Upminster Windmill open day

Have you drove along the A13 and seen the white windmill? usually lit up on a dark night? Well that’s not Upminster windmill like I originally thought but another windmill entirely. Anyone know what it’s called?

Image via Wikipedia

Back to Upminster Windmill, on Saturday 4th April they are having an open day between 2 and 5pm. They are also open 5th April and the 18th and 19th of April at the same times. The tour takes approx 45 minutes and walking shoes are required (am finding this hard to believe, a windmill in Essex that you cannot wear your stilettos in? I need to campaign for equal Essex girl rights! )

The windmill is operated by The Windmill Sub Committee and a ‘Friends of’ group, it’s the friends that provide the tours around the windmill, free of charge. As to who actually owns it, it’s a tangled web of local authority and local historical societies.

What makes the Upminster Windmill worth a visit? it is a superb example of a ‘Smock’ windmill and it has almost all of it’s wooden machinery intact. Windmills are a fascinating thing for many children, and it demonstrates perfectly how how they work, and how they paved the way for modern wind turbines.

Children have to be accompanied by adults.

See ya there

Sarah

Entrance to the Mill is on the A124, 200yds west of the traffic lights in Upminster town centre.

Things to do over the Easter Holidays in Essex

(and with the kids)

1st April Langdon Hills, Basildon
Pre-Schoolers family nature day at the Langdon Visitors centre
Welly walk, bug hunt, games, stories and crafts, £5 per child and booking is essential – phone 01268 419103 , they are also planning a pond dipping day which is always good fun.

6th April, Grays Essex
The Teddy bears picnic, Thameside Theatre
Tickets cost:-
Normal – £7.50
Discount – £6.00 (If you buy 4 or more)

(not to be confused with the Wat Tyler Teddy Bears picnic which takes place in the summer). The show is aimed at the under 5s and more details can be found here

April 12th, Langdon Hill, Basildon
Easter Egg Hunt Langdon Hills Visitors centre 10.30am till 3.30pm
Drop in through out the day, and join the easter egg hunt. Cost £6 per child. Everyone in the family can go, including well behaved dogs on leads (we may have to sit this one out though)
Booking is essential – phone 01268 419103

12-13th April
Perhaps Steam trains are more your thing, Mangapps Railway Museum in Burnham on Crouch in Essex is doing a Steam weekend, if we don’t make Drayton Manor so Jasmine can see Thomas the Tank engine, then we will possibly be here instead.
Steam Days Adults £8. Senior citizen £7. Child £3.50. Under 3 years free.

My little ones are two young for the medieval siege at  Hedingham Castle, which is such a shame, but they will soon be 7 and 8 which is the ideal age for this in my opinion. Younger kids can go, and would enjoy it, but the best age is for me is the age when they start studying this at school and it all makes sense! it’s brilliant.

Easter Bank Holiday Sunday & Monday Medieval Siege 12th & 13th April Open 10am-5pm
The sounds of battle will be erupting at Hedingham Castle when members of The Medieval Siege Society recreate the medieval age. Each day there will be displays of medieval martial skills such as swordsmanship and archery, culminating in dramatic battle re-enactments. Throughout the day visitors will be invited to tour the living history camps, seeing how an army would live on campaign. Many crafts will be demonstrated to give an insight into life on campaign for medieval soldiers and their families. There will also be a rare chance to see a replica siege engine in action- the mighty 20’ high trebuchet. Medieval trebuchets were capable of hurling stones which would demolish castles- seeing this replica machine will show just how this incredible machine worked.

Source: Hedingham Castle

Of course there are still the parks open, and we shall be dragging the girls in the vague hope of tiring them out! Wat Tyler in Pitsea is our favourite with the three types of adventure playground, one for under 6’s, one for over 10’s and one for those in the middle.

Are you doing anything this Easter?

