Turkey On The Hill - The Joe Craig Blog: How To Plan A Novel (as ranted by me, on twitter)

Fantastic advice from Joe Craig on how to plan and write a novel! - love it.

Turkey On The Hill - The Joe Craig Blog: How To Plan A Novel (as ranted by me, on twitter): "The other night I was up on 'the twitter', as they call it these days, and I got to thinking about how I write novels. Before knew it I was ..."

Help is at hand for the out of control "to do" list - even if it includes babysitting a pair of komodo dragons

Why Hiring A Concierge Company Is Less About Getting You A Table At The Ivy And More About Babysitting Komodo Dragons

cushion the impact, is a boutique concierge service that knows from years of experience that there is so much more to providing lifestyle and concierge services than getting tables at the some of London’s best restaurants, and they do it so well that they have been nominated for the Concierge Company of the Year at the upcoming London Lifestyle Awards.

Concierge services are not just for the time poor, cash rich, and the majority of cushion the impact’s clients are busy Londoners who need a reliable, experienced, professional, extra pair of hands helping them in their businesses or personal lives, someone to turn to when their “to do” list becomes too long. The company charges realistic fees and people pay for time used not membership and offers a personal service to all its clients and has done everything from providing the usual lifestyle and concierge services to babysitting a pair of Komodo dragons, tracking down Greek yoghurt for a pregnant woman in Utah to organising a funeral and memorial service. 

Established in the year 2000, cushion the impact was one of the first lifestyle and concierge companies to set up shop in London and have been calmly and efficiently organising and helping their clients, many of whom have been with them for years, and throughout its 11 year history has fulfilled some extremely and unusual requests from clients. 

They have helped a client reunite with his estranged wife by arranging a romantic dinner on the Thames and sourced a James Bond Moonraker outfit for a party but no matter how urgent or relaxed, practical or romantic, ordinary or extraordinary, they will find the best solution for their clients.

The team at cushion the impact pride themselves on helping make their clients lives easier, providing a top class PA and lifestyle service which includes the more mundane but practical services like bookkeeping, sieving through receipts in preparation of tax returns, bill paying, booking holidays, cupboard clearing and property management services, organising tradesmen and decorating projects and of course getting tables at top London restaurants.  

Unlike other concierge services clients work closely with the team and clients keep coming back because the team at cushion the impact build strong personal relationships with the people they work for, giving a reliable service, with attention to detail, finding creative solutions to every day problems and getting everything done efficiently and with the minimum of fuss and they are not prohibitively expensive.  Clients book blocks of five hours or more of time and do not have to pay a monthly retainer, unlike their competitors, and there is no annual membership fee and the time booked can be used any time within a twelve month period.

Andrea Osborne, one of the founders of cushion the impact says that “we’re still working with our first client, we pride ourselves on knowing that people can come to us with the most unusual requests and the more usual ones too – we’ve still never found out why we had to buy twenty pairs of tartan socks! But whatever we have been asked to do we know and more importantly, our clients know, that we will get it done and get it sorted with the minimum of fuss and inconvenience to our clients”.

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www.cushiontheimpact.co.uk

For further information please contact: Caroline Ratner, caroline@carolinecomms.com 020 8209 0120

Notes to editors

Testimonials, case studies are available.

cushion the imapct limited

www.cushiontheimpact.co.uk, 020 3218 0053          info@cushiontheimpact.co.uk

Some of the more unusual requests by clients:

• kept two heat needing pet komodo dragons alive when the electricity to block of flats went off in winter

• sourced in the US (New Jersey) a specific Greek brand of yoghurt for a pregnant woman who had loved them in London but who had moved to Utah and who had a craving for them

• put wanted posters on lamp posts for a missing cat

• arranged for a fish tank to be cleaned and restocked

• sorted through a client’s paperwork 2 days before this year’s Tax Return deadline

• organised the hire of a specialist bed for a disabled London based client holidaying in the Lake District

• sourced a James Bond Moonraker outfit for a fancy dress party

• bought over the counter medicines, magazines and a hot water bottle for the flu suffering wife of a travelling husband. We visited her, checked she didn’t need a doctor, filled the hot water bottle, put tea in a flask and left the magazines by her side and popped in regularly until she was well

• organised transport, accommodation and pub lunches for group taking part in the Tough Guy Challenge

• bought a bath for a client … he had decided what he wanted but wanted to confirm it would be long enough for him. One of our Lifestyle Managers, who was a similar height and build, went to the shop to  lay in it while on the phone to the client in New York on business. It was both comfortable and long enough and he now regularly uses it!

• made a previously single male client’s flat ‘girlfriend friendly’ before she moved in

• cleared the clutter, arranged a handyman and cleaners and bought furniture while an elderly lady recuperated in hospital from a bad fall. The work was done at request of her sons who were both too busy and too emotionally involved to want to do it themselves

• researched a honeymoon in Borneo for clients who were desperate to see orang-utans, and they were because we recommended an off the beaten track area of Borneo. The pygmy elephants were a bonus too!  We had sourced their wedding venue and a double decker bus to take their guests from hotel to venue…in Wales. Lots of people use cushion the imapct for aspects of their wedding planning rather than going to the expense of hiring someone to do everything

• we’ve collected bridal bouquets when the delivery van broke down; printed place settings 2 hours before the event began because the groom had forgotten to get them done; couriered a mislaid ‘something blue’ to a wedding abroad

• bought 20 pairs of tartan socks. We never did discover why!

