Unplugging from the Matrix

Am looking forward to setting my out of office message and winding down to a week unplugged from the matrix. I will have my personal laptop with me but only for photo downloads from camera and iTunes updates. Will also have iPhone and may well play with social media and keep up to date with news but really want to minimise this as much as possible. It's finally time to have some downtime, do some thinking and recharge the batteries. I almost can't remember the last time I completely unplugged quite as much as I'm planning over the course of the next week. I think it was when I went to Florida, so that makes it at least three years!

It's the final episode of Ashes to Ashes tonight. I need to go back and watch Life on Mars which is something I will do when I get back from Cornwall.

And when I get back am looking forward to Crick Boat Show over the Bank Holiday weekend and then getting my hands on long awaited iPad. Geek heaven awaits!

Can't wait for the girlfriend and little people (the Cairn terriers) to arrive and get this party started!

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Ed Miliband

I thougt Ed Miliband sounded quite credible on Andrew Marr this morning. Feel more inclined to think he may make electable Labour leader - more so than his brother. I'm not quite sure why I don't quite trust David, but there's just something about him that doesn't quite feel right. Then again would have either of them before Ed Balls, who strikes me as someone with personality defects similar to Gordon Brown. Balls would make Labour unelectable in my view.

Why they want to stretch it out until the autumn is beyond me. Surely a more concise timetable could be put together that allows candidates to make their case and then vote on it. Hell, we can work out who should run the country in a month. Any longer to elect Labour leader is gonna bore the pants off of most of us.

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Is it a good day to bury embarrasing news?

Am stuck in stationary traffic on the M40. Managed to drip coffee over my white shirt and silk tie. Good start to the day. Girlfriend will enjoy making old man jokes about that!

Might as well bury all my embarrasing news at once. Watched Hachiko on Sunday evening. I cried at the end. It's not an involved plot but a lovely film. And actually based on a true story.

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Random thoughts from the #trulondon #NtonTweetUp

We held an informal Midlands based follow up to the #trulondon unconference with a TweetUp in the foyer of the Barcelo Hotel in Daventry. I was joined by @BillBorman with his very lovely wife Fran, @prefio and @whatjobsite. Experienced mild internet trauma when I first arrived – wot... no free internet!!!... tried to sign up with swisscom for 24 hours and they were experiencing problems taking a payment – which to be fair were resolved after about 10 minutes but it was all a bit more painful that this kind of thing ought to be.

The night was peppered with conversation largely related to social media. I don’t think anything we said would contradict my default stance towards the impact of social media on recruitment. So yes, it’s important, and you ignore it at your peril. However while social media helps you connect with people in new and interesting ways it doesn’t change the skill that recruiters must show in connecting and establishing relationships. So I’m not one of those who think it’s the be all and end all. Where social media fails is where it’s used inappropriately to connect with and then essentially spam people. It takes a more rounded approach than just learning how to post jobs to twitter; recruiters need to think more carefully about the balance of content they provide and be more interesting than a stream of job opportunities which are largely inappropriately targeted and just appear as noise. Like anything that’s directed at me that’s noise I’m going to deploy a noise filter to your activity and screen you out.

The “ignore at your peril” comment means that I view social media as a new channel that sits alongside old channels and those who succeed will be those that are maximising opportunities across all channels; and not ignoring social media because it appears to a fad. Social Media is here to stay. I found myself contrasting social media with the arrival of the internet. On my bookshelf I have issue one of .net magazine from December 1994. I remember then when I was going to an internet cafe in New Mills in Derbyshire with magazine in hand  to experience the new fangled world wide web. I remember my first 56k modem and “the tones” involved in connecting to the internet from home. I remember evangelising about  how the internet would change things and I remember the nay sayers and prophets of doom telling me it would never catch on or never be important. It would be difficult to deny that the internet today isn’t part of the fabric and hasn’t changed the way we consume information, the way we connect with people and the way we shop (just to name a few of the more obvious impacts).

We had an interesting debate about whether the iPad is going to be a hit or a miss. I’m very definitely on the side of it being a hit. I think it’s going to transform the way we consume books and magazines and newspapers partially because of the form factor but also because the iBookshop (or whatever it’s going to be called) is going to do the same thing to print media that iTunes did to music. It’s going to change the way we consume. I think it’s also going to have a massive impact on niche publishers who print and distribute to a small number of localised readers who are now going to get exposure to the long tail of the internet.

