This is seriously a great family activity

 We managed to get away for 5 days during the summer holidays and it was so well needed.  It wasn't Texas, it wasn't even Belgium but it was 'slightly' sunny Somerset, as we headed off to our dog friendly AirBNB with heated swimming pool.

Whilst the apartment was a delight and the kids would have spent their whole time in the pool, come rain or cloud, we still wanted to include something where we could explore our surroundings.

Taunton as a town is very pretty, but is a half day mooch for a family with a dog in the rain. And so we looked where else we could venture and the opportunities of doing more than having lunch in these other towns.

That's when I was introduced to Treasuretrails.co.uk by a friend who had done it locally and posted about it on FB. The nice thing about TT is if you order your map in advance they will send you a much nicer version than the one I downloaded and printed on my running-out-of-colour-ink printer and slightly damp paper. But the benefit of not being organised is that we still had our map/booklet printed off before we set off on our trail.

We opted for a murder mystery and were tasked with eliminating suspects and murder weapons from the clues provided whilst walking around the very pleasant Devonshire town of Tiverton.

Again, it was quite a rainy day but we had macs on and James and I had the determination. To be brutally honest, the girls sneered at the idea to start with, so we gave them a map, and I told myself not to butt in and let them lead the way.

The suggested time on the map was 2 hours and about 1.5 miles of walking, and they were pretty much on target and so we parked up near our starting point, booklet and pen in hand and set off around the town of Tiverton.

The great thing is that you do this in your own time, and where others might want to read every plaque, every grave in every churchyard or historical building, we're very happy with the "ooh that's pretty", taking a photo and moving on.

The directions were pretty easy to follow, although we thought we were lost at one point, we just hadn't walked far enough along the road, and I ended up calling Treasuretrails customer support, who were quite helpful. She had her googlemaps on the screen whilst I was trying to work out the road name we were on.  Took a little time but we soon coordinated together where we were and we could head off on our journey.

The girls actually loved it, although it took a while for them to admit that, as we all had to get involved finding names or dates on our clues and then matching them to those on the back of the booklet.  It got a little competitive at times too which added to the adrenaline. Naturally we stopped off for a coffee break to avoid the rain and recharge our batteries, which added to the entertainment of our day out in Tiverton.  There are hundreds of these treasure trails throughout the UK and we will definitely be doing another one again soon.  They would make great birthday parties too and for a tenner, a hell of a lot cheaper than hiring an entertainer or venue for the same amount of time.

How to master a job interview

Good morning guys, and apologies for the break in writing, but last week I was so busy interviewing for a position we have at work.  Just the one post for a part time Customer Ops Rep and I had 170 applicants.  

Having been on the other side of the fence many, many times, I did my utmost best to be as fair as possible with the candidates and I thought I would share with you today my take on do's and don'ts of applying for a job.

Some real basics to start with.  When you see a job application, read it thoroughly, and then, if you know the company who is recruiting, research them. Look at how they write and their tone when speaking to their customers, and match that.

Always, ALWAYS send a covering letter if you really want the job. Some jobsites allow you to fast-send your CV, but does that tell the recruiter why you want to work for them? Does it hell! It tells them nothing about you.  Emphasis in your covering letter how the skills you have match the skills they are looking for. A covering letter is so much more important than a CV.

If the recruiting company has asked you to complete additional questions or tasks when applying, then make sure you provide the relevant information. They don't want a three page essay, but they don't want a one word answer either.

For example - What do you like about our company?

A good answer will show that you've researched them, picked out their USP if they have one and shown enthusiasm for that.

A bad answer will say "You pay well" or "Remote working" or worse still, talking about a different company!

So that's the first stage, and sit back and wait for the next stage.

With the job I am recruiting for, the next stage required candidates to answer some questions that would show their ability to understand our website/help pages and show their tone to our customers.  We sent out five questions and gave a strict and short timescale to get them back.

Don't make excuses if you're going to send it back later than the deadline. Just don't do that. If you can't get the answers over in time, then unfortunately my dear, this one isn't for you.

When you answer the questions, mirror the tone you have seen elsewhere on the website or app.  Don't over use exclamation marks. Don't be abrupt and definitely don't get the answer wrong or leave it blank.  These tests are set not to catch you out but for you to prove that you can read and understand.

The next stage of our interview process was a video interview, one on one.  In this stage I was looking for candidates who were passionate about our product, enthusiastic to get involved and could demonstarate the skills they put on their CV that made them get this far in the process.

If your interview is a virtual one, always check you can log on to the provided app/website beforehand. Don't turn up late, but if you do for technical reasons, do apologise.  These things happen, but a  quick apology and we can get on with the interview.

Our product at work is an App, I would expect everyone wanting to work for us to have downloaded the app and played around with it a lot before the interview. It doesn't matter if the app is suitable for you as an individual,  the idea is that you put yourself in the shoes of our customers in order to talk freely about what you like and don't like. It's perfectly acceptable and required to have an opinion.  I particularly liked the candidates who created pretend children to test different aspects of the app on.  

Those candidates who said they were scared to download the app because they didn't have children, well I'm so sorry but fear does't cut it in this environment.

Talking passionately about that app shows that the candidates like our product and genuinely want to work for us. Mentioning our competitors and pointing out how we are better than them is an even greater trait.

Swearing in an interview is a no-no. Even if you feel that we are on a comfortable level, we've had a little laugh and chatted quite informally about a subject, telling me that your colleague was "pissed off" with you doesn't really work in an interview for a professional product.  

Always, ALwAYS have some questions to ask. Again it shows that you are actually interested in the company and have done some research, and never say that the main reason you want the job is because it is remote working.  That is a bonus and something that is offered to the person who wants to make the company greater before thinking about answering emails in their pyjamas.  If you are nervous, knowing that you have questions to ask will ensure that you're not sitting in silence. Think of things that you have done that you are proud of and see how they would fit in with the interview questions. Try and offer as much information as you can without overkill.

