Chocolate - sometimes it's the only answer when you need a lift!

I have always been a choco-holic - ever since I can remember - which might explain why there is almost 14lbs more of me than is healthy - so it comes as no surprise that I have Cadbury shares in my portfolio ( along with Whitbread) - always invest in what you understand.

So I was pleasantly surprised when doing some last minute Christmas shopping and I came across some chocolate bars from Bloomsbury and Co. branded BOCHOX, EMERGENCY CHOCOLATE; GIRTH CONTROL and several other unlikely brand names and humorous packaging.  Ideal stocking fillers for a partner who shares your weakness for chocolate (or probably better if they do not!)

Since Christmas the now empty packaging has been here on my desk - but it was only this morning, avoiding doing something more like work, that I went to the companies site - and was delighted by the innovation and 'Flash' user interface.

Humour as part of the Brand.

I often use the Cadbury site as an example of using humour and fun as part of a brand and the potential of using a web site to really develop this. Cadbury have also extended this into their recent advertising campaigns - effectively using humour to develop the recent 'eyebrows' viral campaign. (See Post) However Bloomsbury have used humour not just as an add on but embedded as part of the brand 'property'.

So how effective has using humour been? - Using humour in advertising is always very tricky there are several potential pit falls - while you might really hit the spot with part of your target audience - it is very easy to irritate if not offend others. I am sure that there were plenty of people out there that did not get the Cadbury 'Eyebrows' - but you will still here the ring tone on a crowded train or in a bar.

Web Site Design

So what about using humour in the website interface?  We all know the importance of web site design creating logical structures for the content, with simple navigation and easily accessible  content - but if you check out these  two chocolate makers sites these rules have been thrown out of the window.

Successful Strategy

I suppose the bottom line has to be - never mind the theory - has Bloomsbury's strategy worked?  Well in the current UK market to get confectionary product on the shelves of one of the big three supermarkets during the Christmas period - clearly the branding and marketing strategy has worked. Even more so when you consider that the major players such as Cadbury and Nestle will have paid for premium shelf positioning - for what is presented as a 'Ma & Pa'* business from New Zealand to have got a look in has got to be a success. 

Bloomsbury and Co.

Cadbury

More About Branding

* I love this term from America to describe the small family run business.

Tags: Chocolate, Retailing

First big fishing comp of the year

I set off to Bewl Water in Kent this year for my first competition of the year.  Having not sat in a boat so far this season I had practice on Friday - I know how can you practice? Well it was as much about getting to know the water as much as catching. I was on my own and had a lovely day finding some of the more remote areas which were sheltered and might hold some bigger fish, others found some real hot spots where there were plenty of stock fish including some very striking Blue Trout.  I finished the day with four fish and quite tired.

On the day of the match as always the off is a mad melee, heading for the hot spots in front of the dam, I had a novice with me and we agreed to head off to some quieter spots that I had found the day before. It was brighter day and the wind was light and variable - already tired from the day before - I found it a struggle handling the boat and fishing. But out team came second despite my meager two fish for the weight in.

It was an important day for me - I coped with the day - but might not try two days in a row again for a while.  Tags: Fly Fishing, Cancer

Oh to be in England now that summer time is here!

There is something about these first warm days of late spring that are glorious - the garden is full of blossom - I have as many fruit trees as I can in a small garden.




We are currently on the final countdown at university - final assignments and exam preparation are well under way. It is hard to explain the atmosphere with so many stressed final year students fretting about these last stages of the course. I am always amazed as to how tough students are on themselves and no matter what you might think of 'Yoofff' today in my experience they are prepared to put the work in when necassary.

However I feel greaaaat!! Finally ditched the pain killers; I have lost half a stone and feeling very positive about the future. [Last blood test hunky dory].

Post Easter - Blues or Boogy?

Back at work after Easter - with a funny positive feeling - the sky is Blue; the garden is growing well (apart from tomatoes which have died after pricking out!) - we have swallows in flying and the fish are jumping - well almost.

I feel 100% for the first time in a long while and I am enjoying my work and fell confident enough with my health not to worry about the future. I am as they say at an awkward age too old to care and too young to retire.

I went to Flame off last week and got really 'lit up' about making some beads and silver work  - so have signed up for a course in Silver Smithing.  Although I enjoy my academic work I also get  a great deal of pleasure from using my hands and creating stuff - even if it is just some woodwork around the house (put new cupboards in Looserbago*)

Last few weeks of teaching on Bedford - really pleased with final years students and at last feel that the programme in Singapore is working. Have had some positive communications with tutors - which gives me confidence in them.

So all's well - I just hope that life's dirty tricks department is closed for the summer!

*Christened sad old motor-home as opposed the Winner-bago!

