Untukmu Para Pengunjung

Friday, December 8, 2006

Our last visitors this year....back to the beginning

This weekend is our last weekend of having guests this year. So far we have had just one free weekend since August!

We don't mind, we like having guests.

I would like to thank all of our guests that have been here, most have been great, helpful and not at all stressful. There have been some funny stories, of course, but I must keep my hat on most, one or two of the stories I can mention. Like the one when I put fake poo in my Grandad's room..I'll tell you those another day.

Now, it is a time for reflection. I will soon be able to explain the first day we arrived in La Rochelle..No sod it, lets do it now:-

The very first night in La Rochelle was bizarre. We arrived completely knackered. We had to move ourselves in a stretched transit van. The contents of my house were in storage in a place around one hour from here. I guessed it would take me two journeys, how wrong can a man be.

I picked up the van at half six in the morning and set off alone to fill it up, luckily for me, Yann, my wife's cousin was waiting to help. It took one and a half hours to fill up. Hardly making a dent on our stuff, we depressingly drank a litre of manky tap water. We were soaked with sweat in the summer heat.

We then drove to La Rochelle, it was an hours drive door to door, this part was the rest part for us! Unloading took another fourty minutes..then, as if by magic, back in the van to do it all again..

I would always recomend using a professional company, we couldn't, it was August, nobody works here in August.

Anyhow, four trips and half ten at night later....we were starving, had no food in the house, and tired. This was to be my first and last McDonalds in France. I felt guilty but oh so hungry! Two large glasses of Pastis later, asleep..

"What the hell is that noise?" it was half five in the morning. I looked out into the square, there were two cars on fire, arsonists had done it, people were in their pyjamas and loads of Police. Bloody hell, shit, is my car ok? Mine was the only English one in the square, if there was going to be a target, it'd be mine.

Not a scratch. Mine was fine. "Don't unpack the boxes" I said to my wife "It's like Beirut out there..what a mistake, we are going back to England" I was serious, seriously tired and worried.

What happened next is the funniest thing that ever happened. I will tell all next week.

Thursday, December 7, 2006

Air & Water

0 comments Posted by eightq at 8:39 PM

Ok, this will sound really lame, but I love air and water. It's hot
here, and so I am truly appreciating an open window in my office and
in the combi. Fresh air feels so nice. And water - well, don't get me
started! I like drinking it, I like bathing in it, I like swimming in
it.... Mmmm air and water - God is good!

Wednesday, December 6, 2006

Pixelotto - I have bought some - the statistics so far

0 comments Posted by eightq at 5:51 AM

Ok, I admit it, I bought some advertising space on www.pixelotto.com . I did it yesterday morning.

Why did I?

I wanted to see just how many hits you can get from the site. I have just had a comment on another post from a "Alessio" saying they have had 2,000 unique visitors after buying a banner. I have also read a blog with somebody saying they had 9,000!!

Is this actually spin from somebody at pixelotto or is it true? My site so far (first full day of advertising today) has had a total 69 hits from pixelotto. 69 unique visitors. Not 2,000 or 9,000 but 69. I bought three pixels at $600. Not cheap but worth it if I could achieve click through rate of 2,000 plus per day.

So, what about my true site stat's?

I have various tracking facilities in place and Lycos states my rate as 4 clicks from pixelotto today, 45 yesterday, that is 49 in total. Google analytics gives me a rate of 15 clicks yesterday and 8 today. Not really the thousands expected or heard about in the press.

Every day I will post an update on these figures giving you a true insight as to whether pixel adverts work or not! I would like to know if you have bought some adverts and what your real click through rate is.

PS. If you are interested, my banner says "find us", about my site findyourfleet. Can you see it?

Tuesday, December 5, 2006

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

0 comments Posted by eightq at 8:25 PM

So, in a lot of ways, it's hard to believe Christmas is coming. It's extremely hot here, and I'm thinking that it's not going to snow! There are no Salvation Army kettles, nor Salvation Army bands playing carols. There are one or two stores that have Christmas decorations up, and generally you don't hear Christmas music anywhere. We know, however, that Christmas is coming, because we're missing our family and friends in Canada. Monday we got a whole bag of wrapped Christmas gifts sent from my Mom & Dad through the Wards, who just came back from holiday in Canada. I was really touched. Monday I also arrived home to a garbage bag full of food. The Salvation Army in South Africa sent these Christmas bags up to officers in Zimbabwe. People were, of course, thrilled. We took some treats out of our bag (chocolate cake mix and jello - we couldn't resist!) but we didn't really need the rest, so last night John gave some out to some of our friends. He said it was quite moving to hear one couple say, "Christmas came early to us this year! You are truly our son" when he gave them sardines and peanut butter. He said they almost cried, but were too happy. Another friend came by last night, just saying how tough life is, and hoping that he can go back to the Congo soon, "where at least you know you can have enough food to make it through the month." Yesterday a dear friend came by my office. She had baked us a whole tin of cookies, which we shared with all of the staff at our office. Her name is Mrs. Jumbe, and she is one of the most beautiful women I've ever met. I admire her courage and her generosity. Yesterday I was showing Gogo some photos from Canada. She was saying, "Rochelle, you look so happy in all of these photos. If all of these friends and family members are still in Canada, why did you come here?" Before I had the chance to answer, she said, "Wait! I know why you came. You came to us! You came so that you could be with us! Now you're our daughter too!" I think it's quite amazing that whenever we start to really miss home or our family, God reminds us of our home and family here. Christmas is coming...