Also, it's ok to say how much money you are expecting.  It's  not a secret, and the reason a lot of company's don't specify salary is because they want the right person rather than the right £ bracket.  Be open and honest and explain why you want that amount. It's definitely not a taboo subject.

Finally, if you're not successful and don't get through to the final stage, ask for feedback. Feedback is vital to take forward to the next job interview and gives you the chance to review your method and tweak it to be more suitable.  Feedback also lets the recruiter know that you really were genuinely interested and your name will be remembered for future roles.

I hope this helps and in these awful times of redundancies and economic uncertainty there will be a lot of people up against you but spend time on every single application you submit and the rewards will be reaped.

Good luck out there guys.

Much love

Our Summer Adventures part 1

The summer holidays are upon us, and I'm determined not to let the computers win. So I have been looking at things that we can do as a family that are different and hopefully memorable. My favourite motto of the roaring 20s is definitely "Making Memories" and as somone who loves to print out all her photos (and we do spend time sitting down looking through our albums on a regular basis, even if my reasoning is frequently to compare the size of my thighs), I want to have an array of pictures to print and not the same old same old each time.

Now that lockdown is easing, we've upped our game and taken the plunge on a few things. Today I'm going to share with you our Drive In Theatre experience, Kew Little Pigs and a good old favourite, Chiltern Open Air Museum.

Henley Festival, Car Park Party- Horrible Histories

Well this was a gamble, booking tickets for a) a show we have already seen, in b) our car from which we've never sat to enjoy a show in c) still partial lockdown and early days of easing.  But the tickets were a good price, and we paid for the car and not the people in it. I think it was £32 for our car.

Armed with snacks and not too many drinks (we didn't want to risk the toilets there) we drove to Henley and simply parked up in a field next to the river.  We were told what radio station to tune the car to and were asked to provide all passenger details before travelling in case of contact following an outbreak.

I must say this was really well managed and we arrived to see lots of children climbing onto the rooves of their parents cars. Having not preempted that, we only had a pretty grubby dog towel in the boot for the kids to lie on, and it took Lucy a while to build up the courage to climb up. Molly on the other hand loved her new sunbathing post and happily got settled to watch the show.

It was brilliant.  As all HH shows are, and also different from the last time we saw it, as it's adapted to include current news and most definitely keep parents entertained too.

There was a huge screen to watch the show on, although if I moved my head a bit I could see the live stage and we had the volume cranked up on the radio so that the kids could still hear it loud and clear too.  Instead of clapping, we hooted, which in itself was a lot of fun, and everyone was respectful of the noise so the actors were not drowned out.

The kids loved it and so did we.   Although we were asked to bring the kids down from the roof after a while (apparently someone at the back complained) it was still an awesome and new experience and a great price for a few hours of solid entertainment.

 The following day (yes how spoiled are the children) we hopped in the car and drove to Amersham to visit

KEW LITTLE PIGS

Kew Little Pigs, believe it or not, is a pig farm. It doesn't advertise as anything else, there are no rides or dinosaurs or hot dog stands there. It's simply a pig farm, but an awesome one.

You have to book in advance for your piggy experience, and we bought 4 tickets for a one hour pig play package at £24 a ticket. Not the cheapest, but again this was an experience and one that we absolutely loved.  The farm is lovely and the welcoming was great, full on health and safety and covid aware.  We were greeted along with about 7 other groups of 2-4 people and given a tour of the pens, introduced to the pigs and explained some of their history. This was really good and informative.  There are about 10 pens there in total, but we were allowed to go into 4 of them, although allowed to stroke the piggies through the fence in the others.  There is of course a reason for this. Some pigs were pregnant and not wanting people all over them, some were in quarantine ready to go to their forever homes and other reasons.  If you remember that this is a live working farm and not a pure tourist attraction, that makes total sense.

The pigs we could go in and play with were of varying sizes from really miniature to medium dog size (which is still classed as miniature in pig terms).  We were given free reign to go in and sit with the pigs, stroke them and brush them. They are very sociable animals and love to have their tummys brushed.  It was just a really lovely experience and quite therapeutic too. An hour is a great amount of time to spend with them too. Remember, they are just piggies in a pen but really cute and friendly and cuddly. Number one rule though, do not lick the pigs! Yes that's a real thing. We abided by the rules.

Chiltern Open Air Museum

Ok, so this one isn't a new experience for us, and the girls have been on multiple occasions with school, guides and brownies but this is one of our new favourite chill out picnic places.  For a £5 donation (and they really need donations right now), we booked our tickets online in line with social distancing and turned up with the dog, children and picnic to this beautiful chiltern setting.  The nice thing about COAM as it's abbreviated to is that you can do as little or as much as you want.  The history lessons are immense and give a great understanding of how things were over hundreds of years.  From the Iron age house, which despite not being in use all lockdown, still smells of the firepit last lit probably in February, to the prefab 1950s houses that were put up in an emergency after the war to provide quick accommodation.  There are orchards and veg patches and all of this is so nicely laid out with clear descriptions of what you are looking at.  There are sheep and goats here too for the animal lovers, and previously we've seen horses, but they weren't out this time.

Becuase of Covid, some of the buildings were closed off, but we could still see through the windows are there were still some lovely volunteers to chat to about the history of these amazing buildings.

The picnic area is spaced out, there are tables or grass area for blankets and the little drinks fridge is open for purchases too, as is the shop too.

Don't forget we have this amazing place right on our doorstep (if you live near me). 

School holidays and Lock down! What are we going to do with the kids?

Good mid week to you all,

I'm late this week as I've been really busy back at work now that I'm unfurloughed. It's been so so good to speak to people who aren't in my family again and get involved with projects that affect other people, who are generally more grateful and appreciative.  And this leads me on to this week's topic...

