Simply the Best

I wrote last time about a new wireless charger (yawn) that I’d bought recently and I have to say, I think it’s made it’s way into the list of the top 5 things I own. So thought I’d share the other four things that make up the list, that I am not at all making up as I write…….

My toaster

Everyone loves a bit of toast right? Me too. But it’s not the kind of food that sets the world alight. So why spend a small fortune on a piece of kit to toast bread? Good question. There’s just something about our Dualit toaster I love. I think it’s a combination of it’s simple construction, the timeless design, British made and that it’s built like a tank!

My clock

It has those mechanical flappy day/date/month things. I reminded myself of what inspired me to get it, and it was that TV series Lost, which had a countdown timer that needed resetting every 108 minutes by hitting a button. What an odd series that was. Yet we watched it all obviously.

Flappy Lost clock

Nespresso machine

I’ll duck and take cover from the coffee pureists! I wouldn’t say I’m a coffee philistine as I do really appreciate a well crafted flat white, especially from Rosslyn (https://www.rosslyncoffee.com/) which is my favourite London coffee spot and also that of my employer (https://on.ft.com/3thVRej). But the quality vs. level of faff required ensures it makes it into my top 5 things. The one blot on the landscape is when I ordered their “Festive Blends” as part of my subscription. Steer clear. They are terrible!!

My Monday morning mug

Trampoline

Full disclosure. I am not a trampoliner….nor could I be, as I smash the weight limit of the one we have! But it has paid for itself several times over, especially during Lockdown 1 when the kids bounced their hearts out on it in lieu of escaping the boundaries of our house. The downside is that it is impossible to maintain any semblance of a lawn…but I’d absolutely sacrifice that for the fun the munchkins have got out of having it 😀

Peaks and pits

At work I started a thing during one of the UK’s three national lockdowns, when meeting colleagues face to face was impossible. I dubbed it Peaks, Pits and Drinks. The aim was to set an aside an hour for people to share their highs and lows for the past week and also to have a drink at the same time. It morphed into people just hanging out remotely and chatting. And the drink was more likely to be a cuppa than anything else. It still persists. Which is nice. Thought I’d write a post about my personal peaks and pits. Grab a cuppa….

PEAK Betty’s cakes. As Craig Revel Horwood would say, FAB-U-LOUS. I ordered a few things for the OH’s bday a few weeks ago. I froze this as we had so many https://www.bettys.co.uk/grand-cru-ganache-chocolate-cake. We got it out last weekend and it froze/defrosted really well. Not a substitute for going to a Betty’s IRL though!!

PEAK Belkin wireless charger. Hmmm, if this is a peak, then I need to get out more!! However it is brilliant. £20 from Argos. It pretty quickly tops up the juice, which I’ve needed recently as the youngest has been using my phone to build his Lego Mario sets that don’t come with printed instructions, but rather you need an app that absolutely drains my battery! Plus my personal screen time might have increased with me papping the pup very regularly (see highlights here http://www.instagram.com/bonnie_blue_beckwith).

PIT Disrupted sleep. We’ve been on high alert for the puppy waking up and getting her out in the garden straight away to do her business. I’m not bad at getting up soon after waking (sure the OH wouldn’t disagree she takes a while longer to get going!), but I’ve found myself walking out in the garden half dressed to avoid any indoor whoopsies. Largely successful with only 4 or 5 accidents indoors in two weeks (where we missed obvious signs/triggers). But earlier starts, especially last weekend, have turned me into a grumpy shitbag. Not proud of this

PEAK Getting back into the rhythm of going to the office. I thrive professionally by meeting and talking to people about their challenges and how my team or I can help. So this has been ace (plus there’s been a marked increase in the quality of the free coffee!). It’s also been a great reminder of the benefits of WFH

PEAK egg chair corner. We had a playhouse up until recently. Then we found someone who paid us to dismantle it and take it away (the delights of eBay) and repurpose it as a chicken house! It was effectively a second shed though. It got a new lease of life at the start of the first lockdown when the kids started to hang out in it, but it didn’t last long. So we were wondering what to do with the space. I had grand plans of creating an outdoor kitchen for the pizza oven and the BBQ. But instead we did this. Perfect for a cuppa in the morning or a G&T in the evening 😀

Not quite finished…need to replace the random half trellis, hang a few little colourful pots off it, and find something to put in the champagne box that I found in a skip recently 😂

Peaks win 4-1. Surprised myself there – I usually have much more to moan about. I was going to have a moan about the price of wood and how replacing our garden fence is eye wateringly expensive…..but it’s the same for everything right now, so will save the self-centred moan about a fence that really isn’t important in the scheme of things.

