Fabulous Weather

Glorious weather and I'm writing about Air Conditioning Systems and Ventilation Systems from one of my clients Vortice which has a whole range of eco-friendly products. It's only in recent years that I've felt the need to even consider an air-conditioning system, but on days like this my office would definitely benefit - time to investigate I think!

Good experience at Terminal 5

Just had to blog about my experience at Heathrow Terminal 5 on Tuesday. I wasn't flying anywhere, but my client had flown in from the States the day before and was off to Milan that afternoon so meeting at the airport seemed like a good plan. Having watched all the scenes on television about how chaotic it was and how everything was going wrong, the calm, serene terminal that awaited me was a huge surprise ...

Naturally everything's new, so it hasn't really had time to look tired or battered unlike some of those people trying to travel in the first couple of days, but it really did look 'the business'! The staff to visitors ratio was huge, there was someone to greet you when you came out of the car park looking for the lift, there was someone in the lift to press the button, there was someone to tell you which way to go from there and numerous people to ask about those minor questions like where you might get a wireless connection. All in all, my clients checked into their flight, joined me in Carluccios for lunch, where we also had great service and the whole experience was a delight. Don't think I've read anything else positive about Terminal 5 yet, so thought I'd do my bit!

Stormy North Yorkshire

This morning as I reflect on a great weekend with the 'Working Mums', I just want to say - The Magpie in Whitby is still the very best fish restaurant I have ever visited and well worth the snowy, sleety, rainy walk across the cliffs we chose to get there. If you get the chance and you love fresh, simply cooked, delicious fish, don't miss it. On our journey back we stopped at Harrogate for a bit of shopping, wandering and of course a visit to Betty's for tea. What more can a girl ask for? Don't answer that!

Waste not want not

It's humbling sometimes to appreciate how simple the world seems from the perspective of children. The Easter weekend was spent in Wales where I hail from (well done Wales for a fab Grand Slam result!) and it's quite some journey from Leicestershire, particularly with children in the car. As we drove down the motorways the children noticed just how much litter and rubbish, particularly plastic carrier bags are wound around trees and hedgerows en-route and were asking pertinent questions about why. They remembered that in Corsica for example, there simply were no plastic carrier bags - it was paper bags or re-usable long life ones in every supermarket. That led to more discussion about our consumerist society, recycling, re-use and rubbish dumps... My oldest had just returned from a school trip to a recycling plant, so had some strong views on the subject.

I explained that I have been doing some very interesting work with community waste organisations over the last couple of years and that the objective was to encourage businesses and consumers to think before they send things straight to landfill. The children regard this as just sensible - why does it take some companies so long to see it in such a simple way? Have a look at Resource Saver - this scheme acts as a marriage broker between businesses and community groups that can re-use or recycle their unwanted materials/goods. Established in the East of England, it's now operating in the North West too, www.resourcesaver.org.uk worth looking at ...

The wonders of technology

I don't often get the chance to do this, but today I set aside a few hours to help some girlfriends with the wonders of modern technology. Now I've worked with all of these girls in the past when they've been high flying executives in various high brow roles in industry and each are now either 'retired' or 'semi-retired', so unlike me they aren't in a position to keep abreast of new web developments. So I found myself being 'the expert' in buying and selling on e-bay - something I rarely do incidentally! It was quite a frightening proposition being 'the expert' but we had a hilarious time and did actually manage to achieve our objective of listing at least one item to sell. One of the funniest things was starting out with a selection of potential items to sell, but then working out that many of the girls actually didn't want to part with half of them (or at least not for the money that it looked like they'd get on e-bay)! The moral of the story however, was that all of us agreed we should take some 'time-out' more often not just to learn new skills, but to keep in touch with old friends ... it was fun!

Well the earth moved for me!

Well the earth certainly moved for me last night, Leicestershire appears to be right where it all happens on the Richter scale - and it wasn't just because I was sleeping on my wonderful new Sleepflex Coolwave bed! http://www.sleepflexcoolwave.co.uk/ Who does know what you're supposed to do when an earthquake strikes? I listened to fascinating ideas like 'stand underneath a doorframe,' 'hide under the stairs' or even 'hide in the bath' - not sure if there's any science behind any of it! All I know is that it sounded like my chimney had collapsed so I hid under the duvet and went back to sleep on the basis that I'd be better able to do something about it in the morning!

Eating at The Belmont

Well one thing I've learnt, is that you may set out to write a regular blog, but life seems to get in the way ... my weekly blog is already one that appears once every three weeks instead ... This week I've had to come down to earth after a glorious 7 days in sunny Austria on the slopes, gazing at blue skies and wondering why I didn't think about getting fit before setting off on a skiing holiday! I've been working on an exciting project this week, the rebranding and relaunch of one of Leicester's favourite hotels, The Belmont. When I moved to Leicester in the early 1980's, The Belmont was the place to meet for an 'early doors' drink after work and I've spent many a happy evening there over the years. As I now live and work outside the environs of the city centre, I don't have many opportunities to pop-in for a swift glass of wine, but it is somewhere I'd recommend for excellent food and great service. The hotel interiors have obviously changed somewhat from the frilly blinds of the 1980's - today's contemporary interiors - modern leather seating in the lounge and bar areas, smart black and metallic for banqueting rooms all bring a fresh new look. You should try it http://www.belmonthotel.co.uk/ !