It's just hit me that the kids break up this week for 6 weeks of, well nothing really.  Having had such a great structure in place for the past 4 months, I'm in no way prepared to let the children loose with Roblox and TikTok for all the hours they are awake and so I'm planning daily objectives, and maybe if I'm really nice, I'll add them to their RoosterMoney apps and even reward them.

So now the emphasis is changing from set lessons as on the school websites and homework sites to something more fun and engaging! What ideas have you all got?

Music practice of course has to continue, and whilst Lucy will still have piano lessons, I'm hoping that the skills and chords Molly has learned will encourage her to listen to a few more 1994 rock songs and put them into practice for her own enjoyment too.

Definitely Duolingo is one that we'll continue over the summer, although I'm not entirely sure how much the girls have actually learned in French, but I imagine it's a case of words and sentences sinking in the subconcious, so that when they are presented with them, it'll all come back in an "oh yeah" kind of moment.

Talking of RoosterMoney, I will definitely get them to do the free kids worksheets on the app to get them money savvy, then they can use their skills when we go shopping and on our holiday outings.

And then to top off my addiction to learning (whilst it lasts), of course they will be reading. One of the teachers at Lucy's school has created an amazing Book Bingo worksheet for the children. It's fun, it's free and it's educational. They'll get recognition at school for their input and again, maybe if they're good, we'll add it as a reward receiver on the RoosterMoney app too.

And then whilst they're busy learning whilst hopefully still having fun, I can sit back with my PIMMS, lying in the sunshine, watching the world go by.... oh hang on.  We've had our summer already! It's back to work and back to the diet drinks.

RTFQ

A ranty blog today, and although the passive side of me would like to apologise in advance for that, the feisty, had enough of people side of me is shouting “Go me!”

Maybe this won’t be a rant actually, but more of a lesson, because it’s something I’ve definitely used with my kids when they are preparing for tests, especially for Molly’s SATs last year.

So, RTFQ – Read the Fucking Question. Simple right? Apparently not so for everyone. And this is where I would love your contribution if you have the same experiences.  You ask a question or post a statement on social media, text, WhatsApp or wherever, and the response you get no only doesn’t answer your question, but leads you down a path you didn’t even consider going down, had no interest in or even were avoiding on purpose.

Here are a couple of examples, nod if you agree.

Scenario one – Hey guys, can anyone tell me if there are still roadworks at the top of the hill on the way to Watford?

Answers from non RTFQers

-          I went to Uxbridge and sat in traffic, it was awful

-          I don’t know but I want to go shopping in Watford and do you know the price of shoes?

-          Well, driving emits gasses that kill the environment, so you should walk the 6 miles each way

-          Oh that hill, we love sledging down there in winter

Multiply that by about 8 and that’s the average response you get on a local fb page. Sweet that people really want to connect, but seriously how annoying that no one has actually answered the question for you, to the point that you turn off comments and then people post about your being rude by not letting them have their say.

The other type of not RTFQ or S (statement) happened to me just the other night.

I ordered a takeaway to support a new local business. I paid online and got my confirmation email. I went down to collect only to find that they had no knowledge of my order and it transpires that their system was down. In a bit of a rush to get eaten before I had to work (no one wants to see their WW coach stuffing their face), I suggested to the manager that we’ll have it the next night. So in order to forewarn other locals who might be less patient than me, I post on FB “If you are ordering from *** tonight, call them don’t order online because I turned up to collect my food and it hadn’t gone through the system (sad face – because I was looking forward to my takeaway) so I guess I’ll have to have my takeaway tomorrow.

Factual right? I ended up deleting the post because of the comments bad mouthing me for slating a new business, not supporting local and being unkind! Firstly it made me laugh, and I started to defend myself (er actually I am helping said business, but letting others know there is an issue), then I got annoyed with the commenters, and was very close to going through each and every post on that particular page to provide a not RTFQ/S answer. The irony would be lost with them though, as they’re only there to fight and I wouldn’t want to start a pretend fight, only to become either a hero or get my house torched. Neither of what I want from this scenario.

Why can’t people be more like my children, who have RTFQ (minus the F for the 8 year old) drummed into them every single time they start a home schooling task or prepare for a test. You don’t get points for writing a lot if it doesn’t answer the question. You don’t get points for being cute or being a tosser. You get points for answering correctly and allowing the poster to read that and say “Oh that’s informative thank you so much” or “Glad I could help with the information and happy to help further”

If you've read this and want to comment something really random that doesn't relate to this at all, I'm going to bite my tongue and let you get away with it this time. But next time you're bored and want to contribute to life, do everyone a favour won't you and RTFQ (otherwise start your own post!)

Much love, hoping that you're all still well and actually feeling good today as I was able to go to the hairdresser.

Why photographing your food can help you to lose weight

Diet - the forbidden word. Because actually, everything you eat and every time you eat it is your "diet".  The dictionary definition of diet is "the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats" so that covers your three times too large bowl of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes, your apple in the company of children and your vodka, lime and soda in the company of adults or no one.

And that is why you are not on a "diet" even if you are trying to lose weight.  You are changing your diet of course, or even changing your way of life (better) in order to lose weight. You are also "cutting out the crap" for want of a better phrase.  And this, however you want to label it, is hard work.

One thing I have recently discovered on my journey with WW, other than having like-minded people who fully understand what you are going through (and why it's so important to have bad days along with the good in terms of eating healthy), is to share what you're eating.  You're making yourself accountable to a whole new group of people looking for ideas and inspirations. And if you can be that person to post a picture of your salad, then you could be the one who has helped them to lose a pound this week.  And then, knowing that you've helped someone else with your photo, surely that would encourage you to help yourself.  Hence, my new trend for posting pictures of salads on my social media accounts.

The other benefit of this is that you have to think about what you're photographing.  No one really wants to see a bit of lettuce next to half a piece of chicken, that's not very exciting, but once you "throw" on your jewels of pomegranates, colourful carrots and a variety of green from your leaves, asparagus etc. you start to create a piece of art.  Art is attractive and enticing, whether you agree with it or not, if it catches your eye then you have noticed it. And if you notice it then you might look deeper into it.