Back….for good?

Crumbs, as Penfold would say (we’re watching A LOT of Danger Mouse in our house at the moment)….. it’s been almost THREE years since I graced this blog with my presence. As was the case for my last post, a notification that a similarly inconsistent blogger (https://mutteringsofafool.com/) had fired up his blog again inspired me to do the same. Luckily Google had saved my wordpress login, so getting access to the thing was pretty easy. So in a moment of relative peace, here we go…..

One thing I remember about previous posts was my tendancy to craft something over a number of days, probably including some procrastination about how to word something/everything, before posting. In my last post I shared how I was about to start an experiment in shopping at Aldi. I did start that (and it continues to this day) and I did actually start crafting a follow up post in Google Doc, but it never saw the light of day because something else got in the way of finishing it and then posting it. So I figure that if I stand a chance of posting at a frequency that isn’t measured in years, that I should just get over myself, procrastinate less and JFDI. It will also provide a more productive use of screen time other than scrolling Instagram, Twitter and the news (as my fellow blogger above also shares).

So the world is quite a different place now versus September 2019 which was when I last posted. How to condense that into one post?!?! Well as part of my English A level, I did quite enjoy doing a precis of a text, so I’ll try and put that to good use now (that was 25+ years ago though…..!!!). I think chapters are the way to go…..which doesn’t scream “precis” does it?!?

Little People

The offspring (now 9, almost 10 and just turned 7) continue to be a delight and all consuming at the same time. I don’t think they are particularly high maintenance so I am certainly grateful that in the main, they get on very nicely together with only occasional meltdowns/fights. The eldest suffered with some very sudden anxiety after lockdown 3 that resulted in her not able to swallow anything that needed to be vaguely chewed. It was a harrowing experience seeing her lose weight so quickly. Personally it was debilitating. I had to take some time out from work (who were amazing), when in hindsight, working would have been the best thing to do to distract myself. Instead, on a couple of occasions I curled up in her bed in tears whilst she was at school and the house was empty. I’ve never felt so helpless. Luckily my OH a) is much stronger mentally than I and b) got some great advise from a counsellor at her school. We also (eventually) found a great psychologist who in fact told us she was in remission when we started seeing her and that we’d guided her out of the worst of it. We set a target of her being able to eat birthday cake and have fish and chips out for her birthday in August, which we did at the most amazing Squires in Braunton, North Devon (a constant for the last 10+ years when holidaying in that part of the world). She is back on fine form now but the thought lingers about whether something similar could rear its head again in the future. But for now, all is well and she’s a confident, kind and fun (not so little) girl. Secondary school beckons next September, which is really quite scary!! The youngest, I think, is turning out to be quite similar to me at that age. Definitely left brained and pretty sharp with anything logical. He picked up telling the time very quickly, whilst it took the eldest some time at the same age. He’s also chronically shy and takes a long time to “warm up”. In his first year 2 parents evening, the feedback was mainly that he didn’t actively participate, yet in the second one in the spring term, this had turned around as he got comfortable with his teachers. He’s a little fibber too, mostly low level stuff (yes I have washed my hands, no I didn’t hit my sister etc) but definitely aware of calling him on it before it becomes anything other than low level!

Furry children

Hot off the press…one has become two! A second miniature schnauzer (Bonnie) joined Alfie (15 later this year!!) last week. Follow her via her own Instagram (http://www.instagram.com/bonnie_blue_beckwith), which she obviously updates herself! We all took half term off work to settle her in and it’s going amazingly well. Alfie is tolerating her, with only the occasional growl when she tries to climb all over him. The breeder we got her from was lovely and did a great job with her. Both children, but the eldest especially, were giddy beyond belief. It was so lovely to see their excitement and provided memories to treasure. I’m glad we did it whilst they were at this age.

