Home-working - it's like a breath of fresh air

IT seems very unnatural to step out of something which you have been doing instinctively for more than 30 years.
Stepping out of journalism last week to start working for a charity was a surreal experience. Of course the same business principles applied and a new set of challenges presented themselves, but it was strange, nonetheless, to be outside that media arena. The deadlines were very different!
I'm now home-working, which presents a fresh challenge in itself. You have to be disciplined and organised. I thought at one stage of perhaps wearing shirt, tie and trousers each day when I was sitting at my PC to set aside work time from home time. But that was ridiculous.
Someone within Hearing Link who also home works was telling me how she has a summer house in the garden, and that's where she detaches herself from home life.
I'm finding that I am very productive with home working. There are no disturbances, you can have music on in the background, no major tea rounds to worry about (not that I ever got involved with tea rounds before), and no taking telephone messages for other members of staff.
But, it can be isolating during the day with no banter. However, given the choice I'm enjoying the home working and thriving off the new challenge.

I will write more about Hearing Link, the charity I am working for, in future blogs.
As an organisation, Hearing Link is a hearing loss organisation which works throughout the UK with those suffering from acquired hearing loss. The figure is one in 10 of the UK's population has hearing loss of some form.
My particular work will focus on hearing loops, which is a wonderful piece of technology that helps folk with hearing loss to enjoy a greater quality of life, simply by adjusting their hearing aid to the telecoil setting.
I first got involved with Hearing Link through the newspaper when we worked with them on a campaign called "Let's Loop Eastbourne". The idea of the Hearing Link initiative was to turn Eastbourne into the most loop-friendly town in the UK.
The newspaper worked hard to promote the campaign, and I spoke at the international loop conference organised by the charity earlier this month on the role which media can play with these sort of initiatives.
Eastbourne has done much to improve the number of working hearing loops in the town - particularly in churches and a number of public buildings as well as the shops.
However there is a long way to go. The town's hoteliers are a stubborn group who struggle to see a sound business reason why they should install hearing loops. Their provision for guests with a hearing loss in terms of fire safety is even worse. And this is a mindset I'm going to have to change in my new role with Hearing Link.
I was astonished to learn when we first began the campaign how 70% to 80% of businesses in Eastbourne have hearing loops installed, but less than 20% of these were working. It's a bit like having a smoke alarm fitted with the battery missing. Amazing.
So, I start off on a fresh journey to develop a culture of hearing loops, not only in Eastbourne, but across the UK. It will be fascinating.

I was interested to read on Hold The Front Page the story about video targets at my former newspaper group, Johnston Press. http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2013/news/time-to-end-news-video-targets-union-tells-johnston-press/
The National Union of Journalists, whose sell-by date has long since passed, is up in arms at the number of videos which journalists are expected to produce - one a week per journalist.
Although one a week doesn't seem a lot, I actually agree with the NUJ. I have for a long time questioned why there is such an emphasis on video for a staff which is hugely stretched, when the figures barely justify the amount of time in uploading the video. Monthly video hits are in the hundreds. Upload a decent picture gallery and you will get hits in the thousands - the same with a strong news story.
Some of the videos which have been produced by newspaper groups just to satisfy the quota are amateurish. One newspaper put a video camera outside a Blockbuster store at the time the chain was shutting a number of its shops. And for two minutes the video featured people walking past the shop with a commentary over the top. No interviews, no comment, no analysis. Pointless!
Johnston Press is going through another of its voluntary redundancy processes, so staff are being lost. However there are unreasonable expectations for journalists to produce the same amount of material with less resources, and backed by up a flaky computer system.
Resource editorial teams properly, and absolutely give video a shot. If Johnston Press is serious about digital then invest in it - invest in staff. But when journalists are struggling to manage their current priorities - both in print and digitally - then it's time for some honest navel-gazing from managers about what life really is like at the coal face. Expectations should be tempered.
It's time to do a few things well than a lot of things badly.

Watch out when Calamity King is about!

