A guest post from Kevin Bampton - CHRISTMAS IS COMING! (Ahem. Sorry.)

It’s become much more exciting now that I have children.

It also requires more planning.

There are lists to be compiled from the seemingly random requests and suggestions from my 6 year old boy and four year old girl. Then there’s the question of what do we think our two year old girl would like that is not currently amongst the hand-me-downs from her older siblings.

Once we have our three lists we thin them out. The plastic tat and passing fads carefully removed, in what is nothing less than parental censorship, we are left with a collection of presents that will not drive us mad in the coming year. The items are then distributed by cost, availability and suitability to the various parties who will be spending actual money on these things.

Over the past six years the ‘problem’ of making it as easy as possible for my elderly parents to obtain said items has been solved by limiting the shopping to one store. So, armed with a printed and illustrated list they head off to Knight and Lee in Southsea.

Knight and Lee are owned by John Lewis and have been there as long as I can remember.

Each year they have approached a member of staff with a sheaf of A4. It has been taken from them and chairs found for them to sit, whilst various members of staff have set off through the toy department to find the required items of joy.

Once found (or ordered, with a promise of a phone call once in stock) and paid for, staff have carried the goods to the ground floor and helped obtain and load a taxi.

Each year it has been someone different doing this, so I have no names or photos. But each year the service has been consistently wonderful.

So, thank you staff at Knight and Lee for helping make Christmas shopping a lot easier for my parents and the whole process less of a worry for me.

I look forward to a similar tale from my Mum this year.

Have a fabulous festive season.

Editor's note - so a thumbs up to Knight & Lee from us too.

 Kevin Bampton - Portsmouth 
 http://kevinbampton.wordpress.com/

@Hoodedman_art

RNIB Black Lion Pub Quiz - the whole thing with thanks and photos

Anyone that follows me on twitter (@14NC) will know that I've been going on and on lately about a special pub quiz http://readforrnib.org.uk/event/london/literary-pub-quiz/ at The Black Lion Pub in West End Lane, NW6 http://theblacklionnw6.co.uk/ on behalf of the Royal National Institute of the Blind, (RNIB), Read For RNIB Day Campaign.  Well this post, which is a slight departure from the norm, is to say thank you to the many that helped with the night and to share some photos from the evening.

My idea was to take over the usual pub quiz and make it into a "literary" one, i.e. Read For RNIB, to raise awareness of the RNIB's work and to highlight the fact that only 7% of books are available to those that can't read normal print (http://readforrnib.org.uk/about/accessibility-of-reading/) while having a bit of fun at the same time.

I needed help.  I managed to recruit Carla who works at Paramount Properties (@west_hampstead) in West End Lane, and I couldn't have involved a better person or company. 

Carla and I went "cold-calling" to the pub and saw Gloria, (see earlier post Half A Bank Holiday for more about Gloria).  She loved the idea but had to check with management.  Management, in the guise of James, couldn't have been more helpful and supportive. (@TheBlackLionNW6)

Yes, we could have the pub on Sunday, 13th October and take over their normal quiz.  Usually all the entrance money goes first to paying the Quiz Master, Gareth, and then whatever is left over is the winners' prize.  The pub very generously agreed to hand over the entry money to us for the RNIB.

We had a date and a venue.  Now we needed prizes.  We had two main ideas.  Books and local businesses.  At this point, we had no idea how just how generous people were going to be!

To the authors and agents and anonymous individuals that donated signed copies of books, an enormous, huge, thank you and thumbs up 

           

Ruth Cherrington (@CHistorians) http://www.clubhistorians.co.uk/

Barbara Levy Literary Agency

Dame Stephanie Shirley (@LetItGoOfficial) http://www.steveshirley.com/splash.php http://www.let-it-go.co.uk/

Fiona Barrows (@fbarrows) http://about.me/fbarrows

Joseph D'Lacey (http://josephdlacey.wordpress.com/)

Kay Sexton (@kaysexton) http://www.kaysexton.com/

Rupert Crew Agency (@rupertcrew) http://www.rupertcrew.co.uk/

Other prizes donated included books, farm jam and proseco.  These were from various individuals but from someone I would particularly like to mention, Andy Sarner, (@Bubela), some mixing bowls and a kitchen towel as prizes for the winners.  Even though Andy couldn't make it on the night she went especially to the local kitchen shop to buy.  Other individuals and companies that deserve a thank you are Kamils, Chris and Ed at Browns, West Hampstead Library, Matthew at Cycle Surgery, Lena's, Jonathan of http://www.westhampsteadlife.com/, Anne, Marlee and Dave.  (If I've left anyone out, in this list, above or below, forgive me, let me know and I'll add you in!  Also, throughout here I've put twitter names if known and websites but I haven't included facebook pages which I know a lot you have, forgive me.)

