All aboard for Toy Fair

On the last Wednesday of January I set off on my annual trip to London Toy Fair at the Docklands to see what new gadgets and gizmos are set to light up the faces of little ones across the country this year – and ultimately what the 2009 Dear Santa letters will be politely (yet persuasively) asking for.

Someone must have decided I was owed a few good turns because two miracles occurred between Didcot Parkway and London Paddington; a parking space right outside the train station (and it was raining), and one lone seat on the train that other passengers seemed to dismiss but was free according to the nice lady I sat next to.

On the journey I got my head down and started writing a proposal for a client. With the countryside whizzing by and no office distractions the ideas were coming thick and fast. I love to handwrite ideas, so being away from the computer was a nice change.

Before arriving at the station I checked my tube route on my spangly new (but soon to be returned) phone (grr Vodafone), and packed up ready to hit the underground.

On arrival at Excel I headed straight for the Greenhouse section; an area dedicated to nuturing small and start up companies. This is where you can often find the best innovations and exciting new ideas.

Having spent the morning speaking with some of the newbies in this area, two in particular stood out.

Oball from Crazee Thingz, a dishwasher safe squashy ball made up of lots of holes, which has recently won a number of parental awards. A free sample proved a huge hit with my own six month old – being easy to grab hold of, and most importantly chew!

The second was My Wondercube. Suitable from birth and based on a very popular play pattern, this soft ‘tissue box’ contains fabric squares (like tissues), velcroed together to be pulled out by a curious baby. Cleverly, My Wondercube are introducing add on packs of number and letter squares to add an educational aspect to the toy.

I also stopped by to see Barnado’s who were hosting a charity crazy golf game provided by Urban Crazy. Although I didn’t have appropriate shoes on for a quick round, I spoke with a very nice gentleman called Ray about their plans for 2009.

I was amazed at the sheer number of projects Barnado’s has going on, including The Spark Centre, a fantastic venture for disabled children from birth to 19 in London which provides after school, early evening and weekend activities amongst other services.

Did you know, Clinton Cards donates £1 to Barnado’s for every iTunes gift card sold in their stores, so for the music lovers out there, this is an easy way to help a very worthwhile charity.

All in all it was a great trip. Alongside my meetings with toy manufacturers and distributors I met up with someone I consider to be a mentor and friend, Nic of Jammy Rascals. We team up on projects where I work on PR and Nic on areas including marketing, product development and distribution. He always has a million and one ideas on the go and is working on some really exciting projects at the moment.

I also passed a familiar face from years and years ago, and after an hour or so realised it was Sam, a family friend who I hadn’t seen for nearly 20 years. After a quick call to super sleuth and queen of the internet, my mother, we found a mobile number. I called and we had a great catch up. To say he was surprised when I called is probably an understatement. Sam is a furniture and product designer

Toy Fair was quieter this year than previous years, and although the loss of Woolies and the struggles facing many toy companies was clearly front of mind, this is still a fantastic show case of new and exciting toy ranges in the UK.

My prediction for top selling toy this year – I’m holding out for the big one – I was it to be environmentally friendly, yet with the excitement of the trashiest, nosiest toy - the ones that children love. I want it to have a jaw dropping effect but be purse friendly. Expecting too much? Let's wait and see!

What's in the box?!

YouTube videos of people ‘unboxing’ their new mobile phones, games consoles, gadgets and gizmos are the latest craze amongst tech fans – it’s been dubbed ‘geek porn’, but what’s all the fuss about?!

I must admit to the butterfly feeling of taking a new box out of the City Link bag, wondering if my new phone will live up to expectations (my latest one didn’t but that’s a whole other story…Vodafone you con artists)…sorry, I digress.

Anyway, it’s exciting because it’s MY new phone, my gadget to get to grips with – have and hold all shiny and new…until the little protective plastic layer over the screen gets biscuit crumbs under the edges and you have to give in and peel it off – usually after about 24 hours.

I cannot see the fascination of watching other people unbox their new toys. You can’t have a go, have a hold or anything like that; you’ve just got to watch their enjoyment. Maybe I’m missing the point, but some clips on YouTube have hundreds of thousands of hits – how come?! Even Todd Carty’s dancing on ice spectacular received fewer, no fair!

However, it is fantastic free advertising for companies such as Sony and Blackberry when the ‘opener’ nearly pees with joy when he realises that the new iPhone has a scientific calculator. Eeek.

If you’ve never experienced ‘unboxing’ then you have to watch this clip of the Samsung Omnia. Read the text at the side of the clip though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQlzX7EyIwU

Now this one, I did enjoy.
http://i.gizmodo.com/5050076/the-most-realistic-unboxing-of-all-time

I’m off to unbox the eco friendly nappies that just arrived by Parcel Force, anyone care to join me?

