Dear Mr Thompson #ConcentrixFamilyPoverty

A Guest Post by Lynn.

I have hosted a guest post before on the realities faced by individuals who are dealing with our broken and inefficient benefits system. There are so many stories in the press. Many, highlighting the poverty and distress that the cuts, austerity and mistakes have caused. There are some pretty horrifying statistics out there. Including people taking their own lives through the stress and fear that these departments cause. Once again, I have witnessed first hand the catastrophic affects these decisions, made in an office somewhere, usually based on a series of ticks on a list, are continuing to have on people I care about.

Appreciating our Little Car!

Living in a semi-rural area, you get the best of both worlds. Lovely countryside, with beautiful scenery and a peaceful existence, but also an impressive array of different shops and entertainment options just a short distance away. The frustration I have, though, is that it's very difficult to get around. We are lucky, because we have a rather old, but utterly brilliant car. It's utterly brilliant because, despite being middle-aged in car terms, it goes. That level of reliability is worth its weight in gold living here. 

10 Phrases You'll Recognise If You Grew up with 90's TV

Television has a lot to answer for and one of its legacies is catchphrases. There are obvious ones, usually originating from Bruce Forsyth, but then there are the less obvious ones, many of which have found their way into common usage and can be heard up and down the country, without any even knowing, or remembering, where they originally came from. Here, I will try and put that right. If you grew up with 90's TV, you may recognise some of these examples, if I've forgotten any good ones, feel free to add them to the comments! 

Life on the Other Side

Somebody just said to me that in a few days, it will be under a hundred days until Christmas. Firstly, how?! Last week, it was July and we were debating whether or not to get the big paddling pool out and the week before that, it was April and I was contemplating how long I could make the final year of my thirties last. Well, clearly that last thought didn't go according to plan! Secondly; who does that? I mean children do, obviously, but it does perplex me when adults can't contain their excitement for Christmas from September onwards. Retailers can't either. The manager of my local supermarket is really over excited, he's already got his Christmas displays up, I think he is reliving his childhood.

Bogs Footwear Review and Giveaway - Amazing Wellies!

I'm not saying that my son is fussy, but he is a little bit obsessed with comfort. If it isn't comfortable he does not see any need to wear it and I am inclined to agree with him. There's plenty of time for sensible shoes and collars and ties when he starts caring about girls. In the meantime, his shoe of choice is always the welly. He loves a welly. Plenty of room to wriggle your toes and easy to pull on and off when you need to rush out and do something important at a moment's notice. L lost his favourite wellies, in a distressing experience at the beach, and after hearing about this, Bogs Footwear sent him some new ones to review, and as you can see, he loves them already!

My Sunday Photo: Voyage on The Matthew

A Voyage on The Matthew - Review

This is the last week of the school holidays for us, so we thought it would be nice to have a couple of last days out, before we have to start being all sensible and going to bed on time. We were lucky enough to be able to review Bristol Zoo Gardens this week and we were also invited to attend a cruise of Bristol Harbour on board The Matthew. We have sailed on The Matthew once before, but it was a very short trip, due to bad weather, so we were really excited to find it was a beautiful day, when we were due on board. We've been so lucky this summer with the weather, I can't remember ever having so many consecutive sunny days and it has really meant we could make the most of the holidays.