that canadian girl

In early January, Chris Messina and many others kicked off the new year with “theme words”, ideas that should help them focus their efforts.

I thought I’d share the #themeword I picked a month ago and have been following since. It’s “exploration”, in every sense of the word.

Exploration in the travel sense. I want to see more of Europe. I’ve been in the UK for some years now but haven’t had a varied holiday track records, going mainly to Canada to see the family and Menorca for a touch of sun. I want to see the Italian countryside, check out the Scandinavian winter to compare to the Canadian one, see more of France, especially the South. I unquestionably want to fly out to New Zealand to see my sister during her stay there, and I want to give some parts of the US another go, even though I’m not so fond of Maricans.

Exploration of business opportunities. Last night, while invoicing a few older pepsmedia clients who have ongoing hosting contracts with us, I realised how far I’d come in confidence, knowledge and general business sense since we started. Every year, every month, I can see that we’re producing better projects, making clients happier and feeling more in control of our business. It’s hard work, but it’s genuinely enjoyable and rewarding. I look forward to another year of growth and new ideas, pushing myself further than before.

Exploration of skills and abilities that are currently nascent or unused. I know too well that it’s easy to sit within your existing comfort zone and use exclusively the skills you already master. It allows you to look good, always in control, but it doesn’t take much to fall into a much-dreaded routine. As my inspirational and downright wonderful grandfather always showed me, you stay young by continuing to learn. There’s a world of possibilities out there, and I don’t see a reason to stop now.

Exploration of my friendships and relationships. There are so many great people in my life with whom I don’t spend enough time, I want to take advantage of our soon-to-be new house’s dining room and back garden to have as many dinner parties, bbqs and social get-togethers as possible, enjoying life and good company.

While exploring - and my life in general - seems to be about more, more, more, faster, faster, faster, I also want to think in terms of less and slower. Taking me-time to breathe and think and focus myself. Eating better, at the dining table and without the tv on. Having evenings where both Andrew and I can relax without worrying about work to be done.

So far, it’s looking like it’ll be a good year… What’s your themeword?

Today, I’m getting out of the way and giving the blog limelight to my old work colleague and fantastic friend Tom Crinson. He’s the nicest guy I could have ever worked with, but he’s also completely bonkers and going on a life-changing trek up the Kilimanjaro in a few days. Here’s his interesting customer care story…

I am going on a walk. A very big frickin’ walk, up a very big frickin’ hill (Kilimanjaro). I am scared. However, I am about as well prepared as I can possibly be, I have decent kit which has cost a small fortune, I have been training a lot, which has hurt. However the biggest shock of it all so far has come from a customer services experience. This is what happened:

The trek is only a few days away and I am getting my kit together to run through final checklists etc. and I suddenly remember that after the trek I am going on a safari as well! As girly as it sounds, I have nothing to wear! I have been so focussed on the trek I had forgotten about it. Literally nothing I have would be good enough for the African savannah, and I start to panic. Mainly as I don’t have a day free to go shopping on to get kit, and it’s the middle of winter here, no shops are going to be pimping their summer wares just yet!

So panic sets in, I reach for the magical box which contains the internet (it is shiny and silver and has an apple on the front) and type in “Safari clothing”, up pop lots of results. Clicking about I find some shirts that look like they are up to scratch for 40 or so of your english pounds. £40! For a frickin beige shirt?? Holy jesus mary mother of poo no way am I paying that. Remembering that some of my walking trousers are from a company called CragHoppers I thought I would give them a go. Perfect. Good quality shirts with UV(blah) protection and stuff. £15. Now were talking. Ordered two of those and two pairs of walking trousers that zip off to form shorts for a measly £70. A-mazing. Value and quality I know I can trust.

Confirmation email time. Oh yes, this gem: “Please note: We are currently experiencing some delay in the dispatch of orders. Therefore your order may take slightly longer to arrive. Please be patient and bear with us at this busy time.” Appears in it! Not a single mention of this on the site, only after my money has been taken do they mention this. So I call them up….“Err.. WTF?” to hear an amazingly friendly voice which belongs to a nice lady called Dawn at the other end of CragHoppers’ customer services line.