I want to be cremated

I have always wanted to be cremated.

I'll come straight to the point; I have always wanted to be cremated. It's a morbid topic so I won't dwell, but I was concerned when I read in The Observer last week that the government is being forced to clamp down on where families scatter their loved ones ashes, now that 70% of people are cremated, a rise from only a third up until the Sixties.

Mountain tops, gardens, football grounds, rivers upstream of a water source, lakes, parks, golf courses - all popular choices, and now all big no-no's. One hint of an urn being smuggled into Jane Austen’s house and grounds and you'll probably see someone official surging towards you shaking an authoritative forefinger.

So it got me thinking; what are my options? Hopefully not something I need to consider for a few, or 50 years, however, I like to plan ahead. Here are my top three choices.

1) If she's still alive, can you please send me to Anthea Turner? I don’t mind admitting that I like house work. I said it. I like house work.
I think she would have some great ideas for my ashes. She would probably find a clever way to turn them into some sort of shake and vac by mixing them with lavender oil and cinnamon.

2) I would quite like to be put into my compost in the back garden. I am a big recycler and was thrilled to find that you could buy composting worms online. Online! I know, the internet really is king. So, a kilo arrived - by City Link and they were quickly installed in their new home. The government has banned mountain top ash scattering because the phosphates added to the soil can overstimulate plant growth. I wonder if putting my ashes in the compost would cause the composting worms to grow to ten times their usual size. Its got to be worth finding out surely?

3) If options 1 and 2 fail to gain approval from my nearest and dearest, then maybe I could go to the moon? Now, in 2009 people are paying for flights to the moon, so by the time I am 'the dearly departed', maybe you'll be able to have your ashes taken to outer space? I wonder if I should start saving now though....

Over and out...


p.s. We hope no offence is caused to those who do not wish to be cremated, or think about dying, death and the like.

Here bloggy, bloggy, bloggy

It’s a crazy morning with boiled eggs and the morning papers when you read that you local councillor’s dog has a daily blog.

I don’t expect flocking crowds to my blog, but a few regular readers would move my mood barometer nicely along to chuffed. But it looks like I have some way to go.

Harry, the Abingdon border terriers’ owner Alastair Fear set up the blog for his poochy pal after finding that the most interesting subject of the photographs for his own blog was often Harry himself.
With nearly 200 hits a month to Harry’s blog, detailing where he’s been, his latest adventures, who he’s met and his favourite walks, this is one social media-savvy mutt.

Having met Martin Clunes last year at a book signing, and more recently being interviewed on BBC Radio Oxford to talk about his new found fame, his owner is concerned that all the attention may be going to his head. It’ll be Evian in the dog bowl and doggy-Ugg boots all the way before you know it.

While Lib Dem Councillor Fear’s blog This Abingdon takes a serious look at goings on in the town, check out Harry’s diary for a light-hearted canine take on the world.

http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/search/4065838.Every_blog_has_its_day_/

The Battle of the Biggest Discounters

I'm refusing to talk about the ongoing doom and gloom sweeping across the UK (it rhymes with obsession, regression, and various others).

However I wanted to write quickly about my own experience of discount supermarkets, and the introduction of bargain brands into chains such as Tesco.

Tesco now position themselves as Britain’s biggest discounter. I purchased an advent calendar for my baby son at the end of November and proudly hung it in the hall way, each day moving along to the next exciting part of advent.

On reaching December 18th I was rudely shunted straight to the 19th of the month. 16th, 17th…19th, 20th. Maybe this superstores discounting had gone a little too far? Whether it was just me that was unlucky, or all the 18th days had been lost somewhere, never to be seen again, we will never know.

Shortly before this my husband admitted that he was a little miffed that our son and I had both been gifted with advent calendars, and based on his new chocolate addiction, he was quite put out.
So, while visiting Lidl to scout for tasty treats for the Christmas buffet trolley (another story in itself), I spied chocolate calendars at the bargain price of 39p! Being the 10th of December I should probably expect to get a knock down deal, but you get to eat 11 chocolates on the 11th day, can't be bad.

I checked my purse and it must have been a sign because I had the exact change, so I scuttled excitedly with buggy, albeit it a bit of a wiggly line, to the checkout.

'Just this' I beamed happily. 'Just this?' questioned the checkout assistant. I nodded to confirm, slightly embarrassed that I wasn't with a trolley piled high with bargain buckets of chicken, yard long tubes of biscuits and one size fits all gloves for the family.

'It's free' he said. 'Free?' I croaked, somewhat suspicious. 'Free' he repeated, and so it went on - 'free?' I exclaimed, again. After this ping pong exchange, almost too chuffed to speak, I said 'thank you....and, and, Merry Christmas to you!'.

