Well, I never dreamed I’d enjoy a rugby match! It’s funny how things happen though, as Saturday saw me sitting by the touchline at Twickenham – ‘home of British rugby’ – cheering on the teams in the Aviva cup final! (Thank you Marion, for the corporate hospitality tickets.) It was such fun! Sue and I schlepped on three trains with our packed lunch, rugby tops and a pint of Pimms each. She’s a huge rugby fan and was laughingly embarrassed by my lack of any inkling of sporting knowledge. Even I giggled when a latecomer asked me who was winning and I didn’t have a clue…
For my few friends who have made it to thirty-something+ equally lacking in rugby rules… two teams of very sexy men run around being incredibly violent, pushing, shoving and knocking their opponents to the ground, diving on top of each other like five-year-olds (shortly before being relegated to the naughty corner). They grab someone’s ankles and bring them down, in my opinion, for no apparent reason, then all pile on top.
Anyway, it was great fun to watch and Sue promises to take me to an early match next season – mud and blood, apparently. Congratulations to the Saints – a triumphant win against Saracens during extra time, and with only a nail biting seven seconds to the bell!
Clicking on to Facebook at half time, I saw that my friend Simon was there too. I met Simon 26 years ago when I first worked with local authorities and he has been one of my favourite clients for plain English training ever since. You have to love Facebook at times like that – I wouldn’t otherwise have known he was there, and it gave us the opportunity for a quick hello between scrums. (Is that the right word??) I’ll be emailing him today to arrange lunch…
Speaking of which, a spam email caught my eye this week that I couldn’t resist reading. Sunil Bali is an executive coach from Milton Keynes whom I don’t believe I’ve ever met. I visited Milton Keynes once, in my fashion days, I think to have lunch with a leather goods supplier. My memory is of concrete cows… Sunil admitted (and apologised) that his marketing assistant probably spammed me along with 2000 other people without his knowledge, but this proves one thing I always say – email marketing succeeds or falls on the detail.
Viewing Sunil’s email on my phone, I didn’t see the usual “If you’re having trouble viewing blah blah blah…” that generally encourages me to hit delete if I don’t recognise the sender. Instead, the text went straight to the eye-catching first line of his blog: “Research shows that smelling crayons can reduce your blood pressure by 10 points.” Whoa! A bold claim, and one that made me read on. His theory is so true; the smell of crayons takes you straight back to childhood. It raises happiness levels and enhances your creative brain, removing negative thoughts while you focus on the heart-warming smell.
I emailed Sunil in return and within a few hours we’d become email friends and LinkedIn connections. Obviously it’s not as strong a relationship yet as I have with Simon, but the beauty of social media is the limitless possibilities for new business relationships. Are you and I connected yet?
In the spirit of things I thought I’d end with a rugby song, but reading some of the lyrics even I was shocked!!! So I’ll simply say this: “We’re like crayons melting in the sunshine; I’ll colour your world if you’ll colour mine.” Do you know it? (Song and credits are here, on my Pinterest page!) Have fun in the sun this week – don’t melt! @WeekendWitch.
Hi Renee, No, we are not connected on LinkedIn. But you know the reason for that! 🙂 x