Other things we talked about....

The rise of new business models in the recruitment space; Jobgate , Talent Puzzle , Talentdrive , and we talked about referral models (including Prefio)  and vacancy clearing models

Sourcing – and we looked at Jigsaw , who are attempting to be the largest database of contact information and talked about using Amazon Mechanical Turk as a possible route to, for example, sourcing email addresses from name / company lists. We also learnt recently from people like Jim Stroud that it’s about the search for people, not the search for CV’s.

Trends in recruitment – we talked about HR doing it for themselves and the rise of RPO activity; all to the detriment of traditional recruitment agencies

We talked about the difference between Facebook use in the UK versus the USA. It’s much more of a business tool in the USA than it is here.

We talked about twitter and about organising lists. Here’s a thought for the way that you organise your lists; have you got columns for Targets, Influencers and Competitors?

We talked a little about presentations and The Back Channel book by Cliff Atkinson – subtitled “How audiences are using Twitter and Social Media and changing presentations forever. Cliff wrote one of my favourite books about presenting called Beyond Bullet Points. We had a very quick look at a new online presenting tool which I think is very cool called Prezi

A bit of advice from Bill on blogging – when you blog watch the impact if you can include “LinkedIn” in the title of your post.

We also briefly talked about ROI for social media and I must follow up with Bill to get the url of the blog post he talked about that nailed some salient points.

So we quite happily chatted until late into the night, fortunately I live in walking distance from the hotel. Another really interesting nights conversation arising from getting involved in #trulondon. Thanks to Bill and also to Alan Whitford of RCEURO fame who pushed me in the right direction in the first place.

A few links...

My blog post on day 1 of #trulondon

My blog post on day 2 of #trulondon

My presentation to the enhanced media conference on slideshare

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Posterous and Buzz

I'm a big fan of Posterous. Using just one email to my posterous account I can post to my Google Blog, my Posterous Blog, my FaceBook account, my Twitter account and now to Google Buzz. Pictures are also copied from emails and saved to my Flickr account. In writing this quick update I notice that it could also post to my LinkedIn account but I'd already set up LinkedIn and Twitter integration on LinkedIn. So I get LinkedIn status updates via Posterous posting to Twitter. There's also a bunch of other available links (e.g. YouTube).

The method of getting Posterous to post to Buzz isn't as straightforward at present as the other integrations but the instructions are relatively painless to work through. They are documented here:

http://blog.posterous.com/integrating-posterous-and-google-buzz

This post is in effect my trial run at posting to Buzz via Posterous. Fingers crossed.

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Older people do not need less sleep - Science, News - The Independent

As an older person currently experiencing some sleep issues an article in The Independent this morning made for an interesting read...

I could not but agree that was has changed is my tendency to wake in the middle of the night.. the article goes on to suggest the change that comes with age is losing the ability to sleep in one chunk but there is no change to the equation that more sleep equals better functioning.

All of which suggests I probably need to do more to address my mild insomnia issues...

Anyway, here is the article...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/older-people-do-not-need-less-sleep-1907383.html

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Social Media and reach... #emconf2010 #trulondon

I gave a presentation to around 450 delegates at the Enhanced Media conference about 3 weeks ago. Today I noticed the presentation has 518 views on slideshare. Relevancy is difficult to establish but in basic statistical terms more people have seen my slideshow on the net through a social media channel than in person.

The presentation is here...

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My notes from Day 2 of #trulondon

Here is my learning from day 2...

NETWORKING

·         Got talking with Stephen O’Donnell. He tells me his company put up the first job app for the iPhone – Jobs UK

·         He showed me just how many job apps are now out there – he has almost two screens of them on his iPhone – examples Hays, Monster, Total Jobs, Jobsite

·         His assertion is that a lot of these apps are “me too’s” – caused by the rush to get there and have presence

EYE CANDY

Take a look at http://www.twitterfountain.com/ - awesome UI but not personally convinced it’s something I’d use on a primary screen – projected on the wall at an office, conference, event or if you’re lucky enough to have three screens maybe...

SOURCING

A few sourcing ideas from the serious practitioners...

