Archive for March, 2009
You know when you watch a movie and there’s the bit in the middle where the character has to undergo some kind of transformation? Maybe they have to get in shape for a marathon or start up a business or work a million hours to make money to win the heart of the girl. You know what I mean. It’s during this part of the film that the character’s actions are set to a piece of manic music and they go from barely being able to crunch a sit up to being able to run 26 miles with ease.
It’s uplifting and motivational to watch. Sure, they show the tough bits of them getting sweaty and deflated, but within the space of a 3 minute soundtrack, their lives are transformed and it all looks ludicrously easy.
Right about now I’m living that bit. Apparently real life isn’t set to some toe tapping music and it takes quite a lot longer than three minutes for everything to magically transform.
In fact my movie would show quite a lot more sweating and rushing around. Amazingly a few weeks of exercise hasn’t seen me transform from Mr Blobby to a toned goddess and putting a few calls in hasn’t seen me instantly raise all the money I need.
Far from it. Despite writing to many companies, I’ve not managed to secure any main sponsors. Understandable I guess given the current economic climate - but that doesn’t happen in the movies does it? So I’ve spent quite a bit of time pulling together my fund raising events, specifically trying to secure prizes for an auction I’ll be holding at my ladies tea party. Thanks to the generosity of some lovely companies, I’m making some headway.
Sweaty Betty - what a fab company! Their sports gear is gorgeous but they also live their brand and are incredibly supportive of women. So a huge thanks to them for donating some gift vouchers.
Boden - again, kindly donating some gift vouchers so that the mummies coming to my tea party can update their summer wardrobe.
Aunty Ollie - one of my clients for donating vouchers for their brand new beautiful children’s wear range, which we’re about to launch.
Stardust Kids - for kindly donating an item my son will lust after and covet and insist I buy for him: A kid’s electric guitar. All the coolest kids have them
Darling & Darling - another client for donating one of their lovely keepsake photo albums.
Hannah Baker - a local mum who provides beauty treatments has offered some pampering treatments, which I would dearly love myself
Babylicious - for donating a month’s supply of their delicious frozen baby or toddler meals, something all busy mums need a supply of.
Cuddledry - for donating one of their ingenious baby or toddler towels. If you haven’t seen them before, go take a look at their range. I LOVE the bug one.
Fink Cards has very kindly agreed to give everyone who comes to the Tea Party fundraiser a free gift worth £5. I’ll keep it a secret as to what it is.
And lastly but most excitingly of all, the absolutely brilliant Tots to Travel has donated a family holiday!! If you haven’t booked a holiday yet for this year, I highly recommend that you visit their website. Their properties cater for families with young children and will have you drooling over your keyboard.
Besides organising that little lot, I spent my weekend driving around the countryside sticking posters up for my nearly new sale and my pile of stuff to be sold is sitting patiently in the spare bedroom waiting to be labelled up.
I also got to go shopping on Saturday. Not for the latest fashions you understand. No, my shopping list included a sleeping bag, sensible knickers, a sailing knife, seasick tablets, wet wipes and other glamour items. That’s because this Sunday I start my first traing session out at sea and I feel woefully underprepared.
I’ve had a cold for the last week so have done no fitness training, and I’ve misplaced my training manual and haven’t been memorising the various procedures that we’ll be practising out at sea. I also haven’t even started to learn the knots I’m supposed to have mastered by the weekend. So finding the training manual is becoming a bit of a priority.
And finally, I’ve found a nanny! Hooray. Thanks to the help of Newbury Nannies who have kindly agree to reduce their placement fee by 25%, we’ve found a nanny who can become mummy for the times that I’m away. She is a 60 year old lady who makes 20 year olds look positively sluggish given her amount of energy. She comes in and just becomes mum. Which is brilliant.
So slowly and surely I’m ticking things off my list. It’s not taking three minutes and none of it is set to jaunty music, but hopefully at the end of it all, it will still be a blockbuster.
P.S. If anyone knows of any other companies who’d be willing to donate a prize for my auction, please let me know. And I’m also in need of some sponsored champagne that I can sell at my tea party. All donations gratefully received.
Now, where’s my training manual….
