Peter Steward

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The Weekly Blog

December 4th -10th

Two of the things I dislike most in life are bad manners and bad service. As Christmas gets nearer people's behaviour seems to get ruder and ruder. I put it down mainly to stress - something I don't suffer from now I no longer have to take part in the 9 to 5 working drag.

After a day on Saturday of alleged shopping in Norwich I couldn't be bothered to buy a single thing. The shops were crowded and hot, the queues ridiculously long and it all made me realise why I have done the majority of my shopping this year on the Internet.

When it comes to a choice between fighting to find a car park space, getting crushed in shop after shop and queuing up for lengthy periods of time before humping heavy bags back to the car and sitting at home in my study with a cup of coffee by my right hand and music on and doing it all on the Internet, well there really is no contest. The only thing that could go wrong is knocking the cup of coffee over the keyboard and wiping it out.

So there was plenty of bad manners on display in Norwich and for lunch we decided to go to one of our favourite wine bars in the city centre. I have to say it's no longer one of our favourite. I will spare them the ignominy of naming them. Suffice it to say that while the food was adequate the service left much to be desired. The waiter scarcely spoke, certainly never smiled and we had to wait so long that normally I would have left, but we had time to kill so put up with it. They seemed to be very stretched and short of staff until a notice needed to be put up at the entrance to one of the restaurant sections informing would-be diners that the area was now closed in preparation for a private party.

It took three different people, three attempts to position it correctly on the back of a chair. One of them returned on at least three different occasions to check on it. It's a shame they didn't give the same amount of time to serving their customers.

Which brings me to another subject that is close to my heart - the decline in village life. Hethersett is now a very large village with over 6,000 people. Despite this our services are once again being threatened. The government has announced that more small post offices are to be shut and I guess ours will be vulnerable. This is a nonsense. We are a large village - almost a town. I have visited the post office a number of times in the past couple of weeks and it has always been very busy.

If economics alone dictate that it should go, it will be a very sad day. It will mean a trip to either Wymondham or Norwich every time we want to post a parcel etc.

A few years ago we had a branch of Barclays Bank in the village. but this was shut under bank cuts. It seems ironic that many years ago when the village was much smaller we had up to four supermarkets/grocery stores, more pubs, a large post office and a bank. As the village grows so the facilities diminish. The policy of centralising everything and closing anything they feel to be too small is very very wrong. Profit alone cannot on its own affect genuine services.

Traffic in the centre of the village is appalling at present. Car parking is inadequate but everyone seems to drive into the centre, creating problems for both through traffic and pedestrians. I have written a piece about this on my village web site.

At this point I got bored trying to write a weekly piece and decided to have a rest for a few days and then do the blog on a shorter daily basis when I had something to say.

December 21st

Despite the very frosty conditions and cold we decided to pop into Norwich on the Park and Ride to do some last minute Christmas shopping and generally enjoy the Christmas atmosphere. Sadly there was very little.

Norwich is by far the best shopping centre in the East of England with two major shopping malls, but I wonder if these aren't destroying the atmosphere of Christmas. Most of the shoppers gravitate to the warmth of the Malls which leaves the streets virtually deserted and lacking in atmosphere and it really felt no different to any other shopping night.

I still believe Norwich misses a trick. It is a beautifully historic city but never seems to have the same atmosphere as say Lincoln, York or Chester. It certainly pales into insignificance against some of the other European cities we have enjoyed over the years - places like Zurich, Salzburg and Vienna. They know how to celebrate the festive season, we apparently are not too sure.

The Castle Mall was particularly sad as there had been a murder in the HMV store a few days previously when a security guard had been stabbed to death. The shop was shut and there were flowers outside. How does this equate to Christmas?

Earlier in the day I got hold of some very old family photos which I have scanned in and enhanced on the computer. Part of my family site has been given over to a family history and I have written plenty about my great grandfather and his exploits in Norwich. It was a strange experience to have him starring out at me from a photo taken well over a century ago! It does further whet my appetite to learn more about the family, however.

December 22nd

Went to the nearby market town of Wymondham today and found it much more in the Christmas spirit than Norwich. It wasn't the display of welcoming lights (there virtually weren't any) but just the good natured hustle and bustle of a busy market town.

We always find the shopkeepers so helpful and welcoming and I must make mention of a new gift shop by the name of Marmalade Tree which is owned by a former manager of the leisure centre at Park Farm. I spent more than I really intended which was a testimony to the goods on display and the general atmosphere of the place which said "please buy."

December 23rd

Some things really annoy me and I know they shouldn't. I still have a passion for football and in particular Hethersett Athletic, the club of which I am chairman, and Norwich City. Whilst everything at Hethersett is going particularly well at the moment, things at Norwich City crash from bad to worse.

This week manager Peter Grant introduced some appallingly negative tactics in the game at Wolves and we threw away two points. I would say that Grant has a huge amount to learn about management and really he is showing no signs of being better than Nigel Worthington.

Here is the scenario. Rob Earnshaw has just scored twice and we are leading 2-1, so what does Grant do? Takes Earnshaw off and brings on an additional defender in an effort "to hold what we have." It backfired as our front outlet had been withdrawn and Wolves equalised four minutes into injury time. The number of late late goals we have conceded this season shows that we are a poor team at present.

Now look at this from Earnshaw's point of view. He has scored 16 goals this season which spells success in anybody's book. So at Wolves he scores two more and sets up the possibility of what before the game had looked like an unlikely win. Then he's taken off (presumably because he's been too effective and all we want do to for the final 15 minutes is defend and soak up pressure). Sadly we don't have the ability to do either very well and with no outlet up front we throw away two points. I should imagine Earnshaw is left feeling pretty pissed off. Taken off, denied the opportunity of a hat-trick and made to watch as most of his hard work is destroyed.

