A website visualised

I found this website.  And it produced this image.

 

I think it's quite pretty.  It's a visualisation of this blog.  Try the link for yourself and try out other websites to see your own visualisations.

The Visa Way

So today is the last day to apply for Olympic tickets.
We did it yesterday and we went a little bit crazy.
The whole applying process is quite simple, if expensive and actually completely outrageous.  There are times when corporate sponsorship goes too far, and Visa's complete obliteration of all that is acceptable is, frankly, unacceptable.
To attend events at the Olympic Games you choose firstly the events and then the ticket price.  This is not like choosing a ticket for the theatre because you are merely choosing how much you are willing to pay.  The assumption is that the more one pays the better the seats supplied.  At no point are applicants given sight of a seating plan or any kind of indication of how far away they will be from any sporting action.  It's merely an assumption.  A very expensive assumption in our case.
There is no guarantee that the tickets for which you have applied will actually be allocated.  In our case, if they are not, that will be a financial bonus as well as a crushing disappointment.
In May your Visa card, and yes it must be a Visa card, will be debited for the amount of your successful application and you must ensure you have sufficient funds (or credit limit) to cover the amount for which you have applied.  In our case that means we can't spend any money on our Visa card at all because our application absorbs our entire credit limit, bar about £150.
At the end of June you'll be told which tickets were allocated.
What?  You mean I paid for something in May and won't know exactly what it is until the end of June?
Yep, that's the Visa way.
Now obviously you might find that your Equestrian clashes with your Rhythmic Gymnastics and you were successful with both ticket applications.  You'd applied for both because you were hedging your bets (we've hedged a lot of bets).  Clearly you want a refund on the Equestrian event because your true love is Rhythmic Gymnastics.
Getting a refund is perfectly possible but, only when applied for in 2012.
What? I can only get a refund in 2012, over six months after I paid for the damn things?  That's outrageous!
No.  That's the Visa way.
The most sickening and annoying thing about this whole thing isn't the anxious wait to find out whether you'll be trotting off to see the horses in Greenwich or young girls twirling ribbons.  It's the fact that the whole "pay for stuff in May, find out what you've paid for in June and maybe get a refund next year" is not information that you'll find on the London2012.com website.  No, to find this out you have to search Google. (If you are looking for advice then this is a good site: http://conversation.which.co.uk/money/budget-for-your-olympics-tickets/)
And that's the Visa way.  God Bless Visa.
You know, I've previously not cared a jot about any credit card provider but now I do have a fully formed opinion of Visa as a brand.  I wonder if it's the one they envisaged when they engaged in their Olympic sponsorship.

Our daily bread

I bought a breadmaker last weekend.

Before last weekend I had thought I might benefit from one. I was also worried that I'd buy the wrong one, wouldn't be able to work it, wouldn't know where to store it etc.

So if you're experiencing the same dilemma then this is what I did and what I discovered.

I decided to buy the Panasonic SD-256.  I could have bought the SD-257 but the only discernible differences between the two is about £50 in price and a raisin/nut/seed dispenser.  I think the raisin dispenser feature would be a useful feature but only when using the timer facility.  So far I have used the timer facility a lot.  My plan is to live with the SD-256 for a while and then think about upgrading.

I bought it for a bargain £70 and, if you buy at the moment, you can go to the Panasonic website and download a form to complete and send off for a "free" bread recipe book (written by someone who uses a Panasonic breadmaker).

So now I have one, what do I think?

Well Dave didn't want me to buy one but that's because I have too much stuff in the kitchen already.  He had a point.  It's a bit too big for a kitchen cupboard which is just as well as I don't have any space in any kitchen cupboards anyway. (I hate my kitchen)

However, it sort of fits if you balance it on top of the the microwave.  OK this is a rubbish storage solution but it gets used daily so storage is less of an issue and it just gets in the way.

And what have I used it for?

