Bramley Famli

I was published in The Star (South African newspaper) late last week on ‘diversity’. I’ve had a few requests from people who wanted to read it, but couldn’t find it online.

Our PR company (SimonSays Communications) scanned a copy and sent it through today. It’s missing one or two lines through the middle : ), but I’m fairly certain it’s still readable.

Click here to see the image (it’s a .jpg)

Last week I had a good week of writing. Well if the truth be known, a good week of getting my stuff out there.

Tuesday seemed to be a lucky day, with MarketingWeb and Jozi Kids, each publishing stuff I have recently written.

• Navigating this differently connected world was published on MarketingWeb
• Are we educating our kids for the future? was published on Jozi Kids

All in all a good week of writing and being placed out their in the wild and wonderful world of the internet (sounds like such an old term)

Got this sent to me by mail the other day from Mike. It’s a fun one to read as you try and work out what’s coming next….

Two Irishmen walk into a pet shop in Dingle, they walk over to the bird section and Gerry says to Paddy, ‘Dat’s dem.’ 
The owner comes over and asks if he can help them.  

’Yeah, we’ll take four of dem dere little budgies in dat cage up dere,’ says Gerry. 

The  owner puts the budgies in a cardboard box.  

Paddy and Gerry pay for the birds, leave the shop and get into Gerry’s truck to drive to the top of the Connor Pass.  

At  the  Connor   Pass  , Gerry looks  down at the 1000 foot drop and says, ‘Dis looks  like a grand place.’ 

He  takes two birds out of the box, puts one on each  shoulder and jumps off the cliff. 

Paddy  watches as the budgies fly off and Gerry falls all  the way to the bottom, killing himself stone dead.  

Looking  down at the remains of his best pal, Paddy shakes  his head and says, ‘Fook dat. Dis budgie jumping  is too fooking dangerous for me!’

THERE’S  MORE…

Moment’s  later; Seamus arrives up at ConnorPass.  

He’s  been to the pet shop too and walks up to the edge  of the cliff carrying another cardboard box in one  hand and a shotgun in the other. 

Hi,  Paddy, watch dis,’ Seamus says. 

He  takes a parrot from the box and lets him fly free.  

He  then throws himself over the edge of the cliff  with the gun. 

Paddy  watches as half way down, Seamus takes the gun and  shoots the parrot. 

Seamus  continues to plummet down and down until he hits  the bottom and breaks every bone in his body.  

Paddy  shakes his head and says, ‘And I’m never trying  dat parrotshooting either!’

IT  IS NOT OVER YET…

Paddy  is just getting over the shock of losing two  friends when Sean appears. 

He’s  also been to the pet shop and is carrying a  cardboard box out of which he pulls a chicken.  

Sean  then takes the chicken by its legs and hurls  himself off the cliff and disappears down and down  until he hits a rock and breaks his spine.

Once  more Paddy shakes his head. 


’Fook  dat, lads. First dere was Gerry with his budgie  jumping, den Seamus parrotshooting… And now Sean  and his fooking hengliding!’

There’s surely a movie coming about this particular teacher in the future!

His name is Dr Fred Stocking, and I certainly can’t do the story any justice. You need to go and read/listen to it yourself.  He died in July this year, and Barbara Bradley Hagerty, one of his former students wrote the short reflection.

As I read through his letters the other day, I came across his favorite poem by e.e. cummings: “If Everything Happens That Can’t Be Done.” I don’t have a clue what it means. But I keep trying to unlock it. Because that’s part of Fred’s genius. Never stop puzzling over life. Swim in big ideas. And of course, consult your stomach.

There’s a link to download the audio of the article once you’re on the site. It includes a few sound bites of Dr Stocking.

I’n not sure I had a teacher like this? I had good ones, but not sure any great ones : (

Been wanting to write this for a while now (be warned it’s a rant of sorts). Tonight’s exercise was all the motivation I needed to write it. It’s about Woolworths specifically and the difference between corporate run stores and owner run stores in general. I’m no expert in Woolworths outside of a little ‘inside info’ and a lot of shopping experience.

My suggestion to Woolworths head office is to close down the Riverside (Summit Road) branch of your store, or at least corporatise it! Simply because that particular store (which I’m told is owner run/directed) is giving your corporate run stores a bad name : )

Here’s why….

I live near the Riverside (Summit Road) store. I frequent it more than any other store. So if I were to claim any sort of Woolies expertese then Riverside would be where I’d stake my claim.

I love that store. There are always people available to help me. In fact I’ve often had a member of their team walk my entire ‘shop’ with me, showing me where to find the strange and unusual items in most Jamie Oliver recipes. The cashiers are always friendly, always smiling and always engaging. When something isn’t in stock (or has never been in stock) I can always find someone who can let me know if I can get it, and if not why not? I’ve seen ALL their people help with clearing baskets, unpacking baskets to speed up till points, pack bags, etc, (no it’s not my job mentality here). They run an annual colouring-in competition in April that my kids love entering. In short, it’s friendly, efficient, warm and a pleasure to shop at. I’ve only ever met Cheena (you’ll know her when she’s on duty – can’t miss her smile and presence) and Helen (gentle, warm and highly efficient), and between them and the rest of the Customer Service Team they have something we could all learn from.

It’s an owner run store (or so I’m told – and if not managed by the owner it’s not owned by Woolworths Head Office). That’s my experience with some owner run stores. Get a great owner who’s motivated, switched on and determined to run a great business, and you get the extra-ordinary and the exceptional. The downside is that not all owner run stores are like that. It’s a hit and miss game. You either have a good one or you don’t.

So tongue in cheek, it needs to be closed down because it’s giving the majority corporate run Woolworths stores a bad name. Not because Riverside Woolworths is bad, exactly the opposite. It’s making the rest of the group look downright silly (my opinion).

