First I have to apologise for the delay in producing this blog. I currently have my leg in plaster and it is awkward to work at my computer.

Last week I attended a marketing seminar run by my publisher. It was very informative and interesting. I have a lot of action points for when my leg is out of plaster and I am able to drive again.

One thing I found during discussions with fellow authors on the seminar was there were a high proportion that did not know where to start with regard to producing their own webpage.

I spent some time discussing the options open to them (during the breaks of course). The discussions prompted me to add a couple of pages to my Partnership Publishing website discussing setting up a website using both a Mac and PC.

Please go over to my other site and let me know what you think. If you know of other options open to the beginner then please contact me and let me know.

I happened to be sitting in my garden yesterday afternoon sipping my Arran Sunset real ale when I noticed there were no bees. The garden is full of flowers at this time of year. The afternoon was warm and sunny with a light breeze. Normally there would be many bees working on the flowers. There were none! Other than a couple of bumble bees and other insects there was nothing, not one bee.

This morning was a beautiful sunny morning so I looked round the garden carefully. Again not one bee could I see!

My father mentioned it last week that there were very few bees in his Garden. I have to say I did not think much of it at the time.  Now that I have noticed the lack of bees in my garden it has got me thinking. He lives a good four hundred miles from me so it is not a local phenomenon.

So what has happened to the bees? Where have they gone? They are so small and in the background that they are not noticed as they busily go about their work pollinating the flowers.  Because they are not noticed they are not missed.

The news is so full of global warming, nuclear proliferation, rogue states and corrupt politicians that perhaps the most important thing is going unmentioned.  Where would we be without the humble little Honey Bee? On the edge of a global Extinction Level Event that’s where!

Most plants, which include the majority of the world’s food, rely on bees for pollination. No pollination, no plants, no food!

It is ironic when we are worrying about the big picture and the big events that perhaps the most dangerous threat to our world is happening unnoticed right under our noses, the decline of the bee.

Has anyone else noticed the lack of bees?  If they are declining is there something being done to prevent this potential global disaster? Personally I doubt it.

What do you think?

About Clive

I have not posted for a while because on May 2nd my Daughter got married. Everything went to plan and it was a wonderful day. While my daughter and I were sitting in the Hotel lobby waiting for the car to arrive to take us to the church a woman walked in with her small daughter.  “I hope you don’t mind but she said she had seen a Princess through the window and she wanted to see her better”. It happened just at the right moment because my daughter was getting nervous.  It made us both smile and relieved the tension.

The Princess

You can see why the little girl thought she had seen a princess!

I have to say I was a little nervous about my Father of the Bride speech but I need not have worried, as it seemed well received by everyone present. It did take some time and more than a few re-writes to get something I was happy with. I have reproduced it here in full in the hope it may one day be useful to someone else in need of ideas for their FOTB speech.

Speech
Ladies and gentlemen, as father of the bride, it’s my privilege to make the first speech, and I’d like to start by saying what a pleasure it is to welcome you all to Veronica’s & Neil’s wedding.

Today, I look at my daughter and I see an independent, attractive, elegant, stunning young woman.  She has worked tirelessly over many months organising everything, creating the handmade invitations, the Orders of Service, and the menu cards, I’m sure you’ll agree everything is first rate.

It does not seem but a moment ago when she was a little girl. I remember when she was about three. She accidently stood on a beetle and squashed it. She stepped back looked at squashed beetle then up at me and said ‘Daddy fix it!’  Another time we were in a shop and a lady asked her,  her name. She looked at the lady very seriously and said ‘Veroncicia, but my Daddy calls me Pest!’ I often wonder if she changed her name to Ronnie because it was easier for her to say!

One duty of the Father of the Bride is to give the new husband advice on married life.  As I am sure you do not want me to stand here for hours, I have thought of a simple illustration which I think sums it all up.

Veronica please place your right hand on the table, Neil please place your hand over hers…

Savour the moment mate… because it will probably be the last time you get the upper hand!