Easter Break Blues

Isn't it funny - but without having to go into work - miss it and find myself checking emails and looking through materials - but I suppose this is OK. Have planned a lot of work in the garden and some odd jobs in the house - so will be busy.

Took the camper van to Brancaster last week end - which was a success. As you can see at least one dog was keen to get going.

Had a lovely evening in the Jolly Sailor and walked back to the van through the harbour.

In the morning on the beach before it got too busy, saw the seals in the creek at the northern end of the beach, then back to the van for a leisurely coffee as the tourists arrived.

Another walk through the reed beds and village then lunch. Mimmsed home via Sandringham - all in all very good.

Just need to fettle the van if we are to take it for a week - but it worked well.

Fished Rutland on Tuesday and had some good sport in East Creek - went home with 6 fish.

Nothing planned for this weekend - but will get to Grafham no doubt.

I was told once about the "The discipline of idleness" - making yourself do nothing can be quite a struggle some times. Oh well better get started!

Brancaster Sunset

Monks Wood

Y and I and of course the three dogs took a walk around Monks wood this morning to get out of the wind and the occasional wintry shower. In the wood there are areas that clearly show the ridge and furrow of the Medieval landscape - which is interesting as it is referred to as the the largest plot of ancient woodlands in Cambridgeshire.

The photo shows ridges across the access road



Here in the woods the ridges are 45 degrees to those above, indicating that this was part of a field system.



As with many woods there are also ditches that run along the edge of the rides or larger pathways - these are linked to woodland management - and can be as old as the wood itself.



Much of the wooded areas in in Huntingdonshire have been maintained and managed for hundreds of years as the are was a royal hunting ground from at least Norman times. The names of farms in the area relate to the hunting lodges - Blacklodge Farm, Holly Lodge Farm, Brook Lodge farm, Whiteleather Lodge, Woolley. But the place names also indicate an older history - Buckworth is derived from a Saxon's cheiftans name and literaly means Bucge's Wood - the same man is remembered in the name Buckden a few miles south on the A1 - Bucge's Valley. So while some of the woodland has ridge and furrow within it - this still could have been woodland for over 1,000 years. Although we are most familiar with the remaining 'Medeival' ridge and furrow in pastureland or 'sheep walks' of east anglia - ridge and furrow can be much older.

A busy week

This week has been the last week of teaching before the Easter Break - so it has been quite busy students wanting to see tutors before heading off for Easter to get final assignments finished and projects written up and although we will have a few weeks of teaching after Easter before exams there is a tendency to take stock. There are students that when we first met appeared to be the most basic of base earth that now are becoming stars - which is what makes this job so great. There others that have not fulfilled their early promise - but I feel we have got the best out of them; and of course there are those who are making their way along the bumpy road.

It is all of this that makes decisions about what I should be doing so very hard - two lovely second years whom I have not taught this year came to see me and ask if I would be taking them next year - which I hope I will. But one of the things about cancer is that it makes you want to get as much out of things as possible. I am very lucky because in my job I can - or at least should - be able to be very flexible, and I am trying. I have submitted two papers for peer review and should really be working on more; but it seems that we are being asked to do more and more - and frankly the systems in the university do not support our work well. I am a keen advocate of e-Learning and despite an generous budget and a wealth of equipment - there is no joined up thinking and the leadership that is required to make the cultural shift required to effectively implement e-Learning.

However this is not what I had intended to post - Grafham Water has opened and I hvae made several forays with some success. More importantly Y came back from her parents last week and announced that we needed a motor-home so she could accompany me when fishing, also I have still been getting tired and we could use it as a base for a day (or a weekend?) allowing me to fish and enjoy a walk or a meal with Y when convenient. (Y thinks that I might enjoy a bike ride - how wrong can she be?)

Anyway with the wonder of eBay an ancient, but very tidy motor-home now sits outside Owl Cottage - we shall see if it transforms our life for the better. I am being curmudgeonly - am secretly looking forwards to the open road Poop Poop!!



But this does not really sound busy - check my diary!

Friday - To Birmingham to see the Cirque du Soliel (Visit site) with Y and daughter - Birmingham has been transformed since my last visit.



Sunday - God parent to a beautiful baby boy



Sunday afternoon - Y's family and another cracking Irish chap!!



Tuesday - Y collects motor-home

Thursday Evening - the Old Rope String Band - with neighbours - a really fun evening - See for yourself

Slow Progress

Over the past few weeks I have been getting back to work and trying to regain what I was before all this happened. Last week I had a set back - having been working and enjoying my work, the pelvic pain started bothering me again and I found myself floundering and had to take time off work. I have been working on my fitness, which I was sure was a contributing factor and was still off the Tramadol. However, having been really down over the weekend, I decided to start taking the Tramadol and as is if by magic I was much better on the Tuesday.

It seems that I get into a vicious circle of pain - stress - which the Tramadol breaks - only thing is which comes first?