·         Whois search on GoDaddy.com - http://who.godaddy.com/whoischeck.aspx?isc=goazguk3a&ci=8926

·         Whoozy.com – People Search Engine - http://whoozy.com/

·         TinEye – Reverse Image Search Engine - http://www.tineye.com/

·         Egrabber – captures and processes unstructured data such as cv’s - http://www.egrabber.com/

·         pipl.com – people search engine - http://www.pipl.com/

·         Tweepz – twitter search engine - http://www.tweepz.com/

·         TwitterSheep - http://twittersheep.com/ - produces tag cloud generated from the bios of your “flock” of followers... here is mine...

·         Search is only as good as the quality of your keywords, so keyword research is a critical skill in this arena

·         As much as one can admire the skills on display is this kind of deep web search & social sourcing a dark art and do recruiters in the UK generally need this depth of help?

·         Interesting but unsatisfactory debate about data privacy issues raised by this kind of searching

LINKEDIN

·         Yes, it’s a sourcing tool but it’s a network building and business development tool

·         Default view of recruiters on LinkedIn is overwhelmingly negative

·         A profile 100% complete will get 4 times the number of views of a profile only 90% complete

·         QUOTE – The new API is quite restrictive

·         Discussion about profile pictures – company logo’s and cartoons are not acceptable – difficult for LinkedIn to police but if found you will be suspended

·         Interesting thought – are you happy with the profile and pictures of your recruiters on LinkedIn

·         There is value in using the LinkedIn company profile widget on your website

·         Groups are the value add for those not using LinkedIn to look for a job

TWITJOBSEARCH

·         Arguably the biggest job board in the world right now... http://www.twitjobsearch.com/

·         650,000 new jobs posted in the last 30 days on Twitter

ROI

·         This tracks wasn’t what I thought it was going to be, I was hoping for a discussion on metrics, analysis, tricks and tools

·         I wanted more than... “a company should get into New Media because it’s cheap, fast and everyone else is doing it”

·         Great idea I picked up on the track... If you want to see how bad our industry still is, set up a tweetdeck column using “recruiter” as a search term

FINAL THOUGHTS

·         Two days and two blog posts full of learning points

·         I felt it a more comfortable atmosphere in which to network, I usually feel quite uncomfortable at major conferences and pretty much keep to myself

·         Day 2 of the unconference organisationally better than Day 1 but in the spirit of complete honesty...

·         The location was not ideal – it was quite a palava to leave the main room and go to tracks – this ideally should be much easier to do

·         We could have done with slightly more structure around tracks kicking off, what they were going to be about (to start with) and start times could have been more disciplined

·         If these two ideas were implemented I think we might have seen more movement between tracks, more side tracks starting up and more challenging of track leaders – then again British reserve says maybe not

To be fair though a fantastic event overall, congratulations to the organisers and a shout out to @billboorman

Bill and I are running a little tweetup in the Midland “to carry on the conversation” as it were ... 3rd March, Barcelo Hotel, Daventry, 7:30pm sign up http://bit.ly/cTlXvZ #NtonTweetUp. There’s only four of us attending so far so lots of room and it’s free.

I have one last thought. If you read this via twitter and went to #trulondon then I’d ask you to tweet the following...

I went to #trulondon and learnt...

It’s for you to fill in the blanks!

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. @billboorman in full flow at #trulondon

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My notes from Day 1 of #trulondon

I had planned to live tweet from #trulondon but in the end I kind of followed the #trulondon hashtag on TweetDeck on my iPhone and spent the time listening and participating in the sessions. To some extent I’m still processing whether the chaos of the unconference style suits me but I did find the day interesting and engaging. Here’s my learning...

VIDEO

·         Jim Stroud made some excellent points about how easy it is to get into video and pointed to the excellent case studies of military and schools in the US

·         The entry barrier to video is so low these days – just a flip camera and away you go – don’t make it too high tech and it doesn’t need high production values

·         Wander round and ask staff... “What do you like about working at xxxxx” – just 30 second clips and edit them together

·         Example: Microsoft Canada Development Centre = 9000 views

·         You can embed video in LinkedIn via Google presentations (and I think you can now do this via SlideShare as well)

·         The jobs don’t have to sexy – the other example was “Food Jobs in Saudi Arabia” - = 1000 views (but it’s about getting to the right audience)

·         Good sourcing idea that cropped up in the discussion – look at the people who comment on specialist videos e.g. Microsoft SQL videos on YouTube or post pictures of windfarms on Flickr as potential candidates for appropriate roles

REPUTATION 2.0

·         Paul Harrison, Carve Consulting, made excellent points about reputation and the impact of ignoring negative social media comment

·         Asda were singled out as a case study in appropriate response to negative social media commentary

·         TripAdvisor was pointed to as an example of social rating – are we far away from online rating of recruitment experiences becoming the norm?