Well timer set baking is great for that freshly baked bread smell first thing in the morning.  But very fresh bread is difficult to slice. I've been making a wholemeal and white mix with seeds and it is delicious.  If I'd got the SD-257 model I might have used the dispenser to add the seeds.  As it is I just bung the seeds in on top of the other ingredients and it works perfectly.  There is an order in which the ingredients need to be added, mainly to separate the water, sugar and the yeast until the right moment, and the order does seem to be important.

Hannah has given up her usual order of cinnamon and raisin bagel in favour of fresh bread with honey.

I've also tried a few dough recipes and freestyled it a bit adding all sorts into the mix.  The olives I sliced got a bit mashed in the mixing process.  This may have been avoided by having the SD-257 or even figuring out how to select the raisin dough cycle which beeps when the stuff (raisins or olives or whatever) need adding.  I've figured this out now but I got very annoyed during the figuring it out process.

There are some recipes that require lining the bread tin with baking parchment.  This is simply ridiculous and I plan to use loaf tin and oven for those recipes, if I ever get there.

I did try panettone and the first time I forgot to put the kneading blade in first so tipped everything out, put the blade in and tipped everything back in again. Disaster. But when I tried again without screwing things up it was much better.

I can't see the point of using the bake only function.  Use an oven and a cake/loaf tin!

I've also used the rapid bake function and that worked really well for a bread mix but I'm equally confident it would work with a normal loaf.

There will be a hole in the bottom of every loaf you make because the kneading blade doesn't have a way of disappearing after it's done the kneading.

So I'm just off to bed, but I need to pop some ingredients in the breadmaker and press go and I know the ingredients list off by heart: 200g white flour (Canadian is best, try Marriages), 200g wholemeal or granary flour, 3/4tsp dried yeast, 1tsp sugar, 1tsp salt (I use less), 15g butter (I do this by eye so it's 15g ish) and 290ml water and a big handful of mixed seeds.

 

Mu-u-um

Conversation with Ethan during his monster attempt at the world record for number of trampoline bounces in a day.

"Mu-u-um, how many people live in New Zealand?"

"Erm, maybe four million." (This turns out to be reasonably accurate as guesses go.)

"So not as many as the United Kingdom?"

"No.  Not as many as the United Kingdom."

"But more than Japan?"

"No. I think Japan has more people than New Zealand." (Got this right too.  Amazing because Geography was never my thing and I'm useless at remembering facts.)

"But what about the tsunami?"

"What about the tsunami?"

"Did you know a tsunami can get up to 10 metres tall which is the same as our tape measure can measure?"

"What a coincidence...."

 

Data Protection Act II and subversion

No, there isn't a DPAII that I'm aware of but this is my second of two posts on the subject.

You know when you return something to a shop and they refund your credit card and they ask you for your name, address and sometimes phone number....

When have you been told what the company is doing with that information?

When have you been asked about marketing permissions associated with those details?

Have you ever questioned the request for your personal data or have you just handed it over for fear of jeopardising your chance of successfully getting your money back?

You mug!

Me too.

Why do they need that information?

What do they use it for?

Is it a subversive way to collect information for the marketing database?

Data Protection Act and Currys

I brought a breadmaker today.  My bread is a bit hit or miss so I found one I wanted and reserved it at a local Currys for in store pick up.  During the reservation process I gave away my name, address, telephone number, email address and bra size but was given the option of opting into or out of marketing communications from Currys and partner companies.

In store, at the checkout, I was asked for the same personal details but I could see that the checkout assistant couldn't be bothered with asking me all of the details.  Whilst she didn't catch my telephone number and email address, she did have my name and address.  And importantly while she was skipping over the detail she also skipped over the tick box that was there to capture people who didn't want to receive marketing information.  She just didn't ask me.  She assumed I wanted junk mail, or perhaps she was poorly training and didn't know what the "No Marketing" box meant.

I explained that she had missed some information and she cancelled the transaction and started again, this time ticking the right box.

I took the breadmaker out to the car, went back in and told a manager that his staff needed more training and that, currently, his staff were breaching the Data Protection Act. I wasn't told why my data was being collected and what it would be used for and I wasn't given the option of saying no to marketing information.

