This is one of my husband’s favourite quotes, and he has a point.  If someone’s busy, there’s a good chance they’re organised enough to be able to fit something into their schedule.  Sadly, I have the feeling that whoever originally said this had a PA.  I most definitely don’t, and fitting everything into the day can be a bit a bit of a challenge, especially with an unpredictable toddler on hand.

Early this week, our plans got thrown by H needing a trip to A&E after falling and getting a huge splinter in his hand.  He was very brave ‘because I’m a big boy, Mummy’ but had to miss pre-school that day, and then had the rest of the week thrown out with trying to get back into the routine after the Easter holidays.  If it makes me a bad parent, so be it, but am I the only one who thinks it would be great for them not to have long breaks over Easter etc?  Two weeks is just long enough to mess up the schedule.  I dread to think what we’ll do come the summer holidays.

And it’s been a busy week in other ways, too.  I’m starting work on a new project for a former boss of mine, Chris Robson.  He’s started a company called YouWish, which has a neat little idea at its root: instead of trawling through hundreds of pages on Google to find those elusive things, especially the less tangible ones, why not post what you want on his site and let registered businesses who offer the product or service you want contact you directly, or let other users make their recommendations if they’ve already been there and done that.  

It’s beautiful in its simplicity, and while there is still some tweaking to be done on the interface, I think he’s got the foundations of something quite special.  Search in reverse.  I’ve been having a play and entering some of my own wishes, though decided against posting some of them.  I’m pretty sure there’s no way to retrofit a volume control to a toddler, or a remote control that can clear foot traffic from Brick Lane on a Sunday when you actually need to get from one end to the other at something more than the pace of a lethargic snail on valium.  I can dream, though

S and I have also been having some ideas for one of our spaces at the Rag Factory.  We have a lovely gallery space here and have been wondering whether there was something more we could do with it to help the artistic community.  And we think we’ve come up something that could be quite fun.  I’ll post more about that at a later date, as we have to work out a few of the details and think how best to get the word out, but it could mean that independent artists could exhibit their work at a very low cost… has to be worth exploring, anyway.

And for those who’ve been waiting for it, The Gemstones web site is up and running.  It’s not what I’d call finished yet, but it’s not a bad placeholder.  We’re singing at a memorial service on Wednesday, but some of the more fun stuff is up on the site already.  I’ll be adding more when I get the time.  

One last note… for anyone who sees this before Monday, come down and see Havering College’s excellent 12 Degrees show.  Some very good work there, and a number of the pieces have already been sold - not bad for 2nd year students.  If he has any sense, Saatchi will be attending their degree show next year.  Definitely worth the detour if you’re in the Brick Lane area.