Hey Tom

Tom wrote to me: 

Hello Ann, 

This is Tom with XXXXX Company, a Chicago-based Adobe Executive Level Partner. 

Although XXXXX Company has performed over 130 successful AEM/CQ5 implementations and helped many clients take advantage of little known features within the Adobe Digital Marketing Cloud, we don't have much contact with the team at Ford. Therefore, I'd like to set-up a short introduction call. 

The intent of this call is simply for introductions, discuss your Web initiatives, and see if XXXXX Company's Adobe expertise fits the direction Ford is headed. Attached is a brief overview of XXXXX Company. 

Are you available for a 15 – 20 minute call early next week to assess whether or not it makes sense to continue our conversations? 

What are your thoughts? 

Best Regards, -- Tom 

and I replied: 

Hi Tom 

If I told you that I worked in the UK and that my responsibilities are nothing to do with Social Media or Digital Marketing would you still want a chat? 

I doubt it. 

Wherever you have found my email address you have discovered an out of date contact. If you have paid for this as “prospect data” then I would a) like to know who is supplying my personal information without my permission and b) advise you to request a refund. 

I know working in sales is tough and making that first contact is tough, but it doesn’t help when the prospect data you’re using isn’t reliable. 

I wish you good luck but please remove my name from your database. 

Kind Regards, 

Ann Cardus

Don't privatise our probation service

The privatisation of our probation services is a disgrace. Payment by results for a service to be delivered by private companies is wrong. It just is.

I have worked for the probation service (albeit a six month stint in HR) but I discovered enough to know that people who work in the probation service do so because they are caring individuals who want to make a difference.

Will these same individuals want to transition to a private company motivated by corporate greed? The answer is no, and they are leaving in droves.

Hear for yourselves why this policy needs changing on Radio 4's File on 4:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03vf0f7

Spam, spam, eggs and spam

You know those irritating texts for personal injury or the ones offering a payday loan? Or in my case texts from the furniture company Dwell.

I signed up to receive marketing info from Dwell a few years ago and then they went bust. Within days they were up and trading again. But to my mind the new company was new with new owners. I had given the old company permission but not the new company.

I tried to stop this new company sending me texts by following the instructions in the text that asked me to reply with the word STOP. It didn't work and each new text from then irritated me more than the last.

Last night I decided to report them to the Information Commissioner's Office. By doing that I discovered that there's an easy way to report SPAM texts to your mobile operator.

Simply forward the offending text to 7726. You'll then get an acknowledgment text asking for the number of the sender. Text back with that and the offending company is reported. Job done.

Posted via Blogaway

Muted Make-up

Hannah mentioned that amongst her school group there was an email going back and forth about whether Year 7 girls should be allowed to wear make-up.

She wanted to know how to mute the conversation as there were a large number of girls engaging in the email dialogue and all were using the reply to all button.  She's not in the slightest bit interested in wearing make-up or in having a conversation about it.

Well the great news is that in Gmail it is possible to mute a conversation so you're not bothered by reply to all on a subject that isn't of interest.

But it got me thinking, and researching, make-up for teenage girls and women.

It turns out that make-up can make someone feel better about themselves.  The kicker though is that those wearing make-up generally have lower self esteem than those that don't.

I think the best place to be is to be comfortable without the mask. Far better to work on the self esteem problem than to cover it up with make-up.

I don't need to provide Hannah with this advice but I hope she retains her positive attitude and never feels she needs make-up.

A definition

Female genital mutilation is very much in the news.  To be honest I'd rather it wasn't.  Clearly it's a completely hideous practice but that isn't why I wish it wasn't in the news.  Being completely selfish I just hate hearing about it.  Hearing about it makes me think about it and I really don't want to think about it while I'm eating my breakfast, driving to work, cooking the dinner or relaxing on the sofa, or actually anytime.

So when inflicted on girls FGM is child abuse.  I'm pretty sure that's not in question.

I assume, by applying the same reasoning, that circumcision of boys is also child abuse.

I imagine that applying a tattoo to a child would be considered child abuse too.

What about ear piercing?

I think I'm in love (with an energy company)

Scottish Power wrote to me today to let me know how much energy I used in 2013 and how much I might expect to pay for my energy in 2014.