Come January one or two tempting offers are going to come in to prise him away. So what do you think he will do?

Even at a relatively low level of Hethersett, we would never take an in-form striker off to defend what we have. It is utter stupidity and crass bad tactics to change a winning set-up. And did Neil Adams piss me off on the Radio Norfolk phone-in when he backed the manager's decision and told us it was a tactic regular used by Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal? But Neil these are world class teams that know what they are doing. We are a lowly second division (I refuse to use the terminology The Championship) side more likely to be struggling to stave off relegation than push for promotion.

I am beginning to wonder whether Grant's appointment wasn't a big mistake and whether we needed an experienced manager. I cannot forgive negative tactics and that's what we have been subjected to. Okay it wasn't his fault that he inherited some dreadful players from Worthington, but he seems to have done very little to motivate them or, in slang terms, get them to pull their fingers out.

In January Grant will have the option of shipping some of the dross out and bringing in some fresh blood. What we want are players who want to play for the club and not second-rate journeymen going through the motions and taking home over inflated salaries. I seriously hope I am wrong in my assessment. I have supported the club for over 45 years and long for the days of success to return. Hopefully things will improve in the new year!

The Christmas shopping was finished off once and for all today with a quick visit to the Waitrose supermarket at Wymondham. We got there at the appointed opening time in an attempt to beat the rush. Problem was hundreds of other people had the same idea. Wymondham Town centre in contrast was still very quiet. It was the monthly farmers market. It's not really a market but just a display of tables selling local produce.

Christmas shopping can be amusing (you'll have to trust me on that one). My dear wife has this thing about buying "useful" things for Christmas. So when I tried to put some shaving cream in the basket I was told to put it back "you'll have to wait to see what Santa brings you." Now that's obviously a coded message to say that my stocking will include shaving goods (the only surprise will be is it gel or cream?) "Okay I said I'll grow a beard until the 25th and then you can call me scruffy."

Then a little further on the same thing happened with deodorant. "Put that back, you'll have to wait to see what Santa brings you." Obviously another coded message. "okay I'll smell until Christmas Day." I do hope Santa doesn't forget!

December 24th

Does anybody share my view that Christmas Eve is a nothing sort of day? It's closer to Christmas than any other day, but things seem to have shut down and there's less to do than in the previous days. All the shopping has been (hopefully) gathered in and parcelled up and the whole day seems to drag. You are almost at Christmas, but not quite there!!!

December 25th

At times I get obsessed with statistics and I mean meaningless ones at that. I worked out this was my 55th Christmas Day - one for each of my 54 years and a further one for when I was two months old! There's still something child-like special about the day and I made the most of it before it evaporated for another year. All the preparation and the whole thing seems to fly past in the twinkling of an eye.

December 31st

What is it about New Year's Eve that is a complete turn off when year's ago I found it to be one of the most exciting days of the year? I suppose its an age and experience thing. Anyway we had a pretty quiet time, seeing the New Year in with our good friends Ron and Jackie Baker.

Two years ago Ron had a brain aneurysm in early January and was seriously seriously ill. He has made a remarkable recovery and is getting back to full fitness. So we spent the new year playing board games etc.

Watched the firework display from London and I have to say it was impressive. I can usually take or leave fireworks but this display was outstanding. The show was part hosted by Nick Knowles - a kind of hale fellow well met TV "personality." He got rather carried away telling us to use the display to do something outstanding in the new year. Let it be a catalyst to do something special. Ron's son Keith brought a smile to my face when he said: "Actually I wasn't going to do much in 2007 but now the television do it yourself guy has told me to do something special I will really have to think about it seriously."

January 1st

It might be New Year's Day but I still had some work to do in the afternoon and evening. Setting up a freelance business is very exciting but you have to do the set-up work when it's there. But first Anne and myself went for a very pleasant morning walk in the grounds of the University of East Anglia and round the man made lake. It was relatively warm and a contrast to last year when we had snow over New Year which then turned to rain.

Norwich lost 3-1 at Crystal Palace - yet another disappointment in a season full of them. I swear I heard manager Peter Grant come out with the astonishing comment on Radio Norfolk that ran something along the lines of "We need to put the ball in the back of the net. That makes all the difference." Stunning appraisal of the entire ethos of soccer.

January 2nd

Boy do I hate marketing. And having worked in that field I feel I have the right to say so. I don't mean properly promoting an ideal or something you believe in but the crass commercialism that seems to have taken over our world.

Today we decided to drive out to North Norfolk. It was Anne's last day before returning to school tomorrow and I felt it was my last day before getting down to work again as well. We were headed for the picturesque village of Aldborough in North Norfolk where well known potter Emma Bridgewater was holding a sale in the church hall. Apparently she lives in the area.

Now the name meant nothing to me but apparently she's pretty well known. The venue was tiny and the number of people there made it very uncomfortable. We had to queue of over 45 minutes to buy a few pieces. But that wasn't what I wanted to say about commercialism.

On the way to Aldborough I needed petrol. We stopped at a garage where they had a Tesco Express store and they were just putting together a display for Easter!!!! So Easter now starts on January 2nd just as Christmas seems to start sometime in September!

Then in the afternoon we stopped at a local furniture shop and hovered just too long round a particular item. An assistant obviously felt he could make a killing and proceeded to tell us what a wonderful piece of furniture we were looking at. He then told us that the owner of the store had been so magnanimous that he had extended the 10% off sale until the weekend as it has proved such a success. I interpreted this as his way of telling us that the sale has been a disaster, virtually nothing has been sold and so it has been extended in the futile hope somebody somewhere will buy something. On this occasion we left empty handed.