Sarah

Easter Bonnets – easy but expensive

The girls have been tasked with making Easter bonnets for school. Kev had cleaned up the car and the easter bunny templates had been thrown away so we had to make a trip to Lakeside.

Image by therubberduckie via Flickr

Well, we would have had to made the trip anyway, but now I had a real excuse and not one that I would have to fabricate on the spur of the moment, as you do… The teachers had already told me to go to the pound shop and buy some ready made chicks and stick them to a hat.

So we went to ‘the works’ and I bought two straw hats for 99p, I was well impressed, then I spent another 20 quid on yellow glitter, sequins, fluffy chick, polysterene eggs and craft glue. I also got Easter ribbon, I mean c’mon, Easter ribbon… what’s that used for? 20 quid…. what a waste, but it had to be done.

Then my mother calls and gives us the royal command to come over for dinner, and I said no we are making easter bonnets (ha, got out of it, she is like me, we don’t ‘make’ things, we are crap at it) and she said bring it all. So we did. My grandmother was there too, and she is always happy to join in.

Firstly we dipped the polystyrene eggs in glue then glitter and then stuck then to the straw hats. Next we cut a strip from the yellow feather boa and put that around the edge of the hat. Then we added flowers and sequins.

The girls are really talented, they make Faberge look a right muppet   they can sparkle up an egg and make it look regal in no time at all, for a fraction of the cost!

We add yellow nesting to the hat, and stick some of the eggs on that. It looks horrific, gaudy and impossible to wear without falling off  but the girls are thrilled and I love seeing their smiles.

Then my grandmother pipes up, “is the Easter bunny bringing you eggs?” No, I tell her. Easter is about Jesus and the egg was the stone that covered his tomb. Don’t be stupid comes the reply, the Easter bunny delivers the eggs. I say nan, we are trying to keep the Christian theme of Easter and avoid mass commericalisation of something spiritual (yes, I did keep a straight face considering how much I had just spent on easter bonnets). Rubbish she says, the Easter bunny brings the eggs, and do you know what – the girls agree with her. Mummy is stupid, Nana knows best.

The straw hats are weighed down with sparkly beaded almost Faberge eggs, when my mum decides to join in, she had worked out what the ribbon was for, she threaded two eggs onto each end, and lo and behold we have something to tie the bonnets onto the girls heads.

We talk about making the bonnets, how it’s had us all joining in. I mention the bonnet mum made me as a child, with a yellow pom pom chick on it. She replied don’t be stupid, I didnt do that. But she did! I insisted.

Now, as I type up this blog I remember more, it wasn’t her, it was nan, she made my only easter bonnet and the pom pom chick that went on it. I should have thanked her, but I have only just remembered. I shall add it to the to do list. Grandmothers are priceless treasures.

Sarah

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The bank of Essex – where is it?

Back in November and December last year, Essex County Council came up with a plan to rescue

Image via Wikipedia

us all in Essex from the credit crunch. They were not going to reduce our council tax by a 100 quid each, instead they were going into partnership with Satander (owners of the Shabby, I mean Abbey) and start a community bank.

At first I thought this was a rubbish idea, but it has really grown on me, and I think its great. I am champing at the bit to open my account, and accounts for my girls, and one for Spartacus too. I am going to write to Lord Hanningfield and tell him it’s a really good idea, only he hasn’t replied to my previous correspondence and I now fear I will be labeled a stalker if I write to him anymore … what a world we live in.

If the bank makes enough of a profit perhaps we will still get a council tax reduction. This idea has legs if the council bankrolled good businesses for a share of the profits, their goldplated pensions will become self funded, and we won’t begrudge them a penny as we will no longer be taxed to death to pay for it…. Sounds quite a good plan, just need an evil genius laugh now…

Why is this taking so long? rumour has it that the council are stumping up 50 mill, Satander the other 50 mill and they are going to loan to local businesses and local business people! Yay! brilliant.

