Typecast

I've got a question for you... have you ever been on a working holiday?   I'm currently looking at all options for my youngest child as he starts an apprenticeship in September at the local college in mechanical engineering even though his dream is to do something in the world of entertainment and anyone who knows him will know that he's well suited to that.  However, I want him to have his college qualification so that he has something to fall back on. Maybe a working holiday is the taster session equivalent so that he can actually make his mind up? The types of jobs he has considered are working in a theatre but thinks it would be pure torture to see the acts on stage and not be up there himself.  He has also thought about being a Red Coat at Butlins or even a holiday rep somewhere hot. The only problem here is that he has to wait until he is 18 to audition. I am trying to steer him away from auditioning for X-Factor or similar reality type TV shows because...

I feel as though I'm as blind as a bat sometimes and I flip between wearing glasses and contact lenses. Glasses are my go-to face furniture because they are so easy to throw on and forget about however I love contact lenses because of vanity but also for running and wearing sunglasses .  When GlassesShop asked me to review their service it fell at a fortuitious time because my favourite pair of glasses had recently broken and I was wearing my spare pair. After a browse of their website I chose the Aubervilliers Rectangle in Black  because I was recently told that I should choose frames that follow the shape of my eyebrow and these seemed to fit that option.  I also chose a photochromic tint so they became light sensitive, an anti-reflective coating to stop glare and a super-hydrophobic coating so they were water resistant.  I've always visited an optician for my prescription eyeglasses so ordering online was a whole new experience - and one that felt...

Another year, another Race For Life . I don't mean that to sound as flippant as it does but I enjoy this event so much. It's emotional (for many reasons), it's an opportunity to push myself outside of my personal boundaries and it's all for a charity I wholeheartedly support. Every year I run for my daughter. My own little cancer survivor. She was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma at 14 months old  and has continued to amaze and surprise us with the way in which she defied all medical expectations after her intensive chemotherapy.  Of course, as each year passes (it's 23 years since her treatment now) the memories fade a little but medicine advances in way which we never thought possible. Cancer has touched our lives in other ways too. My father-in-law was sadly beaten by  Mesothelioma  sixteen years ago and my aunt had a mastectomy after breast cancer approximately 20 years ago. This is why I need the Race For Life as a constant reminder of what can be achieved w...

This Father's Day I thought I'd share something a little bit different, so here are my Top Five (British) TV Dads. There were a few that didn't make the cut (Father Ted Crilley may have been pushing it a bit too) but these five were the ones that came straight to mind.  Frank Spencer, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em (1973-1978) I grew up on a diet of 1970's comedy and even though I'm not a huge fan of slapstick comedy, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em was one of those that stood out from the crowd. I always remember being quite thankful that Frank wasn't my dad but - and even now I don't know why - I always felt sorry for Frank. He tries so hard to provide for his family but never quite succeeds and will go to all lengths to try and make it work, even though it's totally obvious that it will end in certain disaster. His vulnerability was his downfall and he always seems to be at the nasty end of workplace bullying. Because of this it's n...

You seem to enjoy these " what I have learnt " updates so here are this weeks - again, in no particular order... The next generation still love traditional and classic poems like Albert And The Lion , which I joyously recited (off by heart... oh yes, I did) to my two granddaughters after hearing that one of them was visiting Blackpool Zoo next week. She's not allowed to take a stick with a horse's head handle ... y'know, just in case... My youngest child official left school last week *sob* .  However, this week we received a letter from the school which led us to believe that he'd missed one of his exams due to their incompetence. I had to ring the deputy head and, after our initial conversation, in my mind he was running around the school like the headmaster on Ferris Bueller to get the situation sorted out. The old guy that lives next door doesn't realise how loud his TV is when he's watching (what we think is) porn.  He also watches ...

Twenty-seven years ago I had an accident that changed my life. I went from being a champion sprinter to not being able to run at all. Subconsciously, I think running is the part of me that was missing but it's only now that I realise this.   Last June was a  time of change . Exactly one year ago this Saturday I joined the Blackburn 5K Group Run  'Couch to 5K' programme to try and change a number of things; my sense of well-being, my mental attitude, the direction of the rut I was dragging myself through and, of course, my level of fitness. Dear reader, I know you are probably bored to tears of reading about my running journey by now but this year in my life has been a game-changer. I have gone from being a total couch potato to someone who now can't wait to pull on a pair of trainers and run three times a week! There's so much more to it that this but I you know as well as I do that I can waffle on about this for ages. Anyway...  There are two running...

There's a video that every parent needs to see, even though it will send shivers down their spine. In a social experiment conducted in America, a man asks parents in a public playground if he can test their child's knowledge of the rule 'never go with strangers' , having first received an assurance that their child knew the rule, and would be unlikely to disobey it. Every parent in the video is proved to be wrong. Every child in this video does the exact opposite of what their own parent and you, as a parent, hope they would do. Armed only with a cute dog and a playful demeanour, Joey approaches their child and within just a few moments leads them away hand in hand from the crowded playground, their parent, and safety. It's truly frightening just how easy it was for Joey - a complete stranger who the child might have, at best, seen talking to the parent for thirty seconds beforehand - to win over the child in every case. What can be done to minimise ...

Once again, in no particular order, here is what I have learnt this week... Getting a notebook/diary system set up to your exact requirements when you are a stationery aficionado is Very Difficult. If you connect Shazam to Spotify it automatically creates a playlist of all your Shazam'd songs. There is a campaign happening, right now, across the UK called #MissingType and it's the most GENIUS thing I have seen in a long time. Blood donations were a big part of saving my daughter's life so I'm disappointed in myself for not picking up on this campaign earlier. The kindness of some people never ceases to take my breath away. Sometimes it's the smallest things that make a difference. I both love and hate running in equal measure but I get renewed joy from it when I achieve another personal best. Attending a new dance and core fitness class is SOOOOO much fun, especially when it's held on the park with approximately 50 other participants and ...