• unpacked and put away three trunks of clothes belonging to an Expat recently arrived in the UK. She hadn't had time to do it herself...unless your definition of unpacking is strewing clothes around two bedrooms and a hallway

• hand delivered a long stemmed pink rose every day for a month to a newly wed wife as her husband had been unexpectedly sent abroad on business

The London office covers areas within the M25 but we have clients throughout England. The Scottish office covers most of that country with an emphasis on Edinburgh and Glasgow. Other clients are further afield in Belgium, Holland, Italy, Germany, USA, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos and Australia. 

Infertility treatment abroad: New research on why UK patients travel for treatment

Infertility treatment abroad: New research on why UK patients travel for treatment - read my interview in this week's IIMTJ www.imtj.com with Lorraine Culley Professor of Social Science and Health at de Montfort University and the Principal Investigator for Transrep, an exploratory study of cross border reproductive care designed to explore the experiences of UK residents who travel abroad for fertility treatment.

No More Weekdays introduces fabulous new AV Desk and coffee table

Our House Gallery is proud to announce the launch of No More Weekdays a new range of furniture from East London designer Ola Leander, introducing the AV Desk and No News Coffee Table.

No More Weekdays makes individually hand crafted furniture that is unique, edgy and unpretentious.  Inspired by mid-Century modern and other classic influences the hand-crafted pieces are professional, beautiful, functional and affordable and bring a new design twist to everyday furniture.

The AV Desk is inspired by and named after Danish designer Arne Vodder who liked to use colour details in his pieces.  The worktop is veneered walnut with a solid walnut lipping.  The drawers are solid walnut and the drawer box is mdf painted in our own colour called Danish blue

Leg stand in metal, H:72cm ,W:110cm, D: 55cm.  The desks retails for £950 made to order

The pieces are made from low impact, environmentally friendly materials and the company strives to source products and crafts people locally to reduce the carbon footprint and also recycles and upcycles wherever possible.

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No News Coffee Table, measures, H: 400mm, W: 510mm, L: 1020mm. It is made of black MDF, oak veneered MDF and welded steel hairpin legs from local welder.

www.ourhousegallery.org

http://www.doxi.org/

142 Columbia Road

London E2 7RG

For further information please contact Caroline Ratner caroline@carolinecomms.com 020 8209 0120

Notes for editors:

All No More Weekdays are available from the Our House Gallery in Columbia Road.

The Ladder Unit has the measurements H: 1300mm, W: 1370mm, D: Ladder 480mm and shelving 265mm

It is made of vintage ladder from an East London home and black MDF with a painted back

The No News Coffee Table, measures, H: 400mm, W: 510mm, L: 1020mm.

Health Insurance UK – Taking the confusion out of choosing Private Medical Insurance

Health Insurance UK (www.healthinsurance.org.uk) is a new comprehensive, impartial, and easy to use online guide to the hundreds of private medical insurance products available in the UK. The new site also includes information about international and expatriate health insurance products and also has a guide to dental insurance products available. 

There are literally hundreds of health insurance products on the market and it is often hard and confusing to make the right decision. Health Insurance UK offers consumers a one-stop information centre which will provide them with all they need to know about the vast array of private health and medical insurance products available.

The site contains product profiles on over three hundred private health insurance plans and company profiles on more than one hundred private health insurance and medical insurance companies. To make it even easier to find the right policy among this mind boggling array of medical policies and health plans the content of the policies on offer has been broken down into specific categories, aimed at supplying consumers with as much information they need to make informed choices.

Health Insurance UK does not provide a health insurance and medical insurance cost comparison service. Health insurance plans are complex making it difficult to make straightforward price comparisons.  However, the level of detail on the site about the various plans makes it easier for site visitors to narrow down the type of plan they are looking for.  Quotes can be requested directly from providers or an enquiry can be submitted to up to five providers. 

Health Insurance has been launched by Intuition Communication, publishers of some of the UK’s most visited and successful health information sites in the private healthcare sector including Private Healthcare UK, the Harley Street Guide, and Surgery Door.

Keith Pollard, Managing Director of Intuition says: “We have launched this site to cater to the increasing numbers enquiring about the differences between various health and medical insurance schemes. We wanted to offer an easy to use online resource that would help consumers find their way through the private health insurance maze.   This is the first time that all this information has been gathered together in one place, making it easier for consumers to understand what is available and find the right products they need”.

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For further information please contact: Caroline Ratner at carolineratner@carolinecomms.com or call 020 8209 0120.

Editor’s Notes:

Intuition Communication (www.intuition-communication.co.uk) is the publisher of some of the UK’s most visited healthcare information sites including:

·         www.privatehealthcare.co.uk is the UK’s leading online gateway to information about all aspects of private healthcare options in the UK.

·         www.harleystreetguide.com - provides comprehensive information about this world famous area of medical excellence.

·         www.treatmentabroad.com  - the UK's leading guide to health and medical tourism, covering over 30 destinations worldwide.

·         www.imtj.com – the leading business to business journal for the medical travel sector.

·         www.doctorinternet.info – a health information website published in English and Arabic aimed at the Arabic medical tourism market

·         www.self-help.org.uk - a searchable database of over 1,000 self help organisations and support groups across the UK.

·         www.canceradvice.co.uk – an online resource for cancer patients, their relatives and carers.

A full list of sites can be found at:

·         www.intuition-communication.co.uk/what-we-do/