A sign ?

My blog is not always very topical nor tropical but certainly not political. But today a short detour, on the road to elections in the US. Where the new president could be black or even a women, wow what will be next ?? an actor or cowboy? ...

All the candidates are raising funds for their ever increasing campaigns and marketing and advertising seem to be the most powerful tools to get elected, ask Sarkozy.

TV commercials, radio spots, magazine and newspaper ads and of course internet advertising, all not very creative but well they are not Radiohead yet...

Billboards and signs are obviously part of this as well and on my little tour around the globe I came across one that was left over after the Bush election campaign and basically underlining the results of the second term.

The city would like to exploit the fact that The Cowboy President saw the light in their town however the second sign added after election period speak for itself ! A priceless campaign !

I will call you back illness

Some people in the South of France suffer from sunstroke, others from food troubles while other suffer from a far worse condition, a condition that is yet without a solution, this condition is called 'I will call you back"and it is considered to be a fast growing illness.

Something that generally starts at civil servants offices and than spread rapidly to banks, notairy offices, etc For some reason this illness is still without a remedy and seems to create havoc in our lifes. To illustrate this I would like to give an exemple that involves my bank (yes my dear friends) and the notaire. My lost deposit cheque of a considerable amount is somewhere floating in the no mansland of Nice, waiting to be collected although already debitted from my account. In order to change this I need to have yet another form (this is one of the side effects of this illness) This form is complicated and of course involves many signatures of important people.

I have been trying to get this paper for the last month! This meant (and I have counted them) 50 calls to the notaire AND 50 I will call you back and 50 TIMES nothing! The receptionist was feeling ashamed and when I finally confronted the notaire today, face to face, he claimed he was busy (deborde is the deadliest illness in France) I looked at him and the accountant and I asked one simple question; Why didnt you call me back and when will I get my cheque bank. (I guess these are two questions but well after 50 calls I do have some credit...

Well sir, in terms of the cheque its very simple and we will deal with it today... and for not calling back we apologize but we have many clients and especially the Cap d'Antibes clients are very complicated. Better read here; Dear Mr Bos spending just under half a million euros on a house is not our priority we prefer the 20 million ones.

Ok, well that is clear than. So, how can we cure this illness? I thought long and hard about it and came to one conclusion, if I would be able to cure it, I would single handly improve the french economy and win a Nobel price for science and economics...

The only cure I have found so far is to keep my mouth shut and go with the flow, but that does sound a little like I have become part of the disease and not of the cure.... OH DEAR, SOMEBODY HELP MEEEEEEEEEE!

Handy Mums

Advantages of having mum around...mmmmm, well she wishes to make herself helpful, that generally translates itself to ironing my shirt...and there are plenty, cooking a meal, cleaning the house but she never washes my clothes! Weird cos I seem to know for a fact that I read that is her duty... check it out :)

Blog regime

Yes yes, I realised that I have been not doing my daily dose of bloggism but with the family around, work and of course my bday I have been rather busy.
I am happy to inform you that my bday party was really nice, although the age thing starts to creep up a little bit but well, what can you do. When asked for by people what age I am, I generally reply that I cannot remember since it keep changing every year...
Well the family has moved on to an apartment in Golf Juan with sea view which I unfortunately dont have and the sun is still giving us plenty to smile about!

My presents have of course been partly eaten, worn or read and the old age was quickly forgotten about with some Veuve C. Yes I do tend to like a little bit of bubbles!
What else has happened? Well the Radiohead album is selling well and with an average price of 10 dollars (!!) they will succeed it making it the most profitable album, taking in consideration the low distribution and marketing cost, excellent!

Ajax has finally kicked Mr TC over to London to earn a huge salary and forget quickly about that little football team from Amsterdam that he never managed to get rolling outside the country borders.
In Burma things got silly when police started to shoot at protesting and unarmed monks!
DaimlerChrysler has become Daimler and has launched a huge campaign to tell the world about it. It almost look like they want to change the world...
The biggest mafia court case was kicked off in Holland after a delay for health reasons of the mafia Mr H. All of as sudden witnesses have become deaf, blind or numb and some even decided to commit suicide... How handy...

