Tag Archives: tips

Bottled Water Causes Fire & Other Useful Things Campers Should Know

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As the heatwave continues and Pitchup.com reports record levels of daily bookings (averaging around 1,000 per day), the outdoor holiday specialist has revealed six top tips for anyone taking a camping, caravanning or glamping holiday this summer.

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  1. Pick a campsite with shade, such as a forest location. US research shows forests can be up to five degrees Celsius cooler due to the shade and evaporation.

  1. If buying a new tent, pick one with a separate groundsheet. This allows air to circulate inside the tent, even when closed, which has a cooling effect.

  1. Take extra freezer blocks: rotate them to keep food and drinks cool. Choose a site with ice pack freezing available.

  1. Pack a fan. A battery-powered fan will provide a great cooling effect, especially if a bowl of ice is placed in front of it – instant air conditioning!

  1. Put a tent over your tent – if pitched in direct sunlight, provide shade or reflectors that will keep the sun’s rays off and the tent cooler.

  1. Be careful with innocent objects that could start a fire if left in direct sunlight. Bottles of water can concentrate the sun’s rays and ignite groundsheets.

 

Dan Yates, founder of Pitchup.com, commented: “These are just a few of our top tips for  keeping cool – and staying safe – while camping in warm weather.  Camping air conditioning units are available but these can prove expensive and require an electric hook-up, so are not ideal for all campers on non-electric pitches.”

 “Visitors to our site can search to find the perfect site for hot weather,  from forest locations to those near water or sites that offer outdoor swimming pools.  This is our busiest time of year and with the mercury still high, we’re getting more visitors to our website every day:  daily visits average 60,000 with bookings at around 1,000 per day.  Most site owners are well versed in staying safe while camping in summer, so if in doubt always ask for advice on arrival and request a cool and shady spot that gets the least sunshine and perhaps cut back a bit on the booze.”

For more information visit www.pitchup.com.  All prices correct at time of writing.

Tips for Watch and Jewellery Care for Surf and Sea Holidays

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anouska jewelleryWhether you’re planning to hit the beaches in the UK or abroad this year for some sun and sea, be sure to take care of your watches and jewellery.

WatchShop.com, provides tips on buying a watch for sea holidays as well as taking care of it and precious jewellery you may take as well.

“As you leave for holiday, be sure your hotel has a safe or in-room safe for any jewellery you may want to leave behind before heading to the beach” suggests Terry Markham of WatchShop.com. “This is especially important for high value items or even those that hold sentimental value.”

1. When choosing a watch to take to the beach, be prepared for it to be used, and used well. Make sure it is durable and tough enough to handle what you plan to do with it.

2. Sun and salt is a bad combo for anything except a tan, so choose a watch that might not fade, coloured watches can fade or can change colour slightly. This adds character in some minds, but not all, so be mindful when you buy it.

3. When buying or taking a watch you already own to water-related destination, be sure they are either water proof when submerged or at least water resistant.

4. If you’re planning to swim a lot or dive, be sure you choose a watch that is water proof to at least 5 bar (marked 50m) or higher.

Terry Markham of WatchShop.com says, “A watch can look good, but if it is full of water and doesn’t work, it is just a fancy bracelet”.

Caring for your watch and jewellery at the beach

· If you do swim with your watch, ensure the crown is pushed in fully, screwed down if the watch has this function. Don’t try to use the chronograph while the watch is wet as water can get into the pusher mechanism and enter the watch.

· If your watch does get soaked in the sea, wash it off with clean water, as prolonged exposure to sea water can damage cases and bracelets, and can affect gaskets and seals making the watch lose its water resistance.

· Try to keep all watches and jewellery out of direct sun, especially leaving on a hot surface such as a table for hours on end. Watch dials end up being faded and warp from the heat, and oils within the watch may dry up and stop lubricating delicate components.

· Try to keep leather straps dry, and keep out of water. Leather straps can cause sweat to permeate the strap leaving it salty and horrid, and water will eventually weaken the leather.

