Got the gym blues

When I was at school, the stern and terrifying Miss Lewis used to tell us that if we forgot to bring our white socks to gym lessons, we would never get to university. This is not at all representative of the school I attended, which was a centre of academic excellence, but rather a reflection on PE teachers of a certain generation! Anyway, she had a point because as a persistent white socks offender, I did not go to university, choosing instead the vagaries and roller-coaster ride of drama school.

I was thinking about this today as I struggled with the third set of chest press (weight set at a feeble 12 kilos) exercises and wondered "why do I put myself through this?" Yes, I do get myself down to the torture chamber at least twice weekly and, sometimes, three times - usually with gorgeous husband and sometimes on my own. He is fit as a fiddle and gives a hundred percent. I moan and groan and hurt myself, have dizzy spells and try to get away with just one less rep if I think nobody is watching. Then I come over all guilty and do four extra as penance. See? Feeble.

I like to think of myself as someone who takes on a challenge and sees it through and there is no doubt that exercise suits me, to a point. But I am simply not getting any better at this. Each week, I try stronger weights, more repetitions and give myself a jolly good talking to and each week I struggle just the same.

Meanwhile, the sun is shining and Brighton always comes into its own on sunny days so everyone is all cheery and friendly, happy to stop and chat, driving politely and generally demonstrating their best qualities. And I have finished the first draft of the Notting Hill Carnival skills audit - hooray! Now all I have to do is get their sign - off and then run the project, write up their report and Bob's your uncle. 

I came home from the party on Saturday night and stayed up to finish the book in which I have been engrossed  for the past few days, despite it being two in the morning, then got up full of beans to enjoy Sunday papers, visits, gardening and even a sneaky cleaning out of the fountain which has become a magnet for every woodlouse within a mile radius.

So I'll banish the gym blues, treat it as just something to get through every few days and continue with the things I know I do better.

See you soon,

Angie

Lunch and Learn and Giveaways

Yesterday I gave a talk to 40 women who all gave up their lunch hour to come to a 'lunch & learn' session in a slightly hot, slightly over-crowded, slightly under-aired room. They all work for a huge financial institution (yes, I do have some discretion and never never mention clients by name!) and I was so impressed by their attentiveness and energy for the event.

Got me thinking about how and why people want to learn. Having taught for years in schools where pupils are there under sufferance and would do anything to be able to absent themselves, it has been a joy these past 15 or so years to be working with people who positively embrace the learning scene.

I don't for one minute assume that everyone likes what I have to say at training events or that they agree with  my ideas but it's interesting to reflect on which occasions it seems to go down better than others.  I have to reach the conclusion that I always seem to click with people who have a real interest in getting on with their lives and careers, as opposed to seeing the days through and just getting by. I wasn't very proactive in advising my daughter as she was growing up but the one message I hope she got loud and clear was 'aim to do what you totally believe in and know you will continue to enjoy for a living'. I can't bear the thought of anyone having to drag themselves to work every day with no enthusiasm and joy for the job.

The people in the room yesterday ticked all those boxes and their energy was literally bursting out as they joined in with whacky activities, asked questions, laughed and filled the space with goodwill.

Now another great thing happened this week. As a member of an online forum where consultants, trainers, HR people and others swap information and post ideas or questions, I'd offered my ebook on Presentation Skills to anyone who was interested. I have had 50 responses! It makes me so happy to be able to do this and highlights one of the best aspects of the internet - that of being able to give stuff away at no cost to the sender but hopefully of benefit to the receiver. Makes me think there's hope for the world yet!

See you soon,

Angie

There and back

Today I met up with a colleague and friend who, like so many of my regular pals, gets me all buzzy and firing on 92 cylinders (that tells you how much I know about cylinders, I suppose). Anyway, we'd hardly been together for more than five minutes before there we were, planning al sorts of new ventures to work on over the next few weeks and months. I am so excited, I can't wait to get going.