As the creator of food art, you might then realise that the extra two minutes it took to put together the colour on your plate actually makes it much tastier, much more enjoyable as you sit down to eat the masterpiece before you.

Make yourself aware of the colours you have used, the different textures, and appreciate how once combined they actually make a great meal.  Then show it off to everyone else, and inspire them to do the same. In the same way that you might choose a meal from a photographed menu (especially on the beach on holiday) or a recipe book. You've gotta admit, it's much easier deciding a recipe based on a picture rather than the one created in your head when you've mentally put the ingredients together.

I have predominantly been photographing salad, as my evening meals might currently be a bit on the beige side (loving chicken and potatoes at the moment) but I'm working on that, and you never know, this might lead to my new enterprise of photographing my amazing salads and then selling them to auction houses and galleries for zillions of pounds. 

The best diet tool you will EVER need

For those of you who know me, and know my love for all things discounted and especially free, you’ll be pleased to know that I accepted to review a little tool the other day for my dear friend through Insta. Not really knowing why I was excited to buy a mini sealer, but having seen one on some advert the day before, I received my mini sealer in the post (next day) and promptly broke it trying to put the batteries in the wrong way round. 

Gutted that I might have to return it and wait for a new one, I changed the batteries over and my little sealer came to life.  I say it came to life, it’s great because it doesn’t heat up to a dangerous temperature and there is no risk of burning at all, because how it works is that the small heating element, heats ever so gently and literally melts the plastic on your bag back together again. The other end of the sealer has a little cutter (no risk of cutting fingers though unless they are paper thin) to reopen the bag should you wish.

Ok so that’s the science over with, now onto the WHY. Well, I thought I might use this to seal the bag of peas in the freezer but to be honest, every time I used peas, I put the clip back on and stuck them in the freezer forgetting my little tool. Maybe I could use it to seal envelopes but this doesn't work on paper, it's got to be plastic because that's how the sealant works. So I was thinking how I could use my new little tool, how I could get the best out of it to give it a good review.  And then that evening, as I was downstairs alone, Molly was laughing at TikTok in her room and Lucy and James were asleep it happened. There was a bag of mini eggs hidden in the cupboard where I hide nice food from other people. I looked around me to check I was alone, I only wanted a couple to satisfy my sugar craving. I opened the packet and took out 4 eggs. Oh those eggs were so enjoyable, so delicious, so tasty, so… so moreish! But No, I can’t have any more, I’m so close to my WW goal and I’m close because I’m doing everything in my power not to over indulge. It's so difficult and probably the reason that I've stayed the same weight all the way through lockdown so far. And so bring in the mini sealer. Literally, 4 eggs later, and telling myself that I was satisfied, I took my sealer, pushed down the heated side for 3 seconds to warm it up and then ran it across the opening of the packet. 1 second later and my packet was sealed again and back in it’s hiding place ready for another day. It was the best thing that I literally have ever done on my diet. Knowing that my mini sealer did indeed work, I could happily hide my chocolate away for another day, knowing that it wasn’t going to spill all over the cupboard or (hardly likely) go off. I’ve since done the same with Doritos and will continue to do so with any other treats I might treat myself to, or do it to the kids food to just annoy them and stop them from eating all their snacks in one go.

This is like just the best tool ever. It’s that final little encouragement to put the rest of the packet away, in the knowledge that it will still be there for you when you want it next. Seal it really well and you could convince others that it was never opened in the first place!

My obsession with Jane the Virgin

Have you seen this on Netflix? OMG if not, why not? Molly and I are currently on episode 97 out of 100, and I’m so distressed that it’s going to end soon that I had to blog about it today.  But why? I hear you ask, it’s just a TV show right? Wrong. It’s so much more than a TV show, it’s an addiction, a love affair, a fairy tale, a new family I didn’t know I had, an education and time that my daughter and I can share, reminisce about and totally get lost in.

I’m not going to spoil it for you and tell you what happens, there would be too much to tell and I really don’t have that much time, but I can give you a quick run down of why I’m so obsessed.

The story is predominantly about Jane, but massively about everyone in Jane’s life.  Jane is someone you want to connect with, relate to and sympathise with but at the same time she is someone you want to throttle and scream at “Just shut up Jane, you don’t have to tell everyone EVERYTHING” and that is her let-down.  That is the reason there are 100 episodes.

Firstly, it’s hilariously ridiculous.  If you’re aware of the term jumping the shark, well this happens in the first episode, which is the premise for the whole story.  Don’t expect a story you can relate to in any way, but do expect to want to relate to some of it, the love stories, the ambition and the family time.

It’s also quite educational. My Spanish has come along in leaps and bounds as it’s impossible not to pick up on some of the translations from Abuela, who refuses to speak English unless absolulely vital. I genuinely feel like I know a hell of a lot more Spanish now than I did at the start.  And also, my love of writing blossoms at each episode.  It’s no spoiler to know that Jane is a writer. I too am a budding writer and seeing her flying away on her laptop is so encouraging to anyone who has that many emotions and stories inside them. Not just for me, but for Molly too, who without asking, turned round the other day and said to me “I’ve just written a story.” It was the best darned story she has written to date because it was jam packed full of emotion, feeling, adjectives, adverbs and all the other grammatical things I forget what they’re called but are necessary for year 7 English.

There is a lesson also to be learned about judging people, and proving that people can change.  The lovely Petra, when she was first on the scene it was all boos and hisses, but as she has grown and we have binge watched, we have fallen in love with her, the poor lost soul with a kick-ass attitude.

Love does play a huge part in Jane the Virgin, and you find yourself yelling at the TV for Xiomara and Rogelio, Jane and everyone she has ever fallen in love with, Abuela and Jorge to just SPIT IT OUT, and say what they are feeling. 