Tags: aunty ollie, babylicious, boden, darling & darling, fink cards, movie, sailing, shopping, Sponsors, stardust kids, sweaty betty, tots to travel, Training
March 30th, 2009
Heading into the hormonally charged teen years coincided with us moving from Port Elizabeth up to Springs on the East Rand in the then Transvaal (now Gauteng).
The two places could not have been more different in a million ways. But the biggest difference from a sailing point of view was the wind. As I mentioned, Port Elizabeth is known as the Windy City for good reason. Springs (kindly termed Suspension City) didn’t suffer from the same weather issues. Wind was something that happened after eating too many beans. Not anything to do with atmospheric pressure.
We joined Murray Park Yacht Club, based at the rather grand sounding President Dam. It wasn’t grand. It was a puddle that sat in the shadow of a mine dump (for anyone unfamiliar with mine dumps, they are vast mountain-size piles of dirt that have been excavated out of a mine). This meant that on the one day a year there actually was wind, it was blocked or changed direction every few seconds as it fought its way around the mine dump.
This meant frustrating sailing, particularly when you came from a place where you sailed for survival, not to tack on every wind shift.
As a result, most of our weekends were spent sitting on the side of the dam waiting for the wind. If there was enough wind for a race, I’d invariably spend it getting more and more cross as the wind would shift and change and require a lot more patience than I was blessed with.
Me aged about 13 sitting waiting for the wind at Murray Park
The only time the wind really got up was just before the monstrous electrical storms, that typically rolled in at around 4pm most days in summer. The sky would cloud over, the wind would pick up and everyone would get frightfully excited and charge out onto the water. We’d all race around at top speed waiting for the bridge boat to wake itself out of its afternoon snooze. By the time the race gun would go, the first large drops of rain would be pelting down. You’d possibly get half way to the first mark when the incredible lightening bolts would start forking their way down….
Think about it. You’re sitting in a puddle of water with a large metal pole pointing into the sky, tantalising the lightening bolts to find a way to earth, while you clutched a metal tiller. It wasn’t the brightest thing to do really and I recall that during one of these storms, someone was actually struck by lightening and killed on the bank.
The race would turn into a disaster. Hailstones and torrential rain would pelt your skin. The wind would howl from a billion different directions at once, often turning into mini whirl winds causing your sail to flog back and forth without you going anywhere while getting brained repeatedly by the boom. Invariably boats would capsize all over the course and the rescue boat would be pushed to its limits trying to get to everyone.
The race would be abandoned and everyone would make there way back to the clubhouse, suffering from hypothermia and shock, which called for the grown ups to have a few shots of Old Brown Sherry to warm themselves up.
So a day’s sailing at Murray Park could be summarised as long spells of boredom, couple with frustration, followed by excitement, then sheer terror and recovery in the bar. It did however have a fabulous social scene. And it was there that I became friends with Jenny, a girl I’d go on to sail many regattas with. More on that next time.
Tags: murray park, Port Elizabeth, sailing, springs, wind
March 25th, 2009
This is an unusual post.
Although it is Mother’s Day here in the UK today, this post is about my father. Tomorrow my dad will be having an absolutely horrible sounding operation on his knee - a knee replacement of sorts. It will involve him getting a metal plate inserted where his dodgy knee currently resides. This - according to my children - will turn him into bionic man and/or a Power Ranger. No pressure then Pops!
My father spent years torturing his knees playing hockey and hiking out on lasers, the latter always in a teeny tiny speedo (the former might well have meant an inability to procreate). It’s not too surprising it’s time for a new steel reinforced knee cap. However, I’m terrified for him. I don’t like the thought of anyone going into surgery. And I can’t imagine him laid up in bed for weeks on end waiting for the knee to heal. And if something - God forbid - went wrong, I would be beyond devastated. The foundation of my world would crumble.
You see my dad is my rock, my motivator. He is the person who encouraged me to sail. He’s the person who said: Get educated first, then travel. He’s the sound voice of reason coupled with undying support. He’s the life and soul of the party. He’s the never-ending font of historical knowledge. He is philosophical. He’s a dreamer.
