A strongly-worded letter to Sir Terry Leahy, Chief Executive, Tesco Plc.
I was out in Richmond out last Thursday - Richmond, Surrey I mean, not Richmond, North Yorkshire, parliamentary seat of bald former Conservative leader William Hague - meeting some friends for a drink. Well I say meeting some friends; what actually happened was I got the date wrong and they'd all gone out on the Wednesday. Apparently they'd had to change the date because johnnybrolly was seeing Madame Butterfly at the Coliseum on the Thursday. That struck me as a little odd, because I'd never had him down as someone interested in opera. I'd have thought that watching You've Been Framed with a big bowl of Twiglets was more in his line, but it just goes to show what hidden depths lurk behind that fatuous exterior. "Not many jokes," was his verdict. In fact, as it happens I made a brief attempt to get into Italian opera myself earlier this year, but it turned out to be tremendously boring. Still, I've got a copy of the 1953 Maria Callas recording of Tosca, if anyone wants it. The box is a bit battered, but the actual CDs are fine, apart from the music on them.
Well anyway, they'd texted me to say the date had changed, but I never really use my mobile other than to store old pictures of Oscar and receive the occasional message from Charlie about High Wycombe's under 13 cricket team - they won an easy victory against Taplow on June 14th, you'll be glad to hear. So I ended up in Richmond on my own. I decided to go home, but on the way I stopped off at Tesco for a bottle of South African pinotage and some of their excellent cave-aged Swiss gruyere. The bill came to a very reasonable £7.44, and, by lucky hap, I had enough change in my wallet to pay this amount. In fact between you and me, the amount of change in that wallet was causing slight discomfort in my right buttock when I sat down, it being another unswerving policy of mine to keep my wallet in my right back pocket. Well rather than telling you what happened next, I'll show you via the medium of
As I'm sure I don't need to remind you - or I might, I don't know - we Wards have previous experience when it comes to fearless campaigns against supermarket Chief Executives. Cast your mind back to December 2006 - by which point Room 5 featuring Oliver Cheatham had sadly ceased to function as a recording entity - and you'll remember James Ward taking on the might of Asda Chief Executive Andy Bond in a row over couscous. Well Tesco Chief Executive Sir Terry Leahy is clearly a more formidable foe than Asda Chief Executive Andy Bond, but then I'm equally clearly a more formidable foe than James Ward, although to be fair that's not saying much. Well anyway, I'll let you know how I get on. My guess is my letter will be ignored and I will pursue the matter no further. Take that, Leahy!
Well anyway, they'd texted me to say the date had changed, but I never really use my mobile other than to store old pictures of Oscar and receive the occasional message from Charlie about High Wycombe's under 13 cricket team - they won an easy victory against Taplow on June 14th, you'll be glad to hear. So I ended up in Richmond on my own. I decided to go home, but on the way I stopped off at Tesco for a bottle of South African pinotage and some of their excellent cave-aged Swiss gruyere. The bill came to a very reasonable £7.44, and, by lucky hap, I had enough change in my wallet to pay this amount. In fact between you and me, the amount of change in that wallet was causing slight discomfort in my right buttock when I sat down, it being another unswerving policy of mine to keep my wallet in my right back pocket. Well rather than telling you what happened next, I'll show you via the medium of
As I'm sure I don't need to remind you - or I might, I don't know - we Wards have previous experience when it comes to fearless campaigns against supermarket Chief Executives. Cast your mind back to December 2006 - by which point Room 5 featuring Oliver Cheatham had sadly ceased to function as a recording entity - and you'll remember James Ward taking on the might of Asda Chief Executive Andy Bond in a row over couscous. Well Tesco Chief Executive Sir Terry Leahy is clearly a more formidable foe than Asda Chief Executive Andy Bond, but then I'm equally clearly a more formidable foe than James Ward, although to be fair that's not saying much. Well anyway, I'll let you know how I get on. My guess is my letter will be ignored and I will pursue the matter no further. Take that, Leahy!