The Apprentice, more handbags than sense

Posted on May 22, 2013 by sarah

Tonight OH and I will be tuning into the Apprentice. Again.

Sadly perhaps, it’s become our Wednesday night routine (post-baby social life in the wilds of Wiltshire isn’t quite what it was in our London days).

girl candidates for the apprentice 2013

apprentice girls team 2013

Dinner, washing-up and homework out-of-the-way, J Boy will (hopefully) be tucked up in bed. We can settle down in front of the Apprentice with a cup of tea or glass of toffee apple cider (depending on how the day’s gone).

I used to kid myself that I was keeping up with business culture (if that’s not an oxymoron). But this series, I’ve had to come clean. The Apprentice is car crash TV, the B Tech of Big Brother. It’s become a sort of guilty pleasure, like the jumbo Aero bar I keep at the back of the medicine cupboard. And the occasional second bottle of toffee apple cider.

Tonight, though, I may follow the advice I’ve thoughtlessly dished out to the Oldies every time they complain about swearing and back-to-back soaps on TV. I’ll do that radical thing. And flick the off button on the remote.

It’s not the banality of the programme that has started to irritate me. Trust me, by 9pm on a Wednesday evening, that doesn’t even enter into the equation.

My growing irritation goes deeper than that. True, I’m fed up with the boardroom shenanigans and the arrogance of a candidate who describes herself  as half machine. But, more importantly (having watched, transfixed, as the girls’ team bitch and threaten each other with their Moschino handbags) I’ve started to wonder what the Apprentice says about women in business.

Perhaps the idea of compassionate capitalism always was just another oxymoron. And the concept of sisterhood may well be the sort of pinko feminist drivel that Sir Alan despises. But I’d like to see a bit more teamwork, a bit more win-win. And, just possibly, a girl candidate who didn’t remind me of Sofie Fatale or Gordon Gecko in drag.

I started watching the Apprentice because I’m genuinely interested in business. There are great opportunities out there for women, as the growth of the mompreneur proves.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for making the most of what you’ve got. It’s just that I think getting on with people, and being able to add up, count for more than an MBA in soundbites and vitriol.

My business role models are inspirational women like the late Anita Roddick and Camila Batmanghelidjh.

And, without wanting to sink to soundbites and vitriol myself, the current crop of  Apprentice wannabes don’t come close.

 

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#magicmoment, licenced to quill

Posted on May 20, 2013 by sarah

I am joining with Oliver’s Madhouse #magicmoments again this Monday.

I am really enjoying dipping into the #magicmoment posts to up my feel-good factor.

Last week, I’ve caught myself glowing with quite a few #magicmoments, little things that bring a smile to my face.

Admittedly, looking back, most of them have involved cake or chocolate in some form.school boy in shorts and navy blue uniform And it’s taken a few minutes pondering (fueled by some slightly healthier rice crackers) to think of one that reflects more positively.

But, here goes.

Last week, Junior came home from school with a certificate. Certificates aren’t that unusual in our house, as the fridge door will testify. Usually, however, they have the word effort somewhere in the strap line. This one, however, was laminated and presented to me with something of a flourish.

J proudly announced he was now officially entitled to use a pen. *Gasps of shock horror*

(Actually he’s been using pens, at home, in all shapes, sizes and colours, since he was a baby. We won’t mention the time he used the bedroom wall as an easel. His school, however, uses the bestowing of a pen as an incentive for the children to improve their handwriting. Until then, it’s pencil.)

The big beam on his face said it all. He was really chuffed (at least until that evening’s homework when he discovered that you can’t rub pen out very easily).

hand writing certificate

It brought a smile to my face too. J has struggled with his writing, having inherited my inability to spell. He grapples with his bs and ds. Getting him to write from left to right, instead of right to left, was a major achievement. Pencil grip wasn’t so much a technique, as a form of torture.

For months, if not years, he’s lamented his status as a pencil writer. So, although it may not seem much, we’re loving the ever-so-slightly corny accolade, Licenced to Quill.

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#silentsunday

Posted on May 19, 2013 by sarah

schooll through sunlit horse chestnut tree

Posted in silent sunday | 20 Comments

Wet weather bad news for bees too

Posted on May 16, 2013 by sarah

This week, we’ve had several seasons in each day. Admittedly, today’s early morning panic over the absence of sunscreen when I unloaded J from the car seems a distant memory.