But first, some thoughts on the weekend. The gorgeous husband and I had no plans on Friday or Saturday and I had done all the food shopping the day before so a glorious two days' worth of time stretched ahead of us. What did we do? We dug and weeded and cleared and planted and watered and tidied and shovelled. Then we groaned and moaned and ached and complained and creaked and croaked and (one of us) cried that our bones would never settle back to their old places. As a result, the garden looks absolutely fabulous and we don't.

On Sunday, we went to the wonderful neighbours for birthday bbq lunch. JD is French so you always know the food will be exquisite - how can that even apply to his bbqs? Anyway, we left four hours later, stuffed full of delicious things and blobbed on the sofa for a few hours with all the Sunday papers. I am a complete print junkie - always have been, always will be - so this was a heavenly end to the day and I even stopped whining about  my aches and pains for a bit.

Now, back to work - this week I'm going up to Birmingham again, to deliver a course to a favourite  client, but one that I haven't seen for a while. So some catching up and I'm starting to use the journey much better. I know so many landmarks these days and there's something soothing about knowing where you are as the train hurtles past certain places. On the way home,my thrill at seeing the new and magnificent Wembley arch never pales and after that the back of the Roundhouse tells me my parents are nearby and that I'm almost at Euston, which means only another ninety minutes to the sea-side and home!

Take care, see you soon,

Angie

Baubles, bangles and men with no tops

The road is full of vans full of men doing things to everyone's houses - everyone's but ours, that is. It happens every year; there must be a given signal that gets everybody on the phone at the very same minute to organise teams of builders, roofers, painters and decorators to arrive within twenty minutes of each other to clog up the road and get 'doing'.  I just went out to post a letter and counted: 6 vans, 2 skips, 1 'men at work sign', 152 men with no tops on basking in the sunshine (actually I don't mind that bit - they look cute).

Trouble is, when half the street ends up with gleaming new paintwork, it makes the other half look shabby and unloved so I definitely have a touch of "keeping under the Jones'" if that makes sense.

Meanwhile, what a wonderful time I had last Thursday in Birmingham, with my great pal Sue Froggatt. We meet up a few times a year and prove the theory that two minds are better than one in the bush or whatever. As always, we didn't stop talking until our throats were dry and there were no Strepsils left in the cupboard. We seem to bounce ideas off each other and both leave feeling energised, refreshed and raring to go. This time, however, there was an added bonus. Sue has been collecting beads and jewellery -making kit for some time now and her new 'thing' is to invite friends over for an afternoon of creativity (that's what she calls it - I call it playing). So she created and I played; honestly, it was like being 12 years old, let loose with a room full of treasure. 

Sue has always been one of  the warmest and cleverest people I know; now I have to add craftswoman to her list of attributes because I left with my own trinket box of delights. I even made a necklace and bracelet for the pregnant one (who has rediscovered her appetite and is now eating for England).

As if that wasn't enough, yesterday I had one of the best group sessions ever; just one of those days when they gelled, I felt totally motivated and fell in love with work all over again.

Came home and fell in love with the old man again too.

That's it for now - see ya,

Angie

Calm Before the Storm?

The desk is tidy; the papers are in neat piles, labled with where they are going and who they are for; the diary is up to date and my phone isn't stacked up with voicemail messages to reply to. Hmm, this is unusual. Don't get me wrong - I like to be tidy and organised but most of the time there's a little voice in my head reminding me that I haven't done something, called someone, gone somewhere and so on. Today, the voice is quiet and I actually have time to do that one thing I am always suggesting to clients - reflect.

There are three new projects about to take off and what better to do with this lovely quiet day but to just sit back and think it all through? I do this best by moving from my desk to a different part of the house - downstairs on the sofa works well because I can watch people walking up and down the road and It feels good to be connected to the outside world. (From my desk, I can only see the upstairs windows of other people's houses and there's nobody much around during the day up there!) I will make myself a good cup of coffee, gather up all my 'research' materials for the first project and open a new, lined, spiral-bound notepad. I already have a new pen - these are the things I need to concentrate and be creative.

There - now I've written about it, I want to get down there and do it so no more blogging for me today.

See you soon,

Angie