Right, my world has begun to calm down a bit so I'm going to try and get back into the blog-sphere. I've also decided to move back to Blogger from Wordpress as it offers a bit more flexibility.

Shedloads of stuff has happened over the 3 months since I last posted, too much to cover really. So rather than trying to go over my holiday, uncertainties about my job, putting my back out and all the other things, I'll just share a few photos from Dorset, to remind us of those hot days in August.




The holiday was great. We rented an apartment is a country house on the edge of the New Forest, and spent the week doing 'seasidy' things. The photos above show the view looking down on Lulworth Cove and also Durdle Door. There's also the obligatory one of New Forest ponies. The final one is looking down from the top of the Spinnaker in Portsmouth docks. There is a glass floor giving you an uninterrupted view 90m down to the quayside (not one for the faint hearted).

By way of variety, I thought I'd also start sharing my thoughts on various books that I've been reading. Not current best sellers because everyone is writing about those, but the less obvious or less well known books that I think you might be interested in. To get things going, the first one is 'Tribes' by Seth Godin.

Seth Godin is an American author, writing books on Marketing. That description does him a disservice though. Seth brings a very different and fresh view on things, and in the book he introduces you to the concept of Tribes.
Tribes are created when people of similar views, beliefs or desires band together behind a leader. The key message behind the book though, is that any of us can be that leader, as long as we stop following the crowd (or 'sheepwalking' as he describes it). He extols the virtues of the heretic, the person who, as we say in Norfolk, wants to 'do different'. The world needs the renegades, he proposes, and throughout the book he has examples of successful leaders who have that alternative vision.
The secondary message is that to be one of these leaders you have to be brave enough to stand out against the status quo, not follow the Corporate line, challenge established wisdom and make yourself visible. When you do that you will be noticed by others and your 'followship' will develop.
If you let it, the book will make you challenge your pre-conceptions on how you can develop your career, your wealth, your self esteem.
The final message though, is that Seth is not telling you to do these things. What he does do is to make it YOUR responsibility to take these actions. If you don't want to, then you clearly are not one of the people the book is written for.
If you know there is a better way to do things but don't know what it is, then I suggest reading this book. You can do so by following the link on the right and buying it from Amazon. As Seth says, if you've read this far then you probably are one of those people. Enjoy.

NorfolknGood

Beautiful Day

Wow! What fantastic weather yesterday, can't believe it's a Bank Holiday weekend. Got up early to start attacking the weed that was covering the front lawn. Not sure what it's called (at least in polite society), but it has little yellow flowers and spreads like crazy. 2 hours with the electric lawn rake, and it was one full brown wheelie bin and no more weed, quick once over with the mower, and whilst not Wimbledon, at last it's now grass that you can see.
Barbie for lunch (no, not the impossibly shaped plastic doll, the traditional British food sacrifice ceremony). It's a really good gas one, light it and you're cooking in 10 minutes. Whilst I know the BBQ purists will criticise, the thought of going back to 'proper' brickets, having to wait for an hour until it decides to heat up, and then to have the coals burn out just before the food is properly cremated does not appeal at all. I've got the burgers off to a T now, perfectly cooked and v. tasty, sausages are pretty much sorted, and even the bacon is edible, so yesterday the household authorities raised the stakes (no pun intended) and introduced pork kebabs to the mix. Diced pork, intermixed with peppers, onion and cherry tomatos, basted with honey and mustard. So, the challenge, ensure pork is fully cooked whilst trying to keep the vegetables from turning to charcoal. The result? Well I'm typing this this morning with no obvious signs of food poisoning, no-one else is up yet though!
The afternoon was meant to be for the back garden, but the temperature must have been pushing 30 degrees, so I thought I'd better make sure the hammock had survived the winter, took two hours to test it properly, downside was I forgot the sunblock and finished up with bright red face, arms and legs, I'll pay for that today.
Great to see the Housemartins are back, hearing them sing "Happy Hour" whilst wheeling in the air chasing flies tells you summer is here. They're checking out the eaves again so hopefully they'll be nesting soon. Whilst I love to watch them, and a couple of years back one nest was right outside the window so you could see them feed the babies, the amount of mess they make has to be seen to be believed. It's an absolute bugger to clean off as well, but I guess it's a small price to pay.
Finally got round to mending the puncture on number one son's bike (it's only taken 6 months, so that's not too bad), usual pathetic male feeling of pride at having completed a mechanical task that any 10 year old could do. But still, I had to use a spanner, and those neat things for getting the tyres off, and I even had to use two differently sized Allen keys, which feels like proper fixing. I'm sure I'm almost ready for Scrapheap Challenge.
So, day was over, and with the prospect of sitting down and watching Britain's Got Talent, or going onto Twitter (DaveJohnWard if you are interested) and Facebook, the computer won. This was when I started wondering about this blogging lark, Googled in "how do I create a Blog", and two hours later this beasty was in existence.
No idea where it's going, not much real idea where it came from, but I do have a few thoughts about things I'd like to blog on, some opinions to share and questions to pose. We'll see how it goes and whether this is a 5 minute wonder or becomes the greatest collection of musings since Plato.

all the best

NorfolknGood




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Welcome to my world

Right, so as my journey into the 21st Century continues, first Linked-in, then Facebook and recently Twitter, I thought I'd give this blogging thing a go.
For those from outside of Norfolk, to "Mardle" is to gossip or chat, and that's what I intend to do in this blog.
My interests are many and varied, ranging from supporting Norwich City FC (aka The Canaries ), through gardening, birdwatching and people watching.
I travel into London each day to work courtesy of National Express trains, another rich source of comment and bile.
So, let's see how this thing goes and whether anyone is interested in what I have to say.
This is going to be a learning experience for all of us, lets get on and enjoy the ride.