Work life

I’d always been a bit crap at WFH, but that had to change quickly in 2020!! The spare/junk room got converted into an office and I now use it 3 days a week and go to our fantastic office on the other two. It works perfectly, especially with a new puppy, as the OH works three days a week, so I go to the office on her off days. My employer really has stepped up to the mark in the past two years and continue to be incredibly supportive to its employees, primarily in a non financial way, but also financially. They have skillfully navigated the pandemic but the foundations were laid years before as we shifted focus to generating the bulk of our revenues from content (i.e. subscriptions) with less of a reliance on advertising. It’s a great place to work. Check us out here….https://aboutus.ft.com/careers. It hasn’t been without its (personal) challenges though. Restructuring part of my team at the end of 2020 was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do professionally. I’ve never had to make anyone redundant before and doing it from the confines of my home office made it an incredibly lonely experience (despite all the support I had). I think I still have lingering survivor guilt, but I try and keep that buried, instead focussing on rebuilding that part of my team. Signs are positive for the future.

Home life

I sometimes struggle when people ask what I enjoy doing outside of work. My mind often goes blank as the children take up so much of my non work time….and you don’t get that time back right, so I actually don’t mind that I can’t reel off a load of stuff that I like doing just for me. But what I do enjoy is cooking/baking. My ideal evening is prepping something with a nice glass of wine or a G&T in hand, listening to some music, followed by an episode from a “box set” (Stranger Things 4 right now). Walking the dog (soon to be plural when Bonnie’s had her jabs) also provides nice thinking time and an opportunity to get out the house. I also love spending time by the sea/in the country. Our twice annual trips to Devon didn’t quite cut the mustard, so in mid 2019 we fulfilled a long held ambition to get a place by the coast, opting for Suffolk. I’m incredibly aware of how privileged we are to have been able to do that (I try not to think too hard about the combined mortgage borrowing!) so we certainly don’t take it for granted. It’s almost 2 hours exactly from us so lends itself to weekend trips in addition to longer stays in the holidays. Once you get over the packing and unpacking, it’s very calming to be there and provides a nice respite from day to day life. Two of our favourite things to do when we’re there, both food related (!) are to get some delicious bread and pastries from Two Magpies Bakery and then fish and chips from Mrs T’s, both in Southwold (with a bit of a gap in between!). And a third would have to be a cheeky visit to the Adnans factory shop 😉 I have also taken on some extra curricular work by becoming the Treasurer for the church linked to the children’s school. Playing around with spreadsheets in a non work context is enjoyable and given I am a meticulous planner for our personal finances, doing it on a voluntary basis for a worthy cause isn’t at all a chore.

The OH

She is wonderful and I probably don’t tell her that enough. She and her mum ran their own day nursery for 20+ years but called it a day in July 2019 (good timing as it turned out – running your own business during covid must have been horrendous so big kudos to all small business owners). She now has a great job at a girls secondary school in Hampstead, which is a bit of a longer commute than she’d ideally like, but they, like mine, are a great employer and have been super flexible by allowing her to drop from five to three days so we can achieve a better balance as a family. As I said before, she’s mentally very tough and I’m sure I could be less of a burden on her in that regard. Must try harder.

Fin

Hope you enjoyed reading that extended precis!! Will try and be back in less than three years.

Re-e-boot

I’m surprised, much like how some of my dormant bank accounts have been closed down in the past without me knowing, that this blog hasn’t suffered the same fate. Anyway, I was inspired by an email notification that a fellow blogger had dusted his off after a prolonged break, to share his and his family’s experience of moving to Wales. It’s an interesting read so take a look (http://mutteringsofafool.com). So I thought I’d fire mine up again, and lead with an equally inspiring (ahem….) post on…..drum roll…..THE WONDER OF ALDI!!!!! Get comfy…..

I always used to love going to the supermarket with my mum. I remember when very young, in the new Morrisons that had opened in Harrogate (around the time the £1 coin had been launched!), I sneaked a packet of fondant fancies into the trolley hoping she wouldn’t notice. She certainly did when she got to the till, and I got an earful for lying when I said I didn’t put them in!! Even when I should have been doing much cooler things in my mid teens, I still enjoyed the Saturday morning Asda trip, I suspect partly because we used to get a cheeky fry up in the café beforehand!

In recent years, online grocery shopping has been our saviour. As an aside, I remember a friend writing his Master’s dissertation on Webvan, a US grocery delivery firm in late 90s – how it’s evolved since then. Just Google how the Ocado robots pick the orders. Anyway, with two munchkins, rarely have we had the time, nor have they been interested in, exploring the aisles….unless there’s a kinder egg or similar in it for them. And even then, that probably only bought you ten minutes of peace.