The hiccup is here -  its taking so darn long to sort out, we will have no businesses left by the time they open their doors or our credit worthiness will be non existant, so they won’t loan us any money anyway…

I wonder if they will print their own currency? Will they put Jade Goody on a tenner? Denise  Van Outen on a Fiver, Chantelle Houghton on a twenty? or Brian who’s last name I cannot recall?

There are so many plus’s to having our own bank, why is it taking so blinking long to open??? Surely they are not waiting for a nice building in Chelmsford to become available?

Sarah

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Tales from the Tower – Notworking at it’s finest

Monday evening I was at BT Tower, networking with members of BT Tradespace and they arranged an eclectic group of people to see the fantastic views and enjoy their superb hospitality.

I could go on about the views for hours, but it would just put you to sleep. So, for once I will be quiet on a subject.

BT Tower

I also met some people I have chatted to online for a while – Anita Hunt @nitajoy on twitter, Charles Conway @crystalweb on twitter and @comfort_selling – known as Linda Mattacks in the real world

Its so good to meet people in real life when you know them online and I really enjoy the online networking meeting the offline networking, thats probably why I enjoy the Business Scene networking events.

Something happened over dinner that really surprised me, and that was how other networkers reacted over an offer of help.

I was chatting to one person who was having trouble with twitter, I offered some help and she responded with would I email it? Of course I replied, she gave me her card, and that evening I emailed the articles across to her, and moments later she thanked me for the help.

Another networker also mentioned they would like to get more from twitter, and again in the spirit of networking I offered help, which was accepted. I wasnt offered a card or any kind of contact detail, so I wondered how I was to get the info to the person? So I thought I know, I’ll ask them to tweet me, and I will reply with the links. So I wrote my twitter name on a non descript business card (contained my name, number and email and no indication of what I do) it was that or a twenty pound note, and he wasn’t getting that!

“I wondered how long it would take before you gave me your card” came the snappy retort. I pointed out, that I was actually just passing him my twitter name, so I could help them, help he had readily accepted…  (how was I meant to get the info to him? osmosis? telepathy? conjuring?) I was quite taken aback, he starts going on about inexperienced people pushing business cards on people and I am beginning to regret the offer of assistance.

I do keep my word and send the info through to him. Not a word of thanks, or any kind of acknowledgment and to be honest, I am not surprised. Good manners and networking don’t seem to go together for some people.

These kind of networkers, are they the first to say that networking doesn’t work for them? Out of the two, who comes across more professional?  Who is more likely to get a recommedation?

When you network and someone offers you something, how do you react?

Sarah

Business Networking in Chelmsford, Business cards welcome

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The Essex Girls guide to The Watchmen…

Went to see The Watchmen Friday, never seen so many big blue glowing willy’s.

Image by Bearman2007 via Flickr

Possibly never will again until it comes out on DVD. Although it looked even bigger when he had his pants on. But enough of that!

I thought the film was very good, it felt like 1985, with electronica soundtrack and jumper dresses. A lot of people remember the 80s as Madonna, Wham, Maggie Thatcher and Wall Street, but I recall it as a darker time. The film had an edge to it, thats rarely seen these days  -  a happy ending is almost obligatory.  Reminded me of LA Confidential.

There was so much violence I thought it was a Quentin Tarantino film. Lots of nudity, I may have mentioned that before . The violence is very graphic, and disturbing.  I spent these scenes hiding behind my coat. I am sure they added something to the film, not sure what though.
Won’t give the plot away, although it may be hard to follow or understand for those under thirty – simply full of historical references that will sail over the under 30’s heads… maybe I should revise that to under 25… I mean come on, Nixon, president, 5 times? Do the younger generation in the UK even know who he was?
Never read the graphic novel, may have to now.

Can’t wait for it to come out on DVD, will need to watch it a few more times

Sarah

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Mothers day in Festival Leisure park, Basildon

The outlets in Festival Leisure park, Basildon (Essex of course) are doing some things for Mothers day.