 

Mummy loves Ethan more than Ethan loves Mummy

Ethan and I have this thing.  I'll say I love him and he'll say "Not as much as I love you." and then I'll reply with "No. I love you more." And so it goes on ad infinitum.

Anyway Ethan's latest retort was "No you don't. I checked it on Google." This of course is met by me saying that I checked Google and that he was wrong.

Tonight we both checked Google together and it was universally rubbish.  The search term I used was, admittedly, quite ridiculous: "Does Mummy love Ethan more than Ethan loves Mummy?"

So this is a test of the power of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and the power of the blog for achieving a Google rank.

The other side of the fence

You know I don't want the neighbours to be successful with their planning application.  But maybe I'm just being a bit selfish.  Let's look at things from their point of view, or what I imagine to be their point of view.

You moved into your house 13-14 years ago and within a couple of years you'd applied for planning permission to expand the house adding almost 50% of the volume of the existing house.  For whatever reason you never went ahead with those plans but ever since you've been dissatisfied with your house.  You don't like the kitchen and there's only one small bathroom and so you haven't really bothered with maintaining the house that much.  In the back of your mind you know your house will be changing and all of those little things will get fixed then.

And then in 2005 a developer put an idea in your head.  Knock down the house and build flats.  Make lots of money and move to a bigger and better house, one that has a bigger kitchen and maybe a couple of bathrooms.

Your architect worked really closely with Brentwood Council Planning office to the point that you were almost promised the rubber stamp of approval.  In fact the planning office did recommend approval but there was a problem.  Something happened and you decided to withdraw the plans.  

This put you in a difficult position.  You feel you alienated your neighbours in the area with the planning application but the plans were never agreed by the council.  You carried on living in the house you were never happy with and because the plans to move on were put on ice you made some improvements to the house.  You did get a new kitchen and you did do some of those little maintenance jobs.

And then the development opportunity became feasible once more and you knew that last time the approval was as good as in the bag, or so you thought.  So you resubmitted the plans, making some minor changes to make the flats more saleable and by considering some of the planning department's recommendations from the previous application.

The trouble is that there are a few things that have changed since the prior application which make the original plans less feasible.  Also your main neighbour was suffering from post natal depression the last time you applied and, frankly, she only managed a lame 35 letters in to the council.  This time she has children at school and access to a much bigger network of people who are likely to be concerned by the development.  Also in 2005 nobody was using Facebook, and now everybody is.  Blogging and Facebook and Twitter are all widely used and available.  Many more people use e-mail and have computers with internet access and smartphones.  The world is far more connected.  Opposing a planning application just got a whole lot easier.  All people have to do is to complete a simple online form.  The confidence you had when you submitted the application is waning.  Local residents are more politicised and politically savvy and they are displaying their views in their windows.  

You feel more and more isolated and your confidence about getting plans approved is starting to evaporate.  You are considering your options and contemplating an alternative plan. 

You honestly believe that your plans are the best alternative for the community because your plans are what you think fits with the look and style and scale of the neighbouring properties even though your neighbours might not agree.  You believe that if your plans aren't approved then someone else will get much less attractive plans approved.  Local residents should be grateful for the time and money that has gone into the consideration and thought behind the plans.  And partly you are concerned that if the plans are rejected then you will have sunk an unrecoverable small fortune into the enterprise.

 

Dear Essex and Suffolk Water

Dear Essex and Suffolk Water

I'm sorry that I didn't have the foresight to predict the outcome of our last encounter and understand fully that circumstances experienced were not covered in my previously published terms of engagement.

How were we both to know that your engineer would turn up with all of the requisite equipment to enable water pressure and flow measurement but find it impossible due to the inept installation of a water meter by other Essex and Suffolk Water some years prior?

I have now been waiting almost two weeks for the correct installation of a new water meter as recommended by your representative which, I was assured, would be accompanied by the requested pressure and flow tests.

I would request that you attend to this matter with some urgency because my patience is always thin but, on this particular issue, is somewhat threadbare.

