The Mark Ellis Blog

For the regular readers of the blog, this one may seem a little bit off the beaten track, but I've been pondering this one for a while.  There's been a lot of stories and naval gazing on sports development, especially in football in recent times and from past experience, I do have a bit of a view on this, but not just in football. It goes back to when Dominic used to play football.  He played for a team in the village and the general ethos seemed to be about the kids enjoying themselves and keeping fit, but as they got older, it then became much more of a winning kind of thing.  Sadly, like me, Dominic will never be a great footballer, but he turned up for training (which many didn't), worked hard (which many didn't) and always turned up for matches.  As the game time got less and less with more kids from all over the area turning up and playing ahead of him, he sharp got cheesed off. I thought it was a shame, as a lot of the kids from the village felt the same a...

A week has passed since I completed the 2013 Great North Run, so it's time to reflect a little on what was another great weekend of athletics in the North East, plus a great advert on bringing people to visit the region and come back often. For us, the weekend always starts on the Saturday with the pasta party, Great City Games and the Junior Great North Run. The pasta party is your chance to mix with the celebs who take part, get your fill of pasta and find some great freebies, race tips and cheering boards.  It's a fun event and there's loads to keep the kids occupied before they do there bit.  Sandwiched between is the Great City Games, where we see some of the best athlete's do their stuff right in front of you and free ! If you've never seen athletics before, then this is your best chance to see some of the world's best. The junior events are great to watch as the kids love it and that's not just mine !  They all look full of determination when they...

Tomorrow is the first home game of another Premier League season for Newcastle United.  This year is my 25th year of being a season ticket holder at St James Park and I have to say that this is the least excited that I've ever been ahead of a new season. A heady mix of the tripe of last season, letting a number of players go, a lack of any signings and all amongst the laughable appointment of Joe Kinnear.  It's a mix of circumstances that has lead to me to feel totally dis-illusioned at the start of another campaign. The result and performance at Man City didn't exactly help the other night either as it sounds like we were rubbish. I'd love to think that it was just me that felt that way, but it appears I'm not alone as my almost as long standing season ticket holding mate is just as despondent as me.  The only positive is that we're still going for a pint tomorrow lunchtime !  It'll be good to see him and have a catch up on the summer and speculate on w...

Until the past few weeks, I've always had the feeling that Apple seem a really good company, especially when you go in the shops. But, that opinion has now changed.  A few weeks ago, the ipod that I'd had for about 6 years got the so called "white screen of death" and despite my bestest efforts on t'internet to try and fix it, none of the online help would help. So I looked on the support bit on the Apple website and found that I needed to log a call and they duly rang me at the allotted time and I thought that was really impressive, but there wasn't much advice and it ended up me needing to book to go to a store.  A process that you then have to book online and its not really a speedy process.  The appointment was booked for 3 days hence and I duly turned up at the Metrocentre.  Hilariously, despite explaining I was there for my appointment, the bloke said that you need to make an appointment for service - hang ten Spender, that's what I'm here fo...

Well, I was on the bus the other morning on me way to work and having a bit of a chat with a colleague as we went. Unusually, we where sat downstairs (as I like to park upstairs and enjoy the view) and I noticed that everyone who was sat in front of us where tinkering with their mobiles. This got me thinking - which is dangerous I know, but here goes, what on earth did we do before mobile phones came about ?  Did we talk to each other, did we read the paper, did we rock a geet big Sony Walkman, can anyone remember ? It was equally interesting to see what people where doing on the phones - not that I'm that much of a nosey parker, but I could quite openly see.  The lady sat in front of me was perusing her ebay account and hoying a couple of bids on (around the Harlow Green area) and she then did a bit of Facebooking.  The lady in front of her was on a game and not sure which one as I don't do them (barring a brief dabble with them Angry Birds). It's amazing really as...

After a period of lull and boredom, the Toon Army Rollercoaster has taken an almighty nosedive once again with the ridiculous appointment of Joe Kinnear as Director of Football.  It has to be said that the whole situation at NUFC seems to be at farcical level once more and after listening to the interview with Kinnear on Talksport the other week, you have to wonder what on earth is going on in Mike Ashley's mind.  Kinnear seems to think that the fans are against him as he's not a Geordie, whereas in real life the reason the fans don't want him hear is that he's got no idea on what he's doing, hasn't been in football for years and as the radio interview showed, is a compulsive liar.  I'm not against the position of having a Director of Football as long as its the right person and I have no faith in Joe Kinnear whatsoever in that role, or pretty much anything else for that matter - even as a kebab seller ! Had it just been me with a season ticket, then my ...

I know that we all like to listen to a bit of music whilst we're out and about, especially on the journey to work.  However, not everyone wants to hear what your listening too.  I've had a few bus journeys recently where someone else's music has been very much in my eardrums and that's just nee good whilst I'm trying to tweet or read the Metro paper ! I had a trip down to Chester the other morning on the way to work and heard Rihanna booming out of the person sat in front of me's headphones.  I wonder if he was going to the concert at the Stadium of Light and I should have mentioned our extra 78's to get him home after the gig !!!  Anyway, when I got to Chester, I made the swift change onto the Pronto to get to Gateshead and there was a bloke sat halfway down the bus and I could still hear the hoosey-hoosey music belting out of his headphones. We must be creating a country of totally deaf people and presumably when they get to those mature years (as me m...