To the local businesses, who so stepped up the mark, both putting up our posters and contributing prizes, you get an overwhelming thumbs up and thank you 

Danny and Saskia at West End Lane Books - a credit voucher (@WELBooks)  http://www.welbooks.co.uk/

Andre at West Fish Cafe - a meal voucher (@TheWetFishCafe) www.thewetfishcafe.co.uk

Shane at Art 4 Fun - six individual studio sessions (@Art4FunCafe) www.art4fun.com

Sylvia and Neel at Banana Tree - a credit voucher, a cuddly toy and a tote bag (@bananatree) www.bananatree.co.uk

Debbie and David Colour Division - voucher for photo session (@ColourDivision1) www.colourdivision.com

James at Little Bay Restaurants - credit voucher (@TheLittleBay) www.littlebay.co.uk
Esmeralda at Nail Suit - credit voucher http://www.nailsuiteuk.com/

Ed and Maziar at One Blenheim Terrace - a meal voucher (@OneBlenheim) www.oneblenheimterrace.co.uk

Mukesh and Nilesh at Peppercorns - (@peppercornsuk1) www.peppercornshealthstore.com a credit voucher 

Alicia and Davood at Hana - a meal voucher (@HanaRestaurantx) www.hanarestaurant.co.uk

Elijas and Sam at David's Deli - a meal voucher

The Black Lion in the end, didn't just donate the door money, they also donated bottles of wine as prizes, a meal for two voucher, arranged a Truman Brewery tour and stuck their hands in their pockets to add to the collection.  I can't say thank you enough and then we come to Carla.  

Paramount Properties http://www.paramount-properties.co.uk/ are very involved in the neighbourhood and through Carla, Robert Lazarus, the Sales Director and Spencer Lawrence, the Letting Director, not only did Paramount give a beautifully designed tote bag to absolutely everyone that took part in the quiz, but they also agreed to match whatever we raised at the pub.  Thank you  

The Tote Bag

So this was my idea for what the evening would involve but then, married couple Carol and Bob Bridgestock,who write the D.I. Dylan (@DIJackDylan) crime thrillers under the name R.C. Bridgestock (@RCBridgestock) and who had already sent me a signed copy of one of their books and an Audio CD of another came up with a great wheeze; I could auction off being a character in their next book.  Brilliant, in keeping with the theme and, more importantly, a great money raiser. Thank you both, so much.  http://rcbridgestock.com/ 

Okay, we've got the prizes now we need an event.  The RNIB helped (in the guise of Benjamin, Julia and Julie ) by sending balloons to decorate the pub, more tote bags for prizes, pins for the winners bags, bookmarks, posters, and literature for anyone who wanted to know more, but still, we needed a Quiz Master.  

In stepped Gareth.  Gareth usually does the quiz at the pub but we had the idea of wanting to add extra book-ish and blind-ish questions, (like "What time travelling author who fooled a nation with his radio broadcast also wrote short stories including one entitled, The Country of the Blind?" and "Which author of the Adrian Mole books has lost her sight?" and "Which blind Labour politician was Home Secretary from 2001 until 2004?"), no problem.  He was game for it.  I want to do a sealed bid auction at the beginning and end.  no problem.  But there was a problem, (to me); we couldn't speak until the week of the quiz or meet until the night.  Now I'm not a control freak, (no really, it's all lies), but this was giving me a little bit of anxiety.  Absolutely no need.  Gareth excelled and couldn't have been more helpful, intuitive or collaborative.  No only that, but after he'd left and said goodnight, Gloria handed me more cash; Gareth had donated his fee for the night.  Gareth, thank you and  a huge thumbs up   

And in case I didn't say thank you enough to James and all the staff at the Black Lion who were so brilliant on the night and before.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, we'll be back! 

Now to the night itself - wow it was great and I hope these pictures give a little sense of how much fun we all had! (if anyone would like a copy of any of these photos, please do just get in touch)

And.... the grand total raised?  £700.00.  Thank you all so much and give yourselves another thumbs up or two.

