Text Speak is Wrong!!!

Only a few hours after finishing my unapologetic attack on abbreviations in the workplace, another pet peeve of mine reared its ugly head - text speak!  What made this worse was the apparent contradiction contained within my friend’s statement - “It’s not Xmas, it’s Christmas BTW!” (it should be noted that his words weren’t directed at my use of the abbreviation).

I’ve noticed such behaviour creep into life at Vansdirect.  When we sell a van, we no longer send “documents” but instead “docs”.  No longer do we require “proof of identity,” instead it’s “proofs”.  I’ve even heard the company referred to as “Vans” rather than our self-created one-word title of Vansdirect.

Marketing Linguistics?!

Most things in life are fairly straight forward and easily understood.  Why therefore do marketing people like to complicate everything with jargon and abbreviations for everything?  I was reminded of Robin Williams in Good Morning Vietnam today as Vansdirect’s Marketing Manager, who I won’t name (…Owain Cassidy…), went into a whole spiel of marketing linguistics which us mere mortals could only nod along to.

It’s true to say that all departments are guilty of this.  We all preach “Communication” as a virtue yet we make it more complicated by integrating short-hand into our daily routines.  I accept that this can save time.  Time is money after-all.  But I can’t carry the business dictionary and thesaurus with me all day!

Lessons From BBC Flagship Show

Strictly In the Wrong!

The Vansdirect office has been surprisingly quiet over Saturday’s Strictly Come Dancing semi-final.  Perhaps no one in our offices voted for Tom Chambers or the other remaining contestants.  Whilst the debate about refunds continues, I remain amazed that this is the main controversy.  Bruce and Tess cited an “unprecedented” outcome meaning that all three couples must go through.  If business was this naive, most would be bankrupt before John Sergeant could master marching!

Ipswich v Cardiff City

Portman Road - Home of Ipswich Town aka Tractor Boys

The football world is full of cliches, rumour and gossip.  It’s therefore nice to see a player come out and say it (or at least their agent) - “The most likely with Joe is that maybe he plays his contract out, then we see where we are.”  Joe Ledley therefore, a fantastic player with bags of potential will be with the Bluebirds a little longer.  Or is this a clever ploy to get Risdale and Jones to weigh-up £6m in January or £ZERO in 18 months?!

Another Chicken & Egg?

Chicken? Egg? Congestion Charge? Public Transport?

With Manchester voting on a London-like congestion charge, I got to thinking….what comes first?  The spend on public transport or the charge?  Surely most of us drive because public transport is both unreliable and inconvenient.  If this is true, how can we stop driving our cars because of the charge?  It’s a chicken and egg debate in its truest sense.

The Stig V Driving Miss Daisy

The Stig can stay in the fast lane

I drive 42 miles to Vansdirect every day; a round trip of 84 miles.  I think this makes me somewhat qualified to unpick the madness that is Britain’s motorways.  The government spends millions on their upkeep and millions on their expansion yet we still seem to need more.  This isn’t due to overcongestion as we’re led to believe (although it’s partly to blame), it’s simply down to the way we use our roads!

It’s Time To Start Blogging!

Where do I go with this?!

I’ve been updating this site for a little while now (on and off), with news about vans, cars and the motor industry.  Yesterday I was told that it’s time for vansdirect news to take a new direction.  Van news will now be published on the Vansdirect site proper.  For those of you who don’t know it, it’s vansdirect.co.uk.

In the meantime, I’ll continue to bring you news of Cardiff City and anything else that doesn’t quite fit in with the corporate image portrayed on our main page. Think of this as the vansdirect viral area.

Christmas Drink Costs Lives

THINK!

It’s the festive season and therefore that time of year when THINK! warn all motorists not to drink and drive.  Whilst it may be tempting to drive home from the office Christmas party, remember that last year 460 people died as a result of drink driving.

THINK! are launching their festive campaign with a £1.6m investment.  Road Safety Minister, Jim Fitzpatrick is clear with the intended message - ” If you get behind the wheel after a festive tipple you risk wrecking your own and other people’s lives - don’t do it.”

Top Gear Challenge - Part 2

Vansdirect prides itself on the knowledge of our staff.  If they don’t know something about a van, it’s simply not worth knowing.   However, we realise that not all people are as keen about cheap vans as we are.  That’s why we’ve decided to spread the love of vans through another, more popular means.  We’ve already brought you part 1, now for your entertainment, here’s part 2 of the boys van challenge.

Remember, we don’t condone anything these petrol heads from the BBC do.  Do not try this at home.  Do not let your kids try this at home.

Cardiff 2 - 0 Preston

Johnson leads the celebrations

Cardiff secured an unlikely 3 points in front of a 16,500 crowd on Saturday to move 5th in the Championship table.  Goals in each half from Roger Johnson and Michael Chopra were enough to see off the visiting promotion contenders.

It was a somewhat scrappy encounter between two teams tipped for success this season until the deadlock was broken.  On-loan Wayne Routledge again turned provider on 42 minutes, whipping in a tantalising free kick for Johnson to beat his marker and head the ball home.