And don't get me started on the triangle with Jane, Michael and Rafael. Are we team Michael or team Raf? It doesn't matter because your mind will change numerous times over the episodes.

Oh and for goodness sake, how could I have forgotten the villains, the murders, the cheating and lying. Everyone has a go at that one in some form or another.

And then Telenovella’s.  This will be our new thing going forward. Think you have nothing left to watch? Go find a good Telenovella and binge watch to your heart content.

We have three episodes left of Jane the Virgin, I don’t know if they will write another one, I don’t know how this is going to end, but I’m scared that I won’t have anything to fill the void… except… Jane Villanueva wrote a novel, that novel is on Amazon! For real! So I’ve just bought it. Maybe I will review that next time.

Until then, stay safe, enjoy time with your loved ones and cheesy, gripping Telenovellas.

Going back to school – there are so many schools of thought

And so we have just had the first week of non-keyworker children being allowed back to school, and Facebook is full of opinion on whether the government have been right or wrong to allow this.  But this isn’t a government decision really is it? This is a parent decision, as the advise from the government has included “there will be no fines if you do not return your children to school now.”  Something I have found quite amazing during this decision making is the number of parents who rely on other people to make their decisions for them.   We all have the same news channels and we all hear the same information. It is down to us as individuals though to interpret that information and make our best choices.

Based on this, I’ve put a little quiz together this week, so you can see which group you are in, and then take full responsibility for your own choice.  Which group are you in?

Quesetion 1	What is your view on home schooling?
a)	What’s that? I thought the BBC and Joe Wicks were doing it all for us!
b)	Up and dressed at 8, sat at the table at 9, probably allowed a lunch break if they’ve done well
c)	We do a bit of Maths and English but the rest of the time is about us spending time together
d)	Where are the kids? I think they’ve gone out or are still asleep
e)	We have to do it because we are stuck at home. We can’t go out so home schooling it is
Question 2	Are the schools ready to take back the children?
a)	Yes, no, no, yes. I don’t know because other people keep changing their minds. I’ll find out when I go to the park with Shaz later
b)	Tables are set, cleaning materials are in, teachers are prepared. Let’s go
c)	Not really thought about it, we’re too busy doing our family thing to think about school. They might be ready though
d)	No, I don’t think the teachers are ready. They’ve been off too for the past 11 weeks so they can’t be ready to take the kids back yet
e)	Not mine. I don’t care about what other people are doing, but mine are better off at home. It’s safer that way
Question 3	Are you ready for the easing of lockdown?
a)	Well I do like heading off to the beach at the weekend, but I think people should stay away from me whilst I’m there, if they can… it’ll be so nice for the kids to see their friends too
b)	Yes, we can’t continue like this for ever, or even until they get a vaccine. Let’s get back to some normality now but be cautious at the same time
c)	I don’t want to lose this time we’re spending together. Maybe going out a little more won’t hurt though
d)	Sure. I can’t have everyone under my feet continuously. That’s why the kids are out with their mates during the day.
e)	Not until I can be sure that there is a huge decline or a vaccine

 Answers. If you scored mostly:

 a)    You’re in the “Well so and so on Facebook isn’t group” – These are the parents who cannot make their own decisions, or don’t want to be held countable for the decisions that make, should it all go tits up.  If they send their kids back to school and they get ill, they can blame the government, exactly the same as when they all meet in the park and forget to socially distance. That’s not their fault either.

 b)    You are in the “Off you go kids group" – this group of parents have had enough home schooling. They’ve done what’s asked of them as best they can, and they now have heard that there is little risk to their children going back to school and little risk of them bringing the virus home.  The scientists have worked with the government and the schools have worked to make changes so let’s have a little faith in them.

 c)    You’re in the “Relishing this new normal group” – this  is the group of parents who have spent a lot of time weighing up the pros and cons and have a list of 50/50. But these families have realised how valuable their time together has been. They have a structure in place for home schooling, but also for playing in the garden, for spending really good quality time together, maybe the parents are furloughed or working from home and they’ve understood why they had children in the first place. They have had the best quality time whilst being forced to stay at home that they’re not quite ready to end it. Making memories but learning at the same time. They do say that family time is just as important as education don’t they!

 d)    You’re in the “I forgot about the kids group” – whilst some parents are working from home, some are sitting in the garden or the park furloughed and some are still going to work, their kids are fending for themselves.  Not really fussed about school, can’t really get good internet connection because the Playstation is still plugged in so might as well enjoy this super long holiday and blame the teachers for their lack of learning when they go back in September.  Kids will be kids eh?

 e)    You’re in the “Vulnerable families” – this group of parents have someone close to them who is vulnerable. There is no chance that they are ready to unleash their children into a building full of other children who may be carriers, and therefore risk their own children coming home and passing on the virus to more exposed family members.  Hoping for a vaccine before too long.

We are all individuals, we can fit into any of the groups above, but just remember. You made that choice, so don’t blame anyone else if you’re not happy with the outcome.  Stay safe guys.

Customer Services and why it matters!

Well good morning to you all, it is once again a sunny day in Hertfordshire, the sun is out, the sky is blue but the new paddling pool is still freezing! Not that the kids have noticed, they only come out when we tell them they’ve turned blue. A good mini investment me thinks.