· Make sure your watch and bracelets are loose when worn in hot countries to allow the skin to breathe. This will help reduce skin rashes caused by heat.

· Don’t wear your watch or jewellery while applying sunscreen. On watches it can penetrate any leather straps and make them feel very uncomfortable, as well as discolouring stones on the case. Chemicals can also impact on the water resistance.

· If you have had the battery changed in your watch changed recently, make sure the watch is resealed to the correct pressure rating, so it performs best when you need it to.

· Make sure you don’t damage the watch when diving or doing any other high impact sports. This can lead to the watch performing terribly.

 

 

Five Mistakes Actors Make That Stop Them Getting Work

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Getting work as an actor is hard. With long periods of unemployment and vast competition. This was the main reason I wrote my book How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming An Actorpreneur. The odds are not good but you can tip them in your favour. You can make your own work, work on your skills, get your name out there. They say success is opportunity meets preparation. So here are my top five tips to make sure you are prepared and stop making the mistakes that stop you having the best career you can. Here are five mistakes actors make in their career that stop them being successful.

 

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Arrogance

Far too many actors are arrogant. Especially just after they have left drama school. Thinking you are the best actor that ever walked the earth is not going to convince anyone else to hire you. No one likes arrogance. Always under-promise and over-deliver. Be humble and modest. The traits that make a good human being also make a good actor.

 

Marketing Yourself Wrong

Yes, you are an artist but you are also a product. You have to brand yourself correctly so people know what you are ‘selling’. If you are Irish and want to market yourself as an Irish actor you must be prepared for only getting Irish roles. People will try to put you into a box but you can do yourself a favour by making yourself versatile. If you don’t want to be known as a certain type of actor, (like Australian, Irish, etc) don’t market yourself that way. Play up to your strengths and downplay what will limit you getting mainstream work.

You must also update your head shots, CV and showreel at least yearly. Don’t forget to update the various online acting sites you may be on every time you get a job.

 

Not Continuously Working On Your Skills

Actors can go months, and even years without working. If you do not work on your skills when unemployed not only will you be rusty when it comes to audition and getting work, but you will also not be as confident. Your CV will also be lacking. You are a business, invest in yourself. Even if it is getting a camera and making some short films with friends.

 

Thinking The World Owes You a Living

You are not special. You do not deserve to be a super-successful world famous actor. The world does not owe you anything. A sense of entitlement is not going to do you any favours. This was the main piece of advice American casting director Daryl Eisenberg gave me for my book on becoming a successful actor. Don’t think you are better than anyone else.

 

Being a Jerk

No one wants to work with horrible people. The film industry is tiny, as is the theatre and TV industry. If you are rude, horrible and difficult to work with then you will have a pretty short career. Be nice. Manners cost nothing.

 

Catherine Balavage is an actor and writer with over ten years of experience in the industry. Her book, How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming an Actorpreneur, came out in June this year. She also co-directed and wrote her own feature-length film, Prose & Cons, which will be out later this year.

 

 

Top Schools ‘Too Dominant’ In Acting

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Sir Peter Bazalgette, the chairman of Arts Council England, has said that the British film and TV industries are ‘too dominated’ by actors who have gone to private schools and that state school pupils have too few opportunities to have a career in the arts.

He told the Sheffield Doc/Fest: “I personally don’t see why all the male actors getting Baftas should come from Eton, Good for them, and great actors, but why should they all come from Eton?”

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Damien Lewis went to Eton.

 

Actors who went to Eton include Damian Lewis, Dominic West, Tom Hiddleston and Eddie Redmayne. Actors who went to other private schools include Rory Kinnear, who went to St Paul’s, Benedict Cumberbatch, who went to Harrow and Hugh Bonneville, who attended Sherborne.

 

12 Years A Slave actor Chiwetel Ejiofor went to Dulwich College – where Sir Peter went to school.

 

“Seven per cent of the population go to private schools, and in those private schools they get an absolutely, crackingly good education in the performing and visual arts. Ninety-three per cent don’t go to those private schools and, in some state schools, people get a wonderful education in visual and performing arts as well. But in quite a lot of them they don’t.

