Of A Very Beautiful Lady

My MG is back on the road and life feels great again. There's something about driving that car which is sheer magic. I think it's because the grand old lady really tickles your senses. There's the sound of a grumpy battery right at the start followed but the beautiful chant of its engine. There's the smell of leather seats and fumes of oil and petrol out the back of the car. There's the feel of the old wooden steering wheel in your had in a cockpit that vibrates and shakes it's way along its journey. But best of all there's the sheer excitement of the unknown. Are you going to make it to your destination or not? Modern day cars are reliable but they've taken the excitement out of driving. MG welcome back on the road. Lets have some fun!

Of The Olympics

Apparently the Olympic flame will travel just a discus's throw away from my house next week on its scenic journey to London. Happily we all seemed to have forgotten that the tradition of the torch relay was started by the Nazis in 1936 so I might even call out to see it go by making sure of course not to do anything that might resemble a salute.
I was one of the few that was lucky enough to get Olympic tickets. I'm attending the women's weightlifting on 28th July and the volleyball on 5th August. I must say I'm already getting quite excited about it. No doubt I'll return feeling that I missed out on life and that as a youngster I should have devoted myself to one obscure sport that might have slipped into the Olympics a few years back. Pole vaulting must be a case in point. How many would think to make a career leaping over a high bar and how many would have the facilities to practice it? And now Sergey Bubka is an old man with a proper stick your medal prospects must be at least good. Damn always too late with my great ideas.

Of Up Down Up Down Up Down

I swam half a mile today before coming to work. That's 32 lengths of the Antrim pool. I've been doing this every day now for the best part of six weeks and I must say I'm feeling the benefits of it. Upper body strength is good and the waistline though, by no means sporting a washboard, is happy enough too. The next big thing is to try to enjoy the experience rather than just enjoy the consequences. That, I fear, will take a little more time.

Of Northern Ireland Mediator - new website

I'm working hard on a new website today for anyone wanting a mediator in Northern Ireland.
It's a lot easier doing a website now than when I first did one for Legal-Island in 1998.
Way back then you had to worry about the size of flies you were uploading to the site. If they were more than half a megabyte they took ages to upload. Worse still, they slowed the download speed of the website for the viewer to the point they just weren't bothering with. It you were really clever you'd be able to drop in a counter to the site to see how many visited in and get quite upset when you realised no-one really ever did.
Emmmm I wonder how much has changed.....

Of Lincoln the Unknown

Currently, I'm reading "Lincoln the Unknown". This is one of the greatest books I've ever read which just so happens to be about one of the greatest men that ever lived. Its author, Dale Carnegie, has a marvelous ability to juxtapose the early life of Lincoln which was desperately poor and tragic and in plentiful amounts with his success as a President and leader of some of the most able but difficult men at one of the most challenging times in American history. Take a look at this passage, for example. It's gold. Pure gold.

"While the oxen were pulling the Lincolns across the prairies Congress was debating with deep and ominous emotion the question of whether or not a Sates had a right to withdraw from the Union; and during that debate Daniel Webster arose in the United States Senate and, in his deep, golden, bell-like voice, delivered a speech which Lincoln afterward regarded "as the greatest specimen of American oratory". It is known as "Webster's Reply to Hayne" and ends with the memorable words which Lincoln later adopted as his own political religion :"Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!"

This cyclonic issue of secession was to be settled a third of a century later, not by the mighty Webster, the gifted Clay, or the famous Calhoun, but by an awkward, penniless, obscure driver of oxen who was now heading for Illinois, wearing a coonskin cap and bucksin trousers, and singing with ribald gusto :

                          "Hail Columbia, happy land, if you aint drunk, then I'll be damned"

Of Britain's Got Talent

There's a superb programme that finished over the weekend. It's called Britain's Got Talent. The great thing about this programme is that it is a true, simple, meritocracy. You go on stage and, if you're good, you get through. If you're not, you don't. It's nothing to do with who you know or how much money you have behind you. It's simply about delivering a fabulous performance and the rest will happen for you. You can be plucked from total obscurity and suddenly find yourself on the end of a standing ovation delivered by thousands in front of you with millions of others talking about you too.
Simon Cowell is much maligned in the press, particularly recently. There's something about us British that we like to give successful people a good kicking whenever we can.
Let us not forgot however, that this man has created something that has given us 3 of the most outstanding pieces of television and entertainment this millennium at least. They are :

1. Paul Potts
2. Susan Boyle
3. Jonathan and Charlotte

Guess it's a shame that a dog won it this year....
Meanwhile us lesser mortals continue with the day job. For me it's working on the next Workplace Mediation course.

Of a Class Divided

I attended a Diversity Management workshop delivered by Tanya Kennedy last week at Legal-Island's training centre and took from it the following five key learning points :

 ·         Jane Elliot’s “A Class divided” is a superb video that shows just how easily people can fall into prejudice and the ugly consequences. See here

·         Zappos has some great core values worth examining including :

Deliver WOW Through Service

Embrace and Drive Change

Create Fun and A Little Weirdness

Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded

Pursue Growth and Learning

Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication

Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit

Do More With Less

Be Passionate and Determined

Be Humble

 ·         Pret a Manager have simple core values  : passionate about food; passionate about people; passionate about success

·         No-one is born prejudiced. It’s a learnt process. We can unlearn it.

·         Are we all age obsessed? I think we are…

Today I'm working on our mediation services for Mediator Northern Ireland