![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
It's almost a year since we were in the Dominican Republic for Hurricane Jeanne. It was actually rather fun, in a blitz spirit kind of way. However, it was only a Cat 3 storm and by the standards of Katherine a baby. I've always wanted to see New Orleans, it is going to be interesting to see how the city is rebuilt. I've a strong suspicion that in true arse kicking US fashion, they'll rebuild it better than before.
There's been some general "right wing" blog blood letting about this, mostly in reaction to some rather churlish commentators who are asking if the US is reaping what it has sowed. In reality the answer is probably not, we're due an active phase for Hurricanes and once in a generation a Cat 5 is going to pound somewhere. The question is whether or not this is the only hammer to fall this season which, I understand, won't get into it's stride for another few weeks. If Cat 5s become a more common event when they make landfall then that will be a conversation to have at that time.
It being the end of the month, I have expenses to do. Lots of travel this month, lots of weird receipts, taxi fares and hotel bills to collate against a telephone number like Amex bill. Plus we have an RFP due in at 8AM tomorrow morning. Tomorrow we have a "strategy" day in our Winchester office followed by me flying out to Seattle via Vancouver - looking at the vestiges of Katherine as they trkack North, the normal routing over Hudson Bay might be a bit lumpy.
So, busy busy as usual.
In more positive news I had a victory complaining about poor service. Well, two actually. The first was in Heathrow where the check in person was treating passengers like they crawled in from under a rock. As her supervisor said, "BA need all the friend's they can get..." - too right. I got upgraded for that.
Then in Starbucks some braindead Bimbo stopped me using the power socket which was next to my table. "Why put in WiFi if you don't let us use the power too?" I asked. She said if I didn't like the policy I could complain to customer service.
So I did, there and then by email. Within the hour I had a reply telling me that that was not their policy and providing the cable didn't block any places people walk, there isn't an issue. They've just sent me 2 vouchers for any drink and £10 in food tokens.
Well, it's not much but it feels like a Moral Victory if nothing else.
Right then, back to the expenses.
There's been some general "right wing" blog blood letting about this, mostly in reaction to some rather churlish commentators who are asking if the US is reaping what it has sowed. In reality the answer is probably not, we're due an active phase for Hurricanes and once in a generation a Cat 5 is going to pound somewhere. The question is whether or not this is the only hammer to fall this season which, I understand, won't get into it's stride for another few weeks. If Cat 5s become a more common event when they make landfall then that will be a conversation to have at that time.
It being the end of the month, I have expenses to do. Lots of travel this month, lots of weird receipts, taxi fares and hotel bills to collate against a telephone number like Amex bill. Plus we have an RFP due in at 8AM tomorrow morning. Tomorrow we have a "strategy" day in our Winchester office followed by me flying out to Seattle via Vancouver - looking at the vestiges of Katherine as they trkack North, the normal routing over Hudson Bay might be a bit lumpy.
So, busy busy as usual.
In more positive news I had a victory complaining about poor service. Well, two actually. The first was in Heathrow where the check in person was treating passengers like they crawled in from under a rock. As her supervisor said, "BA need all the friend's they can get..." - too right. I got upgraded for that.
Then in Starbucks some braindead Bimbo stopped me using the power socket which was next to my table. "Why put in WiFi if you don't let us use the power too?" I asked. She said if I didn't like the policy I could complain to customer service.
So I did, there and then by email. Within the hour I had a reply telling me that that was not their policy and providing the cable didn't block any places people walk, there isn't an issue. They've just sent me 2 vouchers for any drink and £10 in food tokens.
Well, it's not much but it feels like a Moral Victory if nothing else.
Right then, back to the expenses.
