I was reading the Guardian this weekend and came across an article that was worthy of some comment. It was a follow-up to a story that had been published the week previously about LA Fitness. The article, entitled “A knock-out blow by our consumer champions”, started around a couple from Essex who had hit upon hard times (Hannah, heavily pregnant, and husband recently out of work). When he lost his job, they tried to cancel their LA Fitness membership. The company said “no” and thanks to the internet and the media that stupid decision sparked a furious backlash and created some delightfully negative publicity for the business.

LA Fitness refused to budge on its contract and in doing so made a morally bankrupt and deeply wrong decision. The company obviously forgot that its customers were real people with real feelings, individual circumstances and, perhaps unexpectedly, some real power. In only thinking about the MONEY, the company has now become a wonderful case study in the power of social media. When some sensible corporate soul finally realised the intense damage the debacle was causing the LA Fitness brand, the right decision was finally arrived at to cancel the remaining contract.

But then that really was too little, too late! LA Fitness, now a gym to avoid at all cost has helped provide that final straw that will see gym membership contracts for the whole industry being reviewed by the Office of Fair Trading. For too long gym contracts have been under the radar and now they are to get some much needed attention – it is expected that the usual consumer rights concerning circumstance change will have to be incorporated.

LA Fitness now has “enjoyed” some significantly bad media coverage, has seen its brand damaged, has paid the money back anyway and will have to improve its customer experience in the future – that’s 4-0 in my reckoning to the customer and the media and rightly so. January is the month for dieting and LA Fatness can now look forward to shedding a few pounds (in its case in terms of income) along with its remaining customers.

I write with some distrust of the gym business garnered through bitter experience. Many years ago my wife tried to cancel her gym membership after a couple of months of a twelve month contract. It turned out that her gym had factored their future income and my wife therefore owed her money to another business with no interest whatsoever in her as a customer. The new debt owner threatened legal action immediately and the only sensible outcome was to pay up and shut up and never make the same mistake again. I haven’t been a gym member in more than a decade now but I can wholeheartedly recommend running as a means to keep fit without the overhead - you read it here.

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I had to do something yesterday that is worth a blog entry – I had to save one of my tropical fish from dying. The fish in question – a female yellow barb (otherwise known as a Schubert’s barb or Puntius Semifasciolatus for those that prefer it more exact) had decided to eat a banded Kuhli loach (Pangio kuhlii) that I presume had already died and gone to fish heaven.

To set the scene, I was sat at the breakfast table with my kids when my son said "what is that fish eating"? It turned out that the thing sticking out of the barb’s mouth was the rear half of the loach (which is a worm like fish for want of a better description). The problem was that the carcass of the kuhli was stuck; the barb could neither finish ingesting it nor, in effect, spit it out - this probably being because the barb had sucked the kuhli in far enough for the kuhli’s gills to be lodged in its throat.

Some intervention was necessary because the barb would only starve to death in that predicament. I caught the barb in my net and, whilst holding the fish still (in the net and out of the water), proceeded to remove the kuhli with a pair of tweezers. If you are a fisherman you’ll appreciate that this exercise was a bit like removing a swallowed hook – you can’t just pull it out because you’ll kill the fish – you have to manipulate it out carefully. Whilst the barb couldn’t get the loach out of its throat on its own, I could provide key movement and leverage.

After about a minute I got the kuhli carcass out and put the barb back into the tank. The barb had survived and this morning was eating just fine with the rest of its tank mates. This little fish is clearly a robust thing and so far shows no negative effects from its ordeal at all.

Me, I am just pleased that I got it right. 

Here’s a picture taken today! The fish probably deserves a name now – maybe Houdini after its lucky escape – your ideas welcome. 

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If you haven’t seen/read about this already then follow this link and read the the coverage about Erin Langworthy’s amazing escape from death http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16459489.

Erin Langworthy had jumped from the Victoria Falls bridge (364 feet) above the Zambezi River, when the cord snapped in two and plunged her into the water.

Her survival is miraculous given that she had her legs tied together and after the impact with the water had to swim to shore.

I did a bungee jump once in the Catskill Mountains in New York state: I can tell you that without doubt it was the scariest thing I have ever done in my life (and it was only 150 feet!). I don’t like heights, which doesn’t help I’ll admit, but when I was stood in this cage waiting to go I was so scared that I was physically shaking (that had never happened before and has never happened since). When I jumped the adrenaline hit was huge and I felt the effects of it for the next two days as well.

I reckon that Erin’s adrenaline hit would have been so immense that she would have been as high as the bridge afterwards. No doubt she could have fought off crocodiles too if they dared get too close. I am delighted she survived and I bet that her optimism tanks have been topped right up – no doubt she’ll go on to achieve some great things.

Since experiencing the thrill of the cord, I have tried various things including tandem skydiving and believe me nothing has come close to that bungee adrenaline hit. It was always my promise to myself that one day I’d do the AJ Hackett bridge jump in New Zealand, Mrs Baldwin, always dead set against it, has now promised divorce if I ever follow through.

Don’t let her fear, or Erin’s scare, put you off though – it’s awesome, put bungee jumping on your list of things to do before you die!

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This is a great story on the BBC website http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16374283  – read it and decide if you agree with me. Amongst all the doom and gloom about bad weather, economic woes, private sector pension problems and shootings; this little gem shone out. 

A Swedish woman has just found her diamond engagement ring, lost in 1995, attached to a carrot growing in her garden. How cool is that?

I hate losing things, for example I am still trying to come to terms with the loss of my treasured silver Cross pens which just vanished in 2011. I have no idea when or where they left my company but they have definitely gone. I have spent months searching around and hoping that they’ll turn up but to date no result – gutted!

It’s probably true that the majority of anyone’s possessions (and mine for certain) are just things that can be replaced if they get broken, worn out or lost but some items are important and have sentimental value even if they don’t have monetary worth. In the case of Lena Paahlsson, her ring would tick both boxes. I can understand her joy at being reunited with it.

Thank you to the BBC for covering the story, I enjoyed reading it and as I result I can almost forgive the corporation for taking down some key Christmas specials from the iPlayer before I managed to catch up.

I am pretty sure that my kids didn’t bury my pens in the garden but I shall be watching my (well my wife’s really) vegetable patch with more interest just in case her carrots sprout treasure too.

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