In closing, anyone who is unfamiliar with the EverdayFolk Blogspot, we're here for you, this is a public pinboard where you can tell us about that great smile, that bit of extra service you encountered in your day which just made the difference.  Please feel free to send us posts, comments or just follow.  Thanks.

 

A second guest post from Kay Sexton - HE-VAN REVISTED

Some time ago we sold our house and bought a new one. It wasn’t far away – less than half a mile, across country, but we decided we’d like somebody else to do all the packing and moving, just for once.

Julian from He-Van came to visit and estimated how long it would take, how many boxes we would need and generally made me feel the whole thing would be painless and swift.

So we were set to move … by early July. Then mid-July. Then early August, for sure. Then … mid-August. Early September? No, not a chance. Mid-September came and went and then, just before it became late September, we finally, finally, finally moved.

It was so long ago we’d forgotten what had been promised, but just as Julian said, Karl with a K and Chris with a C turned up at exactly the time he said they would, packed everything from boxes to lawn rollers to artworks to freezers with speed and care and drove off to our new address, just half a mile away.

So, it had been a long process, and surely things must go right now we were at the end of it? No, things went wrong.  We still don’t fully understand what happened (but we will) except that the money that should have been paid to our solicitor didn’t arrive from our mortgage lender. We’d sold our old house and had to leave it but we hadn’t bought our new house because the money hadn’t turned up. It wasn’t a fun time and it wasn’t fun to try and untangle the problem over the phone, sat on the wall outside a house we couldn’t enter because we didn’t yet own it.

So we sat in the street, and Karl with a K and Chris with a C sat in their van … for four hours. 

Eventually our wonderful solicitor (who might feature in another post) straightened things out and the He-Van guys unloaded everything. Even though it was hours later than they’d hoped, and they were way overdue for another job, they were careful and attentive and put everything it its new place just as if they had all day to spend on the task. They didn’t finish until nearly six in the evening, having started at eight in the morning and they never failed to smile and joke throughout the whole process.

So, the process was neither painless nor swift, but our wonderful removals firm didn’t add to the pain or the slowness – they were the bright spot in a fairly ghastly day. Thumbs up to Karl and Chris (and Julian who orchestrated everything behind the scenes).

Kay Sexton can be found at

http://writingneuroses.blogspot.co.uk/

and on twitter @KaySexton

Books about allotments and the people who love them ...

Minding My Peas and Cucumbers
The Allotment Diaries

Kay's earlier post about He-Van can be found
in the August 2013 archives

A guest post from Jody Klaire - DUNGEONS & MANIPULATION

I love writing.  I spend a fair amount of my day lost in a dream world, tapping away as I enjoy doing what I love to do most.  My blog post is about the wonderful man who helps me to do this.

To give you an idea, I have a few health 'challenges' which make moving about (and life in general) a lot like building Rome in twelve hours with matchsticks: - Fiddly, impossible and likely to go up in flames at any second.

So, every week, I attend the Ian Griffiths Osteopathy clinic.  He is incredible at his job, but this post is to give him the big thumbs up for the service with a smile.  

As you can imagine, being treated for things that hurt is not something that most look forward to but Ian and Pat have me laughing, chatting and grinning from ear to ear.  Pat greets you like an old friend, she really cares about your day and how your week has been.  She always asks if the room is warm enough and loves rugby even more than I do!

When Ian comes in, he is completely focused on what's best for you.  His gentle way of treating you and his calmness earn your trust pretty quickly.  He listens to me jabbering on about my latest book ideas and answers my questions such as "If you wanted to cut someone's leg off..." and "What if..."

Yes, I know... but like I said, I love writing.

Pat is used to coming back into the room to Ian and I laughing over shared stories and daft anecdotes.  

So, to Ian and Pat, thank you for making my day so much brighter and fixing me up so that I can write! A big, big thumbs up to you!  

The second thumbs up is too the staff at York Dungeon, (@YorkDungeon).  When I was there in mid-September, I visited the Dungeon and the staff were not only helpful but went out of their way to make sure that I enjoyed myself as much as the others on the tour.  It wasn't always easy to get a wheelchair through the narrow doorways of a grade II listed building but the fact I did shows how much patience the staff had! So, to all in the Dungeon, thumbs up!   

The final thumbs up is to all the writers, agents and publishers who have offered their advice, support and encouragement to me.  It's inspiring to know so many people love books and are happy to share their knowledge.  So thank you! 

                             You can find out more about Jody Klaire on 

twitter @jodyklaire and via her blog:  

http://writing-community.writersworkshop.co.uk/members/profile/8018/blog