 

Visual performing arts have been marginalised in some areas in the curriculum as the curriculum becomes more instrumentalist and focused on what’s known as the Stem agenda – science, technology, engineering and maths. If there is one message, we say Steam, not Stem – put the ‘a’ for arts in.”

 

Dame Helen Mirren also recently warned that acting was becoming the “prerogative only of kids who have money”.

 

Check out Frost editor, Catherine Balavage’s, new book, How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming An Actorprenur, which tells you how to become an actor, no matter what your background.

 

What do you think?

 

Make a Pretty Rosette Brooch To Go With Any Outfit

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To celebrate summer, Maggie Robb from Made by Maggie will be sharing some of her favourite seasonal makes. They’re simple enough for everyone to try and you’ll love the results. Visit her on Facebook MadebyMaggie07 for more making tips and lovely stuff.

This month – Up-cycle pretty fabric scraps into an eye-catching rosette brooch.

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“I totally love making these brooches – they’re a great way to use up the scraps from my other projects and it’s very satisfying piecing the rosettes together and choosing their centres from my stash of vintage buttons. You can make the rosettes as big or as little as you like, and also use them to embellish t-shirts, bags, children’s clothes- your whole world!”

 

What you’ll need –

Scraps of Fabric in contrasting colours, patterns and textures.

Ribbons and buttons

Wool felt for the backing

Needle and thread

Scissors and Pinking sheers

Brooch clasp (can be found in craft shops like Hobbycraft)

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First, cut out three different sized circles from your fabrics. I use cardboard templates with diameters of 16, 13 and 9 cm but you can also draw round anything handy you have at home – a cereal bowl makes a great large rosette and a mug or glass is good for a smaller size. The general rule is that your finished rosette will be approximately half the size of your ‘raw’ circle.

Next, fold over the edge of your first fabric circle and sew a narrow hem with a running stitch.

Gently pull your thread tight to gather up your rosette – smoothing the fabric with your fingers to create neat and even pleats. Thick fabrics like tweed or velvet work better with a larger circle but silks and Liberty Lawn and other thin fabrics can be smaller. Secure your rosette with a couple of stitches.

Now for the fun bit! Once you’ve got two or three different sized rosettes you can start assembling your brooch. Choose a centre piece for it from your stash of buttons or pop down to your local fabric or craft shop and choose something – buttons with ‘shank’ fastenings at the back rather than holes can be especially effective. You need to place your rosettes pleated side up to achieve the ruched rosette effect. Secure your layers and button in place with a couple of stitches.

To sew a set of ‘tails’ onto the back of your rosette select a couple of lengths of matching ribbon of different widths. Cut them to the desire length and trim the ends to an arrow to avoid fraying. Attach to the back of your base rosette so that they cross over with a few stiches.

To give your brooch a professional finish cut a circle of felt in a matching shade using pinking shears (zig zag scissors!) to achieve an attractive and non-fraying edge, and sew in place on the back of your brooch using a simple running or back stitch. It’s a good idea to pin your felt circle in place before you start to sew.

Then attach your pin fastener two thirds up and in the middle of your felt circle. And you’re done!

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You can experiment using stripy fabrics, porcelain buttons or even cover your own with fabric or snippets of embroidery using self-covering buttons (try any haberdashers or craft store or online) for a really personalized effect. The brooches look great on coats, dresses or even pinned to canvas bags. Or sew a selection onto a t-shirt for you or a little friend! When making rosettes for young children to wear, leave out buttons as these could be a choking hazard.

 

Next month…… Join Maggie as she shows you how to make a cute little tape-measure holder out of scraps of felt.

 

 

The Art of Conversation By Judy Apps Book Review

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theartofconversationbookreviewSome people are socially inept. It is not polite to point it out and I never do. But let’s be honest, we have all been there: opposite the person at the party who talks about themselves endlessly, at a wedding next to someone who is critical about everything or sat beside someone who just endlessly moans on a long journey. There is an art to conversation, and plenty of people have not mastered it.