Very recently however, on a quiet evening, the OH flicked onto a Channel 5 “documentary” (very deliberate bunny ears) about the rise of Aldi. It piqued my interest in a couple of ways. Firstly, a growing family equals growing appetites equals growing grocery bills. And anything to save a bit of dosh is hardwired into my DNA as a Yorkshireman. Secondly, I’ve always found it amusing and curious at the same time, about how Aldi get away with such brazen imitation of branded products (they claimed in said “documentary” that it’s to help customers identify products). 

With this in mind, and with the munchkins being more tolerant of the odd trip to the shops (often supplemented with bribery), the OH and I have started our own personal Aldi challenge i.e. save some cash and also see which of the Aldi “comparables” are as close in taste to the originals, as they are in their branding.

So the OH trotted off to our nearest store with a long list from me. I wasn’t expecting a £90+ shop from the list I had supplied, but I was very pleasantly surprised when we totted up the equivalent cost from the Orange Supermarket and it came in at £120. Plus there were a few extras in there we didn’t compare the cost of, like a very fancy scented candle, that could have set us back £30 in White Company or Jo Malone.

I’m going to report back in the next few posts, but this one definitely made me chuckle.

Do the squinty eye test and it looks like the original. The ingredients are pretty much exactly the same. Will see how it tastes when we crack into it, along with the Racers, Titans and Jives 😂

 

Bless this mess

In the UK there’s a saying…”it’s like painting the Forth Bridge”. So it goes that said bridge takes so long to paint, that by the time you get to the end, you need to start again. Though this isn’t the case anymore as some clever bods have invented special paint that presumably lasts longer than it takes to paint the Forth Bridge. Nevertheless, this saying nicely describes our efforts (well, the OH’s!) to keep our house tidy, now that it is inhabited by two under 5s who have a penchant for experimenting with toy combinations. Or alternatively, making an unholy mess. Our kitchen island unit is a haven for crap. The floor of our back room is littered with lego, peppa pigs, railway track, balls, farm animals. If you can find it in John Lewis’s toy department I could pretty much guarantee you’ll find it somewhere in our house. The only time it’s properly tidy is if we’re entertaining. So we should probably invite people over more often. But then we’d spend all of our free time tidying up. And I kind of resent that. I reckon I get two hours a day during the working week with the messy monkeys. It could be a lot worse – luckily I have a job and an employer who is family friendly and doesn’t demand I work ridiculous hours. Even so, that’s not much. So maximising time at the weekend with them often takes priority over the cleaning and tidying, which is the time when it’s most realistic to make any real progress getting the house ship shape. But we’ve come to terms with this (well, I have…..) . We’ve both become used to navigating our back room like it’s an obstacle course. And getting clean clothes direct from the tumble dryer….etc.

So my theory, formed to keep me sane and comfortable in our mess, is that a messy house = more family fun 🙂

Autumn = Hygge

I’ve noticed that the Danish concept of ‘Hygge’ seems to be increasingly getting talked about in the media (e.g. http://bit.ly/2eFMsYB). Aside from feeling a bit smug about the fact I knew what this was a long time ago (thanks to a Danish colleague rather than any other cultured reason), I have always in a roundabout kind of way, loved the concept. Autumn is my favourite season. I am one of those weirdos who likes it when the clocks go back, and it gets dark before you go home. It’s the perfect excuse to hunker down on the sofa, wear nice warm clothes (I may be asking Father Christmas for a onesie), eat comfort food (pies, roasts, stodgy puddings) drink red wine and watch endless box sets (we’ve just re-subscribed to NetFlix – Stranger Things is first on the hit list). It’s also the perfect weather for long walks with our dog – you can’t beat wrapping up warm on a bright, crisp day, and working up an appetite to eat the aforementioned pies. Since munchkins appeared on the scene, the long walks tend to be a bit shorter, and involve packing a scooter, snacks and other paraphernalia. And the walk will be punctuated with a stop off at an adventure playground or similar, as well as frequent requests from my daughter for a piggyback (“my legs are tired Daddy”). But lovely nonetheless. So I encourage you to partake in some autumnal hygee, and if I don’t see you out on a walk with our dog, I’ll see you in the Spring!

#Laterpost….Brexit aftermath

I realised the other day that it has been a while since my last post….prompted by an email telling me I have my first follower (thank you….you know who you are!). I also realised I had drafted a post in the days after the Brexit vote, but didn’t end up posting it. I read it again this evening. It feels like it was such a long time ago. And yet the sky hasn’t fallen in quite yet. Most, if not all still holds true. The curiosity about what happens next. The sense that I should “hunker down” (though perhaps slightly less so now). And the silver lining has materialised. Anyway, here it is. Almost 3 months later…..

