-10

Ten days and counting. Christmas is a little over a week away, but you wouldn’t know it in our house.

Santa’s Grotto it is not.

I think we’re going for the minimalist look.

The Christmas Spirit seems to exist only in the egg-nog at the back of the drinks cupboard.

There’s no tree/tinsel/baubles or holly.

But. There is snow. Tomorrow. It’s going to snow. The salt mine five minutes down the road supplies all the grit for all the roads in the UK when it snows. Winsford. You never need to go there, but it’s famous for salt, and the factory is open 24/7 this week. It’s going to snow.

And what more could you ask for under the tree this year than the PMB phone of the year?!

LET ME KNOW YOUR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS! FANTASTIC PRIZE FOR THE BEST ONE.

Wonder what my buddy – Tiger’s resolutions will be – twelve over par – natch!

It ain’t over ’til the FAT LADY SINGS!

This is the fat lady singing:

Well, what a week. This is what they mean by ‘being a victim of your own success’.

We have employed some pretty determined chasing and following up after the recent conference in Cape Town, and have several deals in the pipeline, numerous balls in the air, and three or four plates spinning – to coin a cliche or two. And of course the nature of the business means that everyone wants everything before Christmas.

Mmm, well with less than 3 weeks to go before the Happy  Holiday this was going to be a tall order.

So far, so good, and I think Father Christmas will have a few extra packages to deliver… And the Fat Lady’s singing!

Tyger Tyger burning bright red….

Dear oh Dear oh Dear.

What on earth has my buddy been up to? You have to keep your mind on the job in hand….

Tiger is entitled to play a “provisional”, but this one went “out of bounds”.It’s “putter” strain on his marriage,and he needs a “slice” of luck to help him feel “par” again.It could have been worse, she could have been a “hooker”,but he now has a “hole in one” of his cars.

Nose right up to the grindstone, at the coalface all day today.

St Radboud

November 29th is the Feast Day of St Radboud. A Dutch chap descended from the King of the Frisians. He earnt his stripes at the court of Charles the Bald, who wasn’t bald but very hairy.

In turn Charles was married to Ermentrude:

And Ermintrude was the posh happy cow on The Magic Roundabout:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3DcChXNyYQ

And THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT isn’t what Tiger Woods crashed into last night. He crashed in to a fire hydrant outside his house in Florida. It appears that St Tiger’s grip isn’t what it was. And the golf club used by his wife might not have been to release him from the locked car, but to remind him that Rachel Uchitel is out of bounds. Penalty shot Tiger!

Which leaves the way wide open for me to hit the leader board.

Ha. By the way Modems are on the way cross continent.

 

 

TGIF

GOOD EVENING ZIMBABWE!

I just thought I would say a big hello to our friends and business associates in Zimbabwe – looking forward to doing business with you…

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/countries/country_zimbabwe.html

It has been a very long, intense week, with flurries of activity followed by frustrating lulls. But now, it’s the weekend, and what a way to kick back – securing a deal we have been working on for some time.

So we are ready for some R & R before next week’s onslaught, where several more projects in the pipeline will need the patience of Job and the hand of Eli to coax them to fruition!

And that reminds me – the hand of Henry, the World Cup in Africa, and some amazing branded products coming up just for this event. Just heard Henry is sailing to South Africa for the World Cup looks like it’ll be all hands on deck…

Details of these products to follow – but get your names down quick – limited availability.

THE PMB GUIDE TO MARKETING:

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You went up to her and say “I am very rich. Marry me”.
That’s DIRECT MARKETING

You are at a party with a bunch of friends and see a gorgeous girl. One of your friends goes up to her and pointing at you says, “He is very rich. Marry him”.
That’s ADVERTISING.

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and get her telephone number. The next day you called her and say, “Hi, I am very rich. Marry me”.
That’s TELEMARKETING.

You are at a party and see a beautiful girl. You get up and straighten your tie, you walk up to her and pour her a drink. You open the door for her, pick up her bag after she drops it, offer her a ride, and then say, ‘By the way, I’m very rich. Will you marry me?’.
That’s PUBLIC RELATIONS.

You are at a party and see a gorgeous girl. She walks up to you and says, “You are very rich”.
That’s BRAND RECOGNITION.

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say, “I am very rich. Marry me”.
She gives you a nice hard slap on your face.
That’s CUSTOMER FEEDBACK.

