Volunteering in your Community

I've just become a signed up member of the South Downs Volunteer Rangers, having just spent my 'taster' day out on the Downs. I knew I'd enjoy it, I've been volunteering off and on for a while and more recently with the Sussex Wildlife Trust at Lewes.

It was the best fun I've had in ages. A full-on day, blooming hard work and I arrived back home very tired, covered in scratches and smelling of smoke but it's that good physical exhaustion, not the mental exhaustion you get from spending all day in front of the computer and certainly a great stress-reliever. Fresh air, loads of exercise and a sense of a job well done.

The South Downs Joint Committee is one of several groups that have working parties going out three days a week and also at the weekends. Most companies are willing and able to get more involved in the community, through various Business in the Community schemes.

Why not see if your company is willing to get it's employees involved. Arrange a team day, out of the office, get involved in your community. If you want to do something energetic, then go scrub-bashing on the Downs.

You'll ache but you'll feel a whole lot better for it.

Patience and Persistence

I love doing sudoku puzzles ever since I discovered them at the beginning of last year, I’ve found them intriguing and compelling. Nothing to do with mathematics but more to do with logic. I have a number lying around incomplete, that I pick up every now and then and spot something I hadn’t seen before. It pays to take a step back from what you’re doing – do something different for a while and then come back. You’ll see things differently and with a fresh look.

Some of the puzzles I decided were too difficult, beyond my skills and didn’t even attempt them. I’ve been having a bit of a blitz recently so I’ve built up from the moderate to the difficult and now I find even doing the fiendish or hard ones do-able. When I started, I used to find the moderate ones difficult. We all have to start somewhere with something new and the more practice we get the better we become.

So whatever you want to learn – start it now, practice, practice and keep practicing, then surprise yourself at how far you’ve come in a year's time. Like the sudoku - stick at it, don’t give up and in the end with patience and persistence, you’ll work it out.

An added bonus of course, is that it's good for your mental agility, so if you'd like to give sudoku a go try it here http://www.sudoku.com/.

Mushrooms on the run

One of the benefits of going out for a run instead of doing your exercise pounding away in the gym on a treadmill, is that you get the opportunity to pick your breakfast on the way round.

It was a lovely morning - crisp, autumnal but still warm in the sun. I wasn't intending to pick mushrooms but when you literally run across them, well ... what else are you supposed to do. I only found a few but they were large enough to make into a meal that evening.

Get outdoors and exercise - it's so much better for you. Fresh air, natural light and you don't have to put up with all those other sweaty bodies ... just your own.

The Money Tree

Last night I went along to the book launch of Martin Bamford's new book "The Money Tree". A great event and it also raised funds in support of the PFS Charitable Foundation for a very worthwhile cause - Face The World

I got my own personal, signed copy and I've taken a quick browse through it. It's full of useful information to help you understand the basics of financial planning - tax, mortgage, investments, your pension and how to get advice (he is a Financial Adviser after all).

All you need to know to grow your savings into a Money Tree.


If you need a helping hand getting your finances in order, then sign-up for my money e-course - More Month Than Money.

Rant: Convertibles

Why on earth would you buy a soft-top car and then drive around with the roof up? The weather has been gorgeous here for most of the summer and now we're having another few days of glorious weather, so why wouldn't you make the most of it? I really don't get it. Surely you buy a convertible because you love the idea of open top driving, or does the 'idea' not quite match the reality.

I know they can be windy, noisy and the sun shines in your face but I love my little soft-top. It might not be the most reliable of cars (it is made by Rover after all) and has had it's fair share of break-downs and expense but there's nothing guaranteed to put a smile on my face, driving along with the top down, wind in your hair (maybe that's part of the problem), sun on your face (just put on the sunscreen) and a good tune on the CD player.

Even in the middle of winter, if the sun is out I'll wrap up warm put the heater on full blast and still drive around with the top down. Even if it's raining - as long as you're not stopped in traffic you can handle a light shower.

So all you convertible owners - if the sun is shining I don't want to see you driving around with the top up.

Drowned Rat Returns

Returned home this evening resembling something of a drowned rat having cycled back in the rain.

I cycled in to town again this afternoon for a meeting, making the most of the weather while it's still fine and having done it a few times now, it's easier and saves the hassle of trying to find somewhere to park. It was very muggy today as it had rained overnight but a pleasant ride in as the wind wasn't quite as strong as on previous journeys. After my meeting, rather than just cycle back home, I decided to cycle out to Hove to help my business partner install a new wireless router, thinking I'd have time to do that and still return home in daylight.

