Coffee

For those of you who don’t know let me explain many years ago my life was built around bars and pubs followed very closely by restaurants and food, now it’s very much around COFFEE and Coffee shops.

As I spend a lot of time out on the road over the years I have found my way to many Starbucks and Costa Coffee shops all over the country and like so many others I am very grateful to both companies for taking my coffee drinking to a different level. However sometimes depending where I am and at what time then I will make do at the drive-through at McDonalds for a large latte as I am not a complete coffee snob.

However now with our two major supermarket chains Sainsbury and Tesco joining in with Costa and Starbucks franchises in some of its outlets I don’t even have to worry about finding a venue in high street along with car parking charges.

Times have moved on and I can own up and even confirm sitting in sun outside at the edge of a superstore car park in some very unlikely venues like Tesco Extra Scunthorpe and Sainsbury Beaconsfield or sitting upstairs at the back of the Tesco Extra Horsham it’s opened up a complete different world and opportunities to gain my coffee fix.

Over the years my one pet hates is that when on holiday unless you’re in the States, Canada or Italy you can’t always find a Starbucks even though the brand is now becoming worldwide, the options to buy a good coffee to drink can be very much hit and miss event?

 However throughout the world there are loads of great coffee houses to buy coffee beans from but not necessarily to just have a quiet sit down and a drink even if in a superstore car park. (It’s all about great tasting coffee)

Some fifteen years or so ago I may have found what might have been a front runner in the car park coffee drinking in a small fishing village called Praia Da Luz which is in the Western Algarve Portugal some 5k west of Lagos, unfortunately Praia Da Luz for the past 4 years has been in the news for all the wrong reasons because of missing British toddler Madeleine McCann, but don’t be put off this is a great place to visit.

Maybe just maybe this small coffee shop in the back streets of Praia De Luz was the front runner for the Tesco and Sainsbury “Al fresco” coffee shops, based inside the family owned Baptista’s supermarket supplying groceries, fresh bread, pastries, croissants, and cakes as well as great coffee along with car parking seating and the other ingredient the Algarve sun. What more could anyone ask for.

I can own up and admit that over the years I have spent many hours just sitting in this car park watching the world go by, in the sun along with other tourists and locals, but more importantly I can recommend the coffee, so if you get the opportunity to visit the Western Algarve check it out you won’t be disappointed and let me know.

Wayne.

http://www.waynecollier.co.uk/

Yes or No that is the question!

Does your business make the most of the World Wide Web in my experience most business owners don’t. Just having a web site presence is not enough it’s just the start; in a nutshell it’s like having a car why have it if you’re not going to drive it.

Companies and business need to make the most out of their most valuable asset your BRAND/PRODUCT. You need to be very aggressive in your marketing. I don’t mean deceiving your clients or annoying your prospects I mean aggressive in building your brand or product.

You may be very smart, clever and even brilliant at what you or your business does but are you telling the world, how do people differentiate between your company and another company’s web site.

Keeping your excising customers happy as in time they will refer you business but this takes time, you need to start self-promotion and tell people how good your company or products are.

In short you need to dominate your market place, remember tell people how good you are don’t be shy if you don’t others will tell them. Life is all about reputation, credibility and being expert in your market place that’s why you need more than just a business card on-line.

When you personally hand over a business card it’s just giving basic contact details to your customer, then you’re about to start selling your services.

Your website needs to be doing the same.
Wayne.
www.waynecollier.co.uk

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/e8r1

Social Media is it for Business!

Social media is it for business I feel it’s a bit like saying are strawberries and cream associated with Tennis at Wimbledon or was Robbie Williams part of Take That. Both are true statements however another fact could be that all parties have survived on their own!

However my view is that with so many industries and manufactures alike are embracing Social Media as a way to build a corporate brand. One of the main reasons is because the internet is highly accessible it’s turning technologies into communication for us all to be able to access cheaply along with a great opportunity to engage in direct feedback or just opinions from us.

That is one of the many reasons for embracing Social Media as another means of a working platform to gain entry into our lives as the growth of the internet over the past thirty years has consolidated its self as the most powerful tool by way that we can communicate and view information.

That’s why given the internet’s universal source of information and the way it’s opened up such an global market place for everyone, via a very low investment cost, can your business afford not to be part of it, I personally think not.

