Super Size Me ! I'm a retro brand

Don't tell anyone  - but I am on a diet.  It is working (currently), I've shed lots of kilos, but clearly I was so fat that only one person has commented on the 7 kg loss.  The diet involves eating tiny portions, limiting really bad food (anything with sugar or fat really) and avoiding snacking.  Soon I will need to up my exercise as the easy first 10 Kgs will have come off & my aggressive target for Easter 2014 sees weekly steps of 1.5kg.  Therefore I have developed a very different relationship with food, as you might imagine.  

Justin O'Brien MBA Director at Royal Holloway

One of my more diplomatic colleagues, when notifying me of free food offers (over ordering at lunchtime events) puts it thus "You look like a man who enjoys his food ?".  Cabin crew use a different tack, "Have you got your seat belt on sir ?", as clearly they can't see any sign of the belt underneath my stomach.  Embarrassing, but true.  Other euphemisms include "You look well !" (either 'you've got fatter' or sotto voce - 'he's still not lost any weight'..).  I'm hoping to experience some positive reinforcement that I've lost weight.  But I'm not sure with all this photo shopping and over awareness of body image that necessarily celebrating getting thin is politically correct either.  The good news is that with my current trousers I am at a tipping point.  Belts, formerly used to pull stomach blubber in, are now not necessary.  Shortly they will become en vogue again, but this time to keep flappy wasted numbers from dropping down below my knees.

Whilst out with some MBA alumni last year I met a guy who was the call centre voice behind a slimming company.  Well, a man, a desk and a phone.  More start up.  He claimed (but it was his pitch....) that the only genuinely effective motivator for weight loss was money.  Thus he signed contracts with overweight people such as myself, offering them cash rewards if they hit their target weights, based on a monthly subscription model.  If you lost weight, the reward payments were significantly more than the subscription dues.  Easy money you'd think ?  But so many people failed this was an attractive betting scheme, where the house or market maker always won.  Worrying that even with hard cash on the table, not the community feel good factor you can get from Weight Watchers meetings or the natural endorphin release you might luxuriate in after a Rosemary Connolly fitness class, lots of people were continuing to fail.  I was convinced money would work for me.

I'm pretty careful with my money (I have an academic salary, remember, the only six digit number I am familiar with is the mortgage) and didn't like the idea of giving away money to an outsider.  So I decided to set up a bet with my wife, after all it's meant to be "our money", so I couldn't lose.  She liked the idea - so we have matching bets and if I lose a third of my body weight, I'll stand to win £1,000.  Not nearly enough to fund the new clothes I'll need (I might even see my feet shrink back to size 9 & have to buy shoes too !) but, the kind of firm, clear target I need to make this life changing transformation. 

Clever Retro Twist or Super Sized Calories ?

Thus I was horrified the other day at Costa coffee (cappuccino's are 200 calories, but so much more pleasurable than a practically nothing flat black Americano,........ I called this 'lunch') to note that the super sized Custard Cream biscuits my older son loves to buy are over 400 calories.  In response to the obesity lobby that targeted McDonald's in a big way, many 'responsible' purveyors of fast food and coffee bars now share calorific information.  400 Calories is nearly as much as a big Mac (580ish ?).  Now, that's an easy call....take the burger every time. 

Now, Costa (which sometimes claims that it's Britain's favourite coffee bar) is innovative in looking for ways to 'delight' their customers and differentiate themselves from the mighty global Starbucks.  Both brands revere the coffee bean and find different ways to put this single minded focus across to customers in their servicescape.  Starbucks uses the form and colour palette of the raw and processed bean to inspire its yellow, green and brown interior décor.  It also looks to educate it's consumers with collections of different beans (as you may have seen half a century ago), connect ethically with the coffee farmers and provide expert home manufacturing paraphernalia.  So clever, you may miss it.  Recently they have launched a small discount for reusing their branded cups.  Check it out next time you are there. 