It’s been a week since 52% of my countrymen and women voted to leave the European Union. It still feels weird. I often think about significant political events that I have lived through but wasn’t fully conscious of at the time…..Thatcherism, Falklands war, super high interest rates and the boom and bust in the 1980s, Poll Tax riots, the second Cold War, the first Iraq war, Black Wednesday, fall of the Berlin Wall…….What we are living through right now definitely feels up there with some or most of those. But it feels strange to be living through it and being fully aware of it, knowing it’s seismic. I can’t quite put my finger on why though. Perhaps it’s the not knowing what comes next – knowing it’s huge, but not knowing what the impact will be. I also feel an acute sense of curiosity – I can’t wait to see how it all pans out.

With a family to support, my natural instinct is to hunker down and ride it out – or in mafia speak, go to the mattresses (minus the killing). So where I might have been having thoughts about whether the grass is greener in terms of my career, they have been nudged back a bit. And those air miles that are burning a hole in my pocket will be staying right where they are for a bit longer. On the upside (I’m really desperate to find a silver lining in this situation), my mortgage might be cheaper in the next few weeks if interest rates are cut. And I’m pretty sure the flights I just booked to France were about £200 cheaper than when I first searched for them a couple of weeks ago, but perhaps that’s a happy (wrong word) coincidence. But I have a definite sense these are temporary (and in the grand scheme of things, pretty much irrelevant) and that the ripple effect will be felt in months and years, rather than in the weeks afterwards.

I’m also more aware than ever, about the privileged position I’m in. Good job. A house. An amazing family. Some people are in quite the opposite position, so I can completely appreciate why so many voted to Leave, because if you feel you’ve been left behind and are in a shitty place, perhaps a change is what is needed to make it better.

Where were you when….

Whenever there’s a major sporting event (World Cup, Olympics or European Championship) I usually find myself reminiscing about where I was and what I was doing during previous ones. Today on the train on my way to work, I went back as far as I could remember. I thought I’d share…..

2014 World Cup – strangely, don’t remember much. Apart from England being useless (pretty standard). My daughter was just about 2 so the OH and I were ‘thinking’ about a second….

2012 London Olympics – OH very pregnant with our first. Remember watching Super Saturday (when GB won a truckload of Gold) in bed cheering on Mo Farrah and hearing the roar from the Olympic stadium out of our window

2010 World Cup – again, nothing memorable from a football perspective. Apart from about a decent 10 mins vs Germany when Lampard scored, but didn’t, and watching it with our lovely neighbours. Was working in Wimbledon and had a horrible commute

2008 Olympics – just married 🙂 Had an epic summer of holidays including Devon, Vegas and the South of France

2006 World Cup – we were on the cusp of buying our first home and I was living with the inlaws

2004 Olympics – on holiday in Spain. Distinctly remember hearing really bad cabaret most nights from adjacent hotel. 

2002 World Cup – working at Ford in Essex. Remember several boozy lunches at the local Golf Club bar watching the games and then having to stay back late in order to be safe to drive home

2000 Olympics – Masters degree dissertation. Yawn

1998 World Cup – mid way through my undergraduate degree. Missed the Michael Owen wonder goal vs Argentina as I was on a flight to Spain with a friend, to stay with the Spanish Erasmus girl I was kind of seeing. At her parents place. And we hung out with her boyfriend. A lot. It was very weird. I did eat the best steak I’ve ever had at another girl’s parents place in the Pyrenees who my friend was also kind of seeing. But she also had a boyfriend. The trip in general was all a bit weird

1996 European Championships – what a summer! Had just finished my A levels. Had my first proper girlfriend. Britpop was alive and kicking. England were doing well and there was a real buzz. Distinctly remember watching the Scotland game at a friends house with several others, and going bonkers when Gazza scored. And thrashing the Netherlands. Good times. If only we’d beaten the Germans….

1994 World Cup – no England sadly, but had just finished my GCSEs, so managed to watch most games, much to the annoyance of my mum

1992 Olympics – David Coleman: “It’s Linford Christie!!! The British captain is the Olympic champion”

1990 World Cup – Two things – New Order’s World in Motion. And I cried after the penalties. That is it.

1988 European Championship – Van Bastan wonder goal. I was caravanning with the family and given we had a 7 inch black and white TV with awful reception, I didn’t get to see many games

1986 World Cup – had a bet with the builder who was building an extension at our house, that Argentina would win. The prize was a Mars bar. The morning after the final, the first thing I said to him was “where’s my Mars bar then”. I promptly got a clip round the ear from my mum for being so cheeky

1984 Olympics – this is as far back as I go. I was 6. I remember watching Daley Thompson in the decathlon. And being on holiday in Filey in an apartment where you had to feed the electricity meter with 50p coins.