SOCIAL MEDIA ROI

·         Yes, it’s important

·         Yes, it can be measured

·         Yes, advice is out there on how to do that

·         It’s about tracking both cost AND quality

JOB BOARDS

·         Job Boards probably getting tired of hearing about their “imminent death” – and hold my hands up here, I’m one of the culprits

·         Worth noting that downward pressure on the cost model has halved the recruitment media market from £1.5B to £750M in about 10 years

·         Need to factor in the apathy of job hunters and the fact that candidates will continue to use agencies and it’s agencies that fuel Job Boards

·         Behavioural analysis is key – in the final analysis as much as we blather about job boards we will all go where the candidates go

·         There’s some evidence of online profiles replacing CV’s but it’s not universal

TECHNOLOGY STREAM

·         Make sure you establish clearly what problem(s) you are trying to solve

·         QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Implementing an ERP as an ATS takes 18 months just to get you back where you were when you started”

·         There’s a tendency to over-specify when thinking about the requirements for an ATS – map your core processes and deliver that

·         The Big Three ATS systems named as Taleo, Kenexa and Peopleclick

·         SECOND QUOTE OF THE DAY – “The wrong people in the organisation often make the buying decision (i.e. IT people rather than HR / Recruiter people)”

·         Approach advice was to focus on use cases rather than huge multi-page requirements documents

·         Technology shout outs to: Jobs2Web, Sonar6 and JobVite (who I see for your contact details are offering a free e-book on the “5 secrets to successful social recruiting”)

GEN Y

·         QUOTE: “For the first time a younger generation is an authority on something that matters – they “get” the internet better than the older generations

·         I felt like an old fuddy duddy defending the honour of my generation!!!

BLOGGING

·         Content

·         Passion

·         ROI

·         It’s part of a broader strategy

·         Internal Blogging by the company CEO

FINAL THOUGHTS

·         Get beyond dipping a toe in the social media world and think seriously about social media strategy

·         Make a start by making sure you’re listening

·         We have under exploited video as a recruiting tool

·         SEO is not as well understood as it should be and we could be better with analysis, metrics and ROI

·         Consider ceding control of social media channels to GEN Y employees

 

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#secrettrack at #trulondon

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A different perspective on Alistair Campbell's unplanned moment...

I've been listening and reading some of the utter tosh being written about Alistair Campbell and his "unplanned moment" while being interviewed by Andrew Marr on Sunday morning. Some of the more cynical commentators have suggested that it was some kind of calculated act, some even going so far as to suggest that he was road testing an election ploy for Labour. 

I think something much less sinister was going on. Alistair even pointed to it when he spoke about the fact that he wouldn't take a full time role on behalf of Labour in the election. In his past Alistair suffered a nervous breakdown. I know from bitter experience that the medical profession don't particularly acknowledge the phrase "nervous breakdown" and perhaps Alistair himself doesn't use the term. He has said that he's suffered / is suffering from depression. 

And that's what I saw when Alistair froze. He just lost his way for a moment and his self confidence temporarily deserted him. He experienced an uncomfortable moment of mental tension. It's extremely disconcerting when it happens and I felt sorry for Alistair that it happened so publicly. The media went into a frenzy for the rest of the day, although I think that had more to do with old scores from his days at Downing Street.

I have a lot of time for Alistair in the respect that he's a role model for those suffering from depression and what is possible despite such a debilitating medical condition. He managed to hold down one of the most high pressured jobs in politics for a number of years and has then gone on to be a successful author. There are a great many people who hate him for his politics and his role in Iraq. I take the view that Alistair is a man of principles and deeply held convictions. I might not always agree with him but I respect his right to defend his corner.  

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Any Given Sunday...