Ashes to Ashes - lost at dusk

0 comments Posted by eightq at 8:08 AM

I promised I would write about my attempts to catch the ashes on either TV or the internet after missing the entire first test. I said i’d write about it here. Where have I been? I have been listening to the whole lot via satellite radio.

The second test has been the biggest English cricketing disaster of all time. No team in history has lost after declaring on a higher total than England's 551-6 batting first in a Test. In history.. Period. That was the most dismal second innings in history.

Where did it go wrong?

The dressing room.

Every leader in every walk of life, whether it be sport, business, politics or any thing else needs the ability to motivate. While the England team are sitting looking at the tiled floor in their changing room with the Aussies screaming with joy next door, Freddie should pick himself up, chest out and read them the following quotes from real leaders:-

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”
Sir Winston Churchill

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." Martin Luther King, Jr.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.Confucius

Although, I suspect that judging by the last couple of days action, he is reading the following by David Brent:-

“I thought I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it was just some b*stard with a torch, bringing me more work.”

“If at first you don't succeed, remove all evidence you ever tried.”

“If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation.”

So, after this, what next? The series can still be won, ok, I am being optimistic but it can. We can win the next three tests but we need to sort out the bowling, we need to do that now. Once the bowlers are taking wickets, the heads will stay up. Look at KP near the end today, he overthrew a ball and gave and extra four runs. This was purely frustration and that must not be shown again.

Me, I live in France, ski season has just started and is getting coverage on TV, I guess i’ll have to watch that..yawn..

Monday, December 4, 2006

Ban smoking in France? It'll never work....

0 comments Posted by eightq at 4:34 AM

We went out to lunch with some good friends of ours, Andy and Viv, yesterday.

We went to a really great restaurant, typically local menu, great value, €16.50 for three courses!

As we entered, we were asked "fumeur on non-fumeur", or in plain old English "smoking or not".

As we had our kids with us AND we don't smoke, we asked for non-smoking. We sat on the typically French plastic seats (bum sweaters) and looked at probably the best menu I have seen in a tourist area in France. We chose predominantly fish as we were facing the sea and quite frankly, fish is fresh and the local product. The smell coming from the kitchen was outstanding, it was the kind of smell that makes your mouth water and stomach rumble.

France is facing a no smoking ban next year. The problem in France is the concept of no-smoking, I think the ban may fail before it even starts..

We were sitting in the non-smoking area yesterday, my back was against a kind of painted trellis. You know the sort, a wooden screen like below:-

Now, if you had a brain just over the size of a grain of salt, do you think that the above would stop smoke hitting you? No. Of course bloody not. Well, by the time my starter of homemade fish soup arrived, a table of wrinkly rude French smokers aged around 60 years old decided to light up the fags, their table was against the other side of the trellis. Bastards. At what point did these selfish gits think that I wanted to eat with a tonne of smoke in my face? I tell you what, my son turned towards them, a seven year old, and started coughing, on purpose. What did they do, bugger all. Sod all.

I may sound a little angry but guess what, I won't go back, before the smoke squad arrived, I was going to book again, this Saturday for eleven, not now.

I am about to name and shame the restaurant, when it is searched for on Google, this review will appear, it is a shame but I think more people should name and shame horrid places to eat due to smoke. Anyhow, the place is called Terre et Mer, 12 rue de la chaine, La Rochelle. I hope they change the way they smoke out people like me, if they do change they can invite me back, i'll give it a first class review because the food was superb.

Will France be able to beat the smokers? I am just not sure they understand what no-smoking means.

Pixelotto - an update

0 comments Posted by eightq at 4:01 AM

I was the first blog on the internet to talk about pixelotto.com, the new site by Alex Tew.

When I first mentioned it, this blog and the site itself were the only links on google, five days later there are now over 10,900 links on google.

The guy has once again created huge amounts of web talk and now it seems revenue. One thing to remember, getting this sort of publicity needs cash. He started the milliondollar site with a press release and a great unique idea, followed up with around £50k advertising, the other 'copy cat' sites try to exist off the back of his idea, will never work or generate the same form of income.

Why?

Now he has free traffic and people want to promote it free..just makes you sick doesn't it!

Wonder if there is a target market for this sort of thing in France, the land of cheese, wine and dog poo everywhere!!