What’s your thoughts!! Why not interact and let me know.

Thanks for your time Wayne.

www.waynecollier.co.uk



As a virgin blogger it is hard to find out in all that "Blogsphere" the required information on how do I interact with a audience, Where do I start as it's a bit like the saying what came first the Chicken or the Egg. I need general crititism and guidance on my writing from my audience but how do I go about getting that audience??? Can anyone help! http://amplify.com/u/e4xp

Justice for the "White Stig"

Justice for the brand “STIG”

A few weekends ago I was fortunate to witness in front of me what I can only call poetic justice for the BBC Top Gear’s brand “THE STIG”; I had been invited to Brands Hatch raceway for the final round of the British Touring Cars Championship (BTCC).

When I say the words justice let me explain, over the years I have become a fan of the BBC programme Top Gear, I have never been sure whether I love or hate front man Jeremy Clarkson but the format of the show I feel is very good.

One of the highlights each week is the mystery behind the tame racing driver “The White Stig”, I can remember back almost ten years to the first “Black Stig” then the change in format for the last seven years the white stig. Who was he! Was he a top driver! I suppose it was just the mystery of not knowing.

Based on the information given out about the original Black Stig being ex F1 driver Perry McCarthy the picture painted by Mr Clackson and his team was that the stig must be a top level racing driver. However in my view this was about to change when in August this year due to a High Court action it was announced who for the past seven years had been “The white stig” Mr Ben Collins.

The reason for the sad news was the announcement that in the autobiography about Ben Collins the racing driver life because he could not get hold of any extra money from the BBC for image rights of the BRAND STIG that he was going to kill the myth and reveal his identity as being the BBC “White Stig” for the past seven years.

So being that was the main makeup of his autobiography he would be moving on. So back to Brands Hatch the last round of the British Touring Cars where now as a racing driver Ben Collins was going to make his debut in a Airways BMW, also between races he would be having book signing sessions, Money, Money, Money me thinks. (If you take the seven years off the STIG out of his book there was not much left)

Even the race day commenter’s kept going on about Collins and The Stig, as a TV licence payer my view is any money earned from a fictional TV character should go to the BBC and not Ben Collins as all this extra publicity for Ben Collins based on the back of the brand “STIG”. Now the Justice part for me and hopefully the end of Mr Collins being able to earn of the back of the BBC brand The Stig as in my eye’s people in racing only remember winners and Mr Collins was not a winner that day as the photo below shows and I do hope not in the future as well.

So Mr Ben Collins beached in the sand at the bottom of Paddock Hill Bend in the 3^rd race and yet another DNF. In my eyes it was pure justice for all the STIG fans across the world as I now look forward to maybe the BBC new multi-coloured STIG could star in the next Top Gear series, but who knows.

However for me it was very ironic that The 2010 British Touring Car series was won by TV’s Channel Five programme The Fifth Gear presenter Jason Platio who also on winning the series became joint as the most successful touring driver of all time in the Touring Cars series with 60 wins to his name. Maybe and just maybe Jason Platio could become the next “STIG” at least everyone would know he was a true winner on the track and he wouldn’t sell his life story just based on a fictional character.

Let me know your thoughts!

Wayne.

http://www.waynecollier.co.uk/

wc@waynecollier.co.uk

Respect for Referees

Respect for the Football Referees

Every time I turn the television on the commentators, Managers and Professional Players are always saying that the players and spectators etc, should have and must have respect for the Referees and I do agree with this in the professional game.

However my views on this have changed over the years at grassroots level of Football. My views are that respect is and always has to be a two way thing, the players must at all times respect the Referees and the referees must always have respect for the players and officials etc.

I feel that the above is not always the case and money is the route to the evil. Over the years I have personally witnessed some very good Referees however sadly they seem to be a minority at grass root level.

Just last weekend I went along and watched a under 15 boy’s game, I never knew the players or officials from either side it was just a Sunday morning game and an opportunity to watch a good game of Football, but this was not the case due to the Referee on this occasion.

The fact is! On this Sunday morning this Referee ruined this game of football and I suspect that he would be ruining all games that he ref in.

Let me explain my thoughts on respect for the Referees, as I said earlier respect must be two way at this grassroots game of football. Each team had a manager and a coach/first aid person both volunteers. Each team also had 14 players in each all paying subs to play football. The tea hut at the ground was manned voluntarily to raise funds for the Club so all these people giving up their Sunday free of charge for the interest of grassroots football.

