Typecast

Photo credit:  Carl Heyerdahl I'm guilty of trying to create *ALL* the content.  Social media and blogging fell into line with each other about ten or twelve years ago.  I was already a heavy user of Twitter and met most of my blogging peers on there. We were considered geeks at the time but basic social media was a great way to have conversations and find links to interesting articles.  Now social media has become mainstream and really is the main stream of everyone's lives. It feels like every single person is sharing every single moment, or has an opinion that has to be shared RIGHT NOW.  Where does it all stop?  I'm a busy person and I like it that way. I work full time, I run three or four times a week , I have a radio show at weekends and I still write this blog occasionally. I'm a social media scroller and guilty of occasionally being a social media over-sharer.  But I feel like I'm becoming too invested in other people's lives e...

At the top of my list of things to do on a recent trip to Krakow was to visit Auschwitz.  I didn't realise at the time but at this year marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of prisoners from this concentration camp and I'm struggling to find the words to write about my visit but, just as the journey through the gates of the concentration camp felt like something I needed to do, so is this.  One of the blocks at Auschwitz surrounded by an electric fence The camps are are unique in the sense that the remaining buildings are individual museums dedicated to detailing the history of the Holocaust at Auschwitz and Birkenau. Even before you enter, there is a new memorial display next to the car park telling the story of 18 survivors with a short summary of their life beyond their experience and a photograph of them now (the interviews took place in 2017 and 2018). The camp was divided into three parts and the main tours cover Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II - Birkenau...

I remember the time that Jake brought a letter home from school explaining that he'd been given the "opportunity" to learn to play a musical instrument at school.  He was convinced he was going to learn to play the drums so I told him that he could on the one condition... that he teaches me too as learning to play the drums is on my bucket list.  He wasn't convinced but thought it might help with his college application  https://allsaintsuniversity.org/ There’s a decent chance that at some point your child will ask to learn a musical instrument like guitar lessons online, or it might be something that you as a parent would like your kids to do. Playing music can be one of the most rewarding ways to spend time, and it is a great way to make friends and develop self-confidence too – so if your child shows an interest in music it’s a great hobby to encourage.   You may also have experience of a child starting an instrument and then losing interes...