by Fern Shaw | Apr 4, 2016 | Water Coolers
My particular love arrived when I started playing with my brother’s hand me down Lego. In this I must say, I’m a purist – the old Lego is what Lego is meant to be. I’ve never quite understood all the pink and purple brightly coloured weirdly shaped pieces Lego is available in now. The good old white bases and blue building blocks were all I needed to get cracking with spending hours and hours building designer houses. A Sunday in the breezeway on the rug was the usual location. I’d endlessly construct Bauhaus type houses and show them off gleefully to my father – who, after the 5th or 6th attempt (such attempts looking markedly similar in design), would nod and feign interest.
I still think of pursuing the field of architecture (that pesky Maths, though) but for now (and for all of my life so far), just to look architecture is like catnip to me. A few examples to muse over (and your opinion on great architecture is most welcome) are:
The Basilica of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, what I fondly call the ‘Dribble Castle’. A dribble castle for those of you that don’t know, are castles made using a particular density of wet beach sand;
The Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew Temple (also known as The Million Bottle Temple) in Thailand – now there’s recycling at its best;
The Guggenheim Building in Balboa. This amazing museum of modern and contemporary art is in Spain. It would seem that a lot of spectacular architecture originates or is built in Spain;
A particular favourite, the Flatiron Building, New York – named for its flat iron type shape – personally, I think the building looks a stretched out wedge of cheese – but each to their own – and, last, but by no means, least;
The St Pancras Station and Hotel in Camden. Of course, there’s more beautiful architecture in the UK than one can throw a stick at, but I thought I’d go for the not too obvious.
With these examples and all variations in-between, architecture can remind us (I do believe) of how to achieve greatness through buildings.
So if you’ve run out of topics to chat about with your colleagues on your water cooler runs, why not open a discussion about their favourite building and why? I guarantee you’ll have started something!
by Fern Shaw | Feb 10, 2016 | Charity, water cooler, Water Coolers
If you have ever struggled with debt, you may have heard of our company, Carrington Dean. What we do is simple: we help those who are hopelessly in debt to get out of debt through management plans like IVAs, debt arrangement schemes, and bankruptcy.
But it’s one thing to say that, and quite another to actually do it every day. Every person who walks into our office and asks us for help has a story to tell. It can be a story of loss, a story of heartbreak, a story of fear. It keeps them up at night and robs them of their time, privacy, and security. It makes them fear for their families and their futures.
There isn’t a day that goes by that these stories don’t affect me and every person who works in our offices. Moreover, I’ll be honest. Sometimes it’s hard. We are constantly faced with the reality that our society doesn’t do enough to help good people. Every day, struggling families are allowed to just fall through the cracks.
Helping others is at the heart of the work we do and we are always looking for more ways that we can do that. There is nothing quite like the reward of seeing a smile on a client’s face that first day that they realise the clouds are parting and they are finally getting back on track. It really is like a ray of sunshine. For that person, their entire life has changed.
That’s why we look for every opportunity we can find to incorporate charity into our work. We regularly give to Mothers Care India, an organisation that helps children in impoverished parts of India to get an education.
That’s also why it means so much to us that we get to partner with AquAid. AquAid provides all of the water coolers that we use in our offices. This is yet another small but very real way for our business to contribute to charity work. We love that this is written on the coolers themselves. It is a very visible mark of the charitable spirit that is at the core of what we stand for. It communicates what we care about to customers and associates who visit us, and it also serves as a permanent reminder for our staff that we can and do make a difference.
On days when I am frustrated and standing at the water cooler, I realise just how many organisations and people who are out there who do care. AquAid and Carrington Dean are likeminded organisations infused with community spirit.
So we just want to say thank you to AquAid. Your work is changing lives, and you’re empowering us to help people across borders who will never find their way into our offices.
by Fern Shaw | Nov 18, 2015 | Water Coolers
Just when you thought AquAid were all about the staid and serious supply of a quality range of water coolers and water related products, we show that we too, can be frothy and fun. How, you may ask? Well, our Free Standing Bottled Water Cooler is a music video sensation!
The song, Get Things Done, by British neo-disco songstress, Little Boots, features the AquAid Bottled Water Cooler as part of her fizzy interpretation of office culture.
The water cooler features at 1:53 and again at 2:03 – fame at last, AquAid Bottled Water Cooler, fame at last!
All thanks go to Steve Norley and the team at AquAid London Central for the supply of this water cooler (complete with bottled spring water, naturally filtered at the source in the Purbeck Hills) to the music video team who put this video together.
Catch the video here.
by Fern Shaw | Sep 11, 2015 | Water Coolers
I recently read a delightful article about a woman who ordered a pizza in Italy and was told that such a pizza doesn’t exist.
The gist of the *article is about how the journalist, who resides in Italy, went to her local takeaway pizzeria and ordered a marinara to which the takeaway owner and pizza maker promptly told her that such a pizza doesn’t exist.
