Friday 22nd May

Regarding the car incident on the 2nd May. I arranged for an engineer from the insurance company to come and look at the evidence on the Volvo. It's because someone in Manchester who reversed into my car is claiming I reversed into his car. Also he's claiming whiplash even though it was only a scrape. By having an engineer it might go some way to proving I was driving forward and that it was so slight and low speed there wouldn't be any chance of whiplash.

The engineer phoned yesterday and arranged to come somewhere between 11pm and 1pm. For some reason on the phone he told me how he's going to take his computer into Manchester for repair beforehand. People I don't know often want to tell me their life stories, which isn't appropriate if it's business. Just arrange it and be there.

From the way the engineer sounded on the phone, I put the odds on him not turning up on time. He seemed that type of person.

I plan the day around what I want to do and him not turning up. At 1:30pm he hasn't turned up, I call the Co-operative insurance company to tell them. It's quite concerning that a guy who is meant to be a professional and part of the team responsible for representing me legally in a fraudulent insurance claim – can't turn up on time. If he can't turn up on time how's he going to be smart enough to assess the damage to the car.

It's probably a joke to the conmen how easy it is to extort money from the middle class. The insurance company is incompetent. Or they can't be bothered investigating it properly because it's not that big a claim, so they prefer to put it down to both people's faults rather than pay for lawyers. It's simple for the insurance conman to exaggerate his injuries and receive a £3000 bonus.

At 1:45pm I go to the airport.

Jackson is at the airport seeing people off on an organised trip to Barcelona. He invited me (to the airport, not Barcelona) and I decided to come along because I only live 10 minutes away and there's lots of shops.

I arrive at the airport and it's all changed. There don't seem to be any shops except for Boots, Spar and WHSmith. I go to WHSmith to buy a drink and say to the cashier:
Me: "What happened to the airport? Where are all the shops?"
Him: "They've closed off all that because of September 11th."
Me: "I used to come here because it was like a shopping centre."
Him: "I know. I used to come here when I was young."

Manchester airport used to be a trip out at the same time as seeing people off on holiday. Today it resembles airports I saw in Eastern Europe after the fall of communism. Cheap plastic seats, poor quality décor, not a nice place to be. As I walk around the airport corridors it starts to look worse – like a third world airport. Missing ceiling tiles, exposed wiring. It would put someone off flying.

The PR might have said the airport is closed off for security, although it could be more of an opportunity to use September 11th as an excuse. September 11th was in 2001, I was here in 2005 and it still wasn't closed off. Manchester airport has probably converted some of the shopping space into more profitable uses. Also there doesn't seem to be much security around the border fences and it's easy to be close to the planes, so they can't be that bothered about security.

Jackson takes the people who are on the trip to the check-in desk and directs them to the departures area.

Jackson: "What have you been doing lately?"
Me: "Meeting up with ladies from speed dating."
Jackson: "You haven't been out to bars or clubs?"
Me: "I'm enjoying meeting up with ladies who appreciate me. We have good times and quality conversation. I feel relaxed."
Jackson: "You seem relaxed today."
Me: "I'd like to meet up with guys but most are either ruled by women or crude. They usually complain how they are arguing with their girlfriend. The cause of the arguments is because they don't have anything other than their girlfriend. No hobbies or activities. I find most guys can't have a good night out."
Jackson: "I know what you mean."

We go to the foyer of the Radisson SAS hotel and discuss search engine optimisation which I need to know about for a website I'm planning to promote.
It's really nice in this hotel, such a nice atmosphere. There's a bar and café.


Summary and venue reviews: Friday 22nd May

Manchester Airport
Medium busy. Clientele: holidaymakers. Décor: 1/10.
Manchester Airport

Radisson SAS hotel
Quiet. Clientele: businesspeople. Décor: 9/10.
Radisson SAS Manchester Airport



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