 

So I might be buying this book in bulk and handing it out liberally, anything to lessen the social trauma of listening to someone else droning on about their own life for an hour, or moaning and complaining and then just leaving, a negative aura lingering behind them. I once spent an hour and a half, no exaggeration, listening to a women talking about her biological clock and how it was running out, and forty minutes at another party trying to explain to someone where the Scottish Borders are “What country does it border with?” they asked. I managed to keep a straight face, wondrously.

 

The Art of Conversation by Judy Apps is a fascinating book. It also has a section on dealing with the type of drains above. So called because they drain your energy. It has anecdotes and quotes galore, all of which are brilliant. It also has exercises and will help you understand the different levels of conversation and how they work. I read this book very fast as it is both enjoyable and educational. It also helps you overcome fear and express yourself more powerfully with your voice and body language.

 

An educational, insightful and enjoyable book. Definitely worth a read.

 

The Art of Conversation: Change Your Life with Confident Communication is available here.

 

 

 

 

Wedding Planning For Dummies | Book Review

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It is well-known that planning a wedding is hard. But it is not until you actually plan a wedding that you realise that it is even harder than you thought it would be. And then some.

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The mixture of organisation, planning, ideas and different family members is quite a toxic mix, making even simple decisions seems insurmountable sometimes. I am planning my own wedding at the moment and it is rapidly approaching. So when Wedding Planning For Dummies dropped through our letterbox I was incredibly happy. I am that dummy and I need that book.

Before a relative reads this and panics about how close the wedding is, it is mostly done, I am just worried I will forget something. Not so with this book. It is thorough and fun to read. What’s more, it taught me things that I never even knew. It may be a ‘For Dummies’ book but, like all in the series, it leaves you feeling very competent in the end.

It has lots of tips on how to not pay too much, tips on finding the perfect venue, ideas for making your wedding personal and suggestions for the invitations.  Actually, it just has every basis covered that you will need for your wedmin.

It even tells you the different types of marquees you can get and I loved the section on how much alcohol to order depending on how many guests you have. It really was invaluable. Brilliant book, a must read for those planning their wedding. The authors really know their stuff.

Wedding Planning For Dummies is available here.

3 Simple (and some) Steps to Fat Loss

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3 Steps (and some) to successfully lose body fat

Hi everyone

I hope you are all doing well and have been enjoying the sun and rain. I see a lot of people are counting down the weeks until summer and are starting to “Workout” to get in shape for summer.

Thats great. I am really glad to see people focusing on addressing any health and fitness issues they have now summer is on its way. And when its all over we can revert back and binge until next year and do it all again, a mad dash of counting down the weeks. Stepping on the scales. Being horrified if we don’t just make it this year or realising we are getting a year older and the quick fixes just aren’t so quick anymore.

OOHHHHH wait wait wait, there is something else we could all do instead.
What is it I hear you scream, tell us now……well its this.

Are you ready?
Here we go……ITS…..

Behave all year round….BOOM shock horror people.

Now Im not saying go crazy fitness fanatic all the time snapping at your friends because they do not follow the new road you are traveling and munching on exactly the same new food you are. Working out everyday for a year. Only eat low calorie (AAAAGGGGGHHHHH) labelled food (you should never eat this crap anyway) and step on the scales every night.

No I am not saying that but what I am saying is so very simple you will kick yourself….or someone else, yes do that, kick someone else.

No what I am saying is with 3 (and some) very simple changes we can make a lot of difference to someone who may be finding it very difficult to do anything at all.

It really is simple and I dare you to try it…..double dare you and see what happens.

OH and again this post and tips are inspired by Strength Coach Dan John danjohn.net

So what do I mean when I say (and some)

Well the 3 steps are not so simple, I mean they are and they are not.
You cant just do the 3 steps and expect great results from them to happen immediately.