I went up to Wiccaweys on Sunday and walked three dogs I’d not met before. Two of them I wanted to wrap up and take home with me immediately and one was a little scamp.

First up was Smokey Joe. What a beautiful and intelligent collie. A little afraid to start with, a bit shy. But what an absolute joy to be around. I had a really good long walk round the cows field with Joe, we sat a couple of times and I got a couple of really sweet collie hugs near the end of our time. I can’t believe Joe will be around long at Wiccs HQ – he’s bound to be snapped up and adopted very quickly.

Second up was a little scamp called Brandy. This is a collie with lots of energy and lots of love to give. A little bit energetic for my taste but a great dog all the same. Brandy certainly cheers you up.

Finally, and on reflection my favourite dog of the day, Tara. As you might expect for a dog that’s been chained up for much of it’s life Tara is a little shy and defensive, but there’s a lovely, sweet collie beyond all that. Although the website says Tara has issues with other dogs we spent the first part of the walk with Max along to keep us company and despite being “in yer face” a bit with both of us, Tara behaved impeccably. She also showed me a fun side to her nature as the walk progressed. Here’s a couple of photos of the lovely Tara...

For those who haven’t read my blog before, on Sundays (when I can) I volunteer at a Border Collie Rescue Centre and walk some of the dogs.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Candidate attraction and print media #emconf2010

I'm on the train to London and on my way to the Online Recruitment Conference 2010 at the Royal Geographical Society. I'm presenting to over 350 delegates, so no pressure there then!!!

My presentation includes a couple of slides on my predictions for 2010, and one of my thoughts is about changes coming to the newspaper advertising model. At the time i put the slide together my thoughts were largely driven by the pressure newspapers are under as they struggle with online presence and whether or not to hide behind a pay wall. Yesterdays Apple announcement of the iBookstore has the makings of the basis on which some print media organisations will survive and prosper. I think we will be suprised by some brands that take off and some that just won't quite get the changes needed and ultimately quietly expire.

It's going to be interesting to see if print media reading habits are really going to change.

Steve

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A cold day at Wiccaweys, but happy to be back...

With Christmas out of the way it was time to get back in the saddle and settle into the routine of healthy dog walking on a Sunday at Wiccaweys. Getting there was the first challenge but once out of the estate at home, to be honest the roads were pretty clear all the way, there seemed slightly less snow as we got closer to Wiccs HQ than in Daventry (but not by much) and we managed to get the car into the yard at Wiccaweys by just taking it nice and slowly all the way from the gate. As Leisa had come with me we walked two dogs at a time, starting with Ollie and Mikey and then after lunch we had Max and Merlin. Conditions were not unpleasant and the only weather issue was the wind chill so it was decidedly better when the wind was light or non-existant.

Here’s a great picture I got of Ollie looking very puppy-ish... what a nice boy and I definitely could of gotten used to this Ollie as much as the little charmer of the same name who stole my heart before Christmas. Both Ollie and Mikey pull on the lead quite a bit, Mikey (to say he’s so skinny) is very strong. Ollie got to go to his forever home later on in the day and I felt really happy for him.

And here is Max. What a fluffball!!! There’s a good deal of German Shepherd in Max although I suspect not pure as he doesn’t have the body shape and terrible hip problems that seem to beset that breed these days. But a real pleasure to walk, he doesn’t pull anything like as much as the two collies from the morning walk  and a super nice personality. I got several kisses. And he’s as gentle as can be when taking a treat.

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Online Recruitment 2010 Conference

I am speaking at the Online Recruitment 2010 Conference. More information at http://is.gd/5QcmD
I am speaking about life after job boards. What would you expect to hear covered in this session?
If you were thinking about recruitment technology in the era after job boards what questions would you want answered?
The twitter hashtag for the conference is #EMconf2010

Some of them take a little bit of your heart...

