The Mark Ellis Blog

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...