Are Adverts Pointless?
I’m just watching the Tour de France on ITV4, as I put together the next couple of IKEA cabinets for my kitchen.
The adverts are completely aimed at the wrong person.
1. There has been two different companies trying to sell me Funeral Insurance. Why would I want a funeral and anyway, I won’t be going or remember it. We should just post our bodies to the nearest hospital for dissection practice or a pet food factory to do something useful.
2. There are also adverts for Skoda cars. I don’t drive and have no interest in the sort of boring cars bought by plebs. Or in any car forv that matter unless it doesn’t pollute my walking space.
3. Santander Bank. Only idiots, bank with Head Offices in other countries. Remember Iceland and Scotland!
4. Petplan, Pets are for the lonely and conservative.
5. Loans. I don’t need to borrow money.
6. Car Insurance. See point 2.
7. Barbecues. I hate them!
When somebody invents a television that doesn’t show adverts or trailers in live television, I’ll buy one.
Va Va Froome
By chance I travelled yesterday on a DLR train bedecked with Va Va Froome for the Tour de France.
I’d actually seen it on the bridge as the cyclists passed underneath on Monday.
As the train went towards Canary Wharf, we passed another with Cavendish going the other way. I hope that one doesn’t have an accident.
Getting Ready For The Tour
I took these pictures yesterday in mid-morning, as I walked around Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly.
The crowds were as expected later, but as the pictures show, the streets were surprisingly empty. The BBC is reporting this morning, that traffic was down twenty percent yesterday, so perhaps a lot of people took the day off yesterday, or came in later on public transport.
Speaking to a couple of bus drivers and some Transport for London ambassadors, who were there to answer questions, none said that they’d heard of a bus passenger wanting to use cash. The ambassador told me, that no-one had even raised the subject of cashless buses with her.
Vive Le Tour!
That is the headline on the wrap around The Times today.
Vive Le Tour!
I do think that Yorkshire has shown how to do a Grand Depart. I suspect that Utrecht next year, will follow Yorkshire’s lead.
In some ways it’s all a bit sad, as there aren’t many events like the Tour de France, that can be used to build a great event around.
Yorkshire is apparently starting the Tour de Yorkshire, London has the Marathon, Liverpool the Grand National and Newcastle the Great North Run, so perhaps we ought to get our thinking caps on, to create some more iconic events.
The Adverts Are Driving Me Crazy!
I’m trying to watch the Tour de France on ITV4.
But there are so many adverts, I get so many interruptions, that I could be in trying to watch it in the middle of a main road.
Don’t you just hate it!
The worst is some loan company advertising loans at with an APR of 1971%. If they sell any, I wouldn’t have thought that even a spendthrift mug would get a loan at that rate!
One advert is for a deodorant. I had one other product in the company’s range. It has now gone in the bin and when I find,what the parent company is, then they’ll be on my non-preferred list.
I’d be happy to pay a subscription to get advert-free television!
A Sensible Solution To A Local Religious Problem
The Tour de France is creating a problem for the Jewish community in Leeds, as the synagogue is on one side of the route and the congregation general live on the other. So crossing the road twice is going to be difficult on the Sabbath.
Radio 5 have just had an interview with the local rabbi and it was amazing as he told how he dealt with all the problems and decided to have services on both sides of the route, in a synagogue and a school. He’s also timed everything to fit in with the race, so his congregation can also see the race, if they want to.
This interview should be played to all of those religious fanatics around the world, as a practical example of how to celebrate your religion, without imposing any limits on others.
Where’s the Tour de France
On a day, when we’re going to win France’s most prestigious sporting trophy, where is the action?
Radio 5 has some golf and you can only get fleeting bits between the adverts on ITV4.
The Black Prince, Henry V, Hawke, Cochrane, Nelson, Wellington and John Churchill will all be spinning in their graves. I suspect too,that even the French won’t be very pleased, as I think they’d prefer to see France shown at its best to Les Anglais and also as they’ve rather taken to our Bradley. Perhaps we can all take a leaf out of his book and learn to speak better French.
Does My Bum Look Big In This?
Just watching the Tour de France and one guy is riding in an outfit with BigMat across his bottom.
It doesn’t do much for his figure!
Wiggins Plays The Gentleman
It’s not often that the Corinthian spirit shines through in modern sport, but when someone decided to throw tacks on the route of the Tour de France yesterday, Bradley Wiggins slowed the peloton to allow one of his rivals, Cadel Evans, to catch up. Read about it all here. Here’s an extract.
Race official Jean-Francois Pescheux confirmed: “The nails were mainly thrown on the ground around 200m from the summit.
“It was obviously done on purpose. We have the tacks but we don’t know who spread them. They are imbeciles.”
However, he was quick to praise the actions of Wiggins. “Sky showed they are for fair play,” he added. “They saw that something had happened and they slowed the peloton so that things could come together for the ride to the finish.”
Tour etiquette dictates that rivals do not take advantage of another rider’s misfortune and, as soon as he realised what was happening, Team Sky’s lead rider called for a truce.
“I thought it was the honourable thing to do,” said 32-year-old Wiggins who is aiming to become the first British rider to win the race. “Nobody wants to benefit from someone else’s misfortune.”
So in fact Wiggins was just following the etiquette. It’s a pity other sports don’t do the same.
There’s more on Wiggins here, who has now been hailed as Le Genteman by the Press.
The Anonymous Widower 