Sorry it’s a bit of a belated report but I had another great day’s walking at Wiccaweys on Sunday just gone. If you haven’t been following along, Wiccaweys is the border collie rescue centre where I do voluntary dog walking, generally on Sundays. When I arrived this week it looked like it was going to be pretty ideal walking conditions. The sun was kind of poking out, it was a little chilly but not too bad temperature wise, not much wind and given the amount of rain recently a little wet underfoot. I had barely arrived and got myself turned around when I met Vallie, one of a pair of collies learning to be a little bit independent of each other. Vallie is a gorgeous scamp of a dog who pulled me along for the ride on a pleasant walk to set the day up right. An hour later I was in for a change of dog and Sarah gave me Ollie. So Ollie and I spent the rest of my walking day together, having a great time. I am convinced Ollie remembered me from last week, because we immediately settled in to enjoy the day. Ollie’s just great to walk and has a huge skill so many collies lack, which is when he tangles himself up in the lead he can, without assistance, get himself out of the predicament. What a smart cookie!!! He enjoys his walks, but he definitely walks with you. Yes, he sniffs his way around some of the time and occasionally asks you to give him a minute while he susses out some particularly delicious scent he’s found. He also decides when he’s ready to be fed a treat, coming back to you, tail wagging and giving you “the look”. If that doesn’t persuade you then directly trying to stick his nose in your treat pocket is the signal. He’s exceptionally good with other dogs he meets on the walk. He’s usually more interested in the humans and whether they might be carrying sausage than he is in getting into argy bargy with another dog.

We came in for a break after about an hour and a half so that I could grab a bite to eat. Ollie was a lot of fun as we did this, putting his front paws on my thigh to see what was going on and to find out how much of my lunch he was going to get a share in. What was very sweet was as lunch progressed Ollie put his head down on my thigh and turned his face to mine almost like a child might and gave me such a loving look, he took a little bit of my heart right there and then. I think I was asked three times over the course of the day when I was planning to take Ollie home with me. The honest answer is that I can’t. I could be utterly selfish and take a dog home with me but it would be so unfair on him (or her). Take today – I have to set off by 5:30 am and may not be back until well after 7pm tonight. It’s just not right to leave a dog alone for that amount of time. So I have to settle for what I can at present and meeting dogs like Ollie is truly what I get out of volunteering. If circumstances were different I’d snatch up Oliie in a heartbeat.

After lunch the rains came. But I was ready in my new waterproof jacket, which worked perfectly. I got one of the Berghaus jobs with an inner fleece that keeps you warm and a Gore Tex outer layer that keeps the rain and wind out. It worked perfectly and I stayed warm & dry for the rest of the afternoon. It rained on and off for the rest of the day but frankly it wasn’t a patch on the more torrential downpours of the previous Sunday. I’d had such a busy but wonderful weekend that I was flagging by 3 o’clock so I called it a day, happily tired and having thoroughly enjoyed once again my time with Ollie.

Here is a new photo of the collie gorgeousness called Ollie...

...and again...

...and one last one...

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A wet day's dog walking

It was one of those days that weather wise separates the men from the boys. It absolutely chucked it down 2 or 3 times during the day and there was a distinctly persistent feel to some of the showers, particularly in the early part of the day. That said a pretty good turn out of volunteers for such an awful day. I got to spend most of the day with Ollie, broken only by a relatively short walk with Blue. You can see pictures of both these dogs on recent reports and it wasn't exactly camera weather today so no updated pictures in this weeks report. 

I only broke the day with Ollie whilst he met prospective adopters. Sadly for Ollie it wasn't to be his day. The family that came to see Ollie were interested in a collie with what I would refer to as breed standard collie colouring and funnily enough a dog with more energy that Ollie - so closer in behaviour to a little Brynn or the appropriately named Zippy. To be honest I have some sympathy with the issue of colouring. If people have a mental picture of the breed then that's what they are going to want. It's an easy thing to say that this is a bit superficial, but we all make many choices in our lives that are about superficial look or feel. I also believe that given time and exposure people can eventually see past the superficial and find that some of the finest of the breed in terms of intelligence and companionship are the least like the breed standard in terms of looks. I know I'm biased but I have formed quite an attachment to Ollie and he will make a wonderful companion when he finds his forever home. The bit that didn't compute was that they wanted a high energy dog, because that was what they had experienced when meeting the breed previously. Their mental picture was of a dog whose temperement was closer in spirit to Zippy. As much as I love Zippy who has a super, super, personality I personally would want a forever companion much more like Ollie. Zippy is a dog that would have you forever on the go with a capacity for exercise that somedays you could just never meet. Ollie is much more of a companion animal. Someone who settles down into a walk with you. Ollie also has great skill in untangling his lead. There are some dogs you walk that you have to constantly do this for as they tie themselves up in the lead. It's not that Ollie doesn't sometimes do this himself, it's that most of the time he can also untangle himself. And there's a great sign of wicked intelligence. He's also a very gentle animal. Very considerate when you give him a treat, he doesn't snatch at your fingers like some dogs and worry you if you're still going to have your fingers when the treat is taken. And Oliie just gives the warmest collie hugs. In short he's a magnificent animal and the family that he chooses will be lucky to have him. Don't let Paul & Sarah hear me saying this, but I was almost glad he didn't go today so that I may get to spend time with him again. It won't last though, Ollie is sure to go soon.

