Tag: Life

Right then you lot, let’s get this sorted out.

I will be in yonder London Town for a couple of days at the end of the month so this is your chance to meet a world renowned blogger, ply him with booze and hope that you can understand his Scottish brogue. Alternatively, it might just be me, but same rules apply. Apply booze. Repeat. Etc etc.

I’m flying down on the morning of the 24th (Thursday) for a couple of nights.

I’m already busy on the Thursday, drinks with my mate then on to The Rebels Elixir.

I’m staying in the city, so will spend the day with my new camera but as yet I have no plans for the evening of Friday the 25th. That’s where you come in!

I’ve managed to get a few people along for drinks in the past, and, let’s be honest, it’s an excuse for a few drinks, innit.

So, if you fancy a few drinks in the centre of London somewhere, leave a comment and suggest a venue. Somewhere central, easily accessible and cheap (I’m Scottish, remember) preferred. I don’t know London well enough to suggest anywhere so it’s IN YOUR HANDS!

What’s the worst that could happen?

Apart from bumping into me, that is…

Friday night, a delicious dinner at Stravaigin then on to drinks until the wee small hours.

Saturday a leisurely, lazy lie-in then it was off to Custom Inc to get booked in for some ink (roll on 8th March), and a trawl round DFS for a new sofa (delivered in 11 weeks, yes, cheap and cheerful, but it’ll do for now).

Visited my Mum on Saturday night, she’s much brighter every time I see her, and she’s starting to get some movement in her upper arm. Still slow progress, but it’s progress and that’s all that matters. Her sense of humour hasn’t ever really left her, and seeing her giggling away really helps us all.

Today, I’m going to finish off a couple of things that have been hanging over me for a few months now. Whilst they’ve not been the main cause of stress, they are still adding to a myriad of things that have made the last month pretty heavy going. I have been at my grumpiest, and certainly not firing on all cylinders but I’m determined to get past all that, get my head in a good place (as much as it ever is) and, in essence, get this year started properly.

That’s January almost done then, blimey.

Not been quite the month I’d hoped but, in some ways, it’s been better. Rather than having grand plans and failing to achieve them I’ve been forced to reassess my priorities and, as such, I’m much the happier for it.

Seems obvious, but it’s people that matter, everything else is just filler.

Mum is doing ok, hopefully she’ll be getting moved to a hospital nearer my Dad soon and she’s able to stand and walk/shuffle with only a cane. Getting stronger every day.

If you are currently looking to purchase any cookware, bakeware or other such kitchen based utensils, may I humbly point you towards Denny & Sons.

The reason I mention them specifically is because I think it’s worth pointing out companies who do things properly, who care about the experience their customers have. There are plenty of instances of bad service so it’s nice to be able to highlight a good one!

Case in point.

I ordered a couple of items from Denny & Sons, and whilst one arrived in a timely manner, the second hadn’t appeared. I wasn’t in a hurry so yesterday I politely emailed them to check if it had been dispatched.

This morning I received a polite and friendly phone call (Hi Charles!) from the company, explaining that their had been a labelling error at their end (delivery was marked as “1 of 1” instead of “1 of 2” items) and that they were sorry for the mistake, and that I’d receive the second parcel tomorrow by 4pm.

It’s simple enough to do. If you make a mistake, acknowledge it, fix it, then tell the customer what happened and that their order is on it’s way (giving a firm day/time gets you bonus points!). It’s not rocket science yet so many companies don’t handle mistakes well at all.

Mistakes happen. It’s how companies deal with them that matters.

Bravo Denny & Sons (and if you are gonna buy from them, they are listed on Quidco too).

Ahhh the scent of the new year is on the breeze (although weirdly it’s mostly whisky and shortbread, ohh and steak pie…).

I resolve to be better, to improve, in 2011.

I will eat healthier. I will exercise. I will read more books. I will do the things I enjoy. I will embrace positivity and say yes. I will reject negativity and say no. I will have fun. I will find out more about how I am now.

And I will probably not keep to all those promises but I resolve to try my best.

Here’s to a 2011 and I hope yours is full of more ups and downs, and more YAYs than BOOOs.

Mumsy knows me well, she knows I am still a big kid and so she bought me a Lego Advent calendar.

It’s AWESOME! (if somewhat random…).

Each window has a little lego kit to build, all of which will come together and, well, I’m not really sure they WILL all come together, like I said, it’s all a bit random…

And looks like this:

And no, I don’t know what everything is but I don’t care. I got to play with Lego every day!