On a brighter not Grafham water opened at the weekend and I managed to get down for a couple hours. It was good to get back into it - but still feel after a couple of hours I have had enough, hopefully I will get back into it as the weather improves.

Snow

It seems like ages ago that we were snowed in here - and I never posted - doh!!

Oh well the snow is gone now and spring really is in the air - we have snow drops out, daffodils well up and ready to go. The wildlife is up for it too - the hairs are boxing and pairing up, seeing this for the first time when we moved here fascinated me and it still does. I bought a lovely little bronze of hairs boxing with my first royalty cheque - money well invested.

Half the reason for not posting is the getting back to work - which has been more tiring than I thought. I still have to take pain killers which is very boring. However work is going well and I really enjoy the students. It has made me realise why I had such struggle getting back - having cancer "makes ya fink" and I suppose I thought I should make some radical changes - but actually I enjoy 90% of what I do - which in the run of things cannot be bad.

My pictures of the village in the snow

Words and what they mean

This really is a bit of grump - my spelling has always been awful and my handwriting illegible. Until I got a word processor, thanks to Alan Sugar, I could not write anything meaningful - which accounts for leaving school with no qualifications, but once I did get my PC I had the confidence to go to college and graduated when I was 40.

So it is no surprise, having struggled to write, I find the modern idiom of using text language or substituting media for the written word is dumbing down. Our language is rich with hidden meaning, I wish I had learnt Latin - as so many words can be decoded and their origins understood, but all languages are the same. The old story about Eskimos - sorry Inuit, having a mulitude words for snow is probably true because they need them. Equally when a new subject area emerges one of the first things we need is a language in which we can discuss it - so every specialist disciplin has its own language. Interestingly detractors often refer to the language used as jargon - but I suppose what they mean is the inappropriate use of specialist language - lets face it if you are trying to communicate with a non specialist you need to use 'plain english'.

So if like me you are interested in language, words and their origins, which is where this post started I have come across an interesting site on the meaning of words - word origins.

Winter winds and wood chopping

Yesterday as the weather threatened to turn wintery I had to get over to Grafham Water to deliver fishing GWFFA club newsletter, so took the dogs for a walk around the reservoir. We started out in clear bright conditions, but returned to the car with grey skies, wind and some flakes of snow.

When we got home high priority was to get logs in - just incase we were sowed in. I still have an enormous pile of green logs for splitting and stacking. Old stocks of logs are running low - I always forget that I seem to use more wood after christmas than before. We had pheasant hot pot - supper winter food - I trade trout for pheasant and we live very well.

Finished the day preparing my flyfishing lines for next season - having seen a the film A River Runs Through It - I am looking forwards to the next season.

Spring in Cambridgeshire

Took the dogs out this morning for a lovely walk at Monks Wood, which I believe is the largest stretch of ancient woodlands in East Anglia - no doubt I will be told otherwise. However it provides a beautiful walk on well market paths. There a lovely grassed rides that even with the rain and the frost we've had are still pleasant walking.

Monks Wood - Natural England Site

Some of you will be aware that there is also a government research centre here, it was from here that the Red Kites were released. Two of which I saw this morning mobbing a buzzard - stunning.

The dogs also are very keen to walk here as I allow them a little more freedom - which they love. Rosie really is turning into a delightful Cocker - working the undergrowth but staying close by - lovely.

I recorded the birth of Rosie at My dogs blog

I am trying to get myself back to where I was before I was diagnosed with cancer - well actually that is not true. I read something about the veterans of the WWII - having survived they learnt something very special - to make every day count 'Carpe Diem' - seize the day.

Ebay: Widen your horizons

I am quite a regular 'eBayer' but I am often put off making purchases or collect only items - but today I had a revelation - having bought a printer in Oxfordshire with the idea of nipping down to collect it - my wife said why not use a courier. So I tried the big names - and despite advertised prices being reasonable- the bottom line was too expensive.

I then tried http://www.interparcel.com/ - this is an e-business that has several accounts with couriers and using there on-line service - a virtual service- you can have your package picked up by a well known name but at less than half the price they would charge for a 'one off'.  Of course you can only do this if the seller is prepared to package the item and print out  the label for you.

Great - it was picked up this morning - lets hope it finds it's way home.

Test blog

Sorry - to date I have entered blog material directly through the Blogger interface - but I am experimenting with a blogging application - I am using Qumana - as I am a PC - but luckily mines made by Apple.