She explains to me how their system went down over Christmas and that they are going mental trying to get the back orders through. “But I’m off on friday!” I say, “Fear not” says she, and about an hour and a half later, the wonderful wonderful woman has somehow managed to get their warehouse to dispatch my order that day. Literally ordered Sunday night, panicked Monday, goods arrived Tuesday. Brilliant.

I don’t think I have been so amazed by a customer services department before. She could have just told me to go away there was nothing she could do, but she went out of her way to help me and for that I am unbelievably grateful.

Thank you thank you thank you! I am now a teeny bit less stressed!

Meeting for dinner with old high school friends, originally met some 12 years ago when we were rather younger, unavoidably sends me down Memory Lane. Tonight, literally, in fact, since I had to cross campus to come back to my sisters’ cute apartment above a pub within spitting distance of their classes.

These friends now work, like me, in fields they love, doing stuff they’re passionate about. Paola’s a journalist with an astonishing amount of experience under her belt for her age, and ju (lower case j, capital J is a whole different high school person…), who’s running along with some top notch production crews, doing lights, sound and all sorts of stage stuffs.

We work in very different worlds, but there are a few things that seem to ring true with all three of us.

• We all left the family nest and our hometown as soon as the opportunity arose to further our budding careers by taking a gamble and working somewhere else.
• We worked our asses off in high school… (Well, they did, I kind of freeloaded off ju in music theory, for one. I do apologise for that, in hindsight.) Joking aside, we did work hard and spend a lot of energy on extracurricular activities.
• We all made a point of being pro-active in making our passions happen, rather than taking on normal desk jobs and just hoping it would happen by some form of magic.

Looking back, I can’t help but be proud that while we were what one might consider to be slightly uncool… or outright losers, probably… we’re now getting to a stage where we can live our dreams. As Hugh says, “Then you get to a certain age and you realize that the time for “One Day” is over. You’re either doing it, or you’re not. And if you’re not, a feeling of bitter disappointment starts hitting you deep into the marrow.”

I don’t believe in waiting til “a certain age” comes. I’m making the most of where I am now, what I’m doing and I’ll be damned if I let anyone else control my destiny. Thankfully I’m married to someone who’s even more energetic and passionate about achieving dreams now rather than “some day in the future”, so it’s a good match.

My dad would suggest that one also needs to stop and smell the flowers, but I don’t think we struggle to do that either. In fact, early tomorrow, I’ll probably go for a stroll around a frozen Sunday morning university campus again for old times’ sake.

I was about to leave a comment on Robert Scoble’s blog when he posted that he was celebrating seven years of blogging, and looking back at what had happened in that time. Having blogged for about the same length of time, I’m also amazed at how much things have changed. Thought I’d write my own entry.

In 2000, I was graduating from High School, starting Uni in Communication. I think that at that stage, I was hoping to be a news researcher for the CBC, or work in media somewhere. I had a severe addiction to the Internet - as confirmed by my parents, who could never receive a phone call due to my hogging of their phone line for dial-up access.

Having created my first website in 1994 during a “Discover the internet” summer course, over the years, writing online came in different incarnations, most too vague in memory and now lost in the ether somewhere on the web.

In the spirit of year-end retrospect life reviews, here’s what’s happened in the past 7 years or so…

In those years, I survived…

1. Started University in Comm, with no career clearly defined in my mind.
2. Met a Brit who stole my heart.
3. Took a year off Uni to go live in England. Loved it and vowed to return.
4. Finished University, graduating with flying colours and a conviction that I’d work in that wild world of the web, working in marketing, PR, communication or something along those lines.
5. Moved to the UK permanently, bought a house.
6. Got married.
7. Learned to drive and bought my first car.
8. A dozen jobs of varying level of responsibility, in creating teaching resources, youth care research, publishing (x5 jobs in editorial and marketing), marketing & biz dev in the hotel industry, email marketing, blogging & community evangelism in mobile tech, and thrown somewhere in there, I started my own web dev/marketing agency. Damn, not bad unh?
9. Joined far too many social networks too.
10. Tried a dozen GTD apps (yet I’m still as disorganised as I ever was)
11. Saw my little sister Jo get engaged to her high school sweetheart, to be married a few days from now.
12. Bought a new house and organised an imminent house move (didn’t know about that one yet, did ya? More on that later!)

