Category Archives: Lifestyle

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – EXPLORE MORE OF THE PARK FROM 5 APRIL

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Explore the south of the Park for the first time since the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Enjoy the newly landscaped parklands, fountains and waterways, Aquatics Centre, ArcelorMittal Orbit, walking trails, arts and events and children’s play areas.

From 5 April 2014, there will be lots more to explore at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Experience London’s newest open space as the Park and its venues continue to open.

This spring, one of the Park’s most exciting areas will open to the public – the new parklands in the south of the Park.  From 5 April, you can:

  • Relax among the beautiful parklands, fountains and waterways designed by internationally renowned landscape architects
  • Take advantage of world-class sporting venues made famous during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, including the Aquatics Centre and Lee Valley VeloPark
  • Experience 25 public artworks across the Park and cultural events in new and exciting spaces
  • Get a new perspective on London from the ArcelorMittal Orbit, the UK’s tallest sculpture at 114.5 metres
  • Walk four new interactive trails covering the London 2012 Games, nature and biodiversity, education and art and culture
  • Let your kids run free in new play areas offering everything from climbing walls to sandpits and giant fountains
  • Eat and drink at the Podium or one of a number of kiosks along the Park’s new promenade, lined with 100 mature trees

 What’s open now?

You don’t need to wait until 5 April to visit.

The northern part of the Park and the Copper Box Arena have been open since July 2013, and we’ve seen more than a million visitors since then to these and to the series of concerts, festivals and sporting events we held over the summer.

If you visit the park today, you will be able to:

 What is open when?

Opening dates for venues across the Park this spring are as follows:

If you’re planning to visit these venues when they open, we suggest booking online where possible – see individual pages for more information.

Please be aware that while we complete the building and landscaping work across the Park some access has to be restricted.

For information on how to find us, see travelling to the Park.

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in numbers

 

 

How to be more productive with work on the lead up to the holiday season

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Hello

It’s safe to say we’re in ‘Silly Season’ – when we’re bombarded with discounts but only if we buy hundreds of the item in question, when we rather proudly wear a jumper that depicts imaginary characters, and when we never say ‘no’ to another pie full of fruity mince.

But just because it’s almost the end of the year does not mean we should let the quality of our work slip!

If you’re trying to optimise output when all others around you descend into festive chaos, it’s crucial to remember that the little things can make a big difference. Here’s a few tips to help you make the most of what’s left of 2013…

Be flexible
Sometimes you can be more productive working when and where you feel comfortable. A choice of working locations and staggered starting hours allow early birds and sleepy heads to work as productively as each other – so see if that could be an option for you.

Manage time
Make sure you’re using time wisely. A slow journey to work is a great time to catch up on emails. And if a non-crucial meeting is miles away, just give them a call instead of wasting time in the car or on public transport.

Remember what doesn’t need doing
Deciding what to do is important, obviously, but deciding what to leave until later is equally important. If you have too many things to do at once, it’s hard to focus, so always make sure your workload is prioritised.

All work and no play…
As tempting as it is to force yourself to work harder to meet deadlines, it can be counter-productive. Have a break, join in with the fun and relax – a little time out can work wonders for morale and help to refresh the body.

So go, get to work, and make it count. Until ‘Secret Santa’ arrives, of course

Why not take advantage of free phone conferencing with Powwownow, enabling you to have meetings from home or your mobile so you can be more productive without the hassle of travel.

Sunday Curling at Fenton’s Curling Rink @FentonsCurling

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A colleague invited me to join him and a few friends to a curling session on Sunday, my only understanding is that involves a slidey thing, a broom and takes place on ice, I didn’t know what to expect or what the rules entailed.

A short drive from London towards Tunbridge Wells to England’s only Curling Rink, Fenton’s Rink The current English Men’s team is based at the Rink – as is the Ladies’ junior side.

On arrival we watched a short video which explained the rules, how to play, scoring and safety. We were taking in to try on our special curling shoes and kippers. (A kipper is a rubber sole that covers the teflon slippery sole, you take the kipper off when you want to slide). Curling ice is not wet or greasy on the surface – so you shouldn’t find it difficult to keep your balance.

We stepped out into the rink and suddenly realised how cold it was and wondered if we were suitably dressed, but we were reassured once game is in play and we start “sweeping” we will soon warm up. Our host told us how to get on and off the ice safely where to put our feet and how to slide the stones.

Curling started in Scotland and originally was played outdoors. Over the years the game has been refined and is now played mainly on indoor ice rinks. The major curling countries are Scotland, Canada, the Scandinavian countries, Switzerland, Germany, USA, China, Japan, Holland, Italy and France.

The objective
is simple: to slide a granite curling stone weighing 20kg from one end of the ice rink to the other (40m) to a target marked on the ice. The player slides out of a starting block called “the hack” and releases the stone when it is on the right path. As the player releases the stone the handle is twisted to the left or right thus making the stone spin slowly as it travels down the ice. This makes it Curl down the ice – giving the name of the game – “Curling”.