And of course the most important news fact of the week....Britney Spear has officially become looser of the week when being dropped by her manager, record company, boy friend, lost custody of her children, got her videos stolen (yes, the naughty ones of course), crashed her car,... well you get the story... Not much went like she wanted.
And last but not least my ordered Victor&Rolf trouser have been nicked by the UPS delivery service hahahah I guess those horrible brown crap they are wearing was too much for him!

Simple Pleasures

There are thing we such take for granted, getting up in the morning and taking a shower is one of them. We dont really think about it, we just turn it on, strip off and shower.
Until this morning, I followed the same procedure got in the shower and quickly jumped out of it. Brrrrrrr, it was cold as ice and nothing willing to change his reportoire. I looked at it with a very professional eye, spoke kindly against the boiler, before I started kicking it...

Nothing seemed to be working. Went to the other bathroom to have a shower and than asked the concierge about a possiblility to fix it and he congratulated me first, I was number 5 in just under a week with problems. What is the prize? Well, the telephone number of the plumper that should be able to fix it. He is suppose to drop by at 14.00, which is French for somewhere around 17.00 on the following days. Too bad that we didnt get any DYI lessons at business school cos it is quiet annoying not to have a warm shower and certainly when your whole family is staying at my place. (does anybody has the address of Bob the Builder?)

I will remember for the future to say thank you on a daily base to my heating system, in order to prevent it from asking for attention. On the other hand it does wake you up in the morning ....

Music Revolution

The music industry is constantly being challenged in the way they market music, whether it is the format, digital or cd or its sales channel. Many groups have found alternative ways of promoting their new cd via YouTube or Myspace or have just launch small website that are really different from a corporate type website. Record companies are making less money since we all download illegally now and than and buy less, although the download charts with Itunes as the number 1 channel is selling loads of tunes too.

This makes record companies nervous and they are willing to jump on the band wagon when they feel they have discovered a new artist, promote the hell out of it and sell millions. A few established artist fund the income of a record company as well as some of the hyped up artist that came through a Idols type of reality tv show, and generally lack talent but make good sales for their first record. Obviously gone for the second.

One of the established and most talented rockgroup in the world is Radiohead. Long known for their fantastic records and ability to renew themselves over and over again.
Their new cd is coming out on the 10th of October and they have stepped up the challenge for the music industry even more. Freed of their record company obligations, they will launch their cd called 'In rainbows' through their website http://www.radiohead.com/ as digital download. Nothing new there, however, when going to the checkout ( I have done it) the price of the cd is not shown. However you get a message; Its up to you. When continuing to click to the checkout there is another message; No really, its up to you ! Radiohead is asking the customer to decide on the price of the cd or download it for free!
Wow, the record companies must have been shocked to see an established artist like Radiohead being unsigned and selling, or better, giving away a potential million seller for what the customer wants to pay for it!

The Music Revolution is in full swing! Radiohead is getting back to the origin, making music of the lover of music not for the funding of a record company balance sheet !

French Banks part 4

Is there an end to this never ending story?? Well, today it seems there is a break through. After having called one of the two notary offices involved who promised me to call back....

I told them that they never do it and I was willing to put 100 euros on it! They lady laughed and assured me that they would call back within 20 minutes. Generous me gave them 30! Three hours later (and 100 euros richer, but try to get it hahaha) I called them again and was being put on hold for 15 minutes. Butttttt, than a new voice, gently and sweet, oh Mr Bos, how are you? Well, better with my cheque in my back pocket...

Our apologies for the delay and confusion. In my 10 years of accountancy I have never seen this type of trouble. Well, trust me, you dont want too! But could you be so kind and inform me about the status of my kidnapped cheque? Well, Mr Bos we have send it to you other notaire. Really?? when? well....15 minutes ago. Our apologies, we made some mistakes too. Dac. Well, so what is next?

Alors Mr Bos, the other notaire first needs to cash the cheque and than refund it back to you.

Excuse moi? Yes, that is normal procedure. Sounds like another delay but well I will call them and inform my bank. It seems that we are heading towards a solution, well its only been 3 months... But the scary thing now is that after the notaires ...its now back to the bank again...oh dear, it feels rather scary.

On the other hand I feel like with this whole story I could easily write a book that can be turned into a motion picture, starring Brad Pitt as me (well he is blond too) and Mr Bean as the bank manager. I take offer over 1.000.000 euros :)

PS See picture for a save alternative to put your money in!