What I did find out today was that my Nike Air "Michelin Man" coat is not as waterproof as my mental picture of it is. For short showers or a bit of time in rain, it is basically waterproof. And very warm. But there seems to come a point if you spend a protracted period of time in the wet that it becomes sort of waterlogged and the waterproof protection seems to give out or be overwhelmed. So the coat was fine until about two in the afternoon, when suddenly I found myself soaked through. The good news was that I had my change of clothes with me so didn't have to drive home feeling wet and miserable. So a visit to an outdoors shop to get a new coat for the winter season seems on the cards. A young lady who has become a very special friend in a short space of time has commented (adversely) on my usual (non rain) walking attire - which is a bog standard cotton traders fleece - so I will have to arrange for her to accompany on the trip to pick something that whilst waterproof is also aesthetically pleasing, or at least not a fashion disaster. What has worked out really well is my bargain walking boots, also from Cotton Traders. First off, and quite importantly, they are what they said on the tin. Waterproof. And three weeks in, I think I finally have them broken in. I was having a bit of trouble getting used to the ankle support but I think I'm past that now and found them incredibly comfortable over quite a long walking session today.

Anyway, got back home safe and sound. Felt great after a long hot shower and have settled in to have a catch up with Strictly and the X Factor. I think both show made the right choice this week.

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It's Sunday, so a dog walking report...

Another Sunday at Wiccaweys. It could not have been a better day weather wise. I suspect the volunteers yesterday were blown about a bit in the wind and probably got wet, today the sun was out (although you would not describe the day as warm) and there was almost no wind. Almost perfect dog walking conditions, with the exception of slightly wet ground and a muddy and slippy conditions in the a couple of places on the usual walking routes. We started slightly late but I stayed till the end today and walked four dogs, and I was really lucky to have spent the day walking the cream of the crop in terms of a lack of pulling. All four dogs today, once settled on the walk, were exceptionally good company and pretty much walked with me, rather than dragging me along on their walk.

First up was Ollie, who I walked last week...

Then, a dog I’d not met before called Storm. I not sure why but the name really suits him. If the circumstances were different I’d wrap him up in my arms and bring him home in a heartbeat. What a terrific personality. And just look at that face. Playful without being unruly, he sits and puts up both paws for his treats. What a lovely, lovely dog.

I almost didn’t go back in to change dogs, had I not I would not have met Blue. Blue, as you can see isn’t a collie. I believe she’s an Australian Sheep Dog. If I got that wrong I’m sure someone will correct me. Collie or not, another lovely dog. Eager for the walk but with intelligence to kind of look at me as if to say, if that’s all the pace you can do I’ll look after you. This is a dog that I suspect may have some difficulty being homed because of her looks. It’s not that she’s not a good looker, it’s just that she’s so unusual. It doesn’t however take long to look behind that to find a charming, well behaved, young lady with bags of personality.

I’m obviously beginning to find my stride because I still had some energy come three o’clock so I took Blue back in and Merlin out for a last walk. Merlin is one of the kennel stalwarts, he’s a lurcher and a beloved favourite of many of the volunteers. He pulls like the dervish when he first comes out on the walk, but he does settle in after about 5 or 10 minutes. We had a lovely last walk in the setting sun.

So, for me, a fine day’s dog walking. Sadly the day was somewhat marred by the fact that one of the dogs got loose and when I left to come home, despite the best efforts of the team, we have a poor soul who’s missing in action. Everyone is devastated and tonight I have my fingers and toes crossed and my thoughts are with Paul & Sarah.

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Finding my inner rock god...

I think I have found my intellectual level on the Wii.

Air drumming!

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