Football is the number one sport in the UK because of VOLUNTEERS!

Then the Referee comes along and charges a fee to officiate the laws of the game. This is where I sometimes struggle to come to terms with the words respect the Referee. These volunteers who give their time up to help free some are good people/managers or coaches some are poor however the teams need helpers and if they didn’t volunteer maybe the team or club would fold and all the kids miss out on our wonderful game.

How can anyone have respect for a Referee who is charging a fee for his services and is clearly not fit enough to officiate? No wonder both sets of Players and officials thought he was a joke and that affected the game for both teams. When I got home I looked up online at www.footballreferee.org website where to my surprise it states that “Fitness is an important part of any Referee’s game”.

My thought and question about Referees is quite simple, If they want respect from layers and supporters alike please when charging a fee make sure you are fit enough to move outside the centre circle and then maybe the respect would be coming from all.

Please note I am not moaning about decisions made by the ref or any ref as we can always debate about those as about 50% will always be for the opposition and disagree so that’s life and part of football.

So my view is, if the referee association want Referees to gain more respect from all maybe they should get their house in order at the lower levels of the game and ensure that they are fit enough for the job especially when they are charging for their services. Thirty pounds was a joke.

What do you think?

 I know I am right people can’t charge for a service if they can’t do the job?

Wayne.

waynecollier.co.uk

wc@waynecollier.co.uk   

Queen Elizabeth

The Queen Elizabeth Bridge.

The other day I was driving south bound along the M25 so called motorway or to many at times (The M25 Car Park) to my destination in the heart of the so called garden of England, Maidstone in Kent when not for the first time the traffic came to a halt just before the Dartford River crossing bridge over the wonderful River Thames.

At first like most motorists before and after me being parked on the motorway I was looking at the great construction ahead of me The Queen Elizabeth 11 Bridge and I started thinking.

The bridge was designed by a German and built by the English Company maybe not with all English workers at a total cost around 150 million pounds way back in 1991 so I started to do the maths about number of cars etc, against the original building costs. Working out that around a 100 thousand vehicles must go over the bridge a day at an average cost of a pound per vehicle since 1991 that would be an income of around 36 and half million pounds a year.

Taking the original build costs of 150 million even at borrowings of 10% per year for the first 10 years would only come to around 500 million so after 20 years of toll fees the bridge is now well in credit/profit.

The reason for these thoughts about costing etc, are as follows. I think you will agree especially if like me you have been caught in a traffic Jam or sat on the M25 Car Park for a few hours on a hot summer’s day late for that meeting or just to get home for a BBQ etc.

On all major roads at sometime there will be a breakdown or an accident it’s just a fact of life. When all of a sudden the traffic stops in front of you or as the vehicles start queuing at busy times some 4 miles from the toll, it’s the paying at the toll booths that makes are delays even greater.

So my conclusion to the major problem is so simple when the traffic has stopped or queuing for long periods at Busy times why not just lift the toll barriers to enable the traffic to pass through far more quickly, Surely it can’t be that we are still paying for the bridge construction costs, it must be just greed of the owners.

With some knowledge and research do you think in Australia they all sit queuing at the Sydney Harbour Bridge or what it would be like if we had to pay to gain access into The City of London via Toll Booths. The London congestion charge system works, so why not use the system at the Dartford crossing.

Your thoughts and comments please don’t be shy.

Wayne.

Waynecollier.co.uk

wc@waynecollier.co.uk

First impressions

First impressions.

The other day I needed to get to a breakfast meeting in the centre of London by 8.00am. So I raided the bank cash point and decided to go by train, below are my thoughts on my personal journey.

From the start I felt I was not set up for train travel as it all started to go wrong when I got to the station car park and found that the cost for all day parking was £5.10 who ever thought up the ten pence part of the fee needs to be shot.  After that I went to the ticket office where I asked, could you please let me know the different travel costs of a return ticket to Liverpool street the lady said £28.60 when I said is that first class she looked down her nose at me and said that would be £52.40 or you could wait for a cheap day return after 9.30am at £18.10. For more information on prices etc visit,  www.nationalexpresseastanglia.com

So looking at the amount of people coming into the station at 7am I purchased my required ticket and off I went to get a large coffee and the Daily Mail newspaper to read for the short journey to London Liverpool Street Station.  Now thinking back I can see where I could have so called got it all wrong before thinking about getting on a National Express East Anglia Train.  Firstly I was wearing a pair of jeans and training shoes so the ticket lady must have thought wrongly that I could only afford to travel second class.