There’s probably a lot more stuff I could add, but in this early morning jetlagged haze, I’m realising quite how nice the thought of croissants and jam, sitting at the dining table with my parents for the first time in a year and a half sounds.

I’ll have a drink (of eggnog or coffee) to the next seven years, at the end of which I’ll still be blogging - or publishing my thoughts online in one shape or form, whatever the terminology is then!

[Updates at the bottom…]

Today, I’m pissed off. I’m really pissed off. British Telecom, lovingly known as BT, is the largest provider of all things fixed phone line in the UK. Like a bully nicking your lunch money, BT has gone into my bank account, using our Direct Debit authorisation as an excuse to debit £233 instead of £10 this month.

BT, you’re messing with the wrong girl!

FAO Sir Michael Rake, Chairman
British Telecom Head Office
BT Group plc
BT Centre
81 Newgate Street
London EC1A 7AJ

12 December, 2007

Dear Sir Michael Rake,

REFERENCE: XX012345678 - Unauthorised Direct Debit from Customer

I’m writing to get resolution on an issue that was brought to our attention by our bank yesterday. On 20th November, BT took, without our permission, £233.59 by direct debit from our account instead of the usual £10.49.

The explanation given by BT customer service is that the funds were taken following OpenReach engineer visits to our property. This goes against any previous discussion we had with the Faults department and the engineers themselves.

Before each visit, we spoke to the Faults department and took very careful steps to ensure that it wasn’t our equipment that was at fault, to get confirmation that the problem was on BT’s side and avoid charges, should an engineer come by. Unplugging all equipment and removing the faceplate, we then asked BT to run the line test. Each time we did this, the Faults team ensured that we were not going to be charged because the system was flagging a fault on their network, “near our property”.

This required a total of three engineer visits, and as many days off work on my part or my husband’s which, needless to say, inconvenienced us immensely. The first engineer replaced the connections outside, making the line quality and our Internet connection abruptly get worse, introducing heavy static onto the line. The second engineer attempted to fix the heavy static by replacing the faceplate inside the property, to no avail. He claimed that the capacitor in the faceplate was faulty, but this turned out to be false.

Finally, the third engineer worked out that the crackling on the line was caused by the cable connections outside being corroded and could reproduce the crackling by simply moving the cable. He found water damage on the outside connections and stated that he was amazed the previous two engineers had not found that problem earlier.

He changed the connection outside to heavy duty silicon based connections and said that, as a precaution, he changed the cable from outside to the back of the faceplate. This significantly improved the line quality for both voice and internet connection quality.

Based on conversations with the Faults department, they reassured me every time that there would be no charge and that the line tests had proved as much. However, on November 20th, the direct debit of £233.59 was taken from our account, without warning, taking our account into overdraft. On investigation with your thoroughly uninterested customer service team, we discovered that the charge was for the engineer visits above.

We should not be covering the costs incurred by engineers’ incompetence and repeated attempts, especially when the work to rectify the problem was done outside of our property on the BT network.

I feel that BT has behaved unethically by charging us after guaranteeing over the phone that we would not be charged, and furthermore charging us without even notifying us! The £223 taken above our usual monthly bill should NOT have been added to the Direct Debit, as the agreed Direct Debit is for £10, not for BT to have a free for all at my expense.

According to the Direct Debit Guarantee provided by HSBC, “if the amounts to be paid or the payment dates change, HSBC Bank plc will notify you 10 working days in advance of your account being debited or otherwise agreed”, and BT did not follow this legally binding guarantee.

BT Customer service has our mailing address, home phone number, both mobile numbers, and email addresses and unquestionably should have notified us ahead of time to allow us to flag up that no charge should be taken.

I expect the full amount for engineer visits to be refunded immediately, as you’ve taken my shopping fund for family and friends this Christmas. For my faith in BT to be restored in any way, I need a confirmation that I will be able to limit the amount which can be debited without prior notification.

Please respond promptly, sending a copy of all communications via email, to ensure I hear back from you as soon as possible and receive confirmation that the funds are returned to our account.

Best regards,

Vero Pepperrell

CC: BT Newsroom
Otelo, Telecoms Ombudsman
Ofcom

[Update 13 Dec @ 10:50am: The Ofcom Watch blog has already picked up on my complaint letter. I’m sure that BT’s press room will be thrilled to see that the letter is reaching beyond my 26,000 monthly readers and onto other blogs within half an hour of being posted.