Most little girls adore their fathers I guess, but my relationship with my dad is different. I’m acutely aware of his flaws. Mainly because they’re mine too. We are so incredibly alike - both in looks, temperament and inability to do DIY.
When I told him about this sailing adventure, I expected his support. I was quite surprised when it wasn’t an instantaneous ‘YES GO FOR IT!!!’ It was a measured response that quickly got to the heart of the problems I’d face. All of which were valid.
But since doling out his fatherly advice, he’s been there supporting me in a bunch of different ways. From spreading the word across the Redhouse Yacht Club, to the local Port Elizabeth website, to South African yachting magazines, to simply being the voice of reason when I’m having a wobble.
He has an infectious love of life and a silly old dicky knee isn’t going to stop him doing what he’s always done: getting out on the water in a south easterly gale and proving that old sea dogs don’t die, they just smell that way.
Wishing you all the best for tomorrow dad, with more love that you could know.
Lissa, the boys and Chris.
Tags: dad, knee operation, sailing
March 22nd, 2009
I haven’t sailed off into the sunset just yet. I’m still here, just a leetle teeny bit frenetic so blogging has had to take a back seat (as has twittering, facebooking, exercising, housecleaning and cooking).
My fund-raising plans are now well underway, with two big events planned. Firstly, I’ll be holding a Nearly New Sale on 9 May. This isn’t just a good way for me to raise money, it also means that I can at last get rid of all the piles of baby stuff loitering in corners of the house but which I can’t bear to just put in the recyling bin. Thanks to the kind help of some of the pre-school mummies - especially Caroline - it’s starting to come together although I still need more sellers not to mention plenty of buyers!
Secondly, I’ll be holding a girly tea party in a marquee in our garden on 13 June. Many of my lovely clients and people I’ve worked with have agreed to donate some prizes for a raffle or auction including Fink Cards, Babylicious, Darling & Darling and Cuddledry. There will be tea, cake, champagne, bunting and general girly loveliness. Just a shame I’ll be too busy rushing around like an insaniac doing everything to actually sit down and nibble on dainty sandwiches.
If anyone lives remotely close to Newbury, Berkshire and is interested in attending either of these events, please let me know! And if anyone else would like to donate a prize for the auction, shout! I shall swoon and kiss you and generally sing your praises. Plus, if that’s not enough, you’ll be able to put out flyers about your business for all the mummies to look at.
A big thanks also to Babycentre for being the first corporate to sponsor me. Please go visit the Babycentre site - particularly if you don’t know anything about babies. Type a random question you may have about children into the search tool and the site is almost guaranteed to have an answer. It’s a mine of useful information, particularly if you have children like mine who didn’t come with a guide book.
I’ve also made some headway on the press front - I’ll be on Mybabyradio.com this Thursday between 1 and 2 pm. And hopefully the local paper will run the piece they came to take a picture for several weeks ago. I’ve now added a press page to this blog to keep track of all the latest news.
Lastly, my training manual has arrived. OMG. I know how to sail and I’m daunted by the amount of info I need to bone up on before I head off for my first training course on 5 April. I think if they sent the training manual out before you signed up, no-one would do it. There are whole sections, for example, that deal with how to handle sea sickness and how to avoid the spread of germs on the boat and how not to set fire to the boat and how to send out a Mayday signal if you do indeed set fire to the boat.
My brain has barely any room left in it. I’m not sure how I’m going to squeeze this all in. Not to mention that I’ve just discovered that besides the first 3 weeks training I have to do, there’s a 4th week of pure theory. I thought that was at home study but apparently not. So somehow I need to fit that in too. Oh, and that involves meteorology and navigation. I assume from that, that it’s not as simple as just plugging in: ‘Rio’ to a satnav and setting sail.
I shall fill you in further as I delve deeper into the manual. And I know I still owe you the next installment in my sailing history: The teen years including bad hair pics. It’s coming. Eventually.
Tags: babycentre, babylicious, cuddledry, darling&darling, finkcards, fund-raising, mybabyradio, press, sailing
March 17th, 2009
Tomorrow it is exactly six months until I’ll be doing this:
Now see why I want to do it?
Tags: sailing
March 12th, 2009
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