Of Latvia Lovely Latvia

I was in Latvia over the weekend. I had forgotten what a truly beautiful place this is. The Old Town in Riga is magical with beautiful buildings that somehow survived both the Nazis and the Communists that followed.
Now sadly they must survive only the worst of British tourists on stag weekends.
On Saturday I hired a bike and cycled to the north coast. In Jurmula you can pick up on one of the longest sandy beaches I've ever seen. It seems to go on for miles and miles. It has everything : volleyball matches bouncy castles, cafes, beech bars, restaurants and people out celebrating it seems, just about everything.

 Having had a fabulous lunch on the beach watching the sun split the clouds I went in search of the waiter who had looked after me so well. I couldn't find her and saved the 5 Lat note which was the only change I had. Two minutes later it was gone in a tin held by a lovely bride-to-be who accosted me with her hens dancing their way down the beach and creating huge fun everywhere they went.
What a day!

Of First Thoughts on a First Triathlon

I'm contemplating doing a triathlon at the moment. That's a swim and a bike ride followed by a run. It's the swim bit that bothers me most for I've never been a quick swimmer and I'm easily bored too!
The first (and indeed last) time I ran a marathon was when I was 17. I managed it in under four hours which was quite respectable I thought. I was caught taking the lift to the first floor at college the following morning however, so I must have been in a pretty bad state.
On Monday of this week I swam 40 lengths of the local pool. Later that evening I cycled 15 miles. The run leg I have still to do! What bothers me is that on the day of the race transition takes just a few seconds and not days which I'm allowing myself to at the moment. I wonder if the organisers would allow me at least a sit down and have a cup of tea before the next bit! I could always ask!

Of Team Legal-Island

It was the great Legal-Island Fun Day yesterday attended by hundreds of people who made the most of the three bouncy castles and countless stalls selling everything from home made fudge and cup cakes to lovely photos of the surrounding landscape.
Best of all it didn't rain. Yes that's right. That wasn't a typo. It didn't rain. It rained everywhere else in the UK it seems but not over Antrim.
Legal-Island raised over £1,000 for charity (Tiny Life) so well done Team Legal-Island your CEO Mr BP is immensely proud of you!

Of Books Glorious Books

I seem to be stuck reading five books at the moment. They're all good and very different but I can't let any of them go. They are :

* Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
* Life's a Pitch - Stephen Bayley
* Benjamin Franklin - Autobiography
* The Short Stories of Anton Chekov
* The Jelly Effect - Andy Bounds

What's worse is that there are other books coming "online". Friends have already given me a few that I would like to read and amazon keeps sending me emails with really good suggestions based on what I've ordered already this year.
I think I must book a book holiday and steal away to somewhere quiet and lonely with a bag full of novels, self improvement titles laced with a few classics and return all knowledgeable and wise.

Of Being Benjamin Franklin

I'm reading Benjamin Franklin's autobiography at the moment. It reads really well - if a little dated - although it was written getting on for 300 years ago so I guess he can be forgiven for his stilted language and phrases.
He was clearly a fascinating man succeeding as a printer, scientist and politician as well as surviving both the French and Indian Wars.Popularly known as "the wisest American" it's easy to see why. I always wondered who the guy was on the 100 dollar bill (not that I've owned many) and now I guess I know.

Of One Island and Two Types of People

I attended a seminar yesterday in Belfast. I knew the person organising it. She asked me if I would be a plant and ask a question in the Q&A session just in case there were no volunteers. So I did. Two other delegates asked a question too and both the session and the seminar finished afterwards.
She told me that the other two delegates were plants too adding that the main speaker had mentioned to her that he had not experienced such a flat audience in a long long time.
There's something about us Northern Ireland folk that we're very reluctant to give of ourselves at these types of events. Maybe it's because Northern Ireland is so small that people fear that a duff question will always be remembered and associated with them. Maybe it's something deeper.
At Legal-Island whenever we do our flagship Annual Review conference we have a very different experience in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. In the latter we have to fight off questions and sometimes have to make it difficult for delegates to submit a question because we get so many. In the former we have to positively incentivise them to submit questions, sometimes by offering a prize for the best question.
There's no prizes for guessing which audience my friend would rather look after....

Of Great Opening Words

I'm reading another great book at the moment called "Life's a Pitch - what we can learn from people in sales". The author gives a great example of good and bad questions sales people can ask on their way to a sale. Bad, for a sales person on a shop floor includes "Can I help you?" He argues that this is a bad question because it's a closed question and one that invites a No and a closed door. Much better to say "I see you're looking for a suit Sir. Is it dark or light suit that you're looking for?"
Try getting out of their grip then....