According to the pizza maker, the customer had ordered a pizza rossa.
The differences?
Traditionally, a marinara is a tomato and garlic pizza.
A pizza rossa is a simple tomato and garlic pizza – with the addition of mozzarella.
The journalist was used to a marinara being a pizza with tomato, garlic and mozzarella. The pizza maker vehemently disagreed. She said she was perhaps thinking of a margherita and that she could perhaps make her a margherita with garlic.
A margherita is a pizza topped with tomato and mozzarella.
I found the whole incident to be very amusing as I imagined the face-off between someone who is clearly a pizza purist and someone who just enjoys good pizza.
What’s your opinion on the matter? Are you a purist or not? I’m hedging my bets because pizza has obviously evolved radically from its origins in Italy and it has been significantly changed to suit the ever changing tastes depending on which country you live in.
What I do know is that I’m a thin crust baby all the way. And if you put pineapple or seafood on my pizza, things will get ugly pretty quickly.
I’m heading up to the water cooler station to get everyone’s opinion – as with all things food, it should make for an interesting debate! Ciao bella!
*excerpts from an article at the BBC Magazine
by Fern Shaw | Sep 11, 2015 | Water Coolers
Some time ago I wrote a blog about poor Pluto – the planet that was a planet, and then it wasn’t annnnnd … now it looks like it may, once again, be reinstated as a planet.
Confused as I am? It’s no wonder. Imagine how the planet / non-planet feels?
As a popular meme doing the rounds says, ’So you dumped me years ago, now you’re driving round my house real slow?’
I looked up the current arguments about the planetary / non-planetary arguments and to be ferpectly honest, they’re a little too highbrow for little old me.
In the previous blog, I outlined the criteria as to what defines a body being termed a planet.
Currently though, it seems that although Pluto may not make it to the big timey big planet status, it does meet enough of the criteria – it’s round and it also has moons and a thin atmosphere – for it to be classified as a dwarf planet.
Now, I don’t know about you, but if I were initially classed as a proper planet, then declassified as a not a planet at all and then classified again as a dwarf of what I previously was, I wouldn’t be pleased. I may just detach myself from my many moons and orbit, and wreak some heavy duty comet type damage on those who called me dwarf – see if they called me small then!
But then, that’s me.
You’ll have to excuse me now, as I’m off to the water cooler. I’m going to set up opposing soapboxes – one all for Pluto being rightfully termed a fully-fledged planet and one for the naysayers. If you’re going to do similar, I’d suggest wearing some type of armour – things could take a nasty turn.
by Fern Shaw | Jul 22, 2015 | aquaid tyne wear, Charity, Christian Aid, Water Coolers
The Swimming Scuba Diver
One of the aspects of working in the marketing and social media sphere that I really enjoy is getting to ‘know’ some of the many people that work at AquAid. To date, I’ve ‘met’ a serious traveller – Josh; a carer of animals and Tough Man competitor – Scott; a stand-up comedian – Martin; a Super Dad – Ross; and a Ninja – Dennis.
Last week, I spoke to Emir Dobson, franchisee at AquAid Middlesborough and asked her if she would be kind enough to put pen to paper and despite being rather busy, she graciously took the time out to answer my questions.
I was so tickled with her replies as I again realised that the individuals that work at AquAid really are quite a mixed bag and full of surprises – who knew that AquAid Middlesborough boast their very own scuba diver? So, without further ado, here’s what Emir had to share, pretty much verbatim:
Name: Emir Dobson
Role at AquAid: Manager – AquAid Tyne & Wear
Years at AquAid: Too long.
What do you enjoy about your job? The people we meet!
Tell us something interesting about yourself: Achievements: Working alongside my husband in all these years without a major incident!!!
How did you get involved with AquAid? I became involved in AquAid due to my connection with Christian Aid – I am passionate about the work that they do – my contribution is through donations.
Hobbies: Keeping with the water theme – I enjoy swimming and scuba diving.
What is it about swimming and scuba diving that you enjoy so much? I enjoy water… swimming and scuba diving keep you fit, they’re good for you…
When do you do the above? Enjoy diving as often as I can.
Why do you do it? It’s good fun and the people are great criag.
I enjoy diving anywhere there is water. In the North Sea, the wrecks are good and the sea fish.
In warmer climates – every dive is different; you see different fish, coral, wrecks – its good fun.
How long have you been involved with this? About 10 years.
Claim to fame – Just being alive!
What are you hoping to achieve or to do in the future? As soon as the family have moved out of the family home – my husband and I are going to travel – Thailand; Africa; USA.
Notes: No matter what happens – we are all the same – we eat, sleep, and breathe … the same. x
Thank you Emir, so interesting how water plays such a huge part in your life, from both a business and personal perspective. I wish you many good dives and lots of criag!