NOW YOU KNOW WHY I’M NOT IN CHARGE OF MARKETING…

The De Valk Windmill

GOOD MORNING NIGERIA!

I just thought I would say a big hello to our friends and business associates in Nigeria – looking forward to doing business with you…

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/countries/country_nigeria.html

We are all feeling better this morning – the sun is shining and it has stopped raining. It has been awful, just 100 miles to the north of us the poor sods in Cockermouth in Cumbria had 9″ of rain in one day, their town was devastated by it. Good job that rain didn’t fall over Holland:

‘The Netherlands faces the North Sea in western Europe. The Dutch have a saying: “God made the Earth, but the Dutch made Holland.” The first defences against the sea went up some 800 years ago. Today more than 2,400 kilometers (1,491 miles) of dikes shield the low, flat land—almost half of which lies below sea level—from invasion by the North Sea. Without the existing dikes 65 percent of the country would be flooded daily.’

RIGHT – BACK TO WORK. We are busy processing orders and enquiries following the Cape Town Conference, all still very positive, modems seem to be flavour of the month… keep on keeping on..

Have you checked our new products?

All our products are of the best quality and are very competitively priced.

New samples arrive daily, and if we don’t have it, it’s not worth having.

Have you checked our website recently?

http://www.pmbgroupltd.com/pmbproducts.html

Random thought of the day:

Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposites?

To do is to be – Descartes
To be is to do – Voltaire
Do be do be do – Frank Sinatra

Drip Drip Drip

I think I’ve got Trench Foot. It hasn’t stopped raining since I got back to the office. Everything is under water, I think the golf course could have another life as a paddy field.

The Brits will never make it on to the pages of The Sartorialist – too much time spent in wellies and soggy anoraks – and far too much time spent talking about the bloody weather!

http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/

The good news is that Ferrero, (The Ambassadorrrr’s Party) are looking at Cadbury, which means the Dutch breakfast of Nutella spread on toast, with chocolate sprinkles, is coming closer to home.

We’re not all about Edam and Gouda you know. OK, so it’s a slow news day….

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2c339530-d435-11de-990c-00144feabdc0.html

Talk doesn’t cook rice

Back to a wet and windy Britain.

Home Sweet Home.

Africa Com was a huge success, a big hello to everyone I met there. There may be a recession on but you’d never have guessed it – BUY BUY SELL SELL!

Orders were flying: modems and lo-cost handsets were on the top of most people’s lists.

The atmosphere was positive and we brought home lots of enquiries.

With 4,000 attendees from 120+ countries attending over the 2 days, the AfricaCom congress held in Cape Town provided a great showcase of the continent’s dynamic telecommunications market.

The 200-stand exhibition provided opportunities for participants to learn about the latest technologies and new products, while the high-level conference brought together CEOs and senior executive of the leading companies to share their expertise and strategies for their markets: operators such MTN, Zain Africa, Orange, Vodacom, Etisalat, and Safaricom, were there, not to mention PMB GROUP.

“The high attendance and the level of the debates held this week at AfricaCom is testimony to the continent’s great opportunities, said Julie Rey of organisers Informa Telecoms & Media; while most of the world is facing challenging economic conditions, African companies are leading the way with innovative models and services which enable continued growth”.

He who laughs last, thinks slowest.

It’s all going very well here, I had to stop off in Johannesburg to meet one or two clients, and pick up some orders!

The weather makes it feel like home from home – although the rain is warm here…

Interesting piece from the BBC about the flow of young Africans into China – seeking their fortunes in the East as the West wanes in popularity:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8349738.stm

The Chinese Government yesterday pledged $10 billion to Africa – to quash notions of exploiting natural resources…

Chinese officials have been battling accusations that they are only interested in the continent’s oil and minerals as their country presses forward with a decade-long drive to invest in African resources to feed its growing economy. Last year, European Union lawmakers assailed China for courting “oppressive” African governments, such as Sudan, to satisfy its soaring demand for oil and raw materials.

“China is very stung by criticism from so-called Western quarters in recent years,” said Martyn Davies, chief executive officer of Frontier Advisory, a Johannesburg-based research and strategy consulting company. China is trying “to have a softer approach” in an effort to rebut the notion that its interest in Africa is “extractionist in nature.”

Ridle Markus, Africa economist at Absa Group Ltd. in Johannesburg, said in an e-mail. “With substantial infrastructural backlogs in Africa and the need to reduce these backlogs to reduce poverty and become more competitive, Chinese investment will play an even bigger role in future.”