Currently to draw hot water from any tap in the house we need to turn the tap on and then walk to the boiler cupboard, restart the boiler a few times until the hot water light is illuminated and then check that the bath/sink etc doesn't overflow. It is helpful, to ensure continued supply of hot water, to monitor the boiler to ensure it doesn't switch itself off. This is difficult when in the shower but if this has happened the issue does, rather quickly and uncomfortably, become apparent.

My calm demeanour about this state of affairs cannot last and I politely suggest that you get a move on.

Yours with increasing blood pressure

Ann Cardus (Mrs)

Lemon and poppy seed muffins

I needed to make something for a school cake sale and I happened to have over ordered lemons last week so I dug out this recipe for lemon and poppy seed muffins.
Ingredients

• 250g plain flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• pinch salt
• 85g granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 240ml milk
• 1 tsp grated lemon rind – preferably unwaxed
• 90ml corn oil
• 1/2 tsp lemon extract (can be substituted with more lemon rind)

Glaze

• 85g icing sugar
• 4 tsp lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp grated lemon rind

Method

• Prepare muffin tins and preheat oven to 160°C for a fan oven.
• Put flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl and stir with a fork.
• In a separate bowl beat egg and stir in milk, lemon rind, oil and lemon extract.
• Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir until no flour is visible.
• Spoon into muffin cases and bake for 20 mins or until lightly browned.
• While muffins are in the oven make the glaze by combining glaze ingredients.
• While muffins are hot, spoon over the glaze and leave to cool slightly.

These muffins freeze really well. Defrosting takes about three hours or a quick 30-40 second blast on top power in the microwave.

Hannah’s cupcakes

Makes 12 but the mixture only needs to fill the bottom third of each muffin case and the mixture takes up so little space in a bowl that doubling the mixture would be easy.

Ingredients

• 125g butter (softened at room temperature)
• 125g sugar (caster or granulated)
• 2 eggs beaten
• 125g self raising flour
• 2tbsp milk

Icing

• 225g icing sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp warm water
• Food colouring as required
• Decorations as required (sweets, chocolate buttons, hundreds and thousands, glace cherries)

Method

• Preheat fan oven to 160°C (or 190°C for regular oven). 
• Put muffin cases into a muffin tin.
• In a bowl beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy.  If doing by hand this can be quite hard work.
• Add eggs a little at a time beating well after each addition. (You could add food colouring at this point if you wanted a coloured sponge)
• Add flour and fold in carefully.
• Mix in milk and stir until mixture is smooth and drops off spoon easily.
• Spoon mixture into cases and bake fro 15-20 mins until cakes are risen and golden brown.
• While cakes are cooking make the icing by adding all of the icing ingredients to a bowl and mix until thick and smooth.
• When cakes are cooked put them on a cooling rack.
• Spoon icing onto cakes and spread to the edges with the back of a spoon.  Add decorations as required.

Triple chocolate muffins

The three chocolates come from the cocoa, the dark chocolate chips and the white chocolate chips.  These are not my favourite muffins but I’m fussy when it comes to chocolate.  They do seem to be popular with others though and when we did the cake sale for Tsunami relief these were one of the first cakes to sell out.  People buy with their eyes as well as their wallets.

Makes 12 muffins (or 36 tiny mini muffins)

Ingredients

• 280g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 bicarb of soda
• pinch salt
• 5 tbsp cocoa powder
• 140g granulated (or caster) sugar
• 1 egg
• 290ml milk
• 1tsp vanilla extract (not essence)
• 90ml corn oil
• 50g white choc chips
• 50g dark choc chips

Method

• Put muffin cases in muffin tin and turn oven on to 160°C (for fan oven, for regular oven turn on to 190°C).
• In a large bowl add flour, baking powder, bicarb, salt, cocoa powder, choc chips and sugar and stir with a fork.
• In another bowl beat egg and stir in milk, corn oil, vanilla and oil.
• Do not use any form of electric mixer! Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until no flour is visible.  The batter will be lumpy but this is fine.
• Spoon into tins.  A heaped dessert spoon per muffin case is roughly the right amount.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until tops spring back when pressed gently.
• These muffins freeze very well and take about 2 hours to defrost or, if you’re in a hurry, then, from frozen, 30-40 seconds in a microwave on full power will make one ready to eat.

