Day 113 - Fish 'n' Chips

Friday August 7th

Focused on some Maths today. I sit down, start reading and this deep knot of panic starts to rise in my stomach as I realise how much I have to do. It's very hard to start all over again, especially after 20 years of getting (near) the top in marketing. You build up a level of competence, overlay that with self confidence and that gets you through every day, every situation you encounter. I've definitely got the self confidence but the competence is all guess work right now.

In between working I've been doing alot of DIY. The Johnnie Walker blackboard is now up in the hall, Alice and Ted's rooms are done, complete with floating shelves. I must confess I have not quite got the hang of the walls yet as they are plasterboard, with a hollow bit and then brick/masonry. Still haven't found the perfect rawplug

We walked down to the Fish and Chip shop on St Cross Rd tonight. We picked up cod and chips for 5, brought it home and pigged out. Everyone loved it so we will be doing that again. 30 quid is not cheap though.

Day 104 - The Genius Of Nespresso

Wednesday July 29th

Hats off to the genius who thought of Nespresso. A brilliant, brilliantly simple idea, executed with real class. I am now a Nespresso member with a donated Krups machine (Thanks Dad) and a smorgasbord of coffee varieties with bright colours. For anyone who likes even a modicum of discovery, variety, experimentation, it gets you completely hooked from day 1. The genius is in getting someone else to build and sell the machine (in this instance Krups), doing the whole thing on line and finally the simplicity of operation. 

It almost makes me want to get back into Marketing - I bet you could do something very clever like this with Malt Whisky here in the UK. No machinery required but you could definitely see an infinite variety of miniature Malt Whisky bottles available to order direct on line with Whiskies of the Month, Special Offers, Manager's Dram. Join as a member and get a tasting kit free with proper nosing glasses, a water jug, tasting notes all in a beautiful wooden case. Friends of the Classic Malts would take on a completely different dimension. It would be relatively small scale but the margin would be in the initial starter pack where you would get some economies on producing the miniature bottles (all bottles could be the same rather than replicas of the standard size) and also high prices for some of the rarer offers. I am sure that Nespresso would be open to sharing their distribution operation provided there is zero competition...might even be complementary.