If you have a mum that enjoys ice skating, she can skate for free on the rink there with one paying child – Child price £6 (double check I case I have got it wrong).

Chicago’s is doing a free lunch for mum with the family paying for theirs. There is terms and conditions, but I know for sure I cannot recall those.

Frankie and Benny’s and Nandos are bound to have some offers on, although I haven’t seen them advertised.

If you want to go to Marsh Farm, you can catch one of the last lambing weekends on the 22nd of March.

Of course Mothers day doesn’t have to be expensive,  a walk around Wat Tyler park in Pitsea is always quite enjoyable. The park has three playgrounds, a toddler playground, a 5-10 year olds playground and a superb 11+ adventure playground. If I am feeling particularly mischievious I put my three girls in the giant hamster wheel and ask them to run for me. Always gets a good nights sleep from the three of them after that I cannot think of a better gift for a mum.

Have a happy mothers day

Sarah

The Apprentice, The best of reality TV

I love the Apprentice. Alan Sugar lives in Essex, his HQ is in

Image by jovike via Flickr

Debden Essex* and the whole show is filmed in London or so I am lead to believe

Amstrad Towers is currently being turned into a Luxury  Hotel according to my twitter buddy @bigalessex

It’s so mainstream, they have moved it from BBC2 onto BBC1 and now the whole world watches it. Instead of being about business, its about fame and fortune again. The good thing about the show is its filmed in November, and the results are kept under lock and key until the final episode. This means the contestants are out of the public eye for a few weeks before the likes Max Clifford etc swarm them with newspaper deals.

And Sir Alan is right, it had better be good. Or Else.

Although one of the contestants claim to be known as ‘the mouth of the year’ I notice she is from Surrey not Essex or East London. The track record shows he has never liked lawyers much, so I dont know why they even bother entering the contest.

Names and biogs, courtesy of the Guardian, the full article is there

Anita Shah
Age: 35
Career: Business strategist
Qualifications: LLB in law and postgraduate diploma in legal practice
Lives: Birmingham
A cricket fanatic, qualified lawyer and self-confessed perfectionist. Anita led a team to win at the Visa Business School in 2008 and, inspired by Dragon’s Den judge James Caan, believes you can be successful by investing in relationships and being nice to people. Anita considers herself to be a humanitarian with a Bridget Jones alter ego.

Debra Barr
Age: 24
Career: Senior sales consultant
Qualifications: BA in English Literature
Lives: Surrey
Buckinghamshire-born Debra considers herself to be a direct and driven saleswoman with a passion for business. She has had to fight illiteracy in her youth and, aged 10, had the reading age of a six-year-old. Embodying her belief in overcoming obstacles, Debra went on to study English Literature at university. Inspired by Bill Gates and Sir Richard Branson, she is a go-getter who would rather ask for forgiveness than permission.

Kate Walsh
Age: 27
Career: Licensing development manager
Qualifications: BSc in psychology and management
Lives: Hampshire
Staffordshire-born Kate is confident and resilient. She is an indie music fan who is interested in cooking, snowboarding and gym workouts. Kate, who says she regrets not applying to Oxbridge, describes herself as a highly motivated and ambitious professional with an educated opinion on most issues.

Kimberly Davis
Age: 33
Career: Marketing consultant
Qualifications: BA in music management
Lives: London
Born in the Bronx, New-Yorker Kimberly is an accomplished musician and business owner who launched a highly successful marketing and development business. Kimberly has performed Mozart at Carnegie Hall and toured the US East Coast playing violin with the Essex County Chamber Orchestra. A strong believer in karma, Kimberly insists she has no poker face and lists Tiffany & Co, Chanel and Apple as her most inspiring brands.