And so on to today’s topic, the topic of Customer Services. I have worked within Customer Services for quite a number of years.  The Customer Services at Collect+ is top notch, the team would do everything they could to solve problems in the quickest time possible. Where a problem could not be solved (genuinely lost parcel) then we would act to rectify the problem by either replacing the product or providing a refund.  Now I’m sure there will be people who disagree with some things, but in general the idea at C+ was that you looked after your customer to the best of your ability.  This even lead to a Christmas presents being delivered by head office staff on Christmas morning on one occasion, to ensure that the customer’s child did not have a ruined Christmas. The ethos behind C+ customer service was that we have a service to provide and will do everything possible to make that happen, and despite the stresses in Head Office when we spoke to the Customer Services team on a daily basis we could be satisfied that we were providing what was expected. So, that comes down to the question of the day, why do the big companies not care?  Let me stop myself there though, because I’m not going to be generic. I’ve had some awesome customer services from Expedia and BA in lockdown, both companies were proactive and took little time to resolve my problem and get me my money back. I didn’t have to chase, I didn’t leave a call wondering if I would ever hear from them again, and when one of the payments didn’t quite make it back to my bank card along with the others, it took another phone call to get that escalated (and to be honest, that was an error from American Airlines rather than BA).

But some customer services department just don’t understand both their customers AND their product or service.  Here’s a little example from an IT company I dealt with in the last week, and now could probably take over their jobs. We won’t mention the name, just that they own most of the items on all our family laptops. They link everything together and own things that you might want to use to write things, or make spreadsheets, or nice little presentations… you get the idea?

So picture this, children are playing Roblox. Molly is playing online and Lucy has it downloaded from the M**** shop.  Both have been really good so after about a year of playing I’m allowing them to buy Robux. Molly goes on to her game, is given options to buy robux, Paypal payment (not my first choice but it worked this time) and it’s on her account. Easy peasy.

Lucy goes into her game, goes to buy Robux and is only given a choice of 80 for 99cents or 800 for $9.99. So we start with 80 because apparently things on Roblox are cheap. Thinking I’ll pay paypal again, imagine my surprise when I’m asked to upload the money to the Microsoft shop. Ok, whatever that’s fine. Hang on a minute, the minimum I can upload is £10 and I’m spending precisely 79p. Ok, then she can have that balance for rewards in the future.  We buy 80 robux, she joins her friends on a paid game. Everyone is happy, see my other blog for allowing them to game when they want. 80 Robux, compared to Molly’s 400 doesn’t last quite as long (bear with me we’re getting there).  Easy solution, I’ve got £9.21 balance I’ll just go in and buy Robux.  BUT, here’s the problem. First of all, Lucy can’t now access Roblox on her laptop, it needs updating but M*** takes up over half the memory on her computer so we don’t have room to download updates. So we play via google like Molly does, but oh no, we can’t buy Robux with Microsoft balance, only paypal or credit card.  First live chat with M*** and two hours later I start typing in CAPITAL LETTERS BECAUSE I’M GETTING A BIT PISSED OFF NOW. We’ve got nowhere, I can see where the problem is but Chuck A (like there is a Chuck B too?) can’t. I’m now saying that poor child would just like a refund to buy robux with on paypal. Not asking for freebies, just asking for the ability to do what we’ve already paid £10 to do.  The best response Chuck came up with was “can you download the game on another device?” What like my work laptop? Er… no thank you. We can play online, we don’t need to download it.

5 hours later, and poor Lucy is a little upset, but still being very patient. I delete everything I can from her laptop and still cannot put an update on Roblox.  I then find my old laptop that takes an hour to boot up. I download roblox on that. I go in to buy robux, it’s asking me for my Microsoft login, I put the details in. it’s asking me to upload money to my account? Say what????  I go back on chat and speak to Adrian M (Adrian T was on another call perhaps). I tell him that if I go into Microsoft store I can only buy Robux for Xbox. We don’t have a live Xbox. He wants me to buy an Xbox and play from that. I ask him what £10 means to M*** compared to what £10 means to an 8 year old little girl. He apologises for his company not being prepared to do anything about it. They’ll get back to me in 24 hours.

Meanwhile, I work out something. If I log out of everything ever, anywhere and log in as Lucy, even though her Microsoft account is linked to my parent account, I can go in to her account and buy Robux. I do this, and destress with a WW dance class, where I pretend I’m Goldie Hawn in Overboard and dance like nobody’s watching, even though there are potentially 200 people watching and I’m sure one is my WW mentor, Stella. Oh well, as long as I can put a smile on some people’s face.

Two days later, I’m still waiting for M*** to get back to me. I’ve solved the problem so I couldn’t care less what they come up with, but I’m fuming that they haven’t bothered to contact me, haven’t tried to solve my problem, really haven’t given a hoot!  At the same time, I ordered something for Molly’s birthday from a small independent company. It’s not arrived and it should have by now. I emailed the company and got a reply within a couple of hours, hugely apologetic and saying if it doesn’t come tomorrow they will send out a new replacement straight away. I love this company already and I’ve not even tried the product yet. I’m sure I’ll blog about it when it eventually comes, and if double arrive I’m sure I’ll send the first lot back or buy the 2^nd.

This is the key thing with customer services. Treat your customers right and you automatically get a little bit of loyalty. Customers want to be treated like customers, like the people who are prepared to give you their hard earned money in return for a good or service. It’s just a shame that the big companies who know that you don’t have a choice, don’t seem to care (although some do, please don’t assume they are all badasses).

I suppose the moral of this blog is to buy from nice people. People who genuinely care about you and want to sell you nice things.  Then give them good feedback and tell your friends and family and hopefully we can increase the love from Customer services and make the world a better shopping place.

Roblox, Minecraft and other games I’ve never played

Good day to you all, and I do hope this blog finds you as well as can be, not sunburnt I hope but enjoying this lovely weather.

So today I thought we could discuss Roblox, Minecraft and other things that I had to ask my children how to spell.  There is always the question of “how much time is my child spending on their gaming devices” and “is it ruining their brains”?  Well, I’ve done some investigating, and have carried out my market research on two unsuspecting candidates.  Let’s set the scene –

Me as mummy thinks they spend too much bloody time playing games. They should be either speaking to each other in French, designing clothes for their dolls (which I’ve just noticed are all in the bag to go to the charity shop), singing, playing instruments, and begging me to teach them how to create amazing and deliciously healthy salads.  OK, so maybe it’s me. Maybe I do live on a different planet after all, but in all seriousness I do question how much time they’re spending on their computers.  The girls think much differently. They argue that when they’re on their computers, they are a) not asking me things (true), b) not roaming the streets looking for trouble (possibly because we’re in lockdown and one of them is only 8 years old and not allowed out without a grown up) and c) they are still socialising with their friends.

