A dose of London

I went to the big smoke and got a taste of what Evan Davis calls the most productive and creative hub in Britain and why it is a vacuum for businesses and employees. As soon as the train pulled into Waterloo, the buzz of busy people pouring in and out of trains, turnstiles, cafes and offices sweeps you away on a tide of urgency. This sense of self-importance and people on a mission rubs off and is highly infectious. Once I got to my destination, I was able to meet with many people in my line of work and pretty soon ideas, advice and knowledge sharing was ping ponging round the room. I just wouldn’t be able to have access to this knowledge sharing environment in my everyday workplace. As I was furiously scribbling down notes inspired by the people around me, I understood what Evan Davis meant in explaining the importance of the  big city hub mentality for business growth.

It was nice to leave London’s hustle and bustle too. As I left on the train I  felt time was slowing down again and I could relax after an intense business ‘hit’.

London is a bit like Cadbury’s chocolate, nice every now and again but no good for you in the long term if consumed frequently.

On my way I back bought some London landscape stickers for my son and daughter. It was good timing as my daughter had just received he first letter from her pen pal in New York and she is planning to send some of the stickers to her in the hope that they may exchange local landmark stickers. I love it that they are communicating through the traditional way of putting pen and paper and air mail.

I am blogging every day to raise money for Unicef. If you can support the campaign, please click here.

Thanks for reading.

A safe penpal site

My daughter is keen to have a penpal. Her school set up a connecting classrooms project for which there were only a few spaces for children who wanted to connect with other children in African classrooms on topics such as the environment, health and family. Twenty-five children applied according to my daughter and there were only about 10 places so they asked the children to vote, which was a shame because it just became a popularity contest. My daughter was disappointed that she didn’t make the final cut despite support from her friends. So I wanted to channel her enthusiasm elsewhere by signing up to a penpal project in Africa. But where do you start on the whole safeguarding issue? I found one site that looked genuine, but how do you know for definite that its not just a front for a paedophile ring?

It’s a shame we live in a world like this but this is the one downside to the internet – it enables child grooming.

So I contacted the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Agency (CEOP) to get their guidance on the safe way to hook up with online penpals – I will let you know how I get on. 

If anyone else has experience on this I would welcome advice……although how do I know that your not a paedophile – OMG am I paranoid or what? But the internet is so intimate yet so faceless at the same time that there is no evidential reason to trust it as far as you can throw Bill Gates.

I am blogging every day to help fundraise for Unicef to help them protect vulnerable children worldwide. I aim to raise £1 through this blog. If you can help my campaign (which has kind of morphed into a social experiment to see if blogs can help with fundraising!) please visit my page on the Unicef website.

Thanks for reading.