As the money normally floats out of the joint account on a monthly basis I had no idea we were spending that much.  Actually that is a big fat lie.  I did know how much we were spending but, because the numbers were so horrific, I had blocked them in the same way that people can't remember traumatic experiences; they're pushed into the subconscious to give us all nightmares.

So I dragged myself to the Uswitch website.  

The last time I switched energy bills was I think after I was cornered in Sainsbury by someone who clearly earned a big fat commission.  At the time, Scottish Power were a better deal than British Gas so switching made sense.

I plugged in my usage numbers as this provides an accurate comparison tariff to tariff.

Uswitch told me I could save £404.  £404!!!  That's one hell of a shopping trip that I can claim because it's me saving the money.  Or it's a large chunk of the summer holiday paid for, or it's a hundred and one other things like fixing the rotting garage door and replacing the garage guttering.  The garage is the most likely recipient of any saving, which is a shame because I'm overdue a shopping trip.

The company that can save me this cash is Ovo energy.  Now weren't they the ones who were telling the truth to the House of Commons Select Committee whilst nPower, British Has, eon and the rest of them lied about fluctuating energy prices?  I do believe they were.

Ovo Energy also source 15% of their energy from renewable sources.  How terribly ethical.

Ovo Energy also pay 3% on credit balances.  Really?  I mean really?  That's better than any High Street bank or Building Society.

What's their telephone number?  Funny you should ask: they have a call centre in Bristol full of lovely Bristolians and you can dial 0800 5999 440, free from most landlines, or 01179 303100 for those of you with free minutes calling from your mobile where 0800 numbers are chargeable.  How thoughtful; you get to choose which phone number to call depending on which suits you. 

Oh, and they're on Twitter @OvoEnergy.

And ofcourse Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ovoenergy

And they're even on Google+ (weirdos): https://plus.google.com/+ovoenergy/posts

And YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/OvoEnergyTV

And they blog (only freaks blog): http://www.ovoenergy.com/blog/

And if that isn't enough they're happy for you to pop in for a chat.  I know!!!  Speak to a real person face to face.  You have to be in Bristol mind but that might be half the fun.  (40 St Thomas, Bristol, BS16JX)

And for the old folk they have e-mail, how sweet: sales@ovoenergy.com 

I sound like I'm on commission, I'm really not.  I haven't even switched yet, but I will.  I haven't even spoken to them yet, but I will.  I have sent them a couple of tweets though, 'cos I'm like that.  I also sent Scottish Power and Uswitch a tweet too, 'cos I'm like that.

 

Shooting the locals

Someone was shot today near Shenfield station as they emerged from their car.  They were shot in the leg so the person with the gun either didn't mean to kill them or is a really lousy shot.

I found out about this soon after it happened because it resulted in a temporary station closure at Shenfield.    I started out being interested in the associated disruption to my daughter's journey to school and then started to be curious about the shooting.  You see it's not a regular occurrence in this neck of the woods.

Later in the day I saw the incident reported by the Gazette and posted on Facebook.  The first and only comment, when I saw it, was from someone who said "No one gets shot for no reason though usually, do they?"

She's absolutely right.  It's usually because someone who isn't very nice is holding a gun and pulls the trigger.  

But seriously, did she really mean to imply that the victim must have been "asking for it/deserved it"? Really?  Without knowing who has been shot or what are the circumstances if you are a victim of a shooting then there must be a reason?

I don't know who was shot.  I don't know why they were shot, and I'm not going to guess or assume anything.

Easy peasy choccy biccy wocs

This is a Nigella recipe.  I didn't read it properly first time and got them wrong.  This is a baking crime because it has to be one of the easiest biscuit recipes on this planet.  It also has hardly any ingredients.

Nigella thinks they are a "chic accompaniment to a tub of good vanilla ice cream."  My needs are simpler and I think they are the perfect, in significant quantities, with a cuppa.

You will need a couple of baking sheets and either grease these or cover with baking parchment (I did the latter).  Makes 35 if you like small biccy wocs like Nige.  Makes 24-30 if your walnuts are a bit bigger (this makes sense later).