Lemon drizzle loaf

I made this for the first time to sell during the half marathon and it was rather yummy.  I made a double quantity and the Kenwood Chef was a bit overwhelmed with the volume of the mix so, if you’re planning to do the same, you have been warned.

You’ll need a loaf tin, roughly 23cm by 13cm and the deeper the better.  Grease this and dust well with flour, shaking off any excess.  You need to do this properly because when you’ve poured over the drizzle and allowed it to cool then it can be tricky to get out of the tin.

Ingredients

• 320g sugar (caster or granulated)
• 3 eggs
• grated zest of 2 unwaxed lemons (or more if you want and be careful not to grate the bitter white pith)
• 250g plain flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• pinch salt
• 250ml milk (skimmed, semi-skimmed or full fat)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (always buy extract not essence)
• 200g unsalted butter, melted

Lemon Syrup

• freshly squeezed juice and zest of one lemon
• 50g sugar (caster or granulated)

Method

• Preheat the oven to 170°C or 140°C for a fan oven (aren’t all ovens fan ovens these days?)
• Put sugar, eggs and lemon zest in a bowl and beat until well mixed.
• Add flour (sifted if you can be bothered), baking powder and salt to a separate bowl. And combine milk and vanilla in yet another bowl. (This recipe creates a fair bit of washing up.)
• Add a third of the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and beat well.  Add a third of the milk mixture and beat well. 
• Do the flour followed by milk thing again, twice.
• Beat very well until everything is light and fluffy.
• Add melted butter and beat until well incorporated.
• Pour into prepared loaf tin and then bake for about 1 1/4  hours or until golden brown and it passes the skewer test (when a skewer is inserted into the centre of the cake and removed it remains clean.)

Lemon syrup

• While the cake is baking put lemon zest, juice, sugar and 100ml water in a small saucepan.  Bring to boil over a low heat.  Raise heat and boil until it has reduced by half or until it is a thin syrup.
• Put a cooling rack over a shallow baking tray and when the cake is cooked put it on the cooling rack.  Use the skewer to make lots of holes in the top of the loaf and then carefully pour syrup over the loaf.  The syrup is likely to spill into the baking tray and then you can tip what’s in the baking tray back over the loaf.  This process can get very messy and sticky.
• When loaf has cooled completely you can remove it from the tin.  I put the tin in a freezer bag and then turn the loaf out.  This also handily prepares the loaf for the freezer.  This cake freezes very well.  Take out of the freezer the night before you need it. 

Targeted marketing

Never, in the history of marketing, has a campaign been more aptly targeted.  If you see the post preceding this one you’ll understand why.

I received an e-mail from Mumsnet which included information on their book club.  I clicked on the link and noted it was sponsored by Radox.

This is taken from the campaign microsite landing page:

Why have we called the campaign 'Be Selfish'?

The idea for the Be Selfish campaign actually came from a group of Mums. Back in 2009 we asked our customers (who happened to be Mums), what they would like more of, and the answer was universally 'more time to ourselves please', not because they were unhappy being a Mum, or a wife, or a colleague but because like all of us Mums really benefit from spending time out focussing just on them, you know where you shut the door, and have a bit of peace and quiet, with no interruptions.

However, we also discovered that simply 'taking time out' was easier said than done. We commissioned a survey that found the average British women spent 21 years of her life looking after other people, and only three years on herself; statistics like these highlight the reasons why:

Running errands, looking after the house and shopping for the family took up 19 years, three months, and four days in the average women's lifetime.

• Looking after children and the daily ferrying to after school clubs and swimming lessons accounted for a further one year, nine months and eight days.
• 11 hours were spent cooking for the family each week, equating to almost four years of a women's life spent up close and personal to her cooker.
• Not that Mums were complaining BUT the effects of all this running about were not pretty with 63% of Mums reporting regular 'boiling over' outbursts (normally at the nearest family member).

Radox coined a phrase for these little eruptions - Vesuvius Syndrome - where everyday stresses built up and up to the point where it all boiled over. Radox wanted to help Mums beat this by facilitating 'time out', and so the 'Be Selfish' campaign was born.

