Doggone it!

by Colin MYCOMPUTER TUTOR

I showed you the tattered remains of a leaflet I tried to deliver last week through a door guarded by an over-zealous dog. At least, I presumed it was a dog - it certainly had teeth - but you never know what strange pets some people keep.

Anyway, later that same week I was called by the lady who has the little EeePC to say that she couldn't get email and the battery light was on all the time... So I paid her a visit to see what was what. Her tiny Asus PC couldn't connect to the Internet, and every time I checked the battery level it was a little lower - down to 16%.

The lights on the router were as they should be and the mains power switch was on. The power lead from the adaptor/plug and the network 'patch cable' were wrapped together in one of those plastic 'cable tidy' sheaths, and at first glance all seemed well. But when I unpeeled the sheath, I found that both the power lead and the Internet cable had been chewed through! The lady has three 'resident' dogs and several others in kennels.

The smallest dog had obviously been very frustrated when the lady had gone out at some time, and had chewed the cable tidy repeatedly!

So, mystery solved! I managed to mend the power lead with electrician's tape. Luckily, I carry a spare patch cable with me so I fitted that...and all was mended. But the place is totally devoted to all things 'dog' and I just wonder how long it will be before I have to repeat this rescue. Good thing for doggy that he chose the 12v end. The adaptor's plugged into a trailing socket with 250v coming out of the wall!

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I've just 'met' two more computer tutors, John in Lincolnshire and Rosie in Surrey. There are links to them over there on the right - have a look at their websites - say hello - compare notes etc.

Colin

Zen...and the etiquette of delivering leaflets

by Colin MY COMPUTER TUTOR

1. I always leave the gate as I find it.
2. If there's a notice that says "Dogs loose" or similar, I close the gate as I go in. The gate's there to keep the dog in.
3. I let dogs come to me and make friends. No-one would be so stupid as to let a vicious dog out...would they?
4. I never walk across the grass.
5. I never walk across the front room window, even if the two houses share the drive. That's an invasion of privacy.
6. I never climb or even step over a dividing wall, but I will go straight from one door to the next if I can, bearing in mind rule 5.
7. I always walk away down the path/drive holding the next leaflet. If I've disturbed the occupier, he will see my retreating back, a sheaf of paper in my one hand and an ostentatiously-flapping leaflet in the other. He can then identify me as a bona fide deliverer of leaflets rather than a pikey who's been scared off by the dog.
8. I always push the leaflet right through the letterbox - as least as far as I can so that it doesn't show outside. This has become a standard common-sense security measure.

On occasions I do meet the occupier. Often in the garden or unloading the shopping from the car, or sometimes just on the way out. My standard line is

"Good morning/afternoon...I'm just delivering leaflets...it might be of interest"

On a few occasions, someone has looked at the leaflet heading and said:

"Ahhh....yes....this could be just what I want..."

or made similar noises.

So I turn back and we start talking about what they've got and what they want to do...I can recall at least a dozen occasions over two years where this has happened. And I get home later, fully expecting the phone to ring and a booking to be made.

And yet NONE of these people has ever followed it up with a phonecall. Perhaps it's best if I don't stop and talk to them!

I regret that I haven't kept a rigorous record of the number of my clients who have responded to a leaflet delivered through the door. I have registered my 118^th client this week - that's after 23 months of business - and I'd say that 80% have come through the leaflets.

Colin

Delivering Leaflets - Part 3 - Survival

by Colin MY COMPUTER TUTOR

We are a nation of pet-lovers and I meet lots of dogs and cats on my leaflet deliveries.

The cats I meet are of three types:

• Friendly cat
• Snooty cat
• Scaredy cat

Which type do you think this one is?

Hard to tell isn't it? Cats don't give much away...

Dogs are more straightforward:

• Friendly
• Vicious

Now then...which one do you think this is?

The relationship's pretty clear, isn't it? The trouble is that I rarely get such a clear view of Deputy Dawg. If I'm lucky, I'll hear the barking as I approach, or I will have seen him jump down from the sofa.

But then there's the mechanics of the letterbox to deal with (see Part 2 for an exhaustive critique of those!) And on a few occasions - just a very few - you encounter the Stealth Psycho Dog who won't make a sound...but he waits.....