13 Dec @ 10:58am: The BT Newsroom has promptly responded to my email and said that the complaints department would be in touch soon. Must admit, impressed by speed of reply.

14 Dec: Less than surprised… I’ve not heard a peep from BT today. Is that going to stop me? Oh no it won’t! “Oh yes it will!” Oh no it won’t… Oh wait, I’m getting into panto mode here.

20 Dec: We hopefully have resolution. I’ve been promised yesterday that the funds would be in my account today and the full amount would be refunded. I’ll believe it when I see it but here is my follow-up post.]

Sorry if posting’s been a bit on the lean side recently, I’ve been, shall we say, rather busy. So here’s the past two weeks in summary…

• We got kittens, we got kittens, we got kittens! I’ve been spending nearly every evening entertaining them myself while teasing them with a silly stick with a green feather at the end.
• I went to Paris for a very interesting Mobile Monday event, where Bob presented Taptu to the French and Zazie serenaded everyone.
• I bought an iPhone. Yup. I was at the Cambridge O2 store on launch day. There was a big queue of like… 20 of us. Not a huge hit with the plebs, but I’m absolutely in love with it.
• I went to the Future of Mobile conference, saw the usual suspects and met some new people while seeing Powerpoint slides being blown up bigger than ever before.
• We’ve put our house on the market and have put an offer in on a bigger house just down the road. Comes with it, some serious tidying of the house in order to make it vaguely presentable to potential buyers!
• Did I mention I got some kittens?

Right well… Good night my lovelies!

I promised everyone photos as soon as the kittens get home. I expected to have to stick the camera in the cat box, where they’d be hiding all nervous about their new home.

Rubbish! They were chilled during the whole journey home, after about 5 minutes of meowing, then once home, they explored the entire house within a few seconds. They ate, had a wee and promptly fell asleep on their little activity centre. Now they’re pouncing up and down the stairs, playing together, taking the occasional break to purr against my leg like a little engine - so it’s time to share a few of the photos we’ve taken so far.

Couldn’t ask for sweeter kittens, they’re absolutely adorable. I’m sure I’ll find time to upload a video tomorrow, but for now, time to play!

Today is going so well, I’m kind of tip toeing around for fear that it’s too good to be true and the Big Bad Monster of Stress and Worries will wake up and eat me.

But for now, let’s celebrate all the good stuff:

1. We’re picking up the kittens, Jack and Rose, tonight. Can’t wait!
2. I’m definitely getting an iPhone. On launch day. You just try and stop me now!
3. I’ve booked my ticket to Future of Mobile conference in London. See you there!
4. Google IMAP has been enabled on my account. Sweet!
5. Leopard is still perfectly smooth and functional and lurvly on my MacBook. Rowr!
6. Even my lunchtime sandwich from the crummy vans outside was reasonably good.

Let’s all bask in the positiveness for once, because you ain’t getting this on my blog again anytime soon.*

[* Note that this post is not even fuelled by cheekily swiped Halloween candy. I haven’t had sugar yet. Really!]

Last night, I had a little whingefest about David Cameron’s statement that there are “too many immigrants” coming to Britain, which prompted me to highlight that fully legitimate, well educated migrants like myself didn’t appreciate being included in that statement after all our contributions in taxes and hard work.

This morning, I was very interested when I saw that Tony Sharp, a Conservative councillor for Brickhill Ward in Wellingborough had responded to my post. He quite rightly pointed out that Mr. Cameron’s statement was referring to “low skilled workers” as opposed to Highly Skilled Migrants, who are apparently more welcome. [Welcome to the traffic from the ConservativeHome blog, btw!]

In his comment, Tony mentioned a post he wrote a few weeks ago on the issue some Highly Skilled Migrants are having to deal with. In summary:

The entry criteria was tightened last year. Fair enough, there is nothing wrong with reviewing and updating a policy for new applicants that exists to benefit this country. But in one of the most spiteful, wrongheaded and self damaging decisions yet taken by Labour, it was decided to also apply the new rules retrospectively to those Highly Skilled Migrants (HSM) who had been granted entry under the old rules. Many of the HSM already working here are being told they no longer meet the criteria and are being refused the right to remain.

