Looking Forward to Source Code

It's been a busy week for us on the cinema front with "The Eagle" on Wednesday, "Submarine" on Friday and today we're off to see "Source Code". It's got the highest average score I've seen from the Guardian's summary of the critics for some time so the chances are that it will be entertaining. I thought that "Submarine" was an excellent depiction of first love and teen angst and had a great performance from Yasmin Paige as lovelorn Oliver's pyromaniac girlfriend. It's a very stylistic and cinematic film with plenty of nods toward classics such as "Don't Look Now" and the very gentle and subtle humour reminded me a lot of Bill Forsyth's "Gregory's Girl" and "Local Hero". If I had to sum it up in one word, that word would be "nice". I know that might make film lovers cringe but there's nothing wrong with the occasional nice film once in a while. It's a pity that it didn't get wider release as our screening at FACT on Friday afternoon was quite busy despite having been playing there for well over a week.

Hopefully before we go to the cinema today we will see the end of the saga of the John Lewis bedroom curtains. For those who have not read this blog before, it's a long story but we ordered some curtains in September and after long delays they were finally fitted in late February but the custom made curtain poles were the wrong size and had to be patched up with copper tubes to enable us to use the bedroom. I spared John Lewis' blushes by failing to blog two weeks ago when their excellent fitter Peter returned to finish the job only to sheepishly tell us that the brand new custom made poles were also the wrong size. It's cost John Lewis a fair sum in fitters' time and extremely expensive poles that are no use to anybody but our main complaint was in the poor handling of the initial delays. After the second cock up they have been a little more apologetic but, apart from the fitter who is really nice, the service has not been what you would expect from a company with John Lewis' reputation.

For a break from cinema, tomorrow we are off to see Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit" at the Apollo in London. Unlike "Source Code"the average score in the Guardian's critics round up for this was very low and the show received pretty dire reviews. This is surprising as, with such a strong cast, we expected it to be a big hit. Well at least we bought the tickets before we saw the criticism and you never know, we may disagree with it, I've spoken to a few people who loved the new "Phantom of the Opera" show that the reviewers hated.

It's time to start thinking about how to vote on the AV referendum. I've tried to get my head around the proposal but I'm worried that it's a charter to encourage mediocrity. Just think if they had used AV in other important events like X Factor we could have seen a situation where Wagner, that old Brazilian bloke with the pony tail, could have won because everyone put him as a second choice and less than 50% voted for Matt. If the plan is to keep single member constituencies then surely the winner has to be the one who polls the most votes within each constituency whether he or she hits 50% or not.

I'm fascinated by all the fuss about Wayne Rooney's four letter outburst at the TV cameras at the weekend. Anybody who watches football on a regular basis will know that foul language is endemic in the sport and if you listen to the crowds' chants while you watch it on screen you will hear far worse than  Wayne's comments every week being shouted at full volume by twenty thousand people. Its one of the reasons that I'm giving up on the game. I'm not a prude but it's really not very pleasant.

Off now as the John Lewis man has arrived. I'll leave you with a new UFO sighting from YouTube.

John Lewis (Almost) Redeem Themselves (Sort Of)

There's no argument that the curtains ordered from John Lewis almost five months ago and fitted yesterday are anything but beautiful. Their fitter, Peter, was everything you could want from a fitter ; punctual, polite, friendly and a very clean and tidy worker. In fact, he and the curtains were so good that we were almost prepared to forgive the John Lewis design department their lousy attitude during the long delays. Until, that is, Peter asked if we could spare him a minute. He pointed out that the custom made brass curtain pole was the wrong size. The bends were in the right place and at the right angle but the pole was about 15" short. As you might guess, custom made poles take about six weeks to be made and delivered and we were facing the prospect of another six weeks camped in the spare bedroom. We pointed out that we have a house full on Saturday night and need all the bedrooms and, after the long delays already experienced (see my blog "A Rare Case Of Poor Service From John Lewis") Peter was very understanding and arranged for another fitter to come with some spare lengths of brass which he managed to splice into the custom pole to make the curtains (and the room) usable until the replacement pole arrives. So great curtains John Lewis and a great fitter in Peter but we remain unimpressed with the design service. At the price we paid, I would have thought that a quick and apologetic phone call from someone in authority would be the least we might expect.

My car's being repaired after my moments of madness when I managed to collide with concrete so we had to miss a planned lunch in the country with some old friends today. I went instead to the local auction house to see if I could find any bargains. There were a couple of very nice lots that I was outbid on but I managed to buy a dinner service designed by Clarice Cliff for the Wilkinson factory in the 1930's at the very top of my limit. I'll post a photo here when I've been to collect it.

