I’ve just had another episode of dealing with BT and have written a letter of complaint to post tomorrow that I’m sure will end up with a reply of “we’re sorry but there is nothing we can do.” I’m fed up of run ins with BT so I decided to pen the letter I wish I could send them instead…
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BT,
You screwed up again. After our hours on the phone, back in 2008, I thought I’d finished with you. It was messy and tiring. You couldn’t accept that you had faults …

I am a bitch. This comes as a bit of a revelation to me. Generally in day to day work I keep my cool. I explain to people why they need to do something and the benefits to them. If they don’t get it quite right I’m nice, constructive and help them improve. I am usually the good cop. In my current job I’ve only had one full on strop (I blame PMT). But when it comes to design it turns out that I can tell it like is.

In terms …

Either the German company Smartbook are very stupid. Or very clever. Or very stupid.
Until today I would have probably never used the word ‘Smartbook‘ in my blog or it’s lowercase neighbour. Let me explain. In the recent past people have been referring to devices that are somewhere between smartphones and netbooks as ’smartbooks’. First Smartbook defended their trademarked name by preventing other companies they compete with using it as a generic term. Resonable and understandable. But now they have decided to go after bloggers and the press too.
Stupid? If they …

For the second time this week I find myself aware of the tripe that is contained in The Daily Mail without ever picking it up, let alone wanting to read it.
In this case it was what had been written, I don’t dare call it journalism, by Jan Moir about the untimely death of Stephen Gately. The article was originally called ‘Why there was nothing ‘natural’ about Stephen Gately’s death’. The later change in title doesn’t mask the shoddy lack of any talent or integrity in the writing. After stating “All …

I have recently discovered that all is not well in the land of Waterstone’s and this upsets me for all sorts of reasons. As book lover. A customer. A future author (fingers crossed, touching wood and looking out for a lucky number of magpies… oh and writing copious amounts on a daily basis!)
Back in the late 80s my big sister would have loved a job at Waterstone’s. A decade ago when my friends and I started to look for part time jobs, Waterstone’s was the best of the best. Where …

Thanks to Jo’s Kitchen I have my very first blog award! Jo’s recipes featured in this blog last month and she has kindly awarded me the ‘Honest Scrap’ award for my blog.

I am rather excited about this as I quite like winning things and getting awards, but it doesn’t happen all that often. In primary school my teachers commented on what a gracious loser I always was. Apparently I would always smile and be happy about the successes of my peers. My netball team in the primary school league ‘Thornber’s …

My blog has existed in various guises since 6th February 2007 but took a whacking fourteen month break before recommencing in October 2008 to make me determined that this time my blog was here to stay.  My 100th blog comes only days after the six month anniversary of it finding a permanent residence at helenthornber.com. In those six months I’ve entertained almost 2000 unique visitors from 55 countries. Not including anyone who reads this via Facebook. That is something I am very proud of.

On the 1st October it will be …

What do I want to do when I grow up? As I’ve navigated my way through life the answer to this has changed, but as time goes on it has become more specific and consistent. I want to work for myself, I want to work with people and I want to write.
There are becoming two strands to this, writing and business. This is where my wish list comes in. The things I’d love to be paid to do. The things I’d still want to do even if I won millions …

If you’re expecting a recipe for a traditional Welsh dish I apologise in advance (but there is one here). It does seem to be a fact in my world however that the Welsh are a bit rare. (Bad pun, I know… but it was just too obvious not to use it!)
I found myself excited yesterday when I discovered I finally had a blog reader in Wales. South East Wales. Talbot Green to be precise. (A big hello if you are said person!!!). I was more excited about my blog reader …

I hate it when I’m following a blog and all of a sudden I realise they have started to advertise things. That all the genuine nice writing I’ve been reading was just a build up readership before them losing all integrity and trying to make a quick buck or two.
So this is why I wanted to blog and be up front about having just become an Amazon Associate. And why I have done it.
Interestingly the day after I first drafted this blog I came across Blog with Integrity which I have …

I’ve been wittering on about writing for a while so I thought it was time for a change of media. Animation and visual effects to be precise. Why? Because that is what I studied at Bournemouth University and achieved a 2.1 BA (Hons) in just over five years ago. And because recently I found this video and I thought I should write a blog about it all.

Back in 1996 when I was almost fourteen I went to see Toy Story at the cinema. I sat there and had a wondrous …

Then I will begin…
In The Writers Tale I mentioned (or rather I used Russell T Davies to illustrate) that there isn’t a particular way to write. In fact, despite me obsessing about having the right ‘voice’ for my stories, the story is the most important part.
Particularly Project No.2 I know I have a very strong story, and though no story is original, through research I’m fairly sure my story is different enough. And good enough to eventually be a popular piece of literature (for a couple of months at least).
Story …

I used to watch lots of TV. I’ve watched all the soaps at some point or another. I must have spent well over a decade watching Saturday morning, and then Sunday morning, television. I remember the days of Going Live with @Schofe, and then Live & Kicking with @xxandip (The two wikipedia pages just brought back floods of memories… John Barrowman presenting ‘Electric Circus’!). T4 saw me through my hangover years. I’m not quite sure how many times I’ve seen each single episode of Friends.

But nowadays my viewing is much …

I’m not going to get into the debate about whether social networking is a good or bad thing. As an active member of Facebook and Twitter of course I’d say yes. But other people are just as much within their right to hate the things. Whether you use them, which sites you use, and how you use those sites, is completely down to you.  Isn’t that the beauty of it all?
I have rejected Bebo. I am a member of MySpace and Linked In, but they don’t get used much. I …

The 2012 Olympics start three years today and I ended up listening to a debate on Radio 5 Live as @whitespider1066 spoke his views. I disagreed and decided to blog.
I remember the day we won the Olympics. It was the day of my Nan’s funeral. She died just months short of her 100th birthday. As we went to the church we were building up to the announcement and as we returned to my Aunts house we found out we had won. Even on such a day my family, over 250miles …