Now, I’m gobsmacked for two reasons here. The most obvious being that moving the goalpost on existing migrants is just the kind of madness I expect from immigration nowadays. And the second, that the criteria are being tightened. Here’s why that surprises me - When I moved to the UK, I did not qualify for a work visa as Highly Skilled Migrant. University degree in Communication & Marketing, enough funds to support myself, multilingual, no criminal record, people both in Canada and the UK who have known me for a long time and could vouch for me. That wasn’t good enough. But for once, today, I’m happy not to be under the HSM program, because getting the rug pulled from under my feet would set me off on another rant, and no one likes to see that.

In fact, for Mr. Sharp’s benefit and anyone else interested, here’s the breakdown of my progress towards becoming a British Citizen. It’s the long and winding road, as opposed to the HSM program.

1. Dec 2001-Dec 2002: Working Holidaymaker visa - That was nice and easy to get and not too expensive either. They were just getting me hooked, the bastards!
2. May-August 2003: Working Holidaymaker visa was still valid for a few months, so it covered me for that summer
3. May 2004: Planning on moving to the UK permanently on a Highly Skilled Migrant visa, but I was told I did not qualify for it. Thankfully, my gorgeous British man (we were engaged at the time) agreed to scooting the wedding forward a year, so I was granted a fiance visa on the requirement that we got married within 6 months of me arriving in the UK. However, until I was married, I was allowed to reside in the UK, but not work.
4. July 2004: After the wedding, I returned to my favourite place in the world, Croydon, to get a married visa, which finally allowed me to take up employment.
5. August 2006: Two years of marriage, which I now need to prove to my Croydon mates in letters, bills, pictures, holiday tickets. I literally showed up with a suitcase of information, yet they still looked at me like I was some suspicious drug smuggler with a fake marriage arrangement. But I was granted a leave to remain visa (basically permanent residency).
6. We’re now in August 2007 and it’s now up to me to apply for British Citizenship, but after the circus which I’ve described above, I’m in no rush to go do the Britishness Test. I consider myself as British as some people who’ve lived here all their life: I say knackered, bloody, can’t be arsed, I can tell a good pint from North American swill, I watch Red Dwarf, Peep Show and Spaced. I whinge about the Tube every time I go into London. I’ve passed my UK driving license on the first go. What more do you want? Oh, for me to go answer a handful of pub quiz trivia questions on the history of Britain to prove I’m really Britanicised? Well… bollocks to that for now. I’ll travel on a Canadian passport!

All this to say, low skill or high skill, it’s a pain to migrate to the UK, and I would love to see an improved process so that others like me don’t have to go through this chaotic process.

What can I say… it’s 4pm, and I’ve only just remembered July 1st means it’s Canada Day, and that back home, it may only be 11am, but I bet half my old friends are already drunk and hanging out on the Hill.

It looks like for once, it won’t be tipping it down with rain, so have a good one guys, and get one of those cheesy Canadian flags for me!

Are you the kind of person who goes to Glasto every year? Do you like putting your wellies on and wading around the mud? Or are you more likely to be seen at the Proms in September, sitting on a picnic blanket with Pimms and strawberries?

Are you going to Apple Expo or SXSW? (lucky bastard) Are you hoping to snap a pic of Jobs showing his humanity by needing to blow his nose like us mere mortals?

Or are you somewhere else in the world, about to attend some other musical, techy or cultural event sometime this summer?

If you are going to some cool events this summer, have a reasonably good mobile camera phone and fancy snapping a few shots, drop me an email or leave a comment and I’ll explain in greater details! It’s fun, it’s easy and it might make you a bit of pocket money.

Hard to believe that today was my last day after nearly two years at my current job. It was a good two years, if a bit rocky by moments (ie. being made redundant then taken back on board with a different role last year amongst other things) but I’ve learned truckloads and met some fab people.

Now, I’ve got three days to wind down, attempt to chill out a bit before The Great First Day at The New Job. Some people say I should’ve taken a few days just to have a gap between the two, but 1. I’m too curious, can’t wait to start and find out what it’s all about and 2. I’d end up being restless at home!