Naturally, number c raised alarm bells. Oh my god, the girls are being groomed and have made friends online. This has to stop now, and so this is how I got involved in trying to understand their gaming. 

They had completed home school for the day, it was one minute past 3 and anything I was trying to say to them with regards to learning was met with a ‘talk to the hand’ hand, and a shout of “can we go on our computers now please?” They had to actually ask twice because I’d just sat down to a serious game of Candy Crush and had zoned out of real life. On the second time they asked I must have nodded or something because they disappeared and the house was silent, apart from the beautiful melodies coming out of Google Home and Kerrang radio.

When I’d run out of my own five lives, and knew I had to wait 26 minutes, I thought I would check up on what was taking so much of my daughter’s lives away from my Enid Blyton fantasies.  “Why don’t you write a letter to your friends?” I suggested.  I was answered by the smaller child explaining that they were writing to their friends, but in Roblox. “Hang on” I yelled at them, “who are these people you are talking to and have they asked where you live and what school you go to?” “Why would they when they go to our schools and they’re already our school friends” was the answer. 

I was allowed to see two of Lucy’s friends profiles and one of Mollys. The chat was suitably dull, boring and non-sensical so I was happy that they were their true friends, and that they only had a small handful kept me happy they weren’t befriending any old Tom, Dick or Harrys. A quick text to the mum’s of the friends confirmed we were also OK.

But I still think they should be reading books, knitting (but nothing for me to have to wear thank you) or rescuing lost animals in the garden rather than playing games. So I challenged them again. “Why don’t you go and read?” I suggested. “We’re reading now” was the quick answer from Molly.  “Look, people are posting chats and we’re reading them. I can even tell you that blonkydonkeywoowoo23 has written that down grammatically wrong Mummy”.  See, these kids know how to get me. Grrr.  Happier in the knowledge that they’re acknowledging other people’s spelling and grammar mistakes ticked off my list of other things they should be doing.  What could I challenge them with next?

“Do you want to play a game where we can learn about life and money and the world?” was my next suggestion.

“I’m at work” Lucy replied. “I own a pet shop and a pizzeria. I need to recruit a new waiter, and I have a bunch of pets that are about to spawn so I need to take care of them until they’re old enough to be sold.  When I sell them, I’ll be buying a new house!”

All my planned educational talks …. Boom. Shot down in one sentence, by a proactive, money making (albeit robucks) 8 year old.

“Aah!” my final attempt. “But you’re stuck indoors and not getting out in the fresh air!”

“Do you really want us to get sunburnt Mummy?” Molly has now got the gist of this game and is answering me before I’ve even finished my sentences. “We’ve taken the dog out, hung the washing out, can you go and play Candy Crush or something please, we’re busy!”

Point taken.  So my view on these games – I suppose some of them aren’t as bad as others. I suppose if they’ve done everything I’ve asked them to do, one of the kids wears glasses already so she’s not going to need glasses from staring at her screen and actually my lives have just reloaded on Candy Crush, so …. Until next time!

   

The Thoughts In Our Heads: It's Mental Health awareness week - be kind

The Thoughts In Our Heads: It's Mental Health awareness week - be kind: The importance of being kind What better a time than the stress this importance than during Metal health awareness week, where the accent ...

It's Mental Health awareness week - be kind

The importance of being kind

What better a time than the stress this importance than during Metal health awareness week, where the accent is indeed on being kind.

There are two ways to be kind to someone, the first is instinctive and the second thought-out.  Both are easy and free to do, but can make such a huge difference to the wellbeing of the recipient.

So, first of all let’s talk about Instinctive kindness, the easiest and quickest way to make someone feel good.

Holding the door open for someone (although now you might have to do it with an outstretched foot so as to keep your distance.  Have you ever thought about your own reactions when someone does or doesn’t do this? I know that I have spent many episodes trying to think of different ways to thank the same person in succession as we both walk through the same four doors to get to our destination. “Thank you, thanks, cheers, ta,” nodding heads, smiles. You’ll think nothing of it after, but your endorphins take note and store that memory in the good side. You’re more likely to remember the guy who didn’t hold the doors open and your reaction might be along the lines of “Oh, wow, really? THANK YOU (huge sarcasm here), can’t you see me?” and so on.  If that person stopped to have a chat with you at the final door, you’d naturally be a little pissed off. “So you did see me following you but you couldn’t keep to door open for me? Well I don’t agree that it’s a nice day outside, Sir. I think the sun is too hot and the flowers are wilting. Good Day”  Ok, so I might have gone a bit dramatic there, but it just goes to show what a big difference Instinctive kindness can have on us, and our outlook/actions.

Other forms of instinctive kindness are responding to other people, and showing that you’re listening. People talk to you because they want a response, so give them a kind response and they will feel so much better. Ignore them and they might feel hurt or unwanted. Again, it doesn’t matter if you’re a stranger to them, but if they tell you in the queue to get in to Tesco that they’re really hoping for some eggs today, just acknowledge them, smile, agree or say something to show that you’ve understood their need to communicate.

My favourite time for instinctive kindness is when I’m out walking the dog.  There is a whole level of kindness amongst dog walkers, than there is amongst shoppers for example, and don’t think I’m discriminating against shoppers, because the same people can be in both packs, but when you’re out walking the dog, people are much more likely to smile, say hello, nod in acknowledgement or in best case scenarios stop for a chat, than shoppers who are, well just shopping really.

Next time you walk down the street, smile or greet the first person you see.  They might think you’re weird at first but it will boost their endorphins and get them going.