Over the last two years we've teamed up with Kathy Lette to write a waterproof book that Mums could read in the bath, we built a Selfish Sanctuary that Mums could win for a bit of selfish pampering - and in October 2010 we teamed up with Mumsnet to sponsor the book club giving away free books to enjoy.

I’m off to pour myself a glass of wine, run a hot bath, and take a book, and not my phone, with me.

Meltdown

No, not the Japanese nuclear reactors.  Me.

It was the tiniest of things that sent me over the edge.  A parents evening appointment that “couldn’t be moved” that clashed with a meeting at work.  And everything came tumbling down.

Everything that I try and do, and fail to achieve, was suddenly brought into sharp focus and I just felt like a complete failure; always letting people down.

Does this happen to other people?  Or should I be making an appointment with the doctor for those little green pills I took when I had post natal depression?

I’ve been crying on and off for about two hours now and it doesn’t matter how many reassuring hugs I get from Hannah, Ethan and Dave, I can’t stop.

I know you don’t really want to read about this but I’m wondering whether putting it into words might help me.  It’s very self-indulgent but right now I think I could do with looking after myself.

Next time you see me I’ll be fine, I promise.  Because bouncing back and keeping a lid on the madness is what it’s all about.  But in the short term Dave has suggested we open a bottle of wine.

My terms of engagement

Dear Essex and Suffolk Water

Thank you very much for promising to come out on Friday between 7:00am and 1:00pm to check the water flow and pressure for our property which British Gas advises is insufficient to operate our boiler.

I have accepted that should no fault be found you will charge us £48.  You have promised to provide a full report explaining exactly what flow and pressure you are delivering.

I estimate that it will take no more than 10 minutes for you to asses the service that you provide to us which, at £48 per visit, is quite a lucrative business.

Clearly I am investing more time in this process than you.  I shall be at home between 7:00am and 1:00pm, investing exactly 36 times more time.  If fault is found, I think it is entirely reasonable that I charge you and whilst we’re being fair and reasonable, and even though my perception is that my time is more valuable than yours, I will agree to use the same hourly rate.  So that’s 36 x £48, which will net me £1728.

Payment can only be accepted in cash.  Cheques and credit and debit cards will not be accepted.  Also, this cash must be paid immediately upon delivery of the information that you have not been delivering the service to which I am entitled.

Additionally, should your evaluation of the inbound water flow prove to be unsatisfactory, there will be some additional charges due:

• There will be the “naked running around the house to restart the boiler to avoid a cold shower” charge which amounts to £500.
• Additionally there’s the “running downstairs from the bathroom to ensure hot water by restarting the boiler” charge which is £750.
• Lastly there’s the “dripping water across the kitchen floor mid washing up so that the washing up does clean things properly” charge at a reduced £350.

None of these charges guarantee that we will not pursue you for additional compensation at a later date.

We will offer a refreshments service during your visit.  Freshly brewed tea and freshly ground coffee will be offered for a modest charge of £2.70 per beverage.

Finally I will be levying a Monopoly charge.  As the only supplier available to me you will be subject to the Monopoly charge of £1000 per annum.

Payment for all charges must be made in cash on the day of the visit prior to departure.

I look forward to your visit on Friday.

Love and kisses,

Ann

How to challenge a planning application

I’ve just had to go through this and I’ve learnt a few things.  I can’t promise that any of these things will work for you but I think they have improved my chances of successfully challenging a planning application.

First things first, you need to look at the plans.  Spend a long time doing this and make notes as you’re doing it.  It’s OK to view the plans online but sometimes you really need to see them full size laid out on a big table, so make time to visit your local planning office.

When you do visit the local planning office make sure you ask to have the duty planning officer explain the plans to you.  Don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Find a copy of your council’s adopted plan.  This is effectively the Council rule book for assessing planning applications.  Talk to the duty planning officer to help understand the adopted plan.  It’s a little like trying to understand a legal document; a bit of a challenge if you’re not used to the terminology.  Also ask the planning officer if there any other documents or policies that aren’t in the local plan but are official adopted policies.  I’ve found it difficult to navigate easily to all of the relevant information so it’s useful having an expert guide you through.  Town planners aren’t web designers and the usability of the site and the logical layout of information can be somewhat lacking.