It was a nutty week, so I’ll make the most of those three days (read: catch up with some reading, sleep lots, slob around in comfortable clothes) and then on with the new job!

For now, I need an early night.

A few weeks ago, I introduced my wonderful new little Ford Ka, but what I failed to say is that it was a great big giant incentive to get my ass in gear and get my British driving license. Yep, I’m 25 and still didn’t have one. Yep, I’m rubbish!

So this morning, I made my way to Cowley Rd test centre, feeling much more prepared and at-ease than I would have ever dreamed I would be two months ago when I booked my test. Still managed to rack up 9 minor faults, but all in all, I’m pleased with the results.

For the record, if any of you are in the Cambridge area and dreading the idea of doing your practical driving test, I strongly recommend giving Malcolm at Mallyn School of Motoring a call. I usually love a good ol’ challenge, but driving was one I just couldn’t face in the past, but I felt at ease the moment I met my instructor. I’ve met instructors who were pervy, some who were shrinking violets, but Malcolm’s an all around great guy.

Lessons were two hours at a time, and it worked much better than one hour lessons, where you hardly have the time to get into your groove and the lesson’s over! Cowley Road is an immensely sucky test centre, especially with the awful construction that’s been going on for over a year (!!!), but I felt thoroughly ready to cope with the chaos of it after my 15 hours of lessons.

So yup, goodbye L plates, you won’t be missed. Now I just need to find another learner to pass on the Hazard Perception CDs and the Learner books onto!

[Edit: Yes, it was a first time pass!]
[Edit #2: I just got back home and gave my Ka a hug. It deserves it for being patient with me. Andrew does too.]

A week ago, I was talking about feeling on cloud nine and here’s one reason!

Tadah! New car, a lovely shiny, 5-miles-on-the-clock Ford Ka Zetec Climate. It’s got a mighty 70 horsepower, and it looks dead sexy with L plates on. (Don’t worry, that last bit won’t last too long…)

I’m so incredibly pleased with it, and after Andrew waxed it nicely this afternoon, it’s shinier than ever!

In fact, it was over on Friday, but I’ve been having a three-day-long shower to warm up and take advantage of the fact that we have hot water again. Ok, just kidding. I do think of the environment… sometimes.

Thanks to everyone who gave tips on local plumbers, advice on checking if the pilot light’s on (electronic ignition, pa!) and those who apologised in case they’ve jinxed us and caused the bad karma (!!!)

Now back to our regular programming…

I’m having a sucky day. No, actually, that’s an understatement. I’m having a “Karma’s a bitch” day.

This morning, for no apparent reason, the boiler died. We tried what we could to find out whether some fuse had blown out somewhere, but nope, all looked normal, but the boiler doesn’t fire on as it should. No hot water. No heating.

Great, it’s the fifth time something’s wrong with that damn boiler since it was installed a year and a half ago! Spoke to the Heateam people, and the soonest we can get an engineer is Friday. Well, good thing it’s not mid-winter anymore, unh? So we’ve got a little tiny heater to take the edge off the cold this evening, and I’ll be washing my hair in the sink later.

Talking about calling Baxi’s Heateam (yeah, I think it should be Heatteam too, with two T’s but they’re somewhat illiterate), the only two songs I heard while on hold were “Light my fire” - oh the irony, it hurts - and “Mack the Knife” - good reflection of how I felt.

Hopefully today’s the peak of Karma kicking me in the proverbial nuts and it’ll get better as of tomorrow… I need that luck badly tomorrow.

Just wanted to drop you a short note to wish you all a fabulous Christmas, filled with lots of relaxation time, with family and friends, and lots of good food, drinks and fun presents!

We’ve just opened most of our presents, and I think everyone’s very pleased with what they’ve got. I received the Doctor Who Season 1 box set from Andrew, and some lovely La Senza pyjamas from the in-laws (which, it turns out, I already owned a pair of, but LS has so much nice stuff, it’ll be easy to swap!).

I gave Andrew some very low-tech presents this year, going for the Articulate board game, and some artsy stuff - a box of Derwent sketching pencils and sticks, a large box of Derwent pastel pencils and two sketchbooks. Even if he ends up using them to sketch out websites, it’ll still be some nice time away from the screen!