However my day went from bad to worse when the train did arrive, only 2 minutes late the doors opened and it was like being at a cattle market as everyone pushed forward to get in, but this was not for me as I had paid for First Class so I opened the door and went in sat down.  However as soon as I was in my seat I felt them, as six 6 pairs of eyes were staring straight at me. They were thinking no business suit, no Times or Pink Financial Times newspapers so what on earth was I doing in First Class.

Maybe the Daily mail, and I pod, jeans, training shoes and my blackberry kept ringing meant that I couldn’t afford to travel in the first class section of the train but none of the six men had the balls to say anything they just sat silent staring at me for the journey as I sat drinking my coffee reading my newspaper between phone calls.  I was hoping that a ticket inspector would visit our carriage but not for the same thoughts as the six gentlemen were having as they would have liked to have me removed in to second class.  So what had I done wrong?

When we arrived in Liverpool Street station I stood up left the train first and went about my journey to the Hotel for my breakfast meeting. When I left the Hotel to return home I got on to the 2.30pm train in the afternoon sat down all alone in the first class section and thought maybe just maybe I could get a bit of shut eye on the 45 minute trip back to Witham Station. But I was wrong just as I slipped into a sleep I was woken up by this grinning ticket inspector who must have looked at my Jeans and trainers and thought to himself that I must be in the wrong section and he had caught someone at last, after I showed the rude inspector my FIRST CLASS RETURN Ticket he left with his tail between his legs.

So why oh why do people judge people by their dress. If I had been about 16 maybe and just maybe I would have understood but at almost fifty clean shaven why should I have been judged in this way.

 Overview of my trip on National Express East Anglia railway the Train along with Witham station were  very dirty inside and out, with a lack of general facilities and definitely in my view that it’s not worth the second class fare let along the first class charge. So in future I will take the car, drive and pay around twenty pounds to park the car and ten pounds worth of fuel used will make it a total of £30 and a cheaper return trip for me.

 I experienced on my trip that people even in this day and age are only to ready to judge people on the clothes they wear  the newspapers they  read etc, so in future when I hear that someone say that they have been picked on because of their colour or race I now understand how they must feel as I experienced the lady in the ticket office judge me that I could only afford a second class ticket, along with the 6 men in suits  as I was not dressed in a suit I could not afford to be in First Class and then finally the ticket inspector judged me on my jacket, sweatshirt, jeans and trainers which by the way cost over £600 pounds, just  working out that my clothing cost that day to be about double than any of the suits worn by the six office workers or maybe I can’t call them so called office workers as maybe I would be judging them!

The National Express website at www.nationalexpress.com provide cheap train travel across the UK please check it out for yourselves as I wish I had.  

Have you had any experiences like me, and why in this day are people like that?

Wayne.  

Waynecollier.co.uk

An introduction to future Wayne Collier Blogs.

About me is the easy part white English male all most fifty years young with no political views my only one regret in life so far that I should have studied at School, however we all make mistakes but I can’t turn the clock back nor would I want to as at the time I never had one of life’s crystal balls to checkout life or would have take advice on it.

 I do hope this will be the first of many articles direct from me about my personal thoughts and views on a wide range of topics from Sport, Politics, Business and Lifestyle as seen through my eyes.

Please check any of the views posted by me in the future, when you check them out you may well find some will be correct through my eyes and others may well be contentious along with a few if not all may even be total rubbish however you need to decide and interact direct with me about them. 

Whatever your race, region or cultural background, your views are important to me as I paint a wider picture of life, I have always been drawn to conversation and points of view and I look forward to interacting with you in the future.

Now at the top of my to do list is to start writing as I have always found myself fascinated  by what influence us all in everyday life and how are differences effect’s everyone’s behaviour in different way’s.....My first blog will be about my recent train journey to London and how I was treated as a second class citizen.

My life is amazining now that I treat work and play together all as one big Social Media platform maybe you should do the same.

Hope to interact with you soon Wayne.