Cathy’s Blog

At the kids favourite theme park – Diggerland – you can often see a display by the Dancing Diggers. This entourage of 5 modified JCB 3cx as well as a diddy little bobcat loader travels the length and breadth of the country putting on impressive displays of just what this piece of construction equipment can do.

It’s sturdy looking construction belies it’s agility and precision movements are perfomed in time by the operators with all the poise and grace of the ladies Olympic synchronised swimmers. Each JCB weighs in at 8.5 tonnes and the whole fleet costs more than a quarter of a million pounds. Their performance lasts for around 30 minutes and the operators refer to themselves as The Stunt Team rather than digger dancers.

It looks as if almost everything goes in circles and at this time the UK is preoccupied with a state of physical exercise and fitness.

Individuals are rebelling against their settees and their consoles in favour of even more productive pastimes. Even so, whilst individuals intentions appear to be good, they could in reality be creating themselves more damage than good from wearing the wrong running shoes.

It’s a commonly known fact that when you walk all of your bodyweight is spread through your knee and ankle joints. When running the pressure that’s exerted via those bones is accentuated even more and should you go on to exercise and exert stress through these joints using extreme amounts of exercise then you could in reality cause permanent harm to the body.

I remember back in the 80′s when HIV and AIDS first came to the public attention, there was much panic and a race began to find a cure. Reports abounded of thousands dying from the disease and researches have since spent all their time trying to find a solution. However, according to health-on-line health insurance agency it seems that HIV may be an incurable disease of the 21st Century.

They report that the virus that leads to AIDS is adept at hiding from modern drugs and while it is possible to virtually remove the virus from the blood stream it will still keep a hold in the bodies tissues, so far rendering it immune to the drugs currently used to combat it.

Well it feels like it’s been ages coming but my husband and I are finally about to start packing for our honeymoon. We got married in September but postponed our honeymoon to the Seychelles to pick the best of the weather and it’s almost upon us! Yesterday, we got a call from the travel agents to say our tickets were available to pick up which we promptly did and are glad to see the special notes let those that need to know we are on our honeymoon and that can only mean one thing – champagne in our room!

There are still several members of the workforce in this office missing from their Easter breaks – unable to get a flight home due to the Icelandic volcano ash and the fact that they simply couldn’t wait for summer so instead of making use of short breaks in the UK over Easter they hoppped on a plane to foreign climes. I bet you regret that now, don’t you!

When the Home Information Pack was first introduced, it was unneccesary to have this in place on homes that were built to the 2006 standard of building regulations. However. this has now changed and HIPS should be in place for any sale on any home regardless of age or size, including new houses.

HIPS is the first thing that everybody needs to have in place before even marketing a property for sale.  When it comes to new homes, it is essential that the pack is in place before a planned development can even be advertised on a website or potential investors are informed of the plans. No advertising signs can be displayed on the site and traditional marketing in any form can take place until the HIPS are complete. If sellers do not co-operate with this, they face a hefty fine.

The detrimental effects of being over-weight have been well documented – particularly in the last twenty years or so. Being overweight can contribute to the onset of dangerous illnesses such as heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes as well as masking the symptoms of cancer. Health insurance companies even have a scale of recommended healthy weight ranges and where you sit on this scale could affect your premiums.

However, it now seems we have gone to the other extreme and become so obssessed about our weight, particulary the young girls among us, that the balance is swinging the other way with people dangerously obssessed about being thin.

Employers have had notorious difficulties over the years with staff on ‘sick leave’ when it is suspected that they are not actually sick. Sick notes from the doctor have been used so far to decide on whether the member of staff should receive sick pay but they are pretty vague forms. They will state what is wrong with the patient and predict a recovery time but this is in no way accurate and is open to interpretation.

What happened to our Spring?? There I was yesterday, driving around with the window down, the sound of birdsong filtering through and marvelling at the daffodils in full bloom along the roadside. Last night was our first evening at appreciating the change in the British Summer Time. Here we go I thought, Spring has sprung! In my enthusiasm I began to plan my first of several short breaks for the year.

Spring is approaching fast – well, in my mind it is. Some people only see the wind, rain and occassional snow flurry. I see crocuses and the beginnings of blossom and daffodils and I even heard someone mowing a communal lawn this morning throwing up that undeniably fulfilling smell of cut grass. However, I digress. My point in this article is that Spring is definitely on its way and this will be the perfect time to plan your corporate event.