and ex-traveler's perspective; this is for the (mostly) rest of the backpacking fraternity on the sub-continent... and thanks to George Formby for the meter.
Bless'em all.
bless 'em all! bless 'em all,
the boorish, and with minds so small,
gone to India, to travel and learn,
sat in their hostels avoiding sunburn,
never speaking to others at all,
as back to their smartphones they crawl,
There's no conversation, in the Indian nation,
By gap-yearers less than enthralled! (c) Ian Diddams 2016
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)