Costa permeates a more human feel, with images of coffee beans and drinking, but also the idea of Italian style with the effective use of black and white photos.  Costa offers hot Panini, where as Starbucks banned unpleasant burnt cheese aromas because, whilst highly profitable, it masked the alluring and authentic smell of the core proposition.  [coffee init]. I prefer the taste of the Starbucks coffee blend and the fond ski holiday associations of drinking java in Seattle, the green mermaids home.  Unfortunately, my wife hates the tea there (& doesn't do coffee), thus our family outings on the weekend to a coffee shop are to Costa, which is now a firm favourite with both our boys.  Lucky we now have a Starbucks franchise on campus !

Costa offer clever sweet snacks (as well as hot, smelly sandwiches) that includes giant sized custard cream and chocolate bourbon biscuits.  Stuff if you are a forty something like me harks back to childhood, before all these clever new fangled offerings like Hobnobs and back in the day when chocolate coatings were a luxury and considered expensive.  So a clever twist, not a presented regular size on a white plate, or even paired up in plastic wrapping, but super charged and enormous - nearly the size of a sandwich.  They say nothing is new in marketing, it's just about finding ways to recombine existing ideas.  Clever.

Brilliant case in point, until you understand that this biscuit has the energy value of a small meal. 

Don't be a Facebook slut.. ... ...

I have noted a number of web sites that I use have helpfully started offering the facility to sign in using Facebook.  Great.  I don't know about you, but I have so many different logins, I am faced with the dilemma of either using a single password, which is surely a gift to identity theft criminals and plainly a dumb cyber security strategy or writing down my passwords, again a security home goal.

I have been between a rock and a hard place on this for a while now and when I have my entrepreneurial hat on I can see a clear market need for a password authentication and consolidation service.  I had thought this might naturally come out of one of the many security packages such as Avira or Norton Defender, possibly even one of the established tech giants, Google or the Gates Foundation.  

Do you remember everyone from your graduation class ?


 

It reminds me, in a non-linear link that may never be clear, of the Google Earth launch, where refreshingly (or a just a cunning PR approach) the co reps said clearly and repeatedly something like "We don't know how this will be commercialised, but things will come along to use this product".  Emergent strategic development I suppose. 

Sure enough reality has caught up the vision.  British Airways used Google Earth images in an advertising campaign.  Estate agents link to street views.  Some time rich individuals look for aeroplane shadows.  I have chatted numerously with friends having seen one of the Google street view cars (clearly not that rare !) undertaking the painstaking and expensive image data collection.  All kudos to brand Google. Perhaps it merely serves its megalithic master by offering must use freeware and is fully justified by the volume of traffic generated, which drives a significant advertising revenue bang.  Anyways, it is hard to remember a pre Google Earth world.   

British Airways ad  Source linked to www.Creativereivew.co.uk



Facebook seems to be commercialising its preeminent social media status in an interesting new direction.  Remember Amazon, the online book seller ?  I just bought groceries (pink toothpaste) online using them.  It is my Christmas one stop shop, starting in Sep each year.  My Scouting friend Tim, who is an Amazon trading entrepreneur, says the price hikes in the build up to Christmas offer exciting trading opportunities.  Through successful growth, Amazon has changed it's vision from eBook seller, to eTailer and now operates as a multi-national online marketplace and logistics provider.  Better to run  the game than be its leading player ?  Actually, better to run the game AND be the leading player.... It has also started allowing smaller retailers (seen as competitors in the old world) use their payment solutions.  My beloved rugby site www.lovell-rugby.co.uk is doing this.  Brilliant customer service that overcomes the forgotten password issue, felt particularly on infrequently used websites. Such technical hurdles can help the big get bigger and the small wither and die.   Amazon have gone to the bother of trade marking their one click purchasing it's so important to them.  Scale buying and process efficiencies that probably make a cost neutral no brainier decision.  Here I am thinking about card handling fee commissions, fraud liability and software maintenance and development.