The bus industry has changed a lot over the years and access to vehicles has improved leaps and bounds.  This is a superb improvement as its making public transport much easier for people to use, especially if you're not so good on your feet, have a pushchair or are in a wheelchair.  I can remember the days of my parents struggling to get prams etc into guards vans etc on the train and not having too many pleasant journeys standing with blanked out windows. So, we've moved on and the vast majority of buses are now low floor and easy access, plus trains and metro's are also a lot easier and more pleasant to use if you've got a pushchair or a wheelchair.  There's no doubt that there's been a huge move forward with bus operators spending millions of pounds on new vehicles ahead of the DDA access regulations. Even though there's been a huge move forwards in access, there was a case recently in Darlington where a local disability group took Arriva to court re...

Firstly, I do know that snooping in on other people's conversations is pretty rude, but some people (like me) are just too loud and you can't help but listen in - especially when they're on the bus.  One day this week was a particular cracker as I had a canny bit of time out on the buses and heard allsorts - it was truly fantastic.  I do follow a twitter account @busoverheards which has some funny anecdotes on it and whoever does it, is very funny and some of them are spot on and make me chuckle. So there I am, sat on the bus and waiting to leave a well know North East bus station that has a pub nearby. There's a man and a woman sat a couple of rows in front of me and the guy notices his Dad stood outside said pub and then points him out to the young lady and then goes onto explain who all the other people are stood in the group.  One of the group (and I can't remember her name, thankfully) was pointed out as the Dad's ex-partner, but he doesn't have much ...

After my comments a couple of weeks on the lack of interaction from some pretty big institutions/businesses on the old suuuuurshaaaaal media (as they say in Ashington), I'm back with a much more positive report on how it should be done. It's obvious that some businesses think its vital to pick up on every social interaction and they seem to hunt out mentions and hashtags.  For me, this is great customer service and its the exact opposite to what I've commented on previously. I had a few days off work recently when the kids were off after the Easter break and we headed to the cinema to see The Croods.  It was a really funny film, the kids really enjoyed, so did the Mrs and so did I.  We went to the Empire Cinema in Sunderland and took advantage of their "Saver Tuesday" offer, which I'd highly recommend as its only £3 a nut and when you're not the nuclear sized family as we are, these types of offers are great.  So, we had a great time and I posted a twe...

Some say that Football is a funny old game, but after today's Toon result, I have to agree. Off we trotted to St James Park today thinking that a win would be easy - the Toon have been very good in the last couple of games, especially at home and Sunderland have been poor, despite the managerial change, the performance at Chelsea wasn't great and the same old defensive frailties were there for all to see. In the first half we made some decent chances and looked the better team and we forced Mignolet into some good saves, but then the unbelievable happened and Sunderland scored on the break.  The impressive Sessegnon gave them the lead with a breakaway goal and then we looked poor at the back, with the situation not getting any better in the second half. Having been to four Sunderland home games so far this season (all for nowt by the way), I've not heard their fans sing at all, but all of a sudden they were, and in our back yard too. The situation just went from bad...

A bit of a doubler here on the old blog today as there's a couple of things on my mind at the moment. So let's start with scrap vans.  Is the emergence of the scrap van just a County Durham phenomonan, or are they region or even nationwide ?  There certainly seems to be a huge number of them around our little it of County Durham and not a day goes by when there's not one in our street.  Amazingly, when I was out for a run yesterday morning, I saw 3 of them and I was out just over an hour.  Is there really that much scrap around that it's keeping them all in business, who knows !  I know that there's a lot of them around Easington Lane and that there possibly not the sort of people that you'd mess with, but I still don't see where the money is and they must cover an awful lot of miles.  I'm not really that sure that many of the vehicles are quite that roadworthy either as they always look quite mature and seem to have various bits hanging off from all s...

Now this may come as a shock, but I like travelling on buses and there's nothing better than sitting upstairs when you're on a double decker.  Despite my growing number of years, there's still something interesting about sitting upstairs.  I think it's something to do with being able to see things and feeling like your the king of the road. This particular blog was inspired following a journey home on the bus one night last week.  Usually, my bus up the hill from Chester-le-Street is a single decker, but on this particular night it was a double decker - nice !  Off I went upstairs and there was only me up there as its only a relatively short journey through towards Houghton and there's not as many customers in the early evening.  It was lovely and peaceful sat upstairs and its fair to say that some of the views as the bus runs down by the Riverside at Chester-le-Street are pretty good.  Just as the bus was about to cross the River Wear, I noticed out of t...

