2006 — Day 16 - on being an IBM pensioner
Reading, as I have just been doing, the latest newsletter of the Association of Members of IBM UK Pension Plans (AMIPP) several things strike me:
- To dispense with the most trivial first, the use of Microsoft's "Comic Sans" font produces (in me at least) a feeling that this is an amateur production. Font selection (like font design) is an art, not a science, but I suspect Jakob Nielsen would have a few words to say on the subject.
- Reading as a pensioner (technically, maybe, not until January 2007) rather than an employee, the effect on the blood pressure is (I'm sure) unhealthier.
- The content is harder-hitting than I ever dared to be in any of my published Mole Reports, but none the worse for that.
I felt almost proud to be classed as one of the 40,000 or so "dormant accounts" that First Direct has been trying to shake off by charging them £10/month for a very mundane current account. I like to think I was one of the first to phone up to cancel, certainly. Judging by radio and press comment in the last five days they could be on the point of a bit of a PR disaster. Their managing whatsit was forced onto the BBC "Money Box" show to suggest people could retain free banking by opening a separate savings account and keeping just £1 in it — that's got to hurt!
The smile was wiped off my face, however, when (on reading the small print associated with my Alliance & Leicester EasySaver account) I discovered that each cash withdrawal from the nicely handy ATM machine just up the road will cost me £2. Readers with total recall will already know that that currently represents nearly 10% of the total balance :-(
I am delighted and grateful to report that I have now turned another retirement gift voucher into the following worthy bedtime reading and watching:
- A Practical Guide to Linux Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming, by Mark Sobell.
- Designing with Web Standards, by Jeffrey Zeldman. I was five minutes late back to our agreed rendezvous point because of the time I spent browsing this in Waterstones today at lunchtime. Luckily, she who must be adored was herself about four and a half minutes late, so no fires were started.
- Web Standards Solutions: The Markup and Style Handbook, by Dan Cederholm.
- The Sopranos, Season 5
The Chandlers Ford Chainsaw Massacre
Christa, meanwhile, is out in the garden using the B&Q power lopper alligator chainsaw thingy to slice up various bits of tree, dead or otherwise. She loves it!