Back to the edgy title, don't be a Facebook slut.  Another chum, Lynne, was very forthright about her online connection strategy over a glass of wine one evening a while back.  We were discussing the politics around refusing a social media invitation to connect.  Lynne was unequivocal, her view was; either you are very selective, choosing close friends and work colleagues or you are a slut and say yes to everyone.

"Is that Billy ?"    Source: blog.metaprime.at

So I smiled when the offer to login via Fb last week saw me undertake a facial recognition based, multiple choice test using three photos of three different Facebook contacts, offering six real contact names as solutions for each.  It isn't as easy as you think (see image)  Not your mothers maiden name (how sexist is that ?), your favourite colour or even your first pets name.  All fixed and often short data strings that we are prone to give up quite easily.  A dream for hackers.  The Facebook approach is highly customised, and very clever.  I think it was this company that used the same approach as a tech start up as the office access protocol.  That is until the company hit 200 employees, a mystical number it seems, when staff struggled to know all their co-workers and began to fail the office entry protocol.  This mathematically brilliant (?) and hacker unfriendly approach relies on us being able to recognise, if a little prompted, our "Friends".  So please do consider this when you are accepting any left field invitations to connect, the future implications may be more significant than you think.   Deep.

Related Side Bar item

Having drafted this piece, I discovered that the Information Security group at Royal Holloway (one of the elite research groups - UK top three - that makes our College so special) has been busy trying to solve this problem too.  See the press release below for more details:

http://www.rhul.ac.uk/aboutus/newsandevents/news/newsarticles/newtechnologyprotectsagainstpasswordtheftandphishingattacks.aspx

The end of the line for VW camper vans ?

Sadly, VW do Brasil has announced its plan to terminate production of the iconic type 2 bus.

Boasting the longest commercial production line of any vehicle, manufacture having started in Hannover, Germany in 1957, this truly marks a milestone ending for what has become a modern day style icon.  News, in my humble opinion, probably worthy of wider media coverage.

Initially conceived as a utility vehicle based on the innards of the Beetle, a simple box on wheels solution that came from a napkin sketch by Dutchman Ben Pon solving a problem for a cost effective light goods vehicle to help much needed economic activity following the devastation of the Second World War.  Its versatility has seen it utilised in a wide range of roles from ice cream vans, ambulances, minibus, goods vehicles and because of its low cost and reliability, a popular choice as a camping and surfing transporter. 

Splittie with starring role at Hampton Court flower show 2013

Of course platform sharing is these days considered an important scale economy requirement in the industry and the Volkswagen group routinely do this across both their model ranges and brands (including Audi, SEAT and Skoda badges). 

The concept was pooh-poohed by Lord Rootes, legend of the UK car industry when the Wolfsburg factory was under British military control. History has clearly proven him wrong.  (And what happened to the British auto industry ?) It was also targeted by the US auto workers union (UAW) for a special import tax, which exists still today....Land of the Free and all that.  The eventual end of line decision, forced by environmental and considerations according to The Telegraph (Aug 2013), has finally come.  Other media sources site a different justification, that of the cost of implementing modern safety requirements. 

In auto manufacturing the announcement of ceasing production would usually result in lower demand, and require price discounting, as consumers consider challenges they are likely to face in maintaining and reselling their vehicle.  (Food manufacturer Heinz cleverly used a line closure notice to boost demand for its ever so old fashioned sandwich spread product, a quaintly British mix of salad cream mayonnaise and chopped veg)  A ploy used by the German auto giant when it stopped European production of the Porche designed and Hitler inspired peoples car, the Beetle, was to offer limited edition end of line models in just silver and gold.  For a short while back in the day our family motor was indeed a golden 1303 Special which was eventually sold on to become a drag racer in Australia. The golden Beetle memories remain strong. 