HOW TO PLAY
Two teams of 4 play against each other using two stones per player and playing in turn. All players in the team are involved in every stone played, taking turns to deliver the stone, to sweep (two players) or as “skip” – who guides the delivery and tells the sweepers when to sweep. Sweeping can help to keep a stone on the right trajectory and make it go further than it otherwise would have done. After everyone has played the “end” is finished and the team whose stone(s) is nearest the middle of the target wins the end; one point for each stone nearer the centre than the opposition. A stone must be within the outer (12 foot diameter) circle to count. A game typically lasts 8 ends over a 2 hour session. Special shoes are worn to enable the player to slide over the ice. Skates are definitely NOT used as the surface must be perfectly flat and smooth. A single hair or piece of fluff is enough to make a stone go completely off course.

So if you’re looking for something new for a day out, team bonding or for a hen or stag do, curling is great fun and I can’t wait to go back!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DifCAqy7fxQ

A brilliant work of art by Banksy in NYC

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq6RBhb5iI8

Study explains why women feel urge to eat babies

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Women: Have you ever snuggled a baby in your arms and had an overwhelming urge to actually eat it? As soon as you catch a whiff of that sweet newborn skin you feel compelled to put your mouth on it? A team of researchers have found that this feeling is entirely normal. It’s part of the maternal instinct—and explains why we often find ourselves describing babies as “delicious” and “yummy” and saying things like, “You’re so cute! I could gobble you up!”

Scientists at the University of Montreal found that a newborn’s scent triggers the reward circuit in women’s brains, causing the release of dopamine and activating the same part of the brain that craves certain foods. The researchers found that women had the same feeling even when they were holding a baby who wasn’t their own.

“The olfactory—thus non-verbal and non-visual—chemical signals for communication between mother and child are intense,” explains Johannes Frasnelli, a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the University of Montreal’s Department of Psychology. “What we have shown for the first time is that the odor of newborns, which is part of these signals, activates the neurological reward circuit in mothers. These circuits may especially be activated when you eat while being very hungry, but also in a craving addict receiving his drug. It is in fact the sating of desire.”

(In case you were wondering: While women get this urge to eat babies, they don’t literally do it.)

For this small study, the researchers formed two groups of 15 non-smoking women: One group of women who’d recently given birth and another who’d never had children. Both groups were presented with newborn smells while undergoing brain imaging scans. All of the women received the odors with the same intensity but the scans showed that the mothers’ brains had a stronger reaction.

The researchers concluded: “These results show that the odor of newborns undoubtedly plays a role in the development of motivational and emotional responses between mother and child by eliciting maternal care functions such as breastfeeding and protection. The mother-child bond that is part of the feeling of maternal love is a product of evolution through natural selection in an environment where such a bond is essential for the newborn’s survival.”

If the world were 100 People

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If the World were 100 PEOPLE:

50 would be female
50 would be male

20 would be children
There would be 80 adults,
14 of whom would be 65 and older

There would be:
61 Asians
12 Europeans
13 Africans
14 people from the Western Hemisphere

There would be:
31 Christians
21 Muslims
14 Hindus
6 Buddhists
12 people who practice other religions
16 people who would not be aligned with a religion

17 would speak a Chinese dialect
8 would speak Hindustani
8 would speak English
7 would speak Spanish
4 would speak Arabic
4 would speak Russian
52 would speak other languages

82 would be able to read and write; 18 would not

1 would have a college education
1 would own a computer

75 people would have some supply of food and a place to
shelter them from the wind and the rain, but 25 would not

1 would be dying of starvation
17 would be undernourished
15 would be overweight

83 would have access to safe drinking water
17 people would have no clean, safe water to drink

Leave your phone switched off for a while

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Why not leave your phone switched off for a few hours when out with your friends and loved ones?

Fear of being without your mobile

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More than half the population of the UK claims to suffer from nomophobia – the fear of being without a mobile phone, a study suggests.

Women are apparently far more likely to experience the anxiety than men, according to its findings.
Consumers are now so dependent on their gadgets that one fifth of mobile phone owners check their emails in bed and nearly half (42 per cent) take their devices to the beach while on holiday.
Some 54 per cent of people say they worry about being “out of mobile phone contact” – with women 17 per cent more likely to suffer from nomophobia than men, the survey revealed.
It showed 28 per cent of people will also look at their work emails while away from home, with men slightly more eager to check their emails than their female counterparts. A quarter of people even consult their phones during a dinner date – with women 10 per cent more likely to do so than their male counterparts.
But only 50 per cent of people bother to secure their devices with a password, the study commissioned by web security firm AppRiver found.
“It’s pretty clear that we’re a society totally reliant on our phones not only for personal use but business use too,” said Fred Touchette, senior security analyst at AppRiver. “What worries me is that, with so much information stored on them –
confidential office documents, contact details, emails, photos and bank log-ins – when these devices get lost or stolen and end up in the wrong hands, the information is so easily exploited.” He advised phone owners to protect their gadgets with a password or encryption. The study of 1000 workers was conducted by OnePoll in August.