As ever it's been a packed week, enjoying some work (which could easily described as play!)
Go See Do
PR jobs have rarely been as promising as my recent role as ambassador for Go See Do. My day started by conducting 10 radio interviews back to back and dropping key messages like they were going out of fashion. And the reward for my hard work? A cooking lesson!
Before you misjudge my comment there as a flippant remark it wasn't, I LOVE cooking and I've always wanted to do a course so this was a most welcome end to my day's employment.
Go See Do is a website that helps parents carefully construct the perfect holiday whether in the UK or abroad, whatever the destination. Attractions such as theme parks and tours come as standard but more importantly these guys offer 'experiences' that give you exciting ideas at a cheaper rate than you'll find anywhere else.
I arrived at L'atallier Des Chef in Soho and immediately felt the culinary juices flowing, the kitchen/classroom had everything I wanted for my kitchen at home, like SPACE and the correct equipment! The excitement heightened when I heard we would be learning how to make cocktails too with the resident mixologist - no more half measures and excessive use of ice with me behind the bar!
We made a fish dish: pan-fried Sea Bream with wilted fennel and black olive salsa. The chef was impatient and critical to enough of a degree that made it feel like a genuine kitchen environment, exactly the experience I was hoping for!
It was a running joke amongst the 15 or so trainee chefs that I was going to miss the England versus Ukraine game that was kicking off that evening, however once we got started I couldn't entertain leaving until I'd finished every last piece of a very satisfying meal. Subsequently I missed the first half but enjoyed every bit of my cooking experience courtesy of Goseedo.com and cant wait to go again!
Putting my foot down
If any of you have experienced separation, where kids are involved you'll know the numerous pitfalls and stumbling blocks placed in our way when it comes to maintaining an amicable relationship between all concerned. Well, recently I have been re-introduced to the feeling of 'them and us' by Jade's mum's little oversight.
I love it when she comes back to London, the boys love her so much and I truly believe she makes them feel closer to their mum than I ever could, whilst I get the rare opportunity to have a bit of time to myself, but this always seems to come at a slight cost. She hadn't seen them for over 14 months so I guess she was going all out to compensate and I knew the staying up until midnight was going to happen, but I just wish it didn't take me three days to get them back to normal afterwards!
Well, late nights and excessive amounts of sugar are a grandparents prerogative and were the least of my concerns, I got a phone call from an excitable Freddy telling me he was now the proud owner of a hamster! Great, I feel I have more responsibility than I really know what to do with as it is, let alone introducing a pet into the equation.
As I explained to Jackie, it would have been nice to have been asked because now I've been put into a position where I have to be the mean parent who says no and ruins the fun. This has happened before with mobile phones, yep a year ago she got them a phone each so she could have direct contact with them both and I don't remember being asked if I minded on that occasion either. I understand she wants direct contact, but they are just too young to be carrying these things around responsibly so we keep them to the house.
I cant fault Jackie when she's got the boys, I just wish we could work together a little better. I think I'll invite her round for dinner before she goes back, shows a little bit of willing I guess and if that reinforces the kids perception that the adults are all getting on fine then it'll be worth the effort.
Bouncing for Barnardo's!
My work is most certainly varied! Which is part of why I love the industry I work in. On this occasion I was in charge of a bunch of excitable kids all hoping to set a world record with Mini Babybel to bounce the quickest over 50 meters on a space hopper! Not even any old space hopper, but one that we had customised with felt tips, feathers and ribbons just to give it that extra bit of zip along the track!
I was under the impression my space hopper wasn't built for 13 stone adults because my bum nearly squashed the whole thing flat with every bounce but my main job was simply to keep track of the 20 or so children that were literally bouncing off the walls. There were some really cute kids so I had an absolute blast, I'm sure I'm not employed to babysit everyone's children at these events, it's just an extra added bonus you get when you hire me!
For details of how to claim your free space-hopper go to www.babybel.co.uk for instructions or see promotional packs of mini-babybel cheeses for details.
Also you can find a link on the website on how to bid on my space hopper (above), which me and the kids decorated.
Twitter Troll alert
I don't like the word that has been given to people that abuse others on social media - it seems to describe them as a fictional character that lives under a bridge. Realistically, they are just people that are either bored, mischievous or insecure who are looking for a reaction from the targeted individuals, often those In the public eye.
I rarely receive any kind of negativity but unfortunately the other day I was 'brought down a peg or two' and called a particularly bad word for good measure. I usually ignore these messages but he used a term that I really don't like so I considered how best to respond.
Looking through his list of friends it was clear who his wife and daughter were so I messaged both of them to say they should give their dad/husband a slap on the bum at tea tonight for using unnecessarily bad language. The girls were spot on and promised to give him an extra hard whack!
The guy in question must have received the telling off and later tweeted me to say he was now following me so I better be half as interesting as he. At this point I was tempted to say something bad back swiftly followed by the block button, but I was happy with the way it had been dealt with. If he goes for me again I'll just tell the boss at home and he'll soon get a taste of his own!