A similar strategy is being adopted for the last of the infamous buses, having also been produced in Hannover, Germany,  Australia and South Africa and a total production run in excess of 2 million units.  600 blue and white commemorative edition vehicles will be produced to mark the event and undoubtedly see demand exceed supply.



The final production run of 600 in two tone colouration

There has been much speculation over a replacement Type 2. Two concept cars have been demonstrated at the industry shows, one in 2001 (deemed too expensive) and the second in 2012 (boxy, boasting fold flat seats and iPad technology), although VW remain tight lipped about their plans for any commercial release. 

The modern day retro styled Beetle (or Type 1) has enjoyed some commercial success, particularly in UK and USA with its Golf platform based reprise of the original concept. Now in its third mark, and boasting a fatter, flatter rear and pokey engine ranges, a clear attempt has been made to bolster its desirability amongst male consumers with visible product changes and subtle promotion focussed on the PS, German short hand for horse power.   Even though I have driven mark 1 and 2 new Beetles for over ten years now, it has been very much the choice of a middle aged woman, only recently are decade old cars now cheap enough for youngsters to pick up in the used car market. 

Great care needs to be taken with any re-launch, as it would seem an important part of the allure of the original VW bus range was its out of the ordinary looks, boasting curved panels and circular eye like head lights that saw many name their buses and talk about them with human qualities.  A design which is too sophisticated and too expensive will cannibalise the existing and reasonably successful California range in a highly diversified and competitive market segment that needs to include consideration of caravans and variants such as the Dub Box (pictured below).   

 

 

Now call me a wise old bird, or at very least a little bit to long in the tooth, but if I were a marketing manager looking to launch a new retro styled VW bus, I think I might seek to avoid the Coca Cola error of letting consumers prefer the old version.  I would want to look to concentrate media coverage on the new and not the old and just take this out of the picture altogether.  So, does the decision to terminate production really have to be on environmental grounds or as more widely mentioned in the press due to the costs of implementing contemporary safety measures (air bags and alike) ?  Surely you can put catalytic converters and newer engines to address this issue ?  Perhaps environmental and safety grounds better than boring hard economics, the cost of re-invigorating the Brazilian line is not sufficiently commercial ?  Or is this merely a smoke screen for clearing the decks for a big bang re-launch next year ? 

But take a look at this YouTube hosted ad (above) from 2011/12 celebrating 60 years of VW heritage in the working van market.  Centre stage a lovingly cared for Type 2 splittie, the wide and deep (?) emotional attachment and tremendous cultural capital the camper van holds surely makes this a prime contender for a re-launch some time soon ?   Or perhaps "God only knows ?"

 

An edited version of this blog entry has been published by www.theconversation.com http://theconversation.com/vw-type-2-may-rise-from-the-dead-after-kombi-apocalypse-17553

 

 

Thanks to Peter Jukes for the first photo, flower power@Hampton Court Flower Show.

The Buddha of Salema

I like to use this writing space to stretch and challenge my (limited) writing capability. Thence a rather different write up of my recent family vacation sojourn to the south west corner of the Algarve, Portugal.

The real Muscle Beach ?

One of those unexpected moments just "happened" one day whilst I was on vacation in Portugal on my constitutional morning beach walk.  Just past muscle beach along the sandstone cliffs of Salema, I happened upon a vision in red, legs crossed in meditating stance on a enclosed, private space.  Serious, concentrated, dark flowing hair, deeply tanned skin, a svelte body, and really quite the opposite of the more usual image of Buddha. 

 

Recently I have been pondering inversions (inspired by the "think small" Bernbach VW Beetle revolutionary advertising approach) and looking for interesting examples to use in my teaching.  An example would be the Guinness beer brands stream of campaigns that have sought to differentiate and make a virtue out of what might be viewed as a competitive disadvantage of a very slow pouring service proposition. 

 

I was really rather captivated by the idea of sublime isolation surrounded by stunning natural beauty.  A picture to capture and store the moment would have been fantastic, but alas no camera was to hand, asking permission probably inappropriate and stealing an image, even if undiscovered, highly unethical.  