Well, as many of may know, Social Media is pretty close to my heart.  Today was a bit of a landmark as I reached my 5,000th Tweet.  Now, had you asked when I first joined Twitter and didn't have a clue what to put, that I'd get to this sort of number, then I'd have said you were mad.  But, here we are and I do really enjoy a bit of twittering - sometimes I can be serious, sometimes I can be funny, sometimes I can be winding someone up and other times I can be random.  Above all, I'm being me.  My thoughts and views might not be to everyone's tastes and some followers come and go, but I'm not one who gets excited about how many people follow me as that's not what its about - I'm just being me ! Facebook is a different animal though and despite running a well known bus company's Facebook page for quite a while (despite what other people may say in the trade press !), I was really sceptical of Facebook.  Despite the best efforts of a few mates to pers...

I've been thinking about this one for a week or so as there is a general feeling that people just aren't as polite as they used to be.  Then on Thursday, a survey result suggested that 2 out of 3 people agree that people just aren't as polite as they used to be.  Radio Newcastle wanted the North East's opinion and I weighed in that people not saying thank you when you held a door open for them was one of the thing's that winds me up the most. I do tend to agree though, that in general, people do seem to be less polite and certainly less tolerant of others.  I'm not sure if its one of the side effects of the recession, in that people have just turned very possessive and generally less patient.  Luckily, I'm not one of these experts in these things, but for me, being polite costs you nowt and its nice to be nice. We've always brought the kids up to be polite and it's always nice to hear people comment on them always being polite and always speaking...

Without sounding too bitchy towards the great unwashed, we've had another dose of Mackem-ness today as we've been to see Sunderland play Fulham.  Don't panic, as I've not parted with cash for the privilege as it's another Family Learning freebie and this is the 4th game we've been to for nowt this season ! It was interesting to note that there was no real change from my last blog on the Mackems and their great unwillingness to get behind their team.  Fair enough, they didn't get off to a great start as Fulham got an early penalty which was put away rather cheekily by Berbatov.  Needless to say, going behind turns every Mackem against their team and each player is then just bloody useless according to their so called loyal fans.  Now I know that I like to have a moan every now and again at St James Park, but the negativity you hear at the Stadium of Light has to be witnessed.  We've been to four games, sat in different areas each time and the negativity...

All this travelling on public transport has got me wondering. You wonder what people do for a living, where they are heading or even what's going through their minds !  It's fair (or fare) to say that there's all sorts of people using public transport for their trip to work, school, the shops or for lots of other reasons.  My trip on the bus on Friday into Sunderland got me thinking as there was a lad got on in Bournmoor in working togs and a high-viz vest, got himself a Metro and sat down.  When the bus went through Penshaw, his workmate got on the bus - he had the same togs on and the pair chatted away as the bus rolled to Sunderland. So, it got me thinking where were they heading and what they were doing - they could be builders, but they looked a bit too clean.  They could be road sweepers, but again, a bit too clean. For those keeping up, you'll have sussed that I was on the 78 heading to Sunderland, now the 78 goes into Sunderland down Chester Road and fo...

Here we go for a bit of a controversial one, with some thoughts on Mackem Logic. Now, you have to appreciate that, for my sins, I was born in Sunderland.  However, I know that there's not very much Mackem Logic has got through to me, especially with being Black & White through and through. Thanks to the girls doing various SAFC Foundation Family Learning courses at school this year, I've had the pleasure of free tickets to the Stadium of Light three times so far this season.  On all three trips I've noticed some really strange things, but today's trip was a priceless classic, but some of the behaviour has been repeated on all three visits.  This is a good feat for them as we've sat in three different areas of the ground on all of the visits - we've been in the East Stand, North Stand and today, in the North West Corner which was nice as it was very close to the away fans, so we got a little bit of atmosphere. So, today, the crew from Lumley where pretty ...

So, this week, I've been looking at a few things to do with Customer Service.  As I've been thinking, I've looked at some of the Customer Service that I've experienced over the past few weeks and there's been some really good and some really bad examples. We've had a problem with the car radio as its had a new radio and we couldn't remember the radio code.  After a lot of pondering, I remembered once being told that Autosounds on Scotswood Road were the experts at being able to sort the problem out.  Whilst feeling inspired, I dropped them an email one Sunday night to ask if they could do it - at 8.24 on the Monday morning I had a reply confirming that they could do it and giving me a price and to give them a call to sort it out.  To me that was impressive and they did solve the radio code conundrum and they were really helpful throughout and rang me when they said they would, plus the price was exactly as quoted.  Superb customer service in my humble opin...

Respect is a funny thing. There's been a fair bit of debate recently on local radio about the lack of respect that young people have in their everyday lives. Personally, it is something that winds me up as a simple "please" or "thank you" costs you nowt and its nice to be pleasant.  But, at the risk of being too controversial, older people are just as guilty and possibly even more guilty than young people.  As an example, I was in Morrisons at Doxford Park today and within a matter of seconds, an old guy sauntered straight in front of me with his trolley - had I not stopped quickly, I'd have knocked him flying and he didn't even acknowledge me.  Then, as I started to walk again, an older lady coming the other way dropped a carrier bag out of her pocket and I told her what she'd done.  She then simply bent over, picked the bag up, put it back in her pocket and walked off - not a please, a thank you or a kiss me arse !  Needless to say that I was pre...