So I’m raising a glass of port to all of you, have a great Christmas! Now, get off the computer, and go spend some family time!

So there’s no denying it, I’ve been swept off my feet with work and have really been neglecting blogging. There’s been more stuff than ever I’ve been wanting to write, but I just haven’t had the time to sit down and compose a real entry, so here it is, all jumbled, braindump-like and unedited…

Business

Pepsmedia could hardly be doing any better than it is at the moment; we’re working on and lining up some fantastic projects, which I’ll be showing off in a few days once we update the portfolio. Andrew’s getting to exercise his geeky skills, and I’m having to stretch my organisational muscles. Let’s just say keeping things tidy on paper or in my head doesn’t come naturally! But, as they say, practice makes perfect!

Personal, social

Social life has been pretty non-existent these days, with only a cheeky pint after work or a Sunday lunch being fit into the schedule for the sake of our sanity. The White Horse Inn, in Withersfield, was an excellent lunch choice on Sunday, I must say - The homemade desserts were amazing, especially that cheesecake, yum!

Looking forward to Christmas time for parties, and time to socialise and relax…

Gadgets and goodies

Soooo I’ve never been one to resist when I find a gadget I really fancy… and I may have gone a wee bit OTT recently.

Today was a success, managing to order a Nintendo Wii in the 7 minutes it was on sale for on Amazon.co.uk before going out of stock!

Secondly, due for arrival next week is my new MacBook, which I just can’t wait to get! It’s a thing of beauty, and I just can’t wait for it to arrive.

And finally, the quirky, very kawaii treat to myself - a Nabaztag/tag bunny (ordered from Firebox.com) It’s a wi-fi enabled little character that interacts with you, repeats your friends’ messages and that can be programmed to do pretty much anything. More on this one once it’s arrived.

Yep, that’s that! It’s been great fun living at this pace, but phew, relaxing at Christmas will be very very welcome!

Mr. P and I have been married for over two years now. Happily so, no looking back, shared bank accounts and wedding rings*, the usual, ya know.

The one thing that’s not in the picture and probably won’t be for many moons is babies. We’re DINKY’s (Dual Income, No Kids Yet), and I really have no problem with that.

Steph blogs about being 35, not married, and with no kids, and getting asked The Questions - “Why aren’t you married?”, “Why don’t you have babies yet?” - constantly. I can’t count how many times I’ve heard the second question, more or less jokingly from friends, family and.. complete strangers sometimes.

Let’s set the record straight. I’m 25, and because I found the man of my life and married him when I was 22, it doesn’t mean I necessarily want to skip forward on all the great stuff one gets to do during their 20’s. I enjoy the freedom we have at this point in time way too much, and I’m just not in a rush to procrate and watch mini-me’s running around, pooping and snotting everywhere.

I have a feeling of great respect, almost reverence, for every mother (and father) who manages to raise little munchkins. I really have no idea how they do it. I took care of a devastatingly charming one year old boy this weekend while others around me were doing some house renovations, and after a couple of hours, I was begging for someone to swap jobs with me so I could go back to sweeping floors and painting ceilings! So - much - energy!

It’s not that I necessarily don’t think I’ll ever be able to manage raising kids, it’s just not on the radar for the next few years. Especially with Mr. P who’s got the maturity of a 12 year old sometimes!

So in the meantime, I plan on spending the next few years working my arse off on starting our own business, making the most of dinner parties with friends (the ones who can get away from their kids for an evening at least…) and owning cream coloured dining table chairs** and stuff that would never be baby-proof.

I know this post will make absolutely no difference to the frequency at which I hear The Question, since those to whom this is directed don’t read blogs, but at least I’ve had my rant, and I’ll just smile and think of this entry next time someone rattles on about how we’ve been married for over two years and should definitely have little pooping critters around by now.

Right, I feel better now.

[* Question for other married women: Do you always wear your wedding ring? Does your other half? Does it bother you if they don’t always wear it? Reason being, I occasionally take mine off (doing dishes, painting, etc) and forget to put it back on for days on end, same for Andrew, and most girls I’ve said this to were horrified at the thought, and most guys said their wives would probably kill them for doing that. Is it really that big a deal?]
[** Definitely not baby-proof and probably not Claire-proof either ;)]