Sponsored Walk in aid of 'Help for Heroes'

'Help for Heroes' is an organisation formed to help those who have been wounded in Britain's current conflicts and I'm both delighted and proud to be taking part in a sponsored walk on Saturday 22nd May to raise funds for such a worthwhile cause.

As it says on the 'Help for Heroes' website, the charity was founded by Bryn and Emma Parry after a profoundly moving visit to Selly Oak Hospital in the summer of 2007.

Bryn and Emma met some extraordinary brave young people who had been badly wounded and they just wanted to do something to help.

The walk of about 11 miles, starting from Kirkliston (West Lothian) bowling club at 9.30am, going across the Forth Road Bridge to Inverkeithing and then back to Kirkliston.

That same night, there will be a fund-raising social evening, also at Kirkliston Bowling Club, starting at 7pm with tickets priced at £5 each.

I've set up a 'Just Giving' page and if you can help in any way, that would be great. You can visit the page by clicking here.

If you live in the area and would like to take part, or perhaps attend the social evening, please get in touch.

Scary online stuff

There's usually never a day goes by with some kind of scare about online security but this story on the BBC technology pages illustrates just how sophisticated cyber criminals have become.


Toolkits are being created and sold that allow novice cyber criminals to build their own malware - and the 'makers' are even offering telephone support to help them on their way!!


Well worth a look and you can see the full story here.

Training not plane-ing!!

With the disruption in air travel, lots of commuters are being forced to switch to alternative forms of transport. I've joined that club today as I travel by rail in the company of a client for a photo-shoot in Stratford.


In terms of journey time, it is of course much slower, but It's also easy to forget the advantages of rail travel.


No need to be at the departure point two hours in advance, none of the increasingly more invasive security measures and when 'on board' much more comfortable - and roomy - seats.


But it wouldn't be the done thing not to have a gripe and in our online age, it's a bit disappointing for the train not to have free wifi.


Not that I'm mean in any way but even when traveling on a Stagecoach bus, there's free wifi. They are looking for more business passengers and this is a naturally attractive feature.


I do have a dongle for web access but even in the short time since leaving Edinburgh, I've had to reconnect numerous times.


If the rail companies want to attract more customers - of both the business and leisure variety - I think this had to be a 'given'.


Train travel allows passengers to work while on the move but as railways, by their very nature, are routed through the countryside,  mobile reception can be somewhat intermittent. Wifi would surely eliminate that problem.


Apart from this, it's nice to enjoy the space and not having to obey the 'fasten seatbelt' sign!!


Of course, I'll be returning by the same route tomorrow evening and I wonder if I'll still feel the same way after my almost  7 hour homeward journey!!


Anyway, what next?? A Chris Ryan novel or my trusty iPod ... ??

Annoying or What??

Let's face it, we all get annoyed by different things. Something that bothers me a lot, may simply wash over you and that's just one of those things.


Now, I'm not an international jet setter but do have to fly from time to time and something that really annoys me are the 'discretionary' fees charged by budget airlines.


Most of us have been there. Flight for £5 but when it comes to the bottom line, it ends up at something like £55 - or more - and the element that really bugs me the most is the charge they make for using your credit or debit card.


Not just a one-off fee, but more than likely, a fee for each person in the party. So instead of a one-off (say) £10 'credit/debit card fee', a family of four would pay £40.


What's that all about?? The bank charge for using a debit card would probably cost the airline less than 50p and for a credit card, around 3% of the value of the transaction.


It seems a bit obvious that it's all part of the illusion to make the flights seem cheaper than they actually are.


Even the Visa Electron card formerly touted by Ryanair as being free to use, now it would seem attracts a fee.


However, there are cards you can use to eliminate these charges and I've picked up all this info - and more - at 'money saving expert'.


You can read Martin Lewis' tips on what cards you need here - and it's well worth taking a look.


As well as credit/debit card info, there's also tips on how to avoid - or at least reduce - other budget airline charges.

The retirement question!!

I was out on a photo-shoot recently with a client I've known for many years and, out of the blue, he asked me if I had ever thought about retiring. Now I don't think for a minute there was any ulterior motive but I had to say that it's not something that's presently on my agenda.


Indeed, my wife often says that if we won the lottery, SHE would retire, adding that she knows I couldn't suddenly stop working. And why would I want to??


There are lots and lots of people who just don't like their jobs and in today's high pressure work environment I think that's simply a sad fact of life but, for me, I just enjoy what I'm doing.


In photographic terms, I get to go places I would never normally have access to and to photograph people I would never usually get close to.


For our non-photographic work, I'm looking to launch two new web sites in a bid to attract more business so no retirement for me!!


I just hope and pray that I continue to be lucky and enjoy what I'm doing and when the time comes to set aside my working tools, it will all be very obvious.


But in the meantime ........ thanks but no thanks!!

A worrying addiction - not an April Fool ..!!

As I start the second month of our new business financial year I find myself getting a strange enjoyment from using our new accounting system - KASHFLOW.

Nothing unusual here you might say, but I'm the kind of person who has NEVER taken an interest in this side of the business. It's always been someone else's job. The words 'barge pole' come to mind - and a long barge pole at that!!

It might seem strange then that it was me who researched and introduced the new system for 194media.

In 1997, we began using PC based payroll and accounting software from a well-known company. However, when the annual support charge for payroll went up to what I felt was just too steep, we switched to the  Payroo online system.

With no backups to worry about and all the tax legislation automatically updated, it was - and is - very quick and simple to use, with end of year figures submitted to HMRC.

Support for our accounting programme came to an end and I always worried about computer crashes and lost data - not to mention that we had almost completely switched to using MACs.

I started looking around at the start of the year and took the free three month KASHFLOW trial. It was great. Easy to get around and simple to use - and being an online system, programme updates are a thing of the past - they just 'happen'!!

There are lots of optional add-on features as well. But wait, I've said enough. This is not like me at all and any suggestion that I might start to 'enjoy' getting involved in managing accounts is very worrying indeed!!