TotalBusinessCart.com

The funniest day out shopping in a long time.....

Vanessa Bsirsky says.....

What is the best reason to buy a new skirt?

The fact that you just lost it .

Not the plot, but your skirt.

Let me explain…….

My friend Alice and I recently decided to go out for a day of girly shopping - after having had a close look at her wardrobe I decided that she dressed like an 18th Century nun and that action had to be taken now - desperate times call for desperate measures!

Apart from that, I fancied a little nose around the stores myself, and considering the fact that I now have the luxury to go shopping when most people are stuck in the office, a deal had been made.

We met at Oxford Circus around lunchtime, and off we went.

Funnily enough, I don't seem to be able to cope with the stresses and strains of both the Underground and random young whippersnappers in tracksuits bumping into me on

Oxford Street every five seconds anymore.

To sum things up, I felt the need to lie down and recover after about 10 minutes. I must be getting old!

But no chance there - action had to be taken and clothes had to be purchased – even though a Cappuccino at the nearest cafe seemed a lot more appealing to me personally - where on earth were the personal shoppers?

My frustration levels got tested even further by the fact that strange blokes started staring at us and giving us strage looks as we walked down Oxford Street! 

Alice noticed too - and oh dear

I got to the bottom of the matter within seconds.  Te He!!

I have to tell you, first of all, that my friend Alice is a little bit of a disaster-magnet.

Very charming, very public school, but definitely on the clumsy side.

Here is what had happened:

Playing with Balloons on the Tube

Paul says......

There's nothing like bouncing balloons round a packed London Underground carriage to get people smiling, even in London.  So one evening last month we blew up balloons on a packed London Underground train and encouraged the other travellers to bounce them to one another up and down the carriage and even back and forth through the window to the next carriage.

In fact it became so much fun that other people in the carriage got out their secret stash of balloons and started blowing them up as well.

What?  People on the underground carrying secret balloon supplies!!?

OK. This wasn't quite as spontaneous as it sounds as Philly and I had just been to see "The Flaming Lips" at the Hammersmith Apollo with our good mucker Chris Meadows.

I took a few video clips on my mobile phone, but they didn't turn out great, so if you've never heard of The Flaming Lips then  here are a few of the best videos I can find on You Tube to demonstrate what a Flaming Lips concert is all about (taken from various gigs)

This happened before they played any songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SltclVMlyU4&mode=related&search=

This was the opening song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RjiK5jmcS0

The Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqmMpHutumA&NR

This was the last one before two encores:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-ER1SxDR2w

And if you liked the clips then these are two albums I thoroughly recommend:

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yoshimi-Battles-Pink-Robots-Flaming/dp/B000068PQ0/ref=pd_bxgy_m_h__img_b/203-5833585-2815144

The Soft Bulletin

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Soft-Bulletin-Flaming-Lips/dp/B000025773/ref=pd_bxgy_m_h__img_b/203-5833585-2815144

Haggis, Porridge, Aberdeen Angus, Whisky and other Evil Spirits

Paul says...
So after a very healthy weekend at the Fresh Festival (well, apart from me hoovering up the left over organic wine) we headed up to Edinburgh to speak at the Internet Inspiration conference hosted by Mike Berry of the Yes Group in Scotland.

Whenever I travel I always like to try the local dishes so as I was there for a few days I planned to get the most in and started at breakfast….Monday: Haggis, Tuesday: Porridge, Wednesday: Kippers.  It was all absolutely delicious.

I'd never been to Edinburgh before and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Everyone we met was so friendly and I really want to say a big thank you to everyone who came out to dinner with us in the evening after the event.

But a special thanks goes to Christine McMillan, who gave us loads of recommendations for places to visit, and Mel Harris (thetrainingtree.co.uk) and Cameron Malik for showing us round whilst we were up there.  Whilst we were away I completed on a property purchase I had been working on for about 6 months so Philly, myself and Mel went out to celebrate at the Tower Restaurant.  The meal (yep...more food)  was absolutely gorgeous and we had a window seat so we could see the Castle lit up.  Wow!

The following day we met up with Cameron Malik for…..er…..more food….at lunch time and then headed off for a tour of Edinburgh's haunted vaults. Initially the scariest thing was the tour guide.  She used a lot of "suggestion" to get the old fears going through you and my mind was going into overdrive at some points.  But the most bizarre thing was when we were down in the last dark, pitch black vault.  I was convinced someone was going to jump out and touch me or say "Boo!"  That didn't happen,  I (and Cameron) definitely felt something eerie in that last underground vault…..and it wasn't wind.

Organic Wine, Colonic Irrigation and Jason Vale

Paul says...

I seem to have spent the last couple of months eating and drinking…and right across the spectrum.  First it was healthy raw food at the Fresh Festival in Somerset and then it was not quite so healthy haggis and whisky in Edinburgh (more about that in another post).

The Fresh Festival was an event all about healthy raw food organised by our friend Karen Knowler, the Raw Food Coach. 

There were two things that stick out in my mind.  The first wast the gala dinner which was absolutely superb.  It's the only gala dinner I've been to where there were only two bottles of (organic) wine per table and yet there was still loads left over.  I must go to more events where there are lots of healthy people.  It's also the only gala dinner I've been to where discussing colonic irrigation is polite dinner table conversation. 

We met a wonderful chap who described in great detail the benefits of having a tube stuck up your bum once every so often as well as giving yourself a weekly coffee enema.  It was actually very interesting, but I'm pleased that there wasn't a live demonstration.  I haven't summoned up the courage to book in for a colonic irrigation (yet) but I have booked in at the Lavender Barn (lavender-barn.biz) cosmetic denistry for a consultation to get my mecury fillings removed .  Does that count as fun?  Well, no pleasure without pain I guess.

£120 for a Sticky Toffee Pudding

Philly says...

2 years ago I didn't know what a domain name was, Paul had worked on the internet for 7 years and had not made a penny, who would have thought that we would be speaking on the same stage with some of the BIGGEST Internet Marketers! 

Steven Pierce, Kirt Christenson, Mike Stewart and not forgetting Alan Forrest Smith to name just a few. 

On our first night in Windsor we went out to dinner with Kirt Christenson, Jerry Hart and Alan Forrest Smith where we stumbled across the wonderful Henry's Bar.  If you have ever been to Henry's then you must go the food is pretty good!

After some great conversations and lots of laughter, we were just finishing up, or so I thought, when the waiter came over with the dessert menu.  Suddenly the guys eyes were bulging out of their sockets, they had just spotted the Sticky Toffee pudding on the menu.

Da Da Dum....

Philly with a 12 foot pole!!

Philly says....

I am one of these people who will never grow old quietly in fact I am up for never getting old!!  Just a tender 34 years of age, I still managed to make the most of my birthday weekend in November in true Philly style!!  Friends came and went all weekend, it was brilliant! 

The highlight of the weekend has to be the punting down the River Cam, in Cambridge, you know like they do in Venice?  Well we hired out 2 punting boats and my friends Paul and Chris kindly volunteered to be our Chauffeurs.  They made it look so easy.  I was sure I could do this, so I decided to give it a try......

      

The Professionals at work!!

So, I stood at the back end of the boat, trying to get myself into the right position and to feel my balance. My knees seemed to lock into position and not be able to relax.  I then picked up the 12 foot pole, (apparently that is the punt) and attempted to follow the instructions that I was being given by the professional..... which were..... to pick the pole up vertically out of the water and then drop it in quickly and push my way to the top of the pole and subsequently glide down the river in a lovely straight line. 

Well, it didn't quite work out like that!!