A FRIEND of mine has nicknamed me Calamity King. A just reputation, I think, hued more than 40 years ago when, as a sprightly seven-year-old, I somehow cycled into a greenhouse in a neighbours' home.

It was only thanks to my dad's quick action in sealing wound with blood pouring out that he saved my life. The legacy of that numpty moment and those 10 stitches can be found on my left arm.

Oh, I've broken my arm swinging Tarzan-like from trees, managed to lose my car keys in the middle of a boating lake, tried to cook a frozen chicken in a grill, and I once reversed over my laptop in my car! They're just a smidgen of the CK moments which have dogged my life.

The latest of which was the moment last weekend when I fuelled the company car with unleaded petrol instead of diesel. What a moronic muppet! I should have known it was the wrong fuel because twice when I tried to pull the unleaded hose over to the tank, it sent the diesel pump flying off its rack and onto the forecourt floor. One concerned motorist shouted out "Easy Tiger!".

What was I thinking?!! It was only six litres of unleaded, but it could have been 600 litres for all it mattered. I realised in an instant what had happened and then it was sweaty armpit time!

The cashiers in the garage were total gents, plying me with coffee while I waited. They warned me a call-out to the AA would cost a minimum of £250, so recommended a local guy who would do it for £160.

They'd witnessed a few of these phenomenal fuel failures recently at the garage, including one guy who filled up his girlfriend's soft top Audi with £80 of the wrong petrol. So by the time he had called the fella from the fuel company, filled up twice, this brassed-off boyfriend was the best part of £300 down.

Help arrived an hour later and it took the mechanic just 20 minutes to pump out the fuel from the tank. I asked him how could they justify charging such an exorbitant amount, and he simply shrugged his shoulders. The staff each gets about seven call-outs a day, working an area south of the M25. It was daylight robbery, but I was just glad to get the car sorted and on my way. 


I HAVE a rampant dislike of IT folk (excusing my brother) who are so autistic in their ways, that the words "common sense" and "allowing people to think for themselves" do not exist in their mealy-mouthed vocabularies. If in doubt, just password protect it and change it in 28 days!

They drive me nuts with their stupid rules and regulations which merely demonstrate their own personal failures to maintain a computer system which runs safely and without constantly crashing! Instead they've created unnecessary bottlenecks and protocols for their own job protectionism. One day, I promise you, these IT geeks will take over the world!

This week I have moved home to a seemingly remote part of the south coast which seems devoid of mobile phone signal or Wi-Fi. It has driven me to distraction trying to get online. In the end found a wonderful IT fella called Robert, who talked in plain English, didn't sell me what I didn't need, and simply set about the task of getting me a network which worked.

He runs his own business, goes about his work in a quiet, unassuming way, and he was an absolute God-send.

See, IT folk aren't so bad after all.


ON Sunday evening, I hosted a 90 minute show at the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne to mark the installation of the theatre's new state-of-the-art hearing loop system. The event was jointly organised by the theatre and the charity Hearing Link.

I had managed to persuade an innovative group of performers called the Pocket-Size Theatre Group to come along and sing about a dozen songs from well-known and more contemporary musicals. In between time, I interviewed various folk involved with hearing loops and hearing aids.

We had no idea how many people would turn up to the free event at the theatre, but more than 100 did, and it was good to have them there. We had mixed reviews about the quality of the loop, but this is something which will have to be looked at.

The interviews went well, and I was really pleased with how well they flowed using no notes at all, which meant for spontaneity and crisp sets.

Sadly, when I did use notes it heralded the return of some appalling CK moments. Twice I lost the my place with my notes and twice I wrongly introduced songs which the Pocket-Size Theatre Group were performing. It was time for the underarm deodorant again, but you try to work around it.

However, the point of the evening in promoting the use of hearing loops plus a venue where those with hearing aids could enjoy live performances was made, and made well.

This weekend, it's back to Eastbourne for the International Loop Conference with delegates travelling all around the world. I've got a six-minute speech prepared, with notes. Let's hope for no CK moments this time.