Promotion Assistant

The first weekend I was in Oxford last July, I had been trolling the Internet for things to do and came across an advert for a free Oxford walking tour that afternoon. Sounded good to me so I called up my friend Olena, the only person I knew in Oxford at the time as she had interned for my team in Chicago.

Olena and I arrived at the meeting place and our Scottish guide explained he was trying to get his new tour guide business, I Love Oxford Walking Tours, off the ground. This free tour was for promotion and he was hoping we would write up a review in Trip Advisor. Fair enough.

Along with us on the tour was a photographer that was going to take photos that may be used for his promotional materials and for a journalistic entry on this new start up business. We all had to agree that our photos could be used.

Well in the end the tour itself was not good. The guide rambled and it was difficult to follow his stories as he jumped around in topic and I didn't retain anything he said. Not only that but the photographer followed Olena around and was rather creepy asking for her email address to send the pics he had taken.

We did not fill out a Trip Advisor review.

A while later I realized that our photos were on the I Love Oxford website. And months later I teased Olena because a picture prominently featuring her had been blown up into a poster displayed on Broad Street.

Last weekend I was buying a coffee at Coffee Republic and looked down next to the register and saw my face. I have apparently made it onto a business card. Guess I can't tease Olena anymore. This photographer didn't get me on a "model day" and now my face is all about town associated with a tour I didn't even like!

TV LicenCe

If you own a TV, you must pay the fee. Every household in Britain pays a TV License (spelled Licence, but the plural is apparently licensing with an s, which is probably why Americans changed the spelling – one of many).

The fee to the Government is £145.50 per annum per household and when I first arrived I thought this was just another way to tax citizens, but alas there is a method to the madness. It pays for the BBC. I suppose its another way of paying for the same thing… TV channels. At our house, we don’t pay for cable channels, so the only payment for “free view” is this £145.50 per year. If you’re over 75 years old, your licence is free. If you’re blind you may qualify for a 50% concession.

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/

What does your licence fee pay for?

TV Licensing is committed to making it quick and easy for you to pay for your TV Licence in the way that suits you. The fee you pay provides a wide range of TV, radio and online content, as well as developing new ways to deliver it to you. Click on the devices below to find out more.
All of this content – and the television channels, radio stations and online spaces where audiences can find it – is paid for by the licence fee, allowing BBC's UK services to remain free of advertisements and independent of shareholder and political interest.

This fee is serious business – the government pretty much has to collect from every household in the country. And as you can imagine, plenty of people try to get out of it. You still receive channels streaming through your flat screen, even if you’re not paying the fee. After your licence has been expired for 2 months, and you have not paid, you will receive a notice saying something along these lines (err...don’t ask how I know this):

“YOU ARE HERBY GIVEN OFFICIAL NOTICE: Your Property is now under investigation. Maximum fine: £1,000 plus legal costs.”
Visit: Enforcement officers may be authorized to investigate your case and a visit to your home may be scheduled. If you’re found to be watching TV illegally, you may be cautioned and interviewed in accordance with the Police and Criminal Act 1984.

Good thing we just paid our renewal.

Thanks BBC, you’re one of the only good things I see about British TV. Although I might not be judging fairly considering we don’t pay for 200+ channels or DVR at my house (I miss my TIVO!).

Pension Plan = Woman in a Cape

Apparently this picture is supposed to get me excited about my new Scottish Widows pension plan. So I can wear a cape in my old age and swing it about....

Isn't this what we all aspire to in our retirement?! Where is the picture of the couple on a beach with their grand kids and a Labrador retriever?

I will be really disappointed if the cape doesn't come in my welcome package.