Trip down memory lane

Listening to Prof Mary Beard on Desert Island Discs this morning resulted in affectionate reminder of my angst ridden teenage world – the simple mention of ‘first bra’, PE and the girls changing rooms acted as unwelcome triggers.

For females reading this, who remembers ‘training bras’? – training for what I now wonder?? For the male contingent read on to better understand any teenage girls you may be Father to.

Training bras (sorry, unable to say this without a titter, erm I mean giggle) were wonderfully soft, powder blue or baby pink, came in packs of two, and were totally useless!! They fitted over your head and my yearning to wear one was fierce.

Unfortunately the yearning was not matched by breasts.

Similar to the humiliation faced by Prof Beard when ‘walking the line longing to be picked’, I made the painful discovery that the appeal for teenage boys did not include girls who were 5ft 10” with tits like two fried eggs - and no amount of training bras stuffed with cotton wool or Kleenex tissues* was going to alter this

So, the message for Fathers of teenage girls pleading for training bras is yield – they are a necessary part of growing up and the joy of ownership will far exceed the lack of breasts needed to fill them.

*on reflection it may have been the appearance of lumpy breasts which was so off putting

Without thinking - what's the answer?

I would love to discover what your immediate perception is if I said ‘utilities’ – so, rather like word association, I say utilities you say ????
Answers on tweet please – warmest thanks

Surreal bulletin

Listening to the 6pm news bulletin last night was a surreal experience, in fact I questioned if it was April Fools day. It began with the shocking revelation from Toyota that some of their cars, but they didn’t know which, had problems with the accelerator sticking. I couldn’t help giggling at this, and if it weren’t so serious, I’d have enjoyed a good belly laugh – more on the damage to their brand later.

There followed a report about a guy prosecuted by the police for blowing his nose in his car – in stationary traffic – with the cars handbrake on – because he was not in control of the vehicle!

Next came a bulletin about Tesco in Cardiff banning locals from shopping in their PJ’s. Apparently many of them have taken huge offence at being told to get dressed, feeling its perfectly OK to pop in for their morning paper and packet of fags wearing nothing but their pink chiffon nightdress, or barefoot in their stripy PJ bottoms.

The final bulletin concerned the tragic event of the young children found in sports bags in the back of their Mothers car. Talk about a contrast of bulletins – if this weren’t heart-rending and horrific an event on its own, the impact following such frivolous news events seemed in many respects to be so badly positioned by the producers. It really troubled me that such little thought had been given to effect on the listener. Have we really become so desensitised to the horrifying story of small children being murdered and bundled into sports bags that producers feel a bulletin on chavs shopping in PJ’s is a natural link to child murders?

Dear Lord, I hope not

All about attitude

My salvation while sitting in the Birmingham traffic is listening to Radio 4 – never fails to entertain, educate or elucidate. Listening to the Hugh Skyes report from the Yemen I was captivated by two young brothers, Mohammed & Ahmed aged 10 & 12 talking about their average day.

School for 5 hours, looking after donkey’s 12 hours. Hugh Sykes suggested this was hard work and the response from Mohammed was breathtaking. Full of joy, enthusiasm and energy he replied emphatically that it was nothing of the sort.

These young boys were charming, polite and wonderfully expectant – one wants to be a pilot, the other a soldier. Both are proud to serve and do so with passion, determination and delight. A salient message about the power of our attitude to the world we live in.

How to abuse an audience

At an awards dinner last week, (delighted to be finalists sadly no trophy) we were subjected to a perfectly awful celebrity keynote speaker. It was painful for many reasons. firstly, he clearly didn't want to be there - his boredom was tangible - and secondly, he had no respect for the audience. With hands in pockets while doing a poor imitation of a foppish Hugh Grant, he proceeded to show slides of his TV antics in the style of someone showing their holiday snaps! And pretty dull ones at that.

The privilege of the platform comes with huge responsibility - entertain or inspire. This speaker did neither, although he could easily have done both given a little thought. The damage done to his personal brand was immense. Had he been authentic then the principles of digging deep and always being the best you can be would have been applied.

We all have off days I guess - my own feeling is to confine these to duvet days rather than when we're with others......every encounter counts, whether you're a celeb or a check-out operator.

A word of encouragement is never lost

Isn’t it interesting the power words can have? They are never useless, for they have the power to both encourage and inspire or defeat and destroy. The right word, at the right time, can have the most magical affect.

Do you save yours for a ‘just cause’ assuming that confident, accomplished and successful individuals won’t appreciate your words, that they somehow don’t need them or that you’ll simply be telling them what they already know to be true?

I’ve learnt this assumption is folly – often times the most gifted and talented receive few words of encouragement simply because they are so gifted and talented!

Everyone, even those who inspire us, welcome appreciation and a sincere word of encouragement

Seasons of life

I just love it when crazy stuff happens, as it did last night. Returning home late, cold and a little weary I opened my bedside cabinet looking for a hair slide when I noticed a small book. A small book which had been there each time the draw had been opened. A small book which had never before caught my eye. Yet there is was, demanding to be read.

The Seasons of Life by Jim Rohn has followed me around via my bedside cabinet for the past 10 years, remaining silent and benign until the time came for me to receive its message.

How many times does this happen? And perhaps more crucially, when it happens and goes unnoticed?

This delightful and insightful book is essentially a message about attitude, awareness and discipline. I urge even the most enlightened to read this book and absorb its message. Talk about right time right place – it offered me the insight I was searching for and a whole heap more. Thank you Mr Rohn may you RIP