I'm 42 and I don't have kids! So why on earth am I climbing a mountain for a children's charity?!

This is Thomas Dye, my mechanic's gorgeous little baby boy.




Imagine receiving a phone call from the consultant telling you to come into the hospital to say your goodbyes because your baby was unlikely to make it through the night? And then again a few days later? And then again?

This is Thomas a year ago fighting for his life.

Born 3-months premature, having nearly died several times, he did in fact die once - and then his little life was resussitated. And each time Paul got the dreaded phone call at the garage we all lived through it.

I call him little Tom Thumb. I was lucky enough to have been allowed to visit him when he was so very ill.

He is why I am climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. He is why I'm supporting the SPARKS childrens medical research charity. And he is who keeps me going during my training programme.

Little Thomas is the one who will give me the strength to overcome the altitude sickness, the loose screed, and the final ascent through the night in the snow to Kilimanajro's summit.

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‎Social Media for Dummies!

My guest blog on using social media for business written for local website design firm    

As far as anything IT related goes, I am indeed a dummy; a complete technophobe actually! I am totally self-taught, I type with two fingers, I couldn’t tell you what the Function keys on my computer keyboard are for, and I don’t understand what all the fuss about iPhones is!

However, exactly a year ago I attended Exeter’s Business South West exhibition and found myself rather oddly drawn to a presentation being given by local businessman David Thomas, owner of Bluegrass Computer Services, on an introduction to social media for business.

Already being a huge Facebook fan I was nonetheless quite sceptical about using such applications for business. My first concern was in how much time I already spent on Facebook. My partner Paul will tell you I’d spend more time communicating on it than I ever did with him. And, rather sadly, it was….is…sometimes the only way that my friends and family can find out what I’d been up to! Facebook often entered my working life too, periodically logging on to check out my friends latest profile updates – usually on what they’ve just had for lunch and other such mind numbing information. So I couldn’t possibly see how I would find time to create and use social media for business without also creating a reason for divorce and bankruptcy! .....[Read more]

Make hay while the sun shines - at your peril!

I must start by congratulating Yeo Valley on their rather clever telly ad. Not seen it? Not heard about it? Where have you been?!

It’s scheduled at the start of the first advert break during our Saturday night X Factor fix, and whether you admit to watching X Factor or not, viewer statistics indicate that it’s one of the most popular telly programmes of the week. Hmmm, sounds expensive! Yeo’s ad is quirky to say the least. Like it or loathe it, within seconds of its first broadcast it reached the top Twitter topic being talked about….or Twitter Trend as it’s known to us Twits. And on Youtube Yeo’s advert has had almost 178,000 views.

See for yourself - here’s the link: Yeo Valley advert 

Now I mention this because? Well apart from being an avid supporter of local businesses, on watching it I couldn’t help but wish that our South West farmers really did look like they do in the ad ;-) Ta da! This brings me nicely to the subject matter in hand - farmers. Or to be more precise, their tractors, combine harvesters, and other colossal agricultural machinery!

Now don’t get me wrong, whether donning a six pack or otherwise, I think our farmers do a fantastic job; the clever ones having had to diversify quite considerably in recent years in order to survive. They are grafters and work incredibly long, unsociable hours.

But guys, if you’re reading this, my point, if you please -

Why oh why do you have to drive your tractors, combines, etc. at such incredible speeds down our country lanes, where unsuspecting drivers like my good self meet you head on around a bend and have to then suddenly slam on the brakes for fear of meeting the Grim Reaper before our time?

And some of this machinery is huge, taking up a considerable amount of road space, not just on their own side but on half of the opposite side too. Admittedly I am no expert, but I do know there are laws on wide and long loads, and I am just discovering that these laws exist for a very good reason!

During certain times of the year - hay making season for example - there are a lot of these agricultural Autobots hitting our country lanes. So whilst driving my usual route to and from work I can only deduce from the amount of near death experiences I have recently encountered - somewhat decreased by my sudden acquired skill in also avoiding the constant mud slinging these beasts chuck onto the road at will - that our hard working farmers are in the process of frantically transporting the last cut of the year.

I am rather amazed there aren’t more accidents as a result of a collision with a 10ft wide combine doing 60mph along some of Devon’s finest country lanes. Okay, so I maybe exaggerating slightly, but you get my point.

What I do know is that if I ever find myself in the unfortunate situation of having collided with one of these mechanical beasts - and the farmer even notices and stops! - I just hope that when he climbs out of his cab and heads towards me he’s as gorgeous as those chaps in the Yeo ad, as this may be the only thing that saves him from my fury! ;-)

Driving slows down in Devon. Speed kills. So kill your speed!