Thus, on my return leg, I sought to re- affirm the vision I had seen, which was starkly memorable because of the crossed legged sitting pose and the sense of peaceful, almost smug sense of self-indulgence.  I was jealous, because in my busy life I rarely get to spend time this way.  However, it was not to be, not even a clear trace on the sand was apparent.  In fact. I even doubted that the vision had happened at all. 

 

It got me thinking about meditation, as a form of inversion. One of my old BA team members, Rob Blake, had always been very outspoken in our office space about the benefits he obtained from regular, daily meditation.   (Rob was one of those uber colourful characters you never forget)  His ritual included focused clearing, emptying ones head of all thoughts, the pushing away of negative thoughts and developing a clear sense of prioritisation of what was important. 

For Success and Happiness: Be Clear, prioritise.

I am not a Buddhist, but this approach of focusing on the important and not getting distracted by the trivial urgent, setting achievable goals seems to have considerable merit.  Perhaps the technique of using a check list can provide a stress reducing framework for each day or week and provide a strong sense of progress and achievement.   I can fully believe that this sustained approach to life can have a material impact on important things like relationships and feelings of self-satisfaction. 

 

A metaphor for mental isolation and relaxation or a rock on Salema beach ?

 

 

I return from holidays, rejuvenated, tanned and relaxed to start a new academic cycle, carrying the hope that in the coming year I will be able to put these meditation ideas into practise more. 

 

Fun, finance and fulfilment lures MBAs to the third sector

I have just signed up as a contributor to "The Conversation" an online journalistic innovation that claims to have share insights from the sharpest minds.  Not quite sure how I got through the assessment centre but here's a link to the piece with a fabulous turtle image (why ? - revealed in the piece) http://theconversation.com/fun-finance-and-fulfilment-lures-mbas-to-the-third-sector-16786 


I have re-published the content below (part of the arrangement for writing is a community oriented copyright).  Thanks to Will@TheConversation for some expert editing.

The sharp-suited MBA graduate with grand world-domination plans is a stereotype familiar to us all. He or she will probably head into a high pressured, well paid role in consulting or financial services. Fortunately, while a few do follow this path, things are changing. Graduates from Masters of Business Administration programmes (commonly known as MBAs) are now following a much broader range of careers, and the third sector in particular is benefiting.

Royal Holloway MBA students in Sweden

The marketplace has of course changed significantly since the financial crisis began in 2008, and MBA-led business schools must share some of the blame for churning out graduates with a myopic vision of the business environment and an insufficient sense of appropriate ethics.
But changes over the past decade or two have increased the focus on corporate social responsibility, business philosophy and sustainability. But is this too little, too late for the social value of the MBA?
Postgraduate education can be counter cyclical, with severance packages and poor job prospects often encouraging people to finally take that MBA they had been considering for a while. However, the last three years have seen significant reductions in MBA applications, with a number of programmes “temporarily withdrawn”, pending a review. Perhaps we are witnessing an awkward phase in the sector, as supply adjusts to a new level of demand.

In this new context, non-government organisations (NGOs) and charities are increasingly important areas for MBA graduates to consider. Many organisational roles in the sector offer interesting challenges combined with good training and development. Pay is also on the increase, with senior management at major charities now routinely earning six figure salaries. Given the fulfilling nature of most work in the sector, it can offer satisfaction that earning a high salary for work you hate cannot compete with.

Third sector organisations are required to operate against changing expectations for operational, financial and ethical standards. With differences between private, public and third sector business models ever-diminishing, it is clear that MBA skills are transferable and in demand.
To give one example, a recent Royal Holloway MBA alumnus chose to take up an interim position as marketing director for a turtle conservation charity shortly after graduation. She reflected that the level of responsibility and scope to influence the organisation afforded to her was significantly greater than would have been granted in a for-profit company right after graduation.
With sluggish growth in large organisations and downsizing in the public sector, charities and NGOs now form a more significant part of the job market. Not only can they offer fast track opportunities for responsibility and personal growth, but they may also engender the money-can’t-buy feeling of making a difference in society.

