Tag: Lake District

bookmark_borderI know a man

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Our car insurance is due and I’ve been checking out some online quotes. There are loads of sites that “will find you the cheapest quote” and I’ve tried most in the last couple of hours. Be it a one-stop site, or the majority of the better known insurers, they all share one thing (seemingly). Badly designed forms.

Point 1: A common feature is the ‘let’s be clever and help the user fill out the form’. So, you enter the make of car (Renault) and suddenly the screen pauses, the mouse cursor changes to ‘busy’ as they dive to a database to pull up a list of cars for you. Now granted this is helpful. But not on a 56k modem where it takes so long you begin to wonder if your PC has died.

Point 2: If I specify the second driver as my spouse, why are you prompting me for her marital status?

Point 3: Well kinda the same as Point 1 really. I am an organised kinda guy. I have all the details I will need already in front of me, I know the date we bought the car, the renewal premium, the average mileage for the last two years, etc etc. So why can’t I just zip through the form and then let it go off and process the details for me? Why do I have to wait 30 secs between each of 3 or 4 screens whilst the information is processed.

I’ve yet to receive a decent quote so I’m still looking. In the midst of all this I remembered that I hadn’t reviewed our AA breakdown coverage (and as we are off to the Lake District next weekend we might need it). So I fired up a second browser window (yes I know it will slow my connection even more), and hit the AA website. First thing I saw was their online insurance quote service. What the hell, I thought. I’ll try this one as well.

Delight! (No, not a cheaper quote) A well designed form! Fast, responsive, smart pre-selections made for you (presumably the most common answers to questions like – have you ever been convicted of a driving offense), and split into two logical sections.

Well done The AA.

Now if only you’d found me a cheaper quote… *sigh*

bookmark_borderEclectic Five

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Phew Blogger is back up, I can start posting…< It's official. I'm eclectic. It's always good to hear from you dear reader, and, just as I too have recently started to contact people I've 'met' through their blogs, I received an email from Stuart, just a quick hello, but that’s all it takes – hmmm might start a campaign here, or an email list, or a blogging chatroom. Hang on, I’m sure I’ve seen those somewhere already.

Friday Five
1. What makes you homesick?
Mountains, hills, sharp, fresh spring mornings. Driving back to Scotland from England, the Lake District was the first sign of home as the hills grew and grew. Loch Lomond and Ben Lomond are permanent landmarks in my life. I was very lucky that I lived so close to some amazing scenery.

2. Where is “home” for you? Is it where you are living now, or somewhere else (ie: Mom & Dad’s house, particular state/city)?
Wherever we are together. We moved about a lot in the past 4-5 years, so the presence of each other is enough to ground us. However we are creating a ‘home’ where we are at the moment. Glasgow will always be my home city (I’m sitting in an office on the banks of the River Clyde at the moment).

3. What makes it home for you? People? Things?
She does.

4. Where is the furthest you’ve been from home, miles-wise?
About 5000 miles. Had business trip to San Francisco last year. Flight wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, considering my previous longest flight time was 3 1/2 hours to the south of Spain.

5. What are your plans for this weekend?
Decorating the ‘office’. Finishing the shelves in the kitchen. Putting up the curtain rail in the living room. Hey, we’ve only been in the place for 7 months. Will also try and bash on with re-design of this site. Read more of No Logo. Play some new PS2 games that I got yesterday. Make up some MiniDiscs for Louise. Watch Jurassic Park III and The Mexican (borrowed from a friend). Not much really. Yikes!