Ingredients

• 250g (yes that's a whole slab) of unsalted butter at a squidgy-ish room temperature
• 125g sugar (Nige uses caster but I use cheaper unrefined granulated - not sure it makes a jot of difference)
• 300g self-raising flour
• 30g cocoa

Method

• If your oven takes a long time to heat up, turn it on to 170˚C or 150˚C for a fan oven.  If you have a super speedy oven then wait until after your mixture becomes a dough.
• Chop your butter up and then whack it in a mixer with sugar until it is pale soft and creamy.  This means mixer at full speed, scraping the sides occasionally and waiting until it's properly pale and light and creamy.  It is possible to this by hand and if you do you may well eliminate bingo wings.
• Sieve the flour and cocoa onto your creamy yumminess and then mix at a slow speed.
• Have faith.
• It will become a dough before your very eyes.
• Don't overdo this bit.  As soon as it has become recognisably a dough you can stop mixing.
• Grab a walnut-sized bit of dough and roll in your palms to make a walnut-sized ball and place on your baking sheet.  Repeat until all the dough has been used
• Space the dough balls out a little bit on the baking sheet because they spread whilst cooking (not a lot, but you don't want them all joining up in the oven.)
• Take a fork and squish your balls leaving tine shaped indentations.  This is the bit I didn't do first time and it turns out to be important!

• Pop in the oven for five mins and then turn oven down to 150˚C or 140˚C for fan oven.  
• Leave in for a further 15 mins.
• Use a palette knife to carefully move the biscuits onto a cooling rack.
• Store in airtight container.
• These are freezable but will keep in a tin for quite a few days (if they last that long).

Easy peasy.

 

There's always a way

About a year ago we booked holiday accommodation for this summer in Tuscany.  Terribly middle class of me and I am somewhat ashamed given that both Tony Blair and David Cameron have also holidayed there - not the sort of company I'd be keen to keep.  They didn't stay where we'll be staying.  Our place is much nicer (I wish).

Whilst the accommodation was sorted we didn't know how we were going to get there and last January the flight schedules for 2014 were a tad non-existent.  So in the midst of a dank, wet January this year my thoughts turned to sunnier times and how exactly we were going to get there.

I looked at flights and they were all rubbish.  Aside from being expensive (the Blair/Cameron effect no doubt) they were at very silly times of the day.  I knew we'd also have to book a hire car and I hate hire cars.  Hire cars smell.

I thought about driving.  Google says it would take 15 hours and 50 minutes.  Google always underestimates the time to cross the channel, even if we go through the Chunnel so I'd add an hour at least.  And then there's the time difference, that's another hour of perceived, although not elapsed, time.  And then there's the lack of consideration for traffic jams and the M25, add another couple of hours.  So that's 20 hours.  We'd need to sleep somewhere and I once made the mistake of booking a Formula 1 hotel on a long trip through France - never again!  It was vile.  The next time we needed a stopover I booked a proper hotel which was better but more expensive.  But I don't like hotels as a rule.

So to arrive on a Saturday we'd need to leave at the crack of sparrows' on a Friday and we'd be knackered by the time we arrived. The kids would have fought so much in the back of the car they wouldn't be able to bear the sight of one another and Dave and I wouldn't want to see either of them because we'd have been sick of the fighting too.  Dave and I would probably be grumpy because there would have been times when we wouldn't trust the satnav and would have resorted to maps.  That's never good.  Oh and food on long journeys like that is cruddy service station fodder - bleargh.

I was beginning to regret the holiday booking and then I looked at trains.  

I found AutoSlaap Trein in the Netherlands.  I have always wanted to travel by MotoRail and this was it!  From s'Hertogenbosch on the Dutch/Belgium border down to Livorno in Italy.  Livorno is just a couple of hours drive from our destination.  The trains have private sleeper cabins and all food and refreshments are provided.  If you want to you can book a posh meal in the restaurant car as you travel through the Rhine valley or you can eat the standard fare in your cabin.  And the best bit is that the car travels with you on its own special bit of the train.

That worked but how would we get to s'Hertogenbosch?  Well, s'Hertogenbosch is just over an hour from the Hook of Holland which just happens to be a destination for ferries that travel from Harwich.  Ferries have lovely cabins for weary people to rest their heads.  Harwich is a stone's throw from home and avoids the nasty M25.  Well it sounded very much like a plan, especially when I put the times together and everything slotted in place perfectly.

So one evening we'll drive to Harwich and hop onto a ferry.  We'll sleep while we travel to the Hook of Holland and after we've woken up and disembarked we'll have oodles of time to get to s'Hertogenbosch.  We might even do some sightseeing.  After lunch we'll park our car on a train and find our own little cabin and, after dinner, we'll sleep our way through Switzerland and into Italy.  Just before lunch we'll drive our car off the train and head to our final destination.