I glided out of Lidl, pleased as you like - there are some really nice people out there still....although I have a feeling he saw me counting my coppers, took in the small baby and took pity on my very apparent glee at having enough to buy a 39p chocolate advent calendar.

Admittedly from the 11th to 24th December, my husband tried to trade his days chocolate allowance for the luxury version from my Dairy Milk calendar - I thought it was supposed to be the thought that counts?!

Anyway, I liked the Lidl chocolate., and they are now by far Britain’s biggest discounter in my eyes.

p.s. Unfortunately I decided to stock the Christmas buffet trolley in Tesco, and this time avoiding the bargain basement, plumped for the finest ranges - no advantage of spending a little extra it turned out - it appeared that something small and squirmy had snuck into my bag of pistachios, feasted until he passed out, curled up and was discovered by my mother on Boxing Day.

Can Heston save The Chef?

As a child a stop at the little chef was a treat. A real treat. Pancakes with lemon and sugar - loads of sugar. I'm not quite sure what my usually sane parents were thinking, letting us eat our own body weight in sugar before bouncing us back into the car for the remainder of the journey. I'm sure if it wasn't for our intolerable nagging it would have been a loo only stop - none of the excitement of the pancake stack and complimentary colour in placemat.

These days though as a parent myself I have only ever stepped under the red and white stripy canopy and in through those heavy doors once - and it was an absolutely necessity. It was do or die. A short time after departing from a successful days shopping in Milton Keynes with another mummy friend, our two adorable, hungry, tired, cranky babies demanded food, and it was stop or be stopped - more than likely by the local bobbies for driving without due care and attention.

So when I heard that the almighty Heston himself is set to revamp the over priced, outdated motorway diner-cum-dive that is The Little Chef I had mixed feelings.

Fantastic challenge, can't wait for the next instalment. But, really do I want one of my favourite childhood memories to be turned from the sickly sweet to something more sinister? Because there is no doubt that if I did ever return to peruse the menu, the fluffy yumminess that was pancakes with lemon and sugar would more likely be pancakes with swede ice cream and snails on the side.

Blumenthal of 'the world's best place to eat' The Fat Duck at Bray will be bringing the wierd and wonderful world of his culinary craziness to our screens from this Monday (19th January) in Channel 4 series Big Chef Takes on Little Chef.

I'll be eager to tune in - especially to find out why LC's chief executives turned down Heston's first menu for lacking the wow factor.

I'm also keen to see how Heston brings his scientific approach into the kitchen of a service station eatery - personally the science part for me was calculating the maximum amount of crunchy white hyper inducing goodness it was possible to spread on the surface of one pancake.

Don't miss it - Channel 4, Monday 19th January at 9pm. Even if I never visit a Little Chef again, I still don't want it to close, that would be a sad, sad day…

The Mission - One burrito leads to another

Opened at the beginning of 2008 and serving 1000 burritos a week just a month later, The Mission is getting ready to open six more eateries, and is leading the burrito boom!

When you’re just about to serve your 10,000th burrito, you’re using four kilometers of tin foil, and 2,500 avocados for the all important guacamole each month, it’s no surprise that the talk is of expansion at this taqueria.

The Mission Mexican Grill opened its doors to a waiting crowd buzzing excitedly with anticipation and rumbling bellies; eager to sample California-Mexican food at its best. And they weren’t disappointed.

This was the start of a revolution; the sweet smell of salsa and success began drifting down the cobbled streets in no time. The success that is, of bringing the fresh, wholesome flavours of the burrito to Oxford, all the way from the Mission District in San Francisco.

“Since we turned the open sign around for the very first time, we haven’t stopped to take a breath. Most days we are making burritos non stop – it’s hectic but fantastic! Our chef Victor is amazing – so when you serve great food and you can’t stop to grab a bite yourself, what do you do – you start thinking about the bigger burrito!”
Jan Rasmussen, Owner.

The first step will be a further addition to the Oxford high street to keep up with local demand. A following big enough for an impressive Mexican Wave has established itself, especially amongst American students studying in the town. This new outlet will also cater for private parties and functions, as well as serving the late night snacker on the way to or from nearby bars and clubs.

But is it possible to replicate the success of The Mission? Jan believes the popularity is down to a rapidly increasing demand for wholesome, filling and good value for money food to go. And, having a chef who knows his pico de gallo from his pinto beans, as well as expert burrito-makers upfront is essential. Chef Victor will be instrumental in the successful launch of each new outlet, and asking him if he knows about Cal-Mex food is like asking Jamie if he knows much about school dinners.

So where next? London? Bristol? Birmingham? All are names on the table – and you heard it here first. The Mission team are hard at work planning out the expansion of what started as one little burrito joint in Oxford, and is now set be the beginning of the burrito revolution.