Beauty in the photograph

While searching for a file on my computer, it's always stumbling across old, forgotten photographs that stop me in my tracks. Especially those with long, possibly lost, friends in them. I've never been one for "staged" photographs—everyone popping on their fake "have you taken it yet?" smile. I love to capture my friends and family before they've even realise the camera is there. A beautiful, yet simple, depth to their actions, expressions, thoughts, and a moment of their life which, in an instant, has now passed forever. A quiet observation which stirs up a loud emotion. It always brings me back to my ultimate favourite quote from the film 'One Hour Photo';

Snapshots are their little stands against the flow of time. The shutter is clicked... the flash goes off... and they’ve stopped time... if just for the blink of an eye. If these pictures have anything important to say to future generations, it’s this...

“I was here. I existed. I was young. I was happy... and someone cared enough about me in this world to take my picture.”

So, when are you going to have a baby?

I don't know if it's because we are newly weds, because we're in our seventh year together, or because we're edging closer and closer to our 30s; but I've noticed that at least once a week we have someone ask the baby question. I confess I cringe as I recall that I, too, am guilty of flippantly asking in the past. It's easily done, but it is so irritating and incredibly insensitive. It's not law to reproduce. Nor should it be expected. It's about as open ended and presumptuous as asking, "so when are you going to win the lottery?"

Deciding to have children is both personal and something which is determined by Mother Nature. It's not like you wake up one morning and stuff a bun in the oven. A woman's chance of falling pregnant in her cycle is around 20–30%, it is estimated that 50% of all miscarriages happen before she even knows she's pregnant, and then the chance of carrying full term if she does fall pregnant is 70–90%. You don't know what couples may be dealing with when it comes to reproducing, and it's not your business to ask. So maybe it's time we all had a good think before we start probing. If you're really interested and want to share in someone's life, then ask if they have plans for the future, or how life is at the moment. If they feel the prospect of spawning tiny humans is something they'd like to share with you, then that's their decision to approach the subject.

In the mean time, for those of you who are bound to be asked the dreaded question, I found this website with some great responses! My new favourites are, "at least 9 months from now" and "I don't need to, I married one".

10-Ways-to-Respond-to-When-Are-You-Going-to-Have-a-Baby

Home improvements nightmare

Considering buying windows and doors for your home? Like us, does it make you shudder and want to climb under your duvet then scream into a pillow until the whole process is over. Why does it all have to be so difficult? This is the 21st Century where people are wise to the ridiculous and obnoxious sales tactics and we do not care for the verbal diarrhoea which spills from the mouths of the person trying to make a sale. Here's some free advice to companies who do not provide clear prices and who employ sales representatives to make their sales, cut the bullshit! Nobody buys it. People are busy and do not want some sales rep sitting in their home for upward of three hours spouting nonsense in the hope that you buy their product. If it is as good as you say it is, then it should sell itself. I find it ridiculous that no window or door company offers a system online where you can enter your window dimensions, choose what style you want, and have a quote there and then (which could be subject to a surveyors report). If some person with a calculator can sit in your room and work it out, then an online system could most certainly do a better job of it. I firmly believe this would attract more customers, could cut the need for sales reps (save money), would save everybody time, and make the whole experience a lot more bearable.

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Our Experience


Our experience comes from a meeting with a sales rep from Zenith and I have highlighted why we will no longer be using their services. I would like to point out that our views extend to the other big companies as we feel they will probably all offer the same, game playing, sales tactics.

So last night we had an appointment scheduled with a sales rep from Zenith at 6pm. My lovely husband had the dinner simmering just before the rep arrived, so we anticipated a quick chat, measure up, and we'd be eating by 7:30pm. We invited the gentleman in, offered him a cup of tea, and got to discussing what we would like done. Thinking back, the rep probably asked a few too many questions; but generally I am a straight shooter and will gladly tell someone if I think it's none of their business, so this didn't really bother me.

After nearly an hour, he finally got around to measuring the windows and the doors. We chose what styles we wanted for the doors, fixtures, glass, etc. It was now about 7:20 and we thought, "great, he'll probably want to go away and calculate the prices then call us; or he'll just give us the price now and we'll call him tomorrow." Wrong. It was nearly another hour and a half before we were given any price! I get that he wants to sell us the company and big up the products, but to be honest, we don't care. This is all stuff we can read online. We already did our research before the arranged interview. However, we were polite and appreciated his enthusiasm for the company he works for.

All in all, up until now, we were still thinking this is a company we could get on board with. The kicker came when we wouldn't sign there and then. He went from being a friendly chap to an arrogant prick. Firstly, we were asked, "How much do you think this would cost you?" Okay, nobody likes being asked this. Go in too high and you feel like you're not being given an honest price, but what is too high? Go in too low, and you are made to feel like an idiot. We don't work in the industry, if we knew how much they were going to charge, we wouldn't be having this dragged out meeting with them. We humoured him, played the game, and gave a price of what we thought. He scribbled some numbers down, then came back to us with a price for the eight windows and two doors. Then he scribbled some more and said, "but if you buy as an individual and with the qualifying discounts we can do it for..." gave us a figure which was roughly 35% lower than the first quote. Then he said, "but if you also join the portfolio scheme* we can do it for..." At this point I interjected and said that we wouldn't be in a position to sign tonight, maybe in a couple of days, but not right now. He asked why not, so I said that I'd like to discuss it with my mum first; further my husband corroborated that to sign right now would be stupid. This is when it turned sour. The sales rep became quite annoyed that we had "wasted his time" and that he "couldn't offer us the portfolio deal later because they only have one style of each in the portfolio; so if someone in the area chooses white framed windows then we wouldn't be needed." This is when I most definitely smelt a very big pile of Billy bullshit. So he means to be telling us that so far, in a mile radius of our house, the people opting in to this magical portfolio have not chosen WHITE FRAMED WINDOWS! The most popular window frame colour in the country? Oh no my friend. The deal was off. He did the whole, "let me phone my colleague" routine; like no-one's ever seen that before. Then when he finished on the phone he said, "Nope. We cannot offer you the portfolio deal." I asked him to tell us how much it would have been, but he said, "No. There's no point in telling you now because you can't have it. If I tell you then I know you won't come back to us and buy as an individual if you know you could've got it for cheaper as part of the scheme. I've worked in this business for twenty years, and do you know how many people have come back as individuals? Zero, and you're going to be just the same. You're going to leave your windows to degrade even more and then go with some cheap company. I know, I've seen it before." This made me very annoyed and I was thinking, "How dare you. How dare you come into our home and presume you know us. Stalk all your previous appointments, do you? Stalk them to find out if they bought cheap windows or not? Do not speak to us in a patronising and derogatory fashion in our own home."