The kids are excited because they love the idea of the massive ferry and the Harry Potteresque train compartment, and I can't wait because I've always wanted to take my car on a train.

The cost is about the same as flights and a hire car.  I'm excited.

Stay at home Mum

I have nothing against the stay at home mum.  I'd quite like to be one.  I am part way there as I'm a part time working mum and consequently a part time stay at home mum.

Unlike many others I never wonder what a stay at home mum does all day because I know it is perfectly possible to fill the school days with enough activity to leave one exhausted by the time the afternoon school run comes around.  But… I overheard an interaction between a stay at home mum and her sole charge the other day that made me chuckle.

The names of those involved have been changed and the following emotional outburst took place immediately after the afternoon school run as the mum was collecting her son.

"I'm sorry George but we're going to have to do the horses"

Mum was wearing horsey gear (boots and jodhpurs).

"Today has been just mad, really hectic!"

She looked stressed and rushed.

"I've spent all day trying to post that package!"

All day to post a package? 

"First I went to the a Post Office who said it was too big for them.  And then the second Post Office I went to said the address was wrong and didn't match the postcode."

And this took all day?

"So Mummy tried all day to post that package and I still haven't managed to.  Anyway, that's why we've got to do the horses, because I didn't have time.  Sorry dear."

And then a grumbling George was bundled into the back of the Range Rover and I thought "Well there's always tomorrow."

Wouldn't it be great

The typhoon that hit the Philippines has brought misery to millions. Listening to the radio I thought "what can I do?"

I can and will donate with plastic but that's an easy solution.

I can do a cake sale and have already started to discuss this with colleagues.

And then I realized my family all have their own "work" community. So I have encourage Hannah and Ethan to try and organise cake sales at school. I have tried talking to my husband but he prefers plastic donations.

And then I though "Wouldn't it be great if everyone who helps organise a cake sale encouraged everyone else in their family to organise a cake sale in their own daily community.

I then had a fractal vision of cake sales spreading throughout the land as one person encouraged another to get involved and then another, and another.

Maybe you could do a cake sale at home or at work to raise money for the Red Cross.

Wouldn't it be great if everyone got involved?

Just in case

I needed to go to IKEA today.  When I say "needed to" I mean it was on my list of things to do and I had a window of opportunity today.  

Ethan had an inset day and Dave was in charge (of Ethan just in case you assumed he was in charge of me).  This meant that when I left work I had some time before I needed to have food on the table and I didn't have the encumbrance of a school run.

I was going to return a lamp which had a couple of non-existent screws.  At the customer service desk I discovered that the time of the school run is the perfect time to hit IKEA.  There was no queue.

Instead of just giving me the screws and washers I needed the assistant gave me a refund and sent me off round the store to find a replacement lamp.  I told her that this was dangerous because I would be sent before temptation with the very likely outcome of me spending money.

I darted around the store using all of the shortcuts available to me.  I see it as a bit of a game to figure out the shortest route to my destination and outwit the store designers that want customers to "experience" IKEA.  I didn't want an experience, I wanted a lamp.

Despite my deft avoidance of temptation I walked past a couple of plain throws, one red and one white.  They were a fleece material with fringing.  I didn't like them as throws and I don't need or want throws, but I was tempted.  They were just £3 each.  Just £3! 

I started to think about how I could use them if I bought them.  Christmas concerts are coming up soon and the throws could well be useful for the creation of any costumes that are needed by my children.  The trouble is that I don't know what those costume requirements might be.

I picked up one red and one white and carried on in search of the lamp.  I had those throws, just in case.  

Am I the only one who does this, who has a loft full of stuff that I might need, one day, maybe?

I put the throws down before reaching the checkout, but only just. 

Day 5

We'll days 2-5 have been very uneventful but there was more activity on day 1.

I called the council about the level of noise from the site.  I was trying to determine what was acceptable.  The Brentwood Council website wasn't specific and referred viewers to the World Health Organisation.  Their website hadn't been helpful so I called the Council to speak to Environmental Health.  They weren't sure it was them and thought it might be Building Control. They made a note to call me but passed me to Building Control in the meantime.