The MBA is not, and never has been, a Henry Ford-style marketing proposition. Business schools use a variety of teaching methods, and the crucial peer learning context differs from school to school. Even the degrees themselves have changed over time.

Some argue that bending too far to satisfy candidate and employer demands may see a powerful business education dumbed down into a skills training service. After all education, not training, should be the core proposition of a university. Satisfying these demands may also underweight other stakeholders or see faddish approaches to themes or flavours of the moment. Functional or industry-oriented programmes have been around for a while but recently, in response to declining numbers, some UK universities have been putting forward conceptually labelled MBAs such as “One Planet” and “the circular economy”.

My impression is that the executive and full-time programmes have struggled, while the smaller distance learning format shows modest growth. But it is not the compensatory and explosive shift that the UK government would like to have seen. Rules introduced last year made post study visas harder to obtain, and this has had a significant, negative impact on the attractiveness of MBA programmes in the UK.

A more established and recognised path from business school to charitable career could easily be sustained. If the third sector believes the enhanced skills and experience of MBA graduates is worth offering competitive “complete” packages that can track (but not necessarily exceed) the wider market, then the numbers following this path will only grow.
MBA graduates are among the most talented, hard-working and highly skilled people out there. Let’s hope their qualification becomes more widely recognised and valued across all sectors of the economy.

Update from Ober Bayern

Just back to a cooler and gusty UK after a fabulous 11 days in Prien-am-Chimsee, in Bavaria, Germany. 

 

Instantly the idea of great food and large beer glasses comes to mind, and of course we enjoyed some of the finer things in German cuisine.  One of my rules historically has been to always try the untried on a menu when presented. 

 

Kaffee und Kuechen - World Klass

I guess this comes out of a sense of adventure, which is certainly one of the things we look for in a vacation.  Therefore, when I was offered gooseberry cake at one Biergarten (beer garden) we visited I just knew I had to try it.  I knew it would not complement the wheat beer that I'd ordered (to keep my fluids up, naturally, we'd been out in the sun all day and it was well over 30 degrees). 

 

The German afternoon tea and cakes experience is truly world class, like the football team in tournaments.  This particular ensemble starts with a pastry base, a sponge filler, green and red gooseberries in some sort of jelly setting topped off by two different layers of meringue, first flat and soft, the second piped and crunchier. 

 

It wasn't all about food.  Clearly beer was on the tasting menu, although I did not manage to negotiate any "educational visits" to a brewery, despite my serious academic interest in this area you will note from previous extensive posting on the topic. 



Historic and heraldic connotations ?

We did have to sample some of the various German beers, now that I have a wider experience of UK beer, ale and lagers, I put my palate to the test. 

 

One of the first times I remember drinking beer was on a school German exchange, which coincidentally  took place in Traunstein one of the larger towns on the other side of Chiemsee, when a few of the older exchange students went to Bar Xanadu, in Ruhpolding.  Wanting to look cool with the older group members who were all drinking Weiss beer, I dug out a fifth of my pocket money for the week in exchange for a large, tall glass of sour tasting fizzy stuff with an intensely unpleasant aroma.  Needless to say I managed to nurse this beer for quite a while, eventually finishing it off to find myself being asked to buy another one...errr ! no thanks, I'll take a small glass of brown fizz that will ruin my teeth instead please. 

 

Please note:  I do not endorse ceding to peer pressure nor under age drinking. 

 

In my on going quest to understand how to create an optimal beer brand I noted that many popular German brands use gold colouring and historic type fonts and brewed "since 18xx", perhaps to reinforce notions of craft, consistency and popularity.  Colouring and heraldic symbolism might suggest royal connections and a luxury connotation, whilst also indicating a sense of visual short cuts to a feeling of localism.  Bavaria is a particularly proud region of Germany that uses royal blue and white checkers as its flag that permeates a wide range of consumption experiences, and not only restricted to souvenir shops. 