Well, the theory was good but by the time I left, the sky had clouded over and it was spitting gently. I made it as far as the Marina before it started to really rain, when out came the waterproof - or rather showerproof, which wasn't much protection but at least I wasn't competing with the traffic and road spray as I cycled along the undercliff. A few other hardy souls were out either cycling back from work or out exercising - all looking similarly wet.

The storm drains were bubbling over at Saltdean on the seafront, although it didn't seem as if it was that much of a downpour it just seemed like steady rain, so I'm not sure what they're like when it really is heavy rain (like the rain I can hear now - pattering down outside).

Arriving back in Peacehaven - wet, tired and hungry, so of course the only sensible solution was to stop off for fish and chips! :)

9/11

It's one of those world-changing events that you remember where you were when it happened.

I was in the US at the time. A friend and I were away on holiday and had been camping in Canyonlands for a few days, a beautiful, isolated place in Utah. We were just on our way out to the next stop and had stopped off at the campsite shop for a coffee and muffin. People were standing around staring at the TV screen - obviously in shock, saying "they're both gone" - the towers that is. By this time both towers had already collapsed as we were a couple of hours behind. They were just repeating over and over again the only footage they had. Repeating the little news they had, on every channel as it was all they could do.

We watched the horror as it unfolded throughout the day. Everywhere we stopped people were watching the news, glued to the screen for the latest news as the realisation that this was a terrorist attack. The pictures of the planes crashing into the buildings repeated over and over again. The third plane striking the Pentagon, Flight 93 coming down in the countryside and not hitting it's intended target. Slowly bulletins being added to as more news and pictures came in but very little sense being made of it all.

We both had friends and colleagues who worked in one of the nearby office buildings, so there was concerned for their safety, until we finally heard they were OK. My parents had flown in to the country the day before, so I knew they were safe but it was good to talk to them anyway. It was all shocking and very emotional. Watching people desperately searching for their loved ones. Joy and tears when they were found, grief and desperation when they weren't.

Watching the documentaries and reruns this week - it's still terrible to be reminded of the loss of life and tragedy of the day. For the 2,749 lives that were lost. Their families, friends and colleagues whose lives were changed forever.

Make A Difference

I've finally created another Blog - my third to date, alongside all the writing I already do in newsletters, articles, Squidoo Lenses and the like. There must be a latent author hiding away under all this scribbling.

Anyway, I've been posting under the M.A.D. (Make A Difference) topic in a couple of places over the last two years or so. More recently on Ecademy, so I thought it was time to pull it all into one place and a blog seemed to be the way to go.

The M.A.D Moments blog will be a more focused blog that will be updated weekly on a Monday morning (Bank Holidays and holidays in general permitting) and somewhere you can go for a burst of motivation or inspiration. Unlike this blog which tends to be a bit more random in both it's content and frequency of posting.

Take a look and I hope you enjoy it. If you do - why not post a comment or send me an email.

If you'd like to join my online personal networking group on Ecademy then just click here.

Petersfield farmers market

I enjoy going to Farmer's Markets especially when they're as good as the one at Petersfield. It takes place on the first Sunday of each month and has a great selection of food - fresh fruit and vegetables from a variety of growers - including at least three that are organic. Hand made cheeses, garlic from the Isle of Wight, local meat products, cider, jams, free range eggs - duck and hen, freshly baked bread and cakes, home-made fudge to name but a few.

It's good to get a wide variety and lots of different stalls. Petersfield is a good example and there are others throughout the country. Local farmers and producers need your support. The quality of the food is better than you can get in your average supermarket and when they've taken over the world (or the food retail industry) we'll be missing the small, local producers, even if they might have charged a little extra. At least their food had some flavour.

Find one near you - National Farmers Market

Attack of the spider!

I don't generally have a problem with spiders - after all I'm SOOO much bigger than them and they're hardly going to eat me. In this country we don't have anything that's going kill you either, so that's one less worry.

I do however have a particularly large spider that has taken up residence in my living room.

I haven't seen it for months but it reappeared last night and surprised the living daylights out of me, as I caught sight of it out of the corner of my eye, scuttling across the sofa towards me!

It was at least the size of a dinner plate ... ok, maybe just a very small child's dinner plate but it looked like something out of the War of the Worlds as it scuttled around on it's tip-toes with it's hairy body and long legs. I didn't scream and jump up on the nearest chair but I did take an instant, instinctive swipe at it. It landed on the floor with an almost audible thud where it scuttled under a chair before then heading across the floor to the opposite corner. A few minutes later it was scuttling back towards me. A few well aimed foot stomps (not on it - that would have left a very nasty mess and I don't kill spiders just because), the vibrations sent it back under the chair and I left it to it.

It only ever seems to emerge at night ... I wonder what it gets up to during the day.