Eventually we did find out the price, it was approximately 67% lower than the original price and 33% lower than if we were to buy as individuals. We showed him the door and finally tucked into our dinner at 9:30pm! We were left feeling quite vexed and don't fancy repeating the experience anytime soon.

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In Conclusion

The saddest part is, we genuinely would have considered the individual offer. The sample window looked really good. We loved the front door we'd chosen, and we were happy with the styles etc. However, it is not good company practise to force people to sign on the spot. If an offer is valid today, then it IS valid tomorrow. It is obvious that a company is lying if they do not allow you a couple of days to consider their offer.

I would like to state that I do not believe that our rep was a one off. I firmly believe that there is something fundamentally wrong within the home improvements industry and that sales representatives have, ironically, a bad representation because of their questionable conduct and sales techniques.

I would rather put my money in a company who allows me to calculate a rough cost through an online system. Then arrange for a surveyor to come round, calculate an accurate price, and give me that price. The sales pitch is not wanted and is not needed. The whole process could've taken up to an hour, not over three! Just measure up, give me a price, and leave so we can think it over.



*Zenith offer a portfolio scheme, apparently, which means you have their advertising board on your house for up to 7 weeks and they take photos of the work. We were not shown any previous portfolios so are not sure if these is just something they embellish to make it feel like you got a good deal; when actually you just paid the going rate and the original prices were fictional.

Graphic Designers—Know your worth

I can't help but vent my outraged at seeing some people selling logo designs online for as little as £10. The area I find most irritating is when these "logo's" are sold to multiple people; meaning several businesses could end up having the same brand. I find this a massive insult to the design industry and it makes a mockery of the time and thought which goes into branding a company. When setting up your business, branding is one of the most important assets to your company. It sets you aside from your competitors. It informs your customers who you are and what your company is about. It makes you instantly recognisable so customers will identify your work when they see your mark. It's truly terrible that some people consider it to be valued so little and something almost of an afterthought. To brand someone you need to research their company in depth, explore many ideas to see which one will work best, and refine a chosen idea so it is absolutely perfect. This process can take weeks to get right. I believe there is no such thing as a "one brand fits all" idea.

To all "designers" selling these "logo's" for such low prices, get some self respect. You're ridiculing and devaluing the very industry which you work in. You're sending out the message that designers time or ideas aren't worth the paper they're written on. You should be proud of what you do, and prepared to quote a fair price for your work. Further, you're not acting in the best interest of your clients. It's a cheap sale to supply the same logo to multiple clients and will do them little good in the long run. 

To anyone thinking of buying these logos, you're business should be worth so much more to you. Company image is everything and could mean the difference between success or failure. It's a valuable investment to get the brand right; and to get it right from the start. The saying is generally true, "if you buy cheap, you buy twice." If your start-up investment is low then, at the very least, ensure your logo is unique and do not buy one which is distributed to anyone and everyone.

In conclusion, I calm myself by reading the Creative Review article 'Why designers shouldn’t worry about Squarespace Logo'. My favourite quote being, "McDonald’s can comfortably exist alongside Michelin starred restaurant The Fat Duck. They both offer a culinary solution, but they’re not in competition with each other".

David Bowie Tribute

For me, he was an inspirational and versatile person both musically and fashionably. Though I'm not a diehard fan, I do strongly admire his life and his ability to reinvent himself into the person he wanted to be; to live life to the absolute full. I aspire to this. To experience life and to live every minute, right up until the end.

Vive la dash!

It amazes me how many people do not know the difference between, or haven't even heard of, 'en-dashes' or 'em-dashes'. I too am guilty of not knowing about these until I studied at university. I find it is such a shame that these important punctuation symbols are not taught in school. I often wonder if I'm in the distinct minority of people who cringe when they see the wrong dash being used; it really is something which grinds my gears. All too often I find that a hyphen has been used because of the reason that, "the small dashes look better!" When, in fact, the bottom line is what the grammar police would have to say about it. If it were down to aesthetics, you could argue that one may prefer the word 'shit' over the word 'shirt', simply because the negative space between the 'r' and the 't' is somewhat uncomfortable at times. The point would still remain that a 'shit' and a 'shirt' are very much two different things. Likewise, a 'hyphen', an 'en-dash', and an 'em-dash' all mean different things and therefore should be respected and used for the purpose in which they were created. So I say, bring back the correct use of each dash and celebrate how they enhance our written language!

Two years—tut tut tut!

Two years since my last post! Wow. Either I have nothing interesting to say* or I just don't seem to sit down and write anymore. It's time to revive the blog! First job, find something interesting to journal—that doesn't include the need to write about writing something; damn...

*For someone who can talk the hind legs off a donkey, I hardly think this conclusion is possible.