The level of commitment differs for everyone, time is ongoing and results may take longer than you wish….but for a true positive lifestyle change I’m sorry but it doesn’t happen just over night.
NO NO NO it does not and anyone who tells you, Lose…..in…. weeks, is in the words of CT Fletcher is a MOTHER F**KING LIAR. FACT.
Thanks CT.

You may not have liked hearing that but its true. So for next years plan of 6 weeks to beach body….please plan a bit further ahead.

Also another huge point of the (And Some) is accountability. This really is the hardest part. Harder than any workout you will do, any foods you will give up and harder than setting the clock earlier by 30 mins to move.

Its the reason so many people are unable to follow on to their goals and instead they quit.

Set backs may happen. Things will seem like they are not going anywhere and people will try to pull you away from the new simple rules you have set but you have to stick with the choice you made.
Otherwise you have no right to complain.

Again as Dan said…..The Goal is to keep the Goal the Goal.
Do not detour. Do not change or add some crazy stuff that has no meaning. Do not follow no crazy which craft (Herbalife ect).
Stick to your guns baby and show me the gun show.

You are accountable for your own results, not me or him or them but you you YOU DAMMIT.

After accountably comes honesty.
Be honest with yourself. Did you do things to the best of your ability? Did you follow the dam instructions? Did you have a sneaky piece of pie or skip that workout?
Be honest with yourself….be honest with me. Please

And another thing is…..keep it simple.
Gimmicks, gadgets, pills and super drinks do not work.
In the age of gladiatorial combatants, to 1970’s bodybuilders to modern day soldiers.
Its all followed the simple rules. Train right eat right move right.

No this or that from the late night shopping channel.
No less this or that and fancy name on food labels.
No upside down intensity training program.

Its as simple as me and thats saying something.

So here we go

Step 1 is simple….Drink 2 Glasses of Water a day.
Thats it. I say again drink 2 glasses of water a day.

You wont believe how many do not or cannot even do this yet will do some other crazy stuff.
Just drink two glasses of water a day….for how long? well here comes the accountability, honestly and time scale.
For as long as you needed or are able to keep the goal the goal.
Yes its simple. see if you can do it before midday, you don’t have too but its something to plan for.
Dam if you need to set an alarm on your phone to go off once or twice saying….DRINK WATER.

Honestly guys if you cannot do this then dam…good luck to you.

Oh and I don’t mean only two glasses…hell drink more but for a hell of a lot of people its enough to just do 2 so that is the first simple goal.

Step 2 is….move more, move better, hell get your ass on the floor.

People our bodies are amazing things and where designed to do amazing things and our minds are amazing things but our minds have made our bodies lazy.
They have fond ways for us to short-cut ourselves.
Remotes, escalators, little scooters with engines on them….dam them all.

Use your body as much as you can. Walk up that small flight of stairs or go up 2 flights in the office before catching the elevator.
Get rid of the remote and get up and turn the TV off/on (off) and sit on the floor more.
Learn to use your amazing body as it should be used, get up and get down. Reach and stretch for things. Roll over and rock back.
The more you can use your body the better you become at moving it the more efficient you will be able to burn fat….boom simple next step.

Step 3 is…….Lets agree
That we should avoid…..or at least cut down (massively) on
Sugar
Cardboard Carbs-made in a factory
Frankenstein fats-made in a factory
Eat your colourful Veggies-and a big mix of green, red, yellow
DRINK TWO GLASSES OF WATER.

Think of it like this….EAT LIKE AN ADULT
If you find this hard then try the Alpo-Dog Food Diet.

Basically invite a load of friends around and explain to them your goal. Tell them if you do not fulfil the goal, you quit, cheat or whatever then you will eat the can of dog food.

And every time you feel like quitting, open the can and have a sniff…..BOOM back on track.

People its that simple to start on the road to fat loss.
You just need to start it and stick to it. Remember you are accountable…..not me.

 

For more tips, help, bogs, rants and information on personal coaching please visit my website here at Kettlebell Strength 

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twitter @KB_strength

Stay strong people.

 

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