For more about Desktop Blogging tools and much much more see Richard Farrars Blog

Winter Warming

I am trying to keep a healthy work life balance - part of which means 'grounding' myself - in my case I do this by walking and working on 'surviving' - by this I mean growing food and creating my home. For example I spent an hour yesterday I enjoyed the first warming from my logs. The advantage of a log fire is that you get at least two warmings - I get a load more.
Firstly you get warm warm sourcing the logs - either by cutting down some trees or just picking up the cord wood, that is the lengths of the wood that are suitable for using as logs cut into handy lengths so you can easily carry them.
Then when you get home these need cutting up, splitting and stacking to mature - green wood needs at least a year to dry out before burning. If like me you have to mature wood in the open you then need to put your wood in the dry store for winter. I've been using an electric chain saw at home and it makes the job far easier - as does my 'bomb'. This is a coned shape lump of metal with notches and ridges that hold it in the log while it is driven in, this can split a round into four logs.
Finally you get to sit in front of the fire - I will have to wait until next year to get the final warming from these logs - but I am looking forwards to it.
I think that there are many benefits - both physical and mental by contributing to something other than work - I really feel the benefits of getting away from my desk and getting on with something physical.

Another new year dawns

One of my early posts was about my health - well I am pleased to say that all that is behind - well almost all. But decided that this is as good as it gets and have decided to get going. One of the things that tripped me up was my loosing fitness. It is over a year ago that I was diagnosed - and looking back I have not been as active as I could have been - although walk every day my fitness had droppes - and my weight has gone up.

So task one get rid of the best part of a stone - well actually it's the worst part as it seems just to be lurking about my middle where it seems to be just hanging about. Having thought about joining a gym I have decided to use my wifes Wii - and I think it is very effective. I do at least 15 minutes boxing and end up sweating - doing this every day seems to have made a good start.

Next I need to get my brain going again - which might be a harder task - we shall see.

Making a difference - unlike the BBC!

I have been like many very angry about the BBC's decision to boycott the DECs appeal for aid in GAZA - I fully understand that the conflict is controversial - but the humanitarian suffering is not. So I have tried to make a difference by contacting my MP and the chairs of those parliamentary committees that might legitimately have a difference. I was delighted to find that Tony Benn and many other public figures were of the same view - but I believe I did make a difference.

I think we all sit back and say "what can I do?" - well I thing we can make more of a difference than we think using the technology available - email, blogging, giving feedback via the web and probably a whole load more. This morning on the BBC there was a story about a South African lady who, on reaching her 50th birthday decided it was about time she should make a difference and help the people in Zimbabwe - so she has collected food from her friends and neighbors and driven it across the border to help a specific village.

I am going to the DEC site, at http://www.dec.org.uk/ to donate to the appeal. So how are you going to make a difference today?

Burn's Night at Hinchingbrook

Last night we organised a trip to Hinchingbrook house for a Burns night supper. There were nine of us so a minibus was booked so a good night could be had by all - and it was.

Most enjoyable with the haggis (- or should it be haggi as there were two?) piped in and Burns poem praising the dish was recited with gusto - no claymore for cleaving it in twain.

Although a little bleary this morning freinds agreed we had a good night and took the air in Monks Woods - one of the largest tracts of ancient woodland in East Anglia. Rod and I were lucky enough to see three woodcocks put up by the dogs - who as ever eally enjoyed the freedom.

Oh well Monday looms.

New year - New World

My Blogger blog reminds me off a cash book on my fathers - it had just one entry; Bought Cash book.

Well I have a 'professional' blog at www.equerry.co.uk - I use the term loosely, but I increasingly find that I want to add more and more of me into it - which is not really what it is about. So here I am back on Blogger.

So today I am preparing for my oldest mate - you know the brother I wish I had - to come and stay for the week end with myself and Yvonne. We are very lucky to live in an enchanted village, Buckworth where weekends are dedicated to relaxing. We bought Owl Cottage so we could relax - rather than have a holiday home we decided to live every day in our holiday home. All in all a decision we have not regretted.

So this morning I prepare the last of our Bramley Apples for tomorrows lunch - just lightly cooked, sweetened with honey and some dates left over from Christmas - tomorrow Yvonne will just add a crumble - scrumptious. We really have got entertainment nailed - simple food, steak and kidney tomorrow; good wine and plenty of it.

Over Christmas I had some side effects from having radiotherapy - from sitting too long at the dinner table. Both Christmas day and New Years Day we sat and enjoyed the food from 2.00 o'clock right through to 8.00 - which sounds awful - but actually it was very civilized gentle grazing rather than the usual blow out.

Tonight we are going to a Burns Night supper and tomorrow we will walk the dogs and enjoy Sunday lunch. I walk the dogs every day and really enjoy it - even in the rain, seeing the seasons turn is an important aspect of grounding yourself. This week I have seen the first pair of hares and the small birds, wrens and blue tits busy in the hedges, along with the snowdrops and daffodils poking up their heads - it is a sign of spring on it's way - irrespective of the doom merchants talking up the economic crisis.

Hey ho - better open a bottle of red to let it breath.