Busy Getting Nowhere

American journalist and author Sidney J Harris once said, “The two words information and communication are often used interchangeably, but they signify quite different things. Information is giving out: communication is getting through” and while it remains abundantly clear I am still a long way off getting through to banking giants Lloyds and HBOS, I have been the recipient of a varied and plentiful supply of information from varied number of sources in the interim.

I have recently discovered,

·        Friend’s committee meetings, contrary to popular opinion, are not a forum from which to explore new ideas but instead serve purely to facilitate more of the same.

·        BT Internet hot spots, unlike their TV advertising campaign would have you believe, can only be accessed by spending a inordinate amount of time on the phone to their overseas call centre.

·       Private landlords who substantially reduce the rent are often loath to spend money on essential structural repairs to five hundred year old properties regardless of the consequences.

·        Parliamentary Ombudsmen, despite their swift reply to my consumer complaint, have completely miss-understood the nature of my grievance in the name of efficiency.

And

·        Government guidelines along with the guidelines of the Financial Ombudsman Service for banks dealing with customers in arrears, or facing repossession are completely irrelevant when the FOS assess the merits of a formal complaint.

It appears, despite my tentative forays on twitter and the plethora of information I have subsequently gleaned from all who have kindly responded to my posts, for those of us who remain locked in battle with the banks, there is still an inordinately long way to go to affect a success communication of our predicament to both the government and their banking regulators. I do, however, take some solace in the words of both American anthropologist Margaret Mead, and the twelve year old Canadian girl who quoted them when she expertly explained how banks have defrauded and robbed our economy on U-Tube this week, “Never doubt that a small group of people can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”

I sincerely hope she is correct.

Furious and furiouser

They say strength does not come from winning but from the struggles along the way and it has become clear I am destined to struggle in everything I do if the last three days are an accurate indicator.  The task in hand is to organise the up and coming Prep School Summer Ball and I had no idea putting on event of this kind would be such source of angst for all those concerned as well as an enormous headache for me.

I took up my current role in appreciation of the Bursaries we were awarded by the Headmaster. His actions made it possible for my younger two children to follow in their brother and sisters footsteps by enjoying an independent education which would have otherwise been beyond our means.  Having always believed  every effort should be made to pay ones way, I was happy to help when the Head asked me to consider being the Chairman of their Friends as the previous one had resigned after last year’s ball.

·         How hard could it be for someone with six years experience in the role of Chairman at her children’s previous school?

·         How hard could it be for someone who, at twenty five ran three of her own retail outlets and employed eight staff?

·         How hard could it be for someone who advised four hundred and fifty financial services clients every year?

·         How hard could it be for someone whose working life was spent entirely in a people driven industry?

·         How hard could it be for someone whose previous expertise included the organising of two Charity Balls for the insurance industry?

·         How hard could it be for a mother who had arranged her eldest daughter’s wedding with one hundred and fifty guests, at home, five days after she home delivered her 11lb fifth child?

·          How hard could it be for the one woman debt fighting machine who has endured an armed police response on her drive and claw hammer threatening tradesmen on her door step?

In short it is nigh on impossible.

·         Who would have thought some would do too little and some far too much.

·         Who would have thought some would find a way always to agree while others always object.

·         Who would have thought some would insist it’s always been one way when others insist it’s never stopped being the other.

And who would have thought at a previous summer ball, my predecessor would hit someone when they called her a “fat slag”!

Here’s hoping whatever my struggles are over this year’s Summer Ball,  That which I am calling “gaining experience” avoids being re-branded as "making a big mistake”.  Armed with my plan to court goodwill with good manners to secure a compromise, I am hoping adopting these principals I will not only deliver an enjoyable event but will avoid the need for anyone to throw the first punch!