There are grey clouds overhead, threatening to prove the futility of trying to line-dry the washing. I’ve despatched OH (under protest) to reactivate the boiler and consigned the summer Boden catalogue to the recycle bin. (Sadly, that lovely linen kaftan and boy-leg swimming costume no longer seem such a good investment).

Worse, it looks set to get even wetter and the doom mongers in the Oldies’ Daily Mail predict another wet summer. Bad news for just about everybody (other than ducks, newts and Thomas Cook.).

It’s especially bad news for insects. Last summer (another wet one) saw insect numbers decline drastically (fewer aphids, apparently).

Ordinarily, insect mortality doesn’t interest me much. (Last summer, I took to brushing the Hovel’s burgeoning community of woodlice and spiders into the dustpan. Then despatching them outside, for the birds to eat, when J wasn’t looking).

But (like most people, I guess) I’ve got a soft spot for butterflies and bees, like this little chap I spotted as I wended my way back from the farm.

bumble bee on flower

Bees are in decline. Two species of bumblebee have become extinct since WW2.  Most people attribute their decline to changes in agriculture, climate change and habitat destruction. And the wet weather isn’t helping. Many bees need hot dry weather to gather pollen and nectar.

Bees are good. They produce honey (an essential ingredient in my favouite honeyed lemon cake, and my heavily-adapted early morning porridge). They pollentate flowers (I’ve never worked the actual mechanics out, but people who know better than me attributed the failure of my plum trees last year to the lack of participating bees.)

There are things we can do to help. Simple things that are much more fun than relocating spiders.

Making your garden bee-friendly comes top. Add a bee house. Plant wildflowers and varieties that bees like. Thomson & Morgan even have a list of bee-friendly flowers and vegetables.

More information

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust

Thomson & Morgan, Save the Bees

 

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Britmums Live, are my wallet and ego ready for it?

Posted on May 15, 2013 by sarah

It seemed a long time ago when I booked it, but it’s not much more than a month to Brit Mums Live. And I’m looking forward to it and feeling anxious in about equal measure.

At the moment, I’m debating on where to stay on the Friday night….I am feeling tempted by the Montcalm. montcalm brewery city

However, I’m balking at the price. I’ve obviously been away from London too long (or maybe it’s just that I no longer have an Admin Dept to pick up the bill). There’s a little devil in my head though who keeps telling me that it’s not much dearer than the Travel Lodge….

The reality is I’ll probaby end up reliving my commuting days.crowded commuter train

Anyway, that’s not the point. Hopefully, I’ll be too busy enjoying myself at Britmums Live to worry about my accommodation.

Over the next few days/weeks I’ll be checking out the other posts in the Britmums Live Linky. In the meantime, here’s me.

 

Name: Sarah Hill Wheeler (Juggling the Hill and Wheeler post-marriage seemed too complicated. And I got fed up having to explain that, legally, you have a right, not an obligation to use your husband’s name. So now I struggle with three combos and an absent hyphen).

Blog: crewcutandnewt

Twitter ID: @hill_wheeler

Height: 5ft 5ish (I think. As with expanding waistline, I gave up measuring

Hair: Strawberry blond, or facing red depending on your perspective.

Eyes: Somewhere between blue and grey, depending on the weather.

mother holding small boy and laughingIs this your first blogging conference? Yes (in fact it’s the first time in five years that I’ve managed to escape for an over-nighter!).

Are you attending both days?

Yes, but suspect the apron strings (and GWR timetable) may be tugging me back on Saturday afternoon.

What are you most looking forward to at BritMums Live 2013?

Just being there, putting faces to names and listening to some great speakers. I’m particularly interested in some of the WRITE sessions.

What are you wearing?

HELP. All my half-way decent clothes are still in storage. I tend to live in jeans most days, but I may use Britmums Live as an excuse to raid the piggy bank (again) and to glam it up a bit.quizzical looking woman inglasses

What do you hope to gain from BritMums Live 2013?

I am really looking forward to meeting other bloggers for the first time in the flesh (although I also find this a bit daunting). I am also hoping to gain some insights into where I want to take my blog.  I love writing it, but at the moment I don’t feel that I have a clear direction.

Tell us one thing about you that not everyone knows

I make great puddings.


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