The second kind of kindness that I’m going to talk about today (and there are zillions more, but we can’t cover them all) is ‘thought-out’.  This is where you purposely go out of your way to be kind to someone.

A good example in lockdown, is what everyone famous on the telly is telling you to do. Call someone on their own.  Thought-out because you need to think who is on their own, and have you got their phone number. It doesn’t have to be an old person either! I call or text my step sister whenever I have five minutes to breathe, and even though that’s not very often, when it does happen we’ll have a good conversation and both of us feel better for it.  Similarly, I have a friend who is totally locked in, and although she lives with her family, I know that she still wants to be thought of by others. The other day I called her from outside her house. We looked at each other through the closed window but had a great catch up.  Thought-out kindness can make a massive difference to mental wellbeing. If you’re a boss and you have furloughed your staff, by giving them a call or dropping them an email, you’re showing kindness in caring and thinking about them.  They might ignore you because they’re having too much fun home schooling, but then they might get a flutter inside to tell them that you’re thinking of them, they are still an important part of the business and this will all be over soon, when they can come back.

Thought-out kindness when you purchase something and really enjoyed it. Tell the person from whom your purchase was made and they will feel happy and proud that they’ve done a good job. Tell everyone else and that’s the best form of free advertising.

Finally, where you are a great person and can think these things through and make lists of who you are going to be kind too, it’s really really important NOT to expect the same back off everyone. Of course there will be other kind people who totally get what you are doing and will reciprocate, but not everyone is like that, or thinks like that. That doesn’t make them bad people at all, but it makes you the one in charge to be kind to them and show them how it’s done.

My love/hate relationship with Facebook*

(*and any other social media sites)

Good morning to you on this fine sunny May morning as we start another week of the new “norm”. My main job is on hold, my coaching job has moved to Zoom and I’m sitting here planning the school week for my two children. As you will know from my last blog, we’ve got a little system in place, and so far so good. So I can leave them to their own devices for a few moments whilst I write to you.

I don’t think you need any background introduction to Facebook and the others. If you don’t know what they are by now, how are you even reading my blog? I’ve been on Facebook since about 2009, I’m sure that was only a couple of years ago, but I stand to be corrected. There have been times when I’ve spent hours reading through posts, liking and loving the things that peope write, laughing at their funnies and crying at their woes. I’ve never been a big fan of poking, to be honest I think it’s a bit rude. I’d much rather wave than poke!

During times where big shit is going on, that’s when Facebook changes. It becomes political, people take sides, and if you post your own opinion, you can get shot down and publicly flailed, named and shamed. This is where Facebook and the other sites go so very, very wrong. This is where people think it’s ok to hide behind their keyboards and post their thoughts, based on no fact in most cases, push others to agree with them and bash those who don’t.

I think the biggest problem with posting your personal opinion on Facebook, much like listening to a certain reporter or reading articles from a certain journalist is that this is personal, and in more cases than not, the opinion is based on the words or actions of someone else. This then becomes a blame attack, where you might be lightly disagreeing with someone’s individual actions, but the next person will take it to the next level.

Keep posting cute pictures, funny memes and the view from your socially distanced walk. I love seeing those. It makes us smile, it makes us want to share them and temporary forget what else is going on in the world. I love reading about what you’ve been doing in lockdown, where you’ve visited, and if you post about the stresses of home schooling, I can do my best to help, sympathise or just acknowledge what you’re going through.

But start telling me what the government has done wrong, what they should have done better, or how the world is ending because someone in the Daily Mail said so, and I’m so close to unfriending you.

I know this is personal opinion and we have the option to believe whatever we want to read, but seriously guys, if you’re going to repost something, check your facts. Back up your data and treat it like a university assignment. If you submitted something in class for a History paper that had no reference, no back-up and no facts related to it, what would your teacher grade you? Think of me ( and the other intelligent people on Facebook, as there are quite a lot of them) as teachers, marking your work and grading your life based on your writings. Would you stand up at speakers corner and preach to all those socially distanced ears about your view on how Coronavirus is transferred from one person to the next (assuming you’re not actually a scientist or doctor at this stage). You might answer yes, but people will question you, test you and put you on the spot that you’ve already put yourself on. Now you might be super confident and stand there passing on your views, but people will challenge you, and in reality if you can’t back up what you’re saying, your audience will either get bored of you and walk off, or slam you for not providing the information they are asking.

So the big question is, why do it on Facebook? The answer is simple, you can write what you want, answer the questions you want and if it all get’s too heated, you can simply delete your post. But what you might not realise you’re doing is building emotion in other people, and for some who don’t agree with you, but are friends with you and therefore don’t want to challenge (or maybe they know your facts are lacking, but don’t have the facts themselves to confront) you. This emotion can range from mild annoyance, to anxiety and panic attacks. Have you ever really thought how Facebook emotionally unbalances people? And when you name people who you don’t agree with, what do you think you’re doing by publicly attacking them? You’re opening up the floodgates for other people to attack them, some more agressively than you. You’re attacking real people with real lives, families and feelings. They might be better known than you but they still are people who can get damaged.

So really, my love/hate relationship isn’t actually with Facebook. My love/hate relationship is with people, and people’s blaming of other people, taking other unfactual reports as verbatim and sharing false information (fake news). And I urge you people, please think before you type, like you would before you speak. I’m friends with people who I know I could have a sensible and grown up conversation with. I’m not friends with reporters who have a biased to what they want you to read. Unfortunately, not everyone on Facebook can read a post they don’t agree with and ignore it. People will take that information, dwell on that information and react. And the reaction is what leads to more actions that in turn affect more people. People who become depressed, angry, hurt and bitter. People who think you’ve done the research for them and therefore don’t need to do it themselves. People who might react in a more physical way and take their emotion out on the next person they see in the street.

So people, to sum up today, whilst you’re posting for everyone to Be Kind, think about your own actions and think about your audiences. Are you being kind too? To end, here’s a funny one to keep you entertained