So there you are, lifting the letterbox flap with one hand and pushing the other hand right through because, yes, it's one of those vile bristly boxes and you don't want to leave a leaflet half out of the door (see Delivering Leaflets Part 4 - Etiquette tomorrow) And then....well, here are the remains of a near miss I had yesterday!

I was left holding this fragment while the Stealth Psycho Dog was reading, marking, learning and inwardly digesting the rest!

Grrrrr!

Colin

Delivering Leaflets - Part 2

by Colin MY COMPUTER TUTOR

Hereford's an old town and I put leaflets through a wide variety of doorways. Many of the residential streets are Victorian or Edwardian, many others are 1930's and there has been a lot of housing put up within the last 20 years too.

My own street has some three storey Georgian houses at one end and late 20th century houses at the other. The houses in between, including mine, are mid-19th century, built for the railway station staff. The stationmaster's house really is a cut above the rest - that post had a high status in 1860!

I walk up to lots of different doorways when I'm out with the leaflets and I make a quick assessment of the letterbox as I approach. This door on the right is close to being perfect. It's right up my street...literally! No, seriously, it has a decent-sized letterbox and a step up to it. It's one of the Georgian houses. Pity that the fittings aren't original Georgian but perhaps the colour is a close attempt!

The step is good because as I turn away I get a good spring off it and on to the next house...

The letterbox is good because it's a good size, there's no flap to lift and this style rarely has those horrible bristles beyond them! (I know they're supposed to keep the draught out, but they can mangle my leaflets something terrible!)

This fine door is Edwardian, I think. Set in a porch with a proper coir doormat.

As I approach along the driveway I have time to fold the leaflet (without creasing it) because I can see that this style of letterbox is smaller - probably original.

Shame about the glass, though!

Now this is a horror - I hate them.

This mimsy little letterbox has a flap that pushes back and up, which needs two hands! So you tuck the wodge of leaflets under your armpit, fold the leaflet, push the flap back with one hand and then squeeze the leaflet either left or right of the flap.

Then you find those wretched bristles in the way too!

Original '30s glass, though....

And these!

Who designed these?

Not a postman, or anyone who has ever put anything through a letterbox, that's for sure!

This is the

BreakBack Door...

...at least you would see the waiting dog through the glass!

More on them later

When there's a porch with a letterbox...and a door with a letterbox, I always make the effort to go into the porch and post the leaflet through the door.

I want to make sure the household see my leaflet, and I'm never sure if they actually use the front door. The leaflet could sit in that porch for months...quite often I see a pile of freebie newspapers and those charity bags.

So I make the effort to get my leaflet across the threshold.

Similarly with these. Yes, they're easy to 'flip' - some of them are 'top-loading' - but if there's a letterbox through the door I'll use that.

Get that leaflet into the house!

This box was right up near the house, but I have found some placed at the end of long driveways. You'd think that this would be helpful to the postman - and to me - but when I see the cobwebs over the slot I make the effort to walk up that driveway.

Delivering leaflets - Part 1

by Colin MY COMPUTER TUTOR

I started a new batch of my A5 leaflets at the beginning of September - 5000 of them - and I decided to deliver them around Hereford City again. I did pretty well all the streets within walking distance of my home back in November 2008 up to August 2009, when I got the car and was able to get out further into the County. When I say 'walking distance of my home', I mean a radius of about four miles. I like walking! So I covered a lot of Hereford.

This time around, though, I'm going to be a little more selective. Now call me a snob if you will, but some areas, some streets are more worthwhile than others. There are a few pointers I follow in deciding whether to leaflet an area or not:

• Are they well-kept houses?
• Are the gardens cared for?
• How old are the cars?

One of my guiding principles is "Does it look as though this household would pay for private tuition?"

Tatty-looking curtains (worse if they are closed), a garden that shows evidence of recycled dog's dinners and a car registered last century are not good indications.

I don't offer a cut-price service (although I do discounts!)

My other guiding principle is "You never know...."

This is the "You can't judge a book by its cover" principle coupled with the "What If" principle. I have passed by whole estates of houses in Hereford where, from my experience and their reputation, I think it just wouldn't be worth the time and effort. And yet, there could be someone in there desperate to get started with a computer and My Computer Tutor could be just the thing they need.....

There's lots more to follow about leaflets - this is Part 1 of..........well, I want to tell you all about letter-boxes, and dogs...and cats....and...so much more!

Colin