My experience with the corporate run stores, and I’ve worked hard at taking out the familiarity of the Riverside store, is that they’re, well, consistent. I can’t fault them on that. I get a very similar experience at each one I have been to. Great quality food, but:

• Difficult to find staff when you’ve got a Jamie recipe in hand,
• Cashiers who don’t go that extra mile, and
• A bit of a sterile feel.

Don’t get me wrong. Woolworths is a great operation. It kicks butt against the majority of it’s competition by a long shot, but when I compare them to the Riverside store, they’re missing a trick.

Tonight I was at Woolworth’s Benmore store. Popped in for a basketful of goodies. There were one or two things I couldn’t find. One was the specific cheese Jordi wanted, and two was someone to ask who could point it out or tell me they didn’t have it. Maybe I’ve been spoiled at Riverside, but all I could find was a security person who didn’t seem as up to speed on the cheese as I’d hoped. And why should she be? She’s hired to catch cheese thieves and doesn’t really care what type they’ve stolen : )

Corporate run stores find it far easier to ensure consistency. Possibly the very reason Woolworths have gone this route? When any of us walk into a Woolies we know why we went and we come to expect that we’ll get it. Except those of us who shop at the Riverside store (getting tired of me saying this?).

And it’s not gonna change. Woolworths corporate will continue to chase after holy grail of what Riverside has, and will continue to come up short so long as whoever sits behind the Riverside store stays focussed, passionate and committed.

So that’s my little rant at Woolie’s Head Office. It’s probably never going to be what I wish it was. In the mean time I’m just gonna keep on loving my local Woolie’s just down the street : )

Nef Sed

P.S. I did eventually find my cheese (nobody moved it)

I think I’ve found my first iPhone productivity app I can say is completely useful. Usually I’m attracted to gimmicky apps that are way kewl, but not always useful or completely functional. Yesterday that all changed.

Enter Mobile Receipt.

Essentially it allows you to:

Mobile Receipt converts the photo of a receipt taken with your phone into a high quality image and with a single touch, converts the data into a professional looking expense report.

And it’s really easy to use. Got it last night and Leish and I set it up and got it going. Fully amazing. (I’m sounding like an advert aren’t I?)

See for yourself, check out their demo on YouTube.

Mobile Receipt Tour

My friend Dunc sent this to me. A wonderful set of solutions for around the house. Enjoy them, write them down, start using them today….

1. IF YOU’RE CHOKING ON AN ICE CUBE, SIMPLY POUR A CUP OF BOILING WATER DOWN YOUR THROAT. PRESTO! THE BLOCKAGE WILL INSTANTLY REMOVE ITSELF.
2. AVOID CUTTING YOURSELF WHEN SLICING VEGETABLES BY GETTING SOMEONE ELSE TO HOLD THE VEGETABLES WHILE YOU CHOP.
3. AVOID ARGUMENTS WITH THE FEMALES ABOUT LIFTING THE TOILET SEAT – USE THE SINK.
4. FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE SUFFERERS ~ SIMPLY CUT YOURSELF AND BLEED FOR A FEW MINUTES, THUS REDUCING THE PRESSURE ON YOUR VEINS. REMEMBER TO USE A TIMER.
5. A MOUSE TRAP PLACED ON TOP OF YOUR ALARM CLOCK WILL PREVENT YOU FROM ROLLING OVER AND GOING BACK TO SLEEP AFTER YOU HIT THE SNOOZE BUTTON.
6. IF YOU HAVE A BAD COUGH, TAKE A LARGE DOSE OF LAXATIVES. THEN YOU’LL BE AFRAID TO COUGH.
7. YOU ONLY NEED TWO TOOLS IN LIFE –  Q20 AND DUCT TAPE. IF IT DOESN’T MOVE AND SHOULD, USE THE Q20. IF IT SHOULDN’T MOVE AND DOES, USE THE DUCT TAPE.
8. REMEMBER – EVERYONE SEEMS NORMAL UNTIL YOU GET TO KNOW THEM.
9. IF YOU CAN’T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU’VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.

One of my favourite TED videos is by Sir Ken Robinson and the name of his talk is ‘Do schools kill creativity?‘ His conclusion is, yes they do. If you’ve never watched it, it’s worth the large download and the 20 min it takes to watch it.

Leish sent me a link to a similar video clip by Alan Watts (a philosopher). He makes a similar point in 2 minutes. It’s not as entertaining or as interesting as Robinson’s talk on TED, but it makes the exact same point. Take a look for yourself.

Via Twitter last week, I received an invitation to write every now and then for JoziKids. It’s a great web site with some fantastic resources and happenings in and around Jozi to do with your kids.

They’re also amazingly active on Twitter, and certainly worth following.

I happened to have an article I’d recently written that suited their space. On Tuesday this week it was published. Was really good to have something out there that I’d written in a space I loved (and still do) for so long.

You can see it here. It’s called ‘You cannot call on the Incredible Hulk’, and was inspired by interaction with some grade 1′s and a school principal. A fun story, a fun write, and hopefully a worthwhile read.

I don’t know if it was because I read this at 06:00 this morning, or because the temp outside was less than 0 degrees, or that it’s Friday? Perhaps a combination of all three. But the link below to a post, about how the airlines hate us so much, had me giggling and thanking it’s author for starting my day of on the right foot.

Hopefully it’ll do the same for you?

Click here for the article on Cracked.com

It’s hard for an industry to be more hated than insurance or telemarketing, but airlines have been trying for decades. Whether it’s charging $50 to check one bag or bumping paying customers at a moment’s notice, it truly seems like they couldn’t give half a damn about their passengers.

P.S. For those of you sensitive to language and the fantastic contribution words that start with ‘f’ make, you’ll probably want to give this one a skip : )