 

We also learnt that the (humorously teased about) lederhosen (leather trousers - intricately decorated shorts with decorative braces) and the fashion around Tracht (traditional clothing) is Bavarians celebrating their culture, not for the tourists, but with each other and for each other. 

 

I'm sure there is an interesting paper to be written on this.  My wife was quite taken by the number of men wearing lederhosen styled swimming trunks in the lake.   I'm expecting a pair to be hidden under the Christmas tree for me this year.

 

Incidentally, dark brown, close to the colour of these swimmies, is the new car colour to have, certainly in Oberbayern.  Clearly bored to death with the ubiquitous silver colouring that has been the low risk, no body hates it, maximise my re-sale value for some time now.  To help establish my uber-kuhl credentials, our five year old family car is also this colour. 

 

View across the sun flooded valley from Rinsting to the Kampenwand

You might now be getting the picture of a lovely holiday, mountains, hot weather, nice friends, cool lake water to chill out in, great food and drink.  Being a critically trained MBA, I always look for faults and areas for improvement, and having worked in very international Frankfurt-am-Main and visited friends often since, we have some experience at picking up cultural and social differences. Aside from some of the areas larger tourist attractions (e.g. the Salt mine at Bertchesgarden, the boat to Herreninsel site of King Ludwig II's imitation of Versailles) we barely met any Brits.  In fact, in town going around the local businesses, we felt a bit like celebrities as our non-native conversation caught the attention.  Although we speak passable German, it was quite exciting to be somewhere where there were relatively few outsiders.  Everything worked.  Beer was relatively cheap (under £3 for half a litre). 

 

Food was reasonable and significantly cheaper than other parts of Germany.  We used to joke that shopping used to revolve around the workers need for a home life, namely only open when everyone is at work.  Not any more, the supermarkets were open until 20:00 !    Germans can be quite aggressive driving (perhaps a function of powerful German built cars and autobahn's without speed limits) , but the leisurely place around Prien-am-Chiemsee and lots of people riding bikes made even pootling around on errands and to and from the lake and swimming pool was ok.  Annoying re-cycling that Germany led the charge on back in the eighties hasn't moved on, and I could not get used to putting most of the rubbish into a single bin.  Where I live now in Surrey Heath we have to sort our rubbish into three main different groupings & then note specialist items like glass and clothing. 

 

So, bereft of faults, I find myself very relaxed, tanned and happy from a very successful family holiday made possible by our friends Sabs and Yogi.  The academic tourism literature highlights various push and pull motivations that sit behind the desire to travel.  The pull to this unusual location was very much to visit our friends.  But push factors of adventure, rest and relaxation and generating found, shared memories of quality family time were also delivered on.  We'll be back because we loved it, please don't put Bavaria on your "must see list", or 'bucket list' in more recent cultural jargon, you might tell your friends via social media (like this) and spoil it all for us next time ! (Smile). 

 

View of Fraueninsel, Chiemsee, Bavaria

 

 

Question: Is the larger font better ?    Please reply using the functionality below...

 

 

Holidays are Finally Here !!

View to Founders, Royal Holloway

It's roasting hot on campus this week, after a successful and fun graduation last week (also hot, hot, hot !)   I've recently upgraded  my phone (of course, so that I can do more quick, clever things for this blog - a bit sad - but true !!)  & here is my first photo.  Somehow it  popped up on dropbox on my home PC.  This is called the knot bed (the green box hedging using an old French style) packed out with really bright annuals - the red being particularly striking. 

I'm off on holidays with the family for a bit over August and may not be that active here - but rest assured I am storing up stories, images and anything I think you might find interesting for later in the summer - wait for a deludge at the end of August....