Chris Saul's Blog

Monday July 28, 2008

Gruesome, but does it work?

Driving round the UK in July I noticed lots of roads had new signs up asking drivers to be careful, along with a tally of the deaths and injuries that had occurred on that particular road or roundabout over the past years.

Pretty gruesome I thought. I wonder if they make a difference to the way people drive? As I wasn't driving I found it hard to judge. I can see this being useful at junctions - an extra warning to pay attention. Or just an obvious reason why the junction should be redesigned?

I remember that parents at my school campaigned for ages to have a proper pedestrian crossing put in opposite the school gates. If I remember correctly, local regulations meant that nothing could change until an accident had occurred.

What not to do after brunch

Dubai, or rather British expats in Dubai, was in the news for all the wrong reasons while I was away.

One thing that's annoyed me about lots of the coverage in the British press is the implication in many articles that this sort of thing wasn't tolerated in Dubai for various religious and cultural reasons.

Dubai certainly has stricter rules than Britain, what these two did would be just as unacceptable in the UK. I suspect it would be illegal too.

I believe the pair are going to be sentenced soon. I hope, for their sake, that they are treated leniently and are sent home quickly.

With all the publicity the case has generated, I expect that even the most drunken couples will manage to resist the lure of Dubai's beaches for many years to come.

Buy us, we're the most expensive

After having back in England for three weeks, I'm finding some of the ads and slogans in Dubai particularly jarring.

I usually use a laundry near where we used to live - it's pretty inexpensive, even if it's almost impossible to park near it these days. Their slogan is 'only X have the hygienic laundry concept'. Pretty innocent - possibly a classic of laundry related self-promotion.

I was in a hurry the other day, so was forced to use the laundry that's five minutes' walk away from where I live. Their advert and slogan is all about being as good as hotel room service. That instantly struck me as meaning that it was incredibly expensive and that you had to use them as there was no other choice. I crossed my fingers and hoped they wouldn't be too pricey.

Sadly this was true. My laundry was more than twice the price of my usual place and I'm locked into using them as traffic near my hygienic friends means it's becoming increasingly impractical to go there. Sadly this coincides with a whole year without them burning my shirt collars.

Why would you choose to advertise yourself in a way that suggested you cost a fortune for what's a fairly simple service? And how can they get away with being so pricey?