There was some time to kill in between lots so I had a quick stroll along Lord St which, with all the pavement cafes overflowing, was looking like a mini Champs Elysees in the early spring sunshine. It's the first day this year that anyone not wanting a quick fag would choose to sit outside and the town looked quite cosmopolitan.

Old people are not all sweetness and light as we discovered at Tesco today. The old woman above pushed in front of us at the check out and when we politely pointed out our presence to her she said "I'm with her" pointing to another old lady in front of her. The second woman pointedly ignored her and I doubt that she knew her from Adam. It was busy, there were long queues but being old is not an entitlement to jump them. We just shrugged her cheek off and moved to another aisle. Life's too short to get involved in a row in the supermarket.


We went to see True Grit last night. I loved it. It took me back to my childhood when westerns were the weekly staple. Fortunately I had been warned about Jeff Bridges' mumbling so I was extremely attentive when he was on screen. I would not be surprised if it pips The King's Speech at the Oscars this weekend. In the meantime, here's the trailer for a film due out in the autumn. It looks amazing.

A Rare Case Of Poor Service From John Lewis

I love John lewis. It's a great store and it's opening in Liverpool One a couple of years ago made Liverpool our shopping centre of choice after years of traipsing to Manchester. In the past year we've bought loads from Lewis' and we've been happy with their service - they aren't the number one high street brand in customer satisfaction for nothing. 


So when we saw them advertising a home design service and our bedroom was due for a face lift it was natural that we should give them a try. It was August and we planned to have the bedroom refurbished at the start of January when I would be over the worst of the hip replacement. There were a few building jobs to tie in - new windows, the removal of a fireplace and relocation of a radiator - and, being our main bedroom, we wanted the disruption kept to the minimum. So we planned well in advance.


John, the consultant from John Lewis, visited us on 1st September, listened intently to our ideas and within a couple of weeks sent us samples of wall coverings, carpets and fabrics that were exactly in line with what we wanted. We went into the store and met up with John again, chose some great curtain poles and ordered everything we needed for the room. So far so good. We contacted the decorators and the builders and they pencilled in the first and second week of January for everything to tie in with John Lewis' delivery date.


In late October we had a call from the design team to say that the curtain fabric was delayed and would not arrive until 19th November and did we wish to choose an alternative. As the wallpaper and carpet were coordinated with the fabric we said that the delay was not a problem as, after all, the curtains were not required until mid January.


The day after the fabric should have arrived, another call was  received and we were told that it had been further delayed and was not now scheduled until early January which would mean early February for delivery. We couldn't change the fabric as the wallpaper and carpet had already arrived. It was a set back but hardly important in the grand scheme of things and our builders and decorators were flexible and agreed to a delay. 


In early January another phone call notified us that the material had now arrived and the fitting date would tentatively be 6th February. OK. Again that was not a problem. But a day later we were told that the people making the curtains had spotted a flaw in the fabric and had rejected it but, not to fear, a new batch had been ordered and would be sent overnight so 6th Feb was still a possibility. The builders and decorated were told to start and we camped out in the spare room.


We were then told two weeks ago that the fabric had not been sent overnight but instead had to come from overseas and would not arrive at John Lewis until Friday 28th January. Yesterday we had a call to say that the fabric had finally arrived and they would like to schedule fitting for 25th February. By now the whole bedroom has been decorated, fireplace removed, new radiator fitted and the carpet is due tomorrow but we won't be able to use the room for another three weeks. Why? Because there is a three week waiting time for curtains to be made.


Now I'm not a seamstress (or a seamster for that matter) but I can't believe that it takes three weeks to make a pair of curtains. Yes there might be a queue but, in the name of good customer service , would it not be possible to delay another customer by a day or so? One that did not order the stuff in October? Would it not make sense to pull out the stops and push our curtain order into pole position? 


One of the design team, Julie, has always been extremely helpful when she has handled our calls but others have given the impression that it was us who were being unreasonable in asking for decent service. We were even told that, although the fabric had arrived with John Lewis, it would take three days to get to the people who make the curtains - have they not heard of overnight carriers?  I know that with all the problems in the world, moaning about a late pair of curtains may sound pathetic but everyone else involved in doing this job - builders, decorators and central heating people - has been extremely cooperative, despite the inconvenience to their schedules and, with their excellent reputation for customer service, I expected more from John Lewis.


Rant over. Off for a day in Liverpool. And yes we'll still have a look around John Lewis.