Now I would just like to leave you with this final thought…

The actor Richard Burton once said that ‘a woman accepts a man for what he is and then spends the rest of her life trying to change him.’… So, we should all take one last look at Neil, as we know him because Veronica’s remodelling work starts first thing in the morning.

Seriously, Veronica is a very caring and loving person. She’s my only daughter, and I love her and I’m very proud to have her as my daughter. I’m also pleased to formally welcome Neil into the family. Anyone can see that they’re made for each other. I’m sure you’ll agree they make a beautiful couple.

So please join me in raising your glasses in a toast to the Bride and Groom – Veronica & Neil.

I’d now like to hand over to my son-in-law – Neil.

Guardian Two word count: 22328 words

The publisher has told me the first print run is scheduled for this week. “Baring problems at the printers.”  I don’t know what sort of problems they expect but hopefully as I write this, my book actually exists!

I hope they have included the final changes and corrections I requested. As usual I had to pester to get any information from them. I wonder how long it will be before I receive my first copies? It would be great to receive them next week. It would also be great if they emailed to let me know whether the print run went ahead or not.

I suppose I will have to wait a couple of weeks and email them again to ask what happened. We shall see, they might even surprise me! (Ever the optimist).

That awful apprentice program started again this week. (For those who don’t know, a famous British businessman has one high paid position to offer in one of his companies.   A group of would be employees have to complete tasks each week and one from the group will be fired for being the worst. This goes on until one is left).

The businessman whose name seems to be ‘Serallen’ (funny name!) is one of those people who you would never want to work for whatever the pay.  The stress of constantly looking over your shoulder in the hope he is not coming into your office to shout at you for not working 150% 24/7 must be quite unbearable.

The ‘apprentices’ are not people you can rout for either. They are arrogant, obnoxious, backstabbing hypocrites. People you would hope never to meet. I suppose the winner deserves to work for Serallen!

The problem is this program is popular! Is this a reflection of why the world is in the crisis it is?

Guardian Two word count: 17,450

I read an article tucked away inside the paper today regarding a damming report on the stagnation and decay in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (F&CO).

To quote a few lines “It recruits bright people brimming with independent thought, but then proceeds both intentionally and unintentionally to apparently clone them. They become robots submitting wholesale to the culture of committees, sub-committees, working groups and steering groups. “

I am not surprised! Several years ago I applied to join the F&CO. The advert said the Foreign Secretary wanted to inject the institution with new ideas by recruiting people with experience of outside industry.

At the time I was running ESSC in the UK, which had been the service arm of Genicom.  It was successful however we had been sold to a third party company who were proceeding to dismantle everything. I saw it as time to get out.

I applied to the F&CO I passed the first two assessment interviews and was asked to attend a Promotion and Assessment Weekend. This was residential over three days. It was normally used for people who are working towards fast track promotion. I was the only person from ‘outside’ who was attending.

We had to go through three days tests and role-play. We were continually assessed (even during he evenings we were watched). At the end everyone was marked and we had to attend another interview a couple of weeks later.

I had been at a disadvantage. All the tests and role play was designed for people who had been working for the F&CO. Many of the situations relied on first had working knowledge of procedures and systems within an embassy.

I actually did all right and past all the required criteria except one. I failed because I had put the workings and requirements of the ‘company’ before those of the people. In any situation I would tend to select the best person for the job rather than taking full account of what they wanted. What I should have done was select the person who wanted the position regardless if they were the best or not.

I was rather annoyed to say the least. Even at the wash up interview there was a consultant present who said that I had not failed as such. My profile was exactly what he would expect from some one with my experience of working for ‘outside industry’ where results count. I said to them that the selection process wheedled out the very type of person they said they were looking for.  The consultant agreed the F&CO person (who had been my assessor) just shrugged. I did consider appealing the decision but then thought better of it.

So I have to say from first hand experience, they are indeed set up to ensure that if you do not fit their ethos of mediocrity you will not get on.

Guardian Two word count 16,284