The conversation with Building Control was interesting.  They advised that the noise question definitely had nothing to do with them so I asked about the vibrations I could feel whilst in my house which I presumed were the result of a pile driver.  We discussed distances between properties, the fact that we hadn't entered into a party wall agreement and the person I was speaking to thought we might be OK and avoid damage to our house and it's virtually non-existent foundations.

I was then asked whether I had paid for a full structural survey.  I explained we had, but this was before we moved in, in 1999. I was advised that if we were to make a claim we would need to prove that any damage had been caused by the construction work which would mean a report paid for, in advance, just in case.  "So, because my neighbours are demolishing a nice house and building an overbearing monster to make a quick buck, I need to spend lots of money I don't have on  a full structural survey." I asked.  The answer was a tentative "Yes." I think he could smell my indignation.

He then advised that the next best thing to do was to have a series of photographs taken before the development.  So on Sunday, it being cheaper than a full structural survey, I took pictures of the outside of the house and we'll add to those this weekend with pictures of the interior. He told me to add a current newspaper into each photograph to prove they were taken before the development. This blog, when combined with the image meta data should be sufficient.  I was told meta data can be altered which is why the newspaper is a good idea.  I thought "Images can be Photoshopped too" but decided a blog post would serve as a pretty good date stamp.

Later in the day there was a message on the voicemail.  Instead of just calling me back it transpired that someone in Environmental Health had popped around next door.  Apparently they had been using pile drivers for core samples. It seems there is no advice on how noisy a building site has to be.  Providing they operate within normal working hours they could be using explosives and that would be OK.  Hmmmm.

Living next to a building site - day 1

I had heard that my neighbour's building work was going to start this week but, as I hadn't seen removal vans, I had hoped the rumour wasn't true.

This morning however there were clearly builders on site.  This was just one of the vans parked on double yellow lines near a busy junction during the school run.

 

I asked the driver whether our neighbours were still living in the property and he told me they were.  I don't really understand this because at some point their house is being demolished.  

The noise is how I imagine tinnitus to sound.  Have a listen.

There's also the vibration.  Sitting or standing in the house I can feel a vibration in my feet.  I assume my house is being slightly shaken.  

Carrot cake

Vic and Nyree have asked for this recipe and this is as good a way to share as any.  I'm going to tell you how I made it and also tell you about the bit I left out.  It's a Jo Wheatley recipe.

Ingredients

• 300g soft brown sugar - I think I used a mixture of light muscovado and golden granulated.
• 250ml sunflower oil - I used corn oil because that's what I use in muffin recipes so it's always in the cupboard
• 3 large eggs
• 150g self raising flour
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• pinch of salt
• 250g carrots coarsely grated
• 150g pecans chopped (I put them in a bag and bashed them with a rolling pin)
• zest of half an orange - I use a zester and then chop the zest because I think you get more zest this way than if you use a grater

Orange syrup (I didn't do this bit)

• juice of half a large orange
• 20g caster sugar (if I had done this I would have used granulated)

Frosting

• 400g cream cheese - recipe says full fat and that's what I used because if you've having cake I don't see the point in low calorie stuff but I guess you could use low fat version
• 100g icing sugar - you can reduce this quantity if you want slightly less sweet frosting and I did use less
• zest and juice of half an orange
• pecan halves to decorate if you can be bothered - I couldn't

Method

• Grease a rectangular tin 20cm x 25cm or thereabouts.  Line with baking parchment and grease the baking parchment.  This is always a faff but better to do this than have a cake that cannot be removed from the tin.
• Depending on how long your oven takes to heat up, and how long you take to mix things, preheat oven to 180˚C for a non fan oven or 160˚C for a fan oven.  If you have a gas oven it's gas mark 4 or for an Aga you're on your own.
• Mix the sugar and the oil.  I used a mixer and wasn't quite sure what this should look like.  I stopped when it looked like it had combined.
• Add the eggs and mix until smooth.  I mixed this for quite a while but it wasn't ever really smooth, more smooth-ish.
• Fold in flour, mixed spice and salt.
• Add grated carrot, pecans and orange zest and mix until combined.  The point here is not to mix the living daylights out of it, so use a spoon and be gentle.
• Spoon into baking tin and cook for about 40 minutes.  Check it with the skewer test.  Jo uses a wooden skewer but I use a metal skewer.  I don't know which is best or even whether it matters.
• If you are going to do the orange syrup (which I didn't) then while the cake is in the oven, heat the orange juice and sugar in a small saucepan until the sugar has dissolved and the liquid has reduced by one third.
• Brush the warm cake with the orange syrup and then leave the cake to cool.
• While the cake is cooling you can make the frosting by beating cream cheese, orange juice, icing sugar and orange zest together.  Beat this for quite a while until smooth.  I think I might have beaten it for too long as the mixture was sliding around the metal bowl without leaving a trail on the bowl.  It was also struggling not to slide off the top of the cake.  The orange syrup, being sticky, might help with this.
• Spread the frosting over the cooled cake and decorate with pecans if you want to.
• I cut this into 12 slices but I was told the slices were quite big (I thought they were just fine).