Lorraine Tighe
Age: 36
Career: National accounts manager
Qualifications: NHC in business studies
Lives: Kent
Mother-of-two Lorraine was born in London and left school at 16. Since then she has gone on to be the top salesperson in every company she has worked for and admires Victoria Beckham for being resourceful when doubted for having “not much talent”. Talkative Lorraine admits to having very little education and sums up her attitude to business as the ability to drive a dead horse to the winning line.

Mona Lewis
Age: 28
Career: Senior financial manager
Qualifications: A-levels
Lives: Kent
Born in Karachi, former Tanzanian beauty queen and mother-of-one Mona counts Tesco as one of her most admired businesses. She sees herself as shrewd and honest in business and believes that personal emotions should never interfere with decision-making. Mona chose to apply for The Apprentice to step out of her comfort zone and change the lives of her and her son.

Paula Jones
Age: 29
Career: Human resource consultant
Qualifications: Masters degree in industrial relations and human resource management
Lives: Walsall, West Midlands
Paula is an academic with a love for interior design. Born and raised in Walsall, Paula, a self-confessed scatterbrain, was a four-star sergeant in the army cadets and represented the army at county level in shooting.

Yasmina Siadatan
Age: 27
Career: Restaurateur
Qualifications: BSc Economic history with population studies
Lives: London
Highly ambitious restaurant owner and marathon runner Yasmina was born in Hull and spent time living in Los Angeles and Iran before settling in London. Yasmina, who first experienced the world of business in her dad’s restaurant, describes herself as dominaant yet adaptable and believes that business is about spotting a gap in the market and filling it better than anyone else can. She admires Sir Richard Branson’s attitude to personal service and would love to have been the brains behind Microsoft.

Ben Clarke
Age: 22
Career: Trainee stockbroker
Qualifications: BA (Hons) economics and business
Lives: Belfast
Belfast born and bred, Ben is a rebellious stockbroker. The former Gavin Henson lookalike cites Hugh Heffner as one of his most admired business figures. Rugby-playing Ben admits to being “cocky” but insists he takes business very seriously.

Howard Ebison
Age: 24
Career: Retail business manager
Qualifications: CIMA part-qualified accountant – BSc (Hons) maths and business studies
Lives: Derby
Born in Surrey, Howard is an enthusiastic businessman, award-winning dancer, self-trained musician and area manager to 10 pubs. Howard hopes one day to set up his own consultancy specialising in customer service.

James McQuillan
Age: 32
Career: Senior commercial manager
Qualifications: MA (Hons) economics
Lives: Surrey
Football referee, sports fanatic and former child chess champion James lists Al Pacino and JK Rowling as inspirational figures. James has worked as a labourer, trolley collector and a nightclub doorman before finding his niche in commercial management. He describes himself as likeable and selfless and would love to have been the brains behind The A-Team.

Majid Nagra
Age: 28
Career: Business development manager
Qualifications: BSc computer science
Lives: Coventry
Reformed rebel Maj sees himself as loyal and believes business is the backbone to the world. Born in Coventry, Maj was expelled from school for wayward behaviour but now works with youth centres and charities while running his own car hire business. Describing himself as funny and talkative, Maj says he never shies away from the spotlight.

Noorul Choudhury
Age: 33
Career: Science teacher
Qualifications: GTTP, CIM
Lives: Rochdale
Science teacher Noorul hopes to become a property development millionaire. He aims one day to start up a men’s tailoring business. Describing himself as a straight-talking leader, he loves being kept on his feet and confesses to always putting work first. He believes business is a cut-throat, dog-eat-dog game that you must play to win.

Phillip Taylor
Age: 29
Career: Estate Agent
Qualifications: NEBS Certificate in Management
Lives: County Durham
Born and raised in County Durham, Phillip, who describes himself as “confident and charming”, believes he can deal with people on any level. A self-confessed control freak, he is passionate about all projects he involves himself in and considers himself to be a nice guy who people can relate to.