This is the most riveting thing you’ll read today

That, in the world in which I work, is called click bait. An enticing headline that promises so much, yet delivers the opposite. So apologies.

I knew when I started writing this blog that the content wouldn’t be flowing and I didn’t want to post just for postings sake. I didn’t see the point. If I did this, it didn’t feel any different from the fairly frequently Facebook updates I used to post before calling it quits (though they keep emailing me to entice me back, plus my employer now makes me use Facebook at Work for internal comms, so I haven’t been able to completely escape Zuckerberg’s grip). I wanted something to be able to capture my ramblings, observations and anecdotes to an audience who wanted to read them, rather than inflict them on every person I’m ‘friends’ with.

So, with that in mind and in a bit of a journal style, this is what I’ve been up to since last posting….

It was my son’s first birthday earlier this month. That first year DEFINITELY went quicker than for my daughter. I reckon twice as quick, given we have two children whereas previously there was just one, meaning I’m twice as busy ergo time goes twice as quick. That’s sound scientific logic for you right there. The OH and I made a cake. One that looked like an owl sitting on a fence. It was awesome. And surprisingly easy. When you cover anything with that amount of chocolate icing, chocolate buttons, marzipan and Cadbury Flakes, it can’t fail to be a hit.

 

I’m still on track with my 1kg a week weight loss, meaning I’ve lost 10kg in total since the start of April. 10 down, 10 to go (I revised the target down from 80 to 75).

The next 10 will be much harder, without a doubt. It’s very handy having a colleague at work who is doing the same and we can bore each other with “wow, look how many calories are in that tiny little piece of cake!!”. Weekends are my downfall though. Weekdays are easy. I have routine during the week, so sticking to the eating plan is merely an extension to that routine – 250 for breakfast, 500 for lunch, 750 for dinner. However at the weekend, it pretty much all goes to sh*t. Whether it’s eating out or a takeaway (or two), the calorie counting goes on hold. I definitely eat less than I used to though. For this reason I’m calling it the “Inverse 5-2 diet”, where the 5 = 5 good days and the 2 = 2 naughty days. I’ve also learnt bread is like the devil for the calorie conscious. And I love bread. Sad times. But on the upside, lots of people are commenting that I’ve noticeably lost weight, which means it’s working. Good times. I can’t see it myself, as the flab around the tummy is still there. I am noticing clothes are much looser though. Luckily, I won’t have to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe, as there are plenty of clothes in there that have been far too tight to wear in recent years, so not only am I saving money by eating less but I have effectively got loads of new free clothes. Double Yorkshire Tightness Win!!! Don’t worry – I’ll leave it another 10 weeks to bore you again with tales of weight loss and calorie counting!

And finally, I’ve been reading a lot about ‘Brexit’ (this Thursday, if you’re a UK resident, you get to vote on whether to remain or leave the EU). As I work for a well known financial news organisation (with a pink newspaper), it’s all a lot of people here are talking about at the moment. However, for me, the well renowned political commentator,  Jonny Vegas, summed it up perfectly when he was on Channel 4’s The Last Leg the other week: “Leaving Europe is like telling your parents you want independence and then you move into the garage”

We’re sorry…..but are we?

I work very closely with marketing teams in my job and take a keen interest in the marketing of competitors and beyond. This means whereas most people are inclined to check the box that says “Don’t send me any marketing”, I actively opt in to receive it, so I can see first hand what companies are doing with data, messaging and offers.

I’ve noticed a bit of a trend however – the rise of the “Oops, we’re sorry. We pressed send too soon!” type email. I know from my own experiences that this is entirely possible. I remind a colleague of the time they did this fairly regularly to wind them up. However, have so many who are responsible for hitting send, started developing twitchy trigger fingers? I suspect not, and I believe this type of email is another tactic to cut through the clutter of your inbox. My interest is certainly piqued if it looks like someone had made a mistake…and if I’m feeling mean, I’ll laugh like Nelson from The Simpsons. But I’m increasingly sceptical now….or perhaps it’s just me getting old!