It’s that time of year again – the first day of advent. And that means only one thing at Launch Towers – the return of the famous Launch Advent Quiz. Every day a festive brain-teaser is circulated with the fastest-finger winning the chance to open one of the 25 packages. Check out our Twitter feed to join in!
I read today in The Times that today is the day when two out of three women who started a New Year diet give it up. I must confess that my New Year diet lasted officially 8 hours and 45 minutes. It covered a period of time between waking up on New Year’s Day and discovering a half eaten box of chocolates I had hidden in a kitchen drawer several months ago when I was starting my previous diet. I find this failure rate rather saddening.
I think everyone, in one way or another, sets themselves some sort of New Year’s resolution, and this got me thinking about to what extent we manage to actually achieve those goals. Experts advise that there are key ways to achieve them. Top tips include writing down your goals on paper, being realistic about those goals and most importantly making sure that you reward yourself at key milestones along the way to achieving them.
Here at Launch we are all encouraged to set goals – not only as part of the company, but also personal targets. Launch provides us all with an annual ‘wellbeing budget’ that encourages us to do something that will benefit ourselves – such as joining a gym or taking up yoga classes. Two brave Launchers have signed up to take part in a marathon this year, and another will be doing a sky dive!
Remembering to be realistic and to reward myself, I have resolved to write down the contact details of my nearest gym, buy a yoga mat and reward myself with the last few Christmas chocolates.
Well, with all that has happened in a very busy 2009, we decided that we would finish the year with a little sparkle.
The Boys Pod – that is, myself and Adam, decided that we would do our bit by “glamming up” our workspace and adding some festive cheer to the office. Being blokes, we thought that we would do quantity over quality and nipped down to the local Pound Land in our lunch hour. So, for the princely sum of £10 we have donned our desks with crackers, tinsel, lights and some random bird / fern thingies.
This appears to have stoked the festive fire, and other Launch pods are plotting our demise as I type this, feverishly putting up their own impromptu Christmas decorations in nothing short of a festive challenge. I say, bring it on!
So please do not forget to indulge in some Christmas spirit, get your Crimbo deckies up and finish off the year with a bang.
Merry Christmas to you all.
Okay, it’s happened! We’ve not even edged into December and I have already heard the dulcet tones of Her Majesty Ms Carey telling me that ‘all she wants for Christmas is me’ over the PA system at a shopping centre. She could have just called me directly! But secretly, I am now actually rather happy that I can just about get away with listening to my Christmas playlist on my ipod.
Christmas is a time of the year I always look forward to, especially the classic traditions like mulled wine, minced pies and quality time spent with friends and family. But another big tradition has begun to appear since my time at Launch. What started last year as an innocent attempt at Christmas cheer has turned into a hotly awaited contest! The Annual Advent Quiz – a daily quiz question that determines who opens the company advent calendar (yes, we have a company advent calendar) – is already keeping me up at night…. Will all of the questions be ready for the 1st? What should I put behind door 24? What with that and organising the Christmas party I will be exhausted by the time I get my turkey!
What is it about a bit of healthy competition that gets people excited? Now it is not only once a year that us Launchers go head to head in a general knowledge battle. We also have the weekly ‘Has Lesley Got News For You Quiz’ a chance for us all to put our media monitoring skills to the test and ensure that we’re up to speed with all of the happenings in the news agenda. We’ve gone competition mad!
I think it comes down to nostalgia – we miss those days when it was Red House against Yellow House and the innocence of believing that winning the Egg & Spoon race would make us masters of the universe. And I say why not? Whilst the prize of winning the Advent Quiz is only an oddly tasting chocolate, it also gives you that extra buzz you can only get from being the best.
Once again it’s that time of the year that we all brace ourselves for. The dreaded winter! With the dark mornings and cold weather, the official start of winter is soon to be upon us. It’s time to don the scarves and gloves, turn up the heating and dig out the SAD light for that daily dose of vitamin D. Many of us look back over the summer months longingly…
However, winter isn’t all doom and gloom. There are definitely some cheeky pleasures that come with it…
December is the season to be jolly
Who doesn’t love Christmas? It’s the time for festive cheer, lots of guiltless, calorific food and a whole host of nights out – and all in the name of the season.
During this period people seem generally to be in better spirits (probably because they know a hard earned break is on the way!), and there is always a Christmas party or social gathering to attend, which is organised under the guise of ‘Christmas,’ but is really just another reason to go out and be merry.
It’s also a great excuse to shop! You can kill two birds with one stone as you shop for yourself whilst shopping for your nearest and dearest’s Christmas presents. It’s the perfect arrangement.
Furthermore, as our evenings are plummeted into darkness, we can look forward to the warm glow of the Christmas decorations lighting up our skylines, shops and homes. Thus making the dark evenings somewhat more bearable.
What I look forward to most, though, is the occasion when thousands of people up and down the country gather together to watch the Christmas lights being turned on. This year the turning on of the Regent Street lights was once again a festive treat and also a PR’s dream! The crowds enjoyed performances from Taio Cruz and Peter Andre, as well as guest appearances from Jim Carey and Colin Firth. This was to tie in with the release of the A Christmas Carol movie.
However, to promote the film, the audience were encouraged to join in with a mass sing along to a well know Christmas carol.
This was an attempt to break the world record. But having attended the festive event annually for a fair few years, it felt strangely out of place and not a little uncomfortable. The audience clearly weren’t interested in joining in, and did so with a palpable reluctance. One couldn’t help but feel that the switching on of the lights had suddenly become a commercial exercise, and as this slowly sank in, it lost some of the magic. None the less, the record did get broken, though I’m not sure the public knew how exactly.
January brings us great bargains
So once the joys of Christmas have passed, by Boxing Day I’m already thinking about sales shopping! My thinking is that I might as well make the most of it and grab myself a bargain. So through out the first week of January I can be found, along with the majority of the British female population, trawling the clothes rails on the high street. And once that bargain is found, it’s well worth the blood, sweat and tears.
February is a time for pancakes
On the 16th February people up and down the country invest in flour, butter and eggs for Shrove Tuesday. What to put on your pancake is always the most crucial question of the day. Whether it is simply some lemon and sugar or a more adventurous personal favourite such as Nutella and banana, they are a scrumptious treat which are well worth the effort and help to warm the cold evenings.
So for those who are wishing for the winter months to be a distant memory, cling to the knowledge that there are a few treats in store, which will help the cold months fly by that little bit quicker.
At the age of 59, and at the invitation of my daughter, who had lived in London for 10 years, I decided to give up my very orderly life on the sea front in Australia and move to the UK’s capital.
It’s a thrilling city to live in, but the initial temping work I undertook was certainly an experience, as was the daily commute adventure – bravely tackling the crowds on the Tube, finding the correct route and praying that I managed to stick to it. I admit that I started off a well-mannered traveller (as most people naively are when they first arrive in London); I would stand back while people pushed and shoved and elbowed and squeezed. But after hearing the very sound advice: ‘If you don’t push with the crowd you’re still going to be left on the tube station platform at lunch time,’ I now use my full height of 5 foot 10 inches to make sure I rightfully gain my place.
I had worked at the Australian Embassy in London as a 21 year old, and so I knew only too well what excitement the city could hold and was determined to get out there and re-visit lots of charming places. As my home in Australia has a short supply of theatres, I started visiting shows on a regular basis, and am now proud to say that there aren’t many that I haven’t seen. We have a nice social group at Launch, and I’m extremely lucky, being a little older than most of my colleagues, that we can all go out socially together.
Try your hand at landing our very own Launch space rocket as smoothly as possible. Warning – it’s addictive!
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