Missing balloons and exciting prizes...

I must have entered hundreds of balloon races over the years and have also conducted official launches in my broadcasting career too. (One memorable one in Essex saw the organisers and I desperately throwing hundreds of rain-sodden balloons into the air only to see them fall forlornly into the nearby estuary).

Usually my balloon disappears into the clouds never to be seen again. Does anyone ever win a prize with these things? I might now find out....

My husband spotted the remnants of a balloon, with ticket attached, in the gutter near our home in Felixstowe. What excitement- it was from Northern Ireland!

We have sent the label back and wait to see if we have won the prize for the furthest travelled balloon. Even if the school children don't use the race as a chance to learn more geography, the Sloane household has!

Bryan Adams and the mystery of a competition

Isn't it amazing how new technology can help a story spread? I heard on BBC Suffolk the other day about a photography competion run by my old friends at the Hearing Care Centre) ...

and suddenly the details are on the offical Bryan Adams website.

Is he a keen photographer, concerned about hearing loss or just likes the theme of photographs of favourite Suffolk sounds???

How it got there no-one seems sure but it proves the worldwideweb is a wonderful and mysterious thing at times...

After all there was the guy who "twittered" about his amazing escape from a plane crash - one we can all now see, filmed as it was filmed by someone who saw it!


I first taught companies and councils how to maximise their chances of publicity and do great media interviews back in the late 1980's. I had a break when working for the BBC and am now running similar workshops for individuals, NHS staff, small businesses, councils etc and yes, I now include "citizen journalism" as well as blogs, podcasts,etc.

It does make you wonder what the next development will be.... there could be someone working on the computer right now, having one of those lightbulb-over-the-head moments of inspiration...

Snow talk....

Some thoughts on the snow now over... as seen from the Suffolk coast where we had very little, and almost felt left out of all the fuss.

Quite rightly, people in more northern counties, Wales and Scotland found it amusing and/or irritating that southerners were making such a fuss. They have snow like this every winter.

One reason there was so much about it in the press and media was that the journalists were so relieved to have something other than the gloom of the recession to talk about. (A good example for me to use in my courses on ways to get publicity for your organisation or business .... make use of repetitive news periods with lighter stories).

The snow fell on a weekday and hundreds of schools and nurseries closed. OK - if the snow was very deep and there weren't enough staff to supervise the pupils then it is understandable - after all we don't all live in walking distance of each other now. However a couple of points have stayed in my mind:

- The headteacher interviewed on Radio Four who got up early with his caretaker to clear a safe pathway to school and said something like "Surely children have to learn to cope with the unexpected. Aren't we teaching them to give up too easily?"

- after a TV debate about hospital staff complaining that they were not being paid for the days they didn't make it into work, I heard at least one comment saying "Why should they be paid?" Are those staff the ones who have grown up in an era of schools shutting and giving in? After all, a hospital has to keep open.

As some-one who has always worked freelance I have only ever been paid when I was actually in work. Apparently the police suggest their staff work get to their nearest police station or at home, when possible - but otherwise they don't get paid either. In the past I have had grumbles when, upon hearing me presenting a programme on the radio as usual, workers no longer had the excuse that the roads were too bad to make it in to work, as their bosses knew I had made the journey OK.

Snowmen and sledges: Let's be positive. The kids all had a great time playing in the snow with their parents and friends and now have memories that they will cherish as adults. Even super-cool teenagers were pictured playing happily alongside five year olds...

Now that is good news!

What makes a good souvenir?

I am not long back from working around the Caribbean as a cruise lecturer for P&O Cruises - well, some-one has to do it!!!! - and everyone is asking me what I have brought back. Actually, apart from photos and some great memories, very little. When you have weight restrictions on flights it does mean serious shopping isn't so easy.

Actually, I am not one for buying "souvenirs" anyway really. I collect Christmas tree decorations so a glitter-embellished shell, bought in Barbados, is now on my tree ( every December is like a world tour of memories as I put up the decorations), a CD of a steel band will remind me of the weirdness of listening to carols being played around the islands as the sun beats down, and a handful of nutmegs from a tree in St Vincent is my haul... probably not what most of the passengers have taken home.

I do keep a diary on any trip (whether for work or a holiday) and will be creating a scrapbook with postcards, leaflets and memorabilia collected from the ship.

As we had to sign-on as a member of the ships crew, just like anyone in the merchant navy, I also have my "discharge papers". Can you imagine the puzzlement of our ancestors when they decide to trace the family tree and discover them? "What were great great grandma and grandad doing, running away to sea, when they were in their fifties?!"

Time-travelling Terrier in Felixstowe ....

Everyone in our neighbourhood is waiting with baited breath for October 29th, as that is when a dog will go missing. No, we are not psychic...for the past month every other tree and lamppost in the district has been sporting very professional-looking posters of a missing dog. From the photo, and description, the two year old West Highland terrier looks very cute and must be much loved. Perhaps the distraught owners were too upset to realise they had posted him as being missing on a date that was still nearly four weeks away?

Anyway, if the poster is to be believed the dog is still to leave his home - and we are waiting to see if he suddenly appears on the streets, looking rather proud of himself for his Dr Who-style time-travelling!

I know it's too early to ask about Christmas.....

Oh dear I seem to have upset a few people in my first venture into a chat room. I am currently researching an interview for the December edition of Suffolk/Norfolk Life magazine and need to talk to people who have Christmas on their boats. Enrolling in
a Broads chatroom I have had some very helpful replies but one seemed furious I was mentioning Christmas already...I had to point out that a December magazine has to written months before hand.

However another, in my defence, pointed out that "Is it just deemed very sad to discuss Christmas in September, or is also so sad to already have next year's holidays booked for June, August and October". Good point Lee. Thank you.

I just need some caravaners, beach hut owners, etc etc now.... unusual ways to spend Christmas in Norfolk and Suffolk anyone?

party..party..party..

What is the most unusual invitation to a party that you have ever received? Usually they come via email, phone or perhaps a card from a pack of 10. If you have some-one really up on the IT it could be a personally designed invitation complete with photos etc.

I have just had the most unusual invitation - a rubber ear! The Hearing Care Centre, an award winning business in Suffolk, is celebrating ten years of business with a "do", and I have interviewed Karen Finch, the owner, many times - hence the invitation.

The cardboard envelope contained a card with the details of where and when.... and a man-sized rubber ear! This is, the card says, what we have to take along to the Town Hall to be admitted!

Will guests have found unusual ways to display their "ears"? On a chain as a necklace? Suspended as earrings? Pinned on as a badge? I just HAVE to go to the party now.....and will report back when the time comes.

The next time I open an envelope and find an ordinary invitation I shall be quite disappointed. Perhaps I should arrange a party too .... but it would be a bit expensive to send out mini-microphones?