A letter to my MP

I've just sent this email to my MP.

Dear Eric Pickles,

Michael Gove has reportedly insisted that children need their own bedroom in order to be able to fulfil their potential. He expressed concern for children from poorer families who were forced to share a room.

Iain Duncan-Smith has pushed ahead with the implementation of the "bedroom tax" which insists that children under ten should share a room and children over the age of ten are required to share a room where the children are of the same gender.

Can you please tell me what the Government policy is in this regard. Is it that children from poorer families should expect to fail to reach their potential, or is it that children from poorer families should be given every opportunity to fulfil their potential?

I look forward to your clarification on this issue.

Yours sincerely,

Ann Cardus (Mrs)

International fashion

Spotted in France 

Chocolate mousse

This is a very simple recipe with just three ingredients and tastes just like the chocolate mousse I remember from French restaurants I visited as a child.

This makes eight portions so you will need eight ramekins. 

Ingredients

• 220g dark chocolate - if you don't like dark chocolate then substitute all or part with milk chocolate
• 140g unsalted butter
• 4 eggs, separated

Method

Melt the butter and chocolate in a bain marie (bowl resting on a saucepan of simmering water but without the water touching the bowl).  This is done more quickly if butter is cubed and chocolate broken into pieces.

Add the egg yolks one at a time, stirring constantly.  If you want to add extra flavour, then do it now.  You could add a couple of tablespoons of rum, brandy or espresso coffee or maybe some orange zest.

Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks.

Using a metal spoon, fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture.

Keep folding until your boredom threshold is reached or preferably until it's beautifully combined into chocolate yumminess.

Spoon carefully into ramekins.  

You can freeze these in advance but they take so little time to prepare I'm not sure it's necessary.

Enjoy.

Lady luck

I don't believe in luck but if you asked me, I'd say I was lucky. 

 

Last week I messed up my diary for Thursday evening. I had arranged for Tesco to deliver groceries and, at the same time, I'd arranged for Ethan to have an assessment in Shenfield.

 

Dave was working in London so I didn't have a backup plan.

 

At 7 o'clock I put a note on the front door apologising for not being in and at 7:10 we got in the car to go to Shenfield. After dropping Ethan off I was told that I didn't have to stay while he was being assessed, so I decided to nip home. At home by 7:30, I sat in the car waiting.

 

At 7:35 Tesco turned up, we unloaded the groceries into the house and I was able to return to pick Ethan up just as he finished his assessment.

 

It could have been different and that's how I know I'm lucky.  Although I don't seem to win the lottery much...

Do you believe in angels?

I'm not the "praying kind" but today I heard about a group of people who might well be described as angels.

My husband went for a walk on the south coast today with his dad.  They try and do a number of "man walks" every year and it's an opportunity to enjoy the countryside and shoot the breeze at the same time.

Today they were walking near some cliffs and a man wearing a high visibility vest approached them and started a conversation.  He was a Beachy Head Chaplaincy volunteer.

About 30 volunteers take turns patrolling the area near Beachy Head looking for those who are seeking the only solution they believe is left to them.  Their lives are desperate and they are looking for the exit door.

Beachy Head cliffs stand 530 feet high and are, at the same time, a beauty spot and the world's third most popular suicide location.  

Last year this volunteer chaplaincy team saved the lives of 305 people who were despondent.  In May this year they saved 39 lives but one body was recovered, In April they saved 25 lives but two bodies were recovered.

I don't know how one talks someone out of a pit of despair but I admire greatly those who try and succeed.

You, like me, had probably not heard of the Beachy Head Chaplaincy Team until today.  If you'd like to find out more, click here.