January is over at last, and as I am a contrary little being I have been looking into gym memberships – well, swimming for me and a junior membership for Thing 3 who has been nagging me for ages. Good GRIEF but these places make it hard to find simple information – like how much a particular membership costs, for example, or the types of membership there are.
For Golden Lane, the closest pool to where I work, I can find a page where I can pause, freeze or give notice of cancellation of my membership but no information on how I can become a member. At Better Leisure – Ironmonger Row Baths – I can find the membership page (yay!) but then need to start filling in forms and promising the soul of my firstborn (sorry, Thing 1) before I can find out how much it is although they do offer a swim membership which covers the outdoor facility at West Reservoir as well. At the one Thing 3 wants to join, you can’t join as a junior online which is fair enough but surely they could at least tell you how much it is?
Honestly, it’s like all the leisure centre websites have been built by teenagers or possibly by my Beloved as they are all incapable of answering a simple question with a straightforward answer. It surely can’t come as a surprise to service providers that people might want to get this quite important information without having to enter any personal details, or delve down through multiple webpages? I don’t want to talk to people on the phone, or wait for them to get round to answering enquiries, especially as the former action, from previous gym experiences, is going to be the hard sell on me rather than just answering my questions. Actual example:
Me: So, how much is it per month?
Gym person: how much do you think it should be?
Me: OK, £20 per month (having lost patience with the shiny-tracksuited sales ‘associate’)
Gym person: Oh, you can get that out of your head.
Me: well, perhaps you should have just answered the question rather than wasting my time then? [channelling my inner Dad]
The whole point of the internet and websites – apart from cat videos, of course – is that information is at your fingertips. The only plus I can derive from this is that at least these sites aren’t pervaded by chatbots, who are clearly designed by an evil imp in some infernal circle of hell and whose very name is a laughable lie as they do not, in fact, chat….they answer a limited number of pre-set questions with more questions and can’t actually provide any information, or even let you speak to someone with a human brain who might be able to provide assistance. I can only assume that AI ‘assistants’ are also in their teenage phase….
Things making me happy this week
- A ten-mile training walk on Saturday morning, through Magdalen and High Lavers to Moreton and back. I spotted a kestrel, a red kite, a sparrowhawk, a little egret, a heron and – for some reason – a large goose sitting in the middle of the road. The rain held off and I didn’t get shot by the enthusiastic hunting family out past Magdalen Laver. Road-only walk apart from a short stretch past Moreton, as the fields are basically a swamp again. Big thanks to the landlord of the White Hart for letting me use their toilet…
- Visiting the Art Club at South Library with illustrator Grace Holliday, where we explored play and architecture and met some lovely people who are very excited about the Centre
- Finishing an extremely fluffy blanket for GT2, who stayed over with us on Friday night so his mama could have a night out. Endless Sesame Street turned out to be better than the Wales v France game
- Finishing this Spiderweb Infinity Scarf in one of the hand-dyed yarns from the Waltham Abbey Wool Show – not shown as it needs blocking!
- Thing 2’s excellent cinnamon rolls
- A really positive parents evening for Thing 1 followed by a drink with Miriam (while Thing 1 eyerolled at us from behind the bar)
- The Last of Us – especially episode 3, one of the most beautifully written pieces of television I have seen for ages
The thing annoying me this week is the press insisting on peppering all Marianne Faithfull’s obituaries with ‘Mick Jagger’s ex-girlfriend’ references – never mind the amazing albums she’s made in the 55 years since they split up, the work she’s done with Nick Cave and PJ Harvey and others, and the whole life she’s lived since then….grr! Go and listen to this from the gorgeous Easy Come Easy Go album of covers. Go!
And today I am off for a swim with Jill and I have no idea what else the week is bringing….
Kirsty x
What I’ve been reading:
Feet of Clay/Jingo – Terry Pratchett (Audible)
Million Dollar Demon – Kim Harrison
Fear of Flying – Erica Jong
Tricky Twenty-Two/Turbo Twenty-Three – Janet Evanovich
Bad Day at the Vulture Club – Vaseem Khan
What Kirsty did next 