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29 January 2010 What are the odds of that then?
There have been a couple of stories in the news this week that have really grabbed me.
The first had to be the story of 17 year old Darlene Etienne being pulled alive from a collapsed house 15 DAYS after the Haitian earthquake, Darlene had managed to survive by drinking water from a bath. Just incredible!! With all the devastation and heartbreak in Haiti, it’s absolutely fantastic to hear stories like this. Also, we must not forget the rescue teams out in Haiti, how amazing are they!! Even when battling against all the odds, they just never give up and thank goodness they don’t!
The second, okay not a serious life or death scenario like Haiti is watching Andy Murray. Like him or loathe him (personally, I think he’s brilliant), he’s doing a fantastic job out in Melbourne. Murray plays with real passion and I really hope he wins his first maiden Grand Slam there. Yes, he can be grumpy and bad tempered and sometimes his form can be hit or miss but isn’t that what’s so brilliant about him …. he keeps it real. Against all the odds …this fiery Scotsman has the potential to beat Federer – very exciting (and he’s not even 25!!).
On a lighter note, I have just got to talk about the story of the cheetahs who decided to play with the baby impala rather than eat her!! The cheetahs chased after the herd, single-ing out this baby impala only to have her as a playmate!! Sorry, I know it’s a bit of a fluffy one but how cute and no, the next picture doesn’t show her being eaten – she headed back to her impala pals when she realised her flirty snuggling wasn’t getting her anywhere!
Finally, for all your skiers out there – check out couch-skiing. What a brilliant idea– especially after a heavy night of ‘apres-ski’!!
Now, I just have to work out a way to get my skis and my desk out to the Alps, would give a whole new angle to ‘working remotely!!’
I also have to say a big Happy Birthday to Gav, the ninja!! Prepare yourself for an eventful weekend, the northern monkeys or on their way (alongside the Irish!!)
Have a great weekend all.
22 January 2010 Good Morning Sunshine!
This is how my blog was originally going to start today...
'Although I am not a morning person per say, as it does tend to take me up to 10:30am on weekdays before I feel able to engage in conversation (especially if it contains humour), I have never been one of those people who 'couldn't get out of bed', I cannot remember the last time I actually slept in or 'missed my alarm' (how do you 'miss' an alarm!!)...
After I got into work this morning I needed to do a bit of 'tweaking' so here is how the blog will actually start...
Although I am not a morning person per say, as it does tend to take me up to 10:30am on weekdays before I feel able to engage in conversation (especially if it contains humour), I have never been one of those people who 'couldn't get out of bed' and, apart from this morning, rarely sleep in or 'miss my alarm' (although it is actually surprisingly easy to 'miss' an alarm!).
But I am aware that there are people out there for whom this is a major issue (you know how you are...) and I do like to do my bit for society so I came across this article to help on these cold, January mornings.
According to the article we all need to start our days "fully aware of the present moment". I have selected a 'choice' few of their seven morning activities, by practicing these we can create the 'mental and spiritual mindset to appreciate fleeting moments of beauty which we will (apparently) discover from then on throughout the day' - might as well give it a go!
- 'Meditate', even if its just for 5 mins. Apparently even listening to the sounds of your loved ones cooking breakfast inspires a sharper mind for the rest of the day!
- 'Water the Plants' - through doing this you will marvel in the beauty and intricacy of nature, personally I wouldn't recommend doing this every morning though as you will kill them.
- 'Watch you tea or coffee' - the idea here is that instead of just going through the routine you ' watch the milk as it swirls through the black coffee creating mysterious patterns' etc...
- Now the last one seems to completely contradict the others; 'Get up earlier' -here the theory suggests that you get up early than you feel comfortable doing so in order to cram more stuff in before you start doing the stuff you have to do.
Anyway I'll leave it up to you what you think is best and will 'work' for your lifestyle: www.care2.com.
Chris has been on his first skiing holiday this week, comments from The Alpes so far only go as far as to say he's 'survived' so we are all looking forward to perusing his snaps when he returns next week but for now he has sent one from the slopes for us all to enjoy, he seems to have picked it up quite well if you ask me...
15 January 2010 Crouching Tiger...
This year is the year of the Tiger according to the Chinese zodiac, although the new year does not technically take place until the middle of Feb... On this topic could anyone clear up for me whether when you fly to China the flights times are in Western or Chinese years? Setting off today and arriving last year could become confusing!
Anyway FYI, of all of the Chinese horoscope signs the year of the Tiger is the one to be the most active, seize opportunities and make the most of your talents in, as things traditionally move quickly in Tiger years, so if you blink you'll miss them.
Drama, change and travel will all take place across the world, meaning anything could happen and great technological advances could easily occur - no need for January blues with an outlook like that for the next 12 months!
It seems more people read my blog than first thought (so basically more than everyone at Rapport who have to read it!) as, further to my personnel message last week, Harrogate International Centre has secured a 5 year contract to host annual medical conference 'Wounds UK' - now I complained about the conference name acronyms before but if you ask me 'wounds UK' isn't really that much better -sort it out!
As luck would have it, pretty much as soon as the bad weather hit it seemed that everyone at Rapport needed to travel the length and breadth of Britain and fly to the four corners of the world! Chris had a 'colourful' trip to Abu Dhabi which included an overnight stay at Heathrow and a 7hr wait in the airport. Then Fi and I went on a site visit to Paris just as the weather on the continent also decided to take a change for the worst, resulting in some sporadic mid-flight 'turbulence' which wasn't pretty.
As if weather conditions weren't enough to hinder our travels we were only going through the recently voted worst (Heathrow) and second worst (Paris Charles de Gaulle) airports in the world! This is according to the Priority Pass annual survey of frequent flyers but I can vouch for the fact the Paris airport involves a lot of queuing!
Anyway we are all ready for 'the big thaw' now, although I have to admit I will be sad to say goodbye to my wellies, which have become my new favourite staple wardrobe item!
8 January 2010 Remember your roots...
Although learning that large annual conferences are relocating to Manchester goes further to prove our facilities here in the North West are at a high standard and, more importantly the companies producing these events (such as Rapport!) are highly regarded, and comparable to any other event company in the UK, the news, for me, can sometimes be bitter sweet.
I grew up in Harrogate which, as well as being known for its Spa Water and Betty's Tea Room is largely renowned for 'The International Centre' (or simply 'The Conference Centre' as it is still known to us locals). It has recently occurred to me that without realising it, conferences and events were always part of my life, my house was directly opposite 'The Conference Centre' so I was always aware of the 'delegates' milling around on their tea breaks, not only that my mum owns a small hotel, so our livelihood relied on business from the conferences.
Harrogate International Centre Main Auditorium
I grew up around the acronyms such as 'RCN', 'BIGGA' and 'CIPD' that surround the corporate conference without really thinking they meant anything to me. This week I read that after sixty-one years, the CIPD conference will now be taking place in Manchester instead of Harrogate. This reflects a lot of what has been happening over the past few years and is putting small businesses that rely on these events to survive, out of business.
After a long history of being atop of the UK conference and events destination, I hope that Harrogate can hang onto its crown and the industry doesn't always believe that 'bigger is better'.