Rocky Andrews
Age: 21
Career: Sandwich chain owner
Qualifications: N/A
Lives: North Yorkshire
Rocky is this year’s youngest candidate and already earns more than the six-figure salary on offer from Sir Alan. He left school at 16 to pursue a career in football with Middlesbrough but was diagnosed with arthritis. Aged 17, Rocky started up a sandwich business – which now includes 15 shops across north-east England.

Having looked at the list, and not having seen any of them live, my money is on Anita Shah and Kate Walsh. I notice two contestants are from over the bridge in Kent, so I may have to root for them
I reserve the right to change my mind after having watched the first few episodes. I do think the woman from the bronx will be the first to quit…

If you want to share your thoughts tell me who you think will win, two names and who will be the first to quit in your comment.

Sarah

*edited as I first said Brentwood as that’s where Amstrad used to be, but it was sold a while ago and my brain is still updating… thanks Richard Alvin for reminding me

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The root of the problem…

Brown is the new blonde allegedly. I hear it on Essex radio yesterday. More women are going from Blonde to Brunette as they think it will help their careers more than remaining Blonde. Obviously they don’t work in Essex

Image via Wikipedia

Brown has been the new blonde for the last 4 years, since 2005. I have actually been a brunette for the last 3.5 years as it was too much hard word being a redhead.

Careers wise, the best jobs I ever had and were promoted in, I had flaming red hair. The jobs where I had the most hassle – Brunette, the jobs with the least hassle, definitely Blonde.

The main problem is roots. Flaming red hair and brown roots, yuk. Someone with Dark hair and light roots, yuk, blonde with dark roots – the Essex norm, so we don’t bat an eyelid. Another issue is shine, dyed hair seems to lack shine and needs intense conditioning regularly. “I am staying in to wash my hair” can talk on a whole new meaning when you go against your natural colour.

I feel as the rest of the world are now going Brunette, I am going to have to consider going red again or at least pink, which is far more flattering than red at my age

Would you dye your hair to enhance your career prospects? and do L’oreal care that they have pushed up the price of hair dye by 85p a packet by making statements like that

Sarah

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Mizz Stars and Mommy Bloggers

My youngest daughter has decided she wants a Mizz Stars. She is three and very articulate. She speaks clearly and concisely, she hasn’t ever spoke baby talk and aside from ‘huggle’ (a cross between a cuddle and  hug), she doesnt invent words.

So for three hours we wondered what a Mizz Stars was, where we got one from and what we were going to do in the likelihood we couldn’t trace what she had requested.

We spoke to her about dolls, no it wasn’t that, animals – no it wasn’t that, things for her bedroom – no it wasn’t that and she was getting increasingly more wild with us for not knowing what a Mizz Stars was.

Jas rarely makes requests, if she does its for other people. The cat, the hamster, the dog and her baby dolls all come before her, so when she asks for something I try to get it for her. I wish her sisters were like this, but from them I get a constant stream “I want” demands. No doubt they will say she was the favourite as she got what she asked for whilst conventiently forgetting they asked for 100% more and got at least 50% of it….

So back to the Mizz Stars…. Jessica, my wag comes home and her Spanish ancestry is showing in the form of her glowing olive skin with a faint black moustache. So I say to her “I picked up some wax in Boots this afternoon, you can remove your moustache if you like…” and she was quite happy, as now she has a new boyfriend she has become quite self conscious of having more facial hair than him. I have told her to get used to it

Little one pipes up, “I would like a Mizz Stars like you Jess and like mummy” at last, we know what Mizz Stars is! and no, she isn’t going to have one.

Yesterday I came across the term ‘Mommy Blogger’ which I think is a thinly veiled insult. Yes am I mum, and I blog about all sorts of things, all sorts work things, life things and family things. That doesn’t make me a mommy blogger, that makes me a person.

Mommy blogger is as bad as Mumpreneur (however you spell it, it’s bad). How on earth do people think it’s pleasant to tag someone only on their abilty to procreate? Is there a such thing as a daddy blogger?

Sarah

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