When you’ve had time, in a quiet room, to evaluate the plans together with the local adopted plan, then go back for another chat with the duty planning officer with a list of questions.  Ask them about the things that you think aren’t in line with the local planning guidelines and get some feedback from an expert.

Contact your local Councillor and, if they aren’t on the Planning Committee, maybe contact a Councillor who is on the Planning Committee.

Your Councillor can provide advice and guidance but if they are on the Planning Committee they must remain impartial and cannot express an opinion on the application.  This doesn’t mean they can’t offer advice and you should take advantage of their expertise.

Talk to your neighbours about the application to see if there are other people that would support an objection.  Help people by sharing everything that you’ve learned from the town planners and Councillors and give them the key points to include in an objection.  Encourage them to get involved by viewing the plans and talking to planners and Councillors.

When you write your objection letter try to reference back to the policies in the local adopted plan.  This makes it look like you’ve done your homework and that you know what you’re talking about.  Copy as many Councillors as you can with your objection letter because if the decision goes to Committee then they only see objections if they ask for them. 

An upside

You know about the plans to demolish our neighbour’s house and build ten flats don’t you?  That’s more of a rhetorical question than anything because I’ve not been bleating about anything else except that for the last few weeks.

It’s tough and stressful because there’s a lot to do and organise and there’s the added complexity of uncertainty.  We don’t know what we’ll be living next to next year.  We could be living next to a house with planning permission, a building site or a shiny new block of hideously out of proportion flats.  But I don’t want you to think it’s all bad.

Since the plans have been made public I’ve had local residents knocking on my door wanting to help me with the campaign to prevent the flats achieving planning permission.  I’ve knocked on lots of local residents doors and spoken to many kind and lovely people (and a few less kind and less lovely) and made connections with people with whom I’d normally just exchange a cheery hello (except the less kind and lovely ones because they’re not very good at eye contact.)

I’ve even taken to approaching complete strangers in the street and asking them if they knew about the plans and telling them how to find out more and how to object.  I actually enjoy doing this.  This may seem strange because it’s something that many people aren’t comfortable with.

It almost makes me feel that perhaps I was born to sell double glazing or preach the Lord’s word because I enjoy cold calling. 

I blame my Mum, she started it.  We used to go door to door collecting money for the RNLI and the Royal British Legion in the run up to Poppy Day or as it should be known Remembrance Sunday.  It was a great way to catch up with people and discover the latest gossip.

An update

We’ve decided to stay and fight the neighbour’s plans to replace their lovely old detached house with a block of cramped and tiny flats with barely any greenery and hardly any parking.

To this end I’ve done several things to move things forward:

• I’ve met with several neighbours, most of whom insist on plying me with wine.  I’ve not met anyone yet who isn’t bothered.
• I’ve agreed to go petitioning tomorrow, if such a thing exists, so I might knock on your door.  You have been warned.
• I’ve spoken with a councillor and the editor of the Gazette.
• I’ve set up a Facebook protest page which I’m actually very proud of as it’s my first one and it has had 36 “Likes” in less than a day.
• I’ve arranged a gathering of interested parties at our house, next week to encourage opposition.
• And thanks to some advice from Tony, I’ve contacted these guys: AHA Planning. AHA Planning have lots of experts in Town Planning who, for a modest sum (£36), will evaluate plans and construct a letter of objection.  If they don’t believe you have a leg to stand on they will refund your money.  Sounds like a win win to me.

I’ll let you know how we get on but in the meantime, why don’t you go to my Facebook protest page and “Like” it, and spread the word.

Oh, and the house that they want to knock down looks like this:

Parents eh!

Hannah, aged eight and three quarters, had to research a city this week during half term.  She chose Cairo and this is, almost, all her own work:

Cairo with Zombie

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Extra slide was produced by her dad while she was tucked up in bed.  Parents eh!