Surrey Life Editor's Blog

You shall go to the ball (whether you like it or not)

I'm off to a summer ball tonight that's being hosted by Strictly Come Dancing's Flavia and Vincent.

It's being held in the main hall of Guildford College, and I'm sure it will be a wonderful evening, though I'm afraid I'm approaching the whole thing with a fair amount of trepidation.

The things giving me most cause for concern are as follows...

1) I can't do "proper" dancing and have been having nightmares about being hauled up onto the dance floor "to have a go"

2) I don't have anything to wear (I discovered last night that I can no longer fit into any of the dresses that might have been possible contenders)

3) There's no food, which means there's a grave danger I will drink too much wine (to quell my nerves about being forced to do the Argentinian tango with Vincent) and therefore say or do something stupid.

Anyway, thankfully I have managed to persuade my sister to come with me (thanks Lindsey - I owe you one), and she's never had any dancing lessons either, so if you see two people hiding under the table you'll know who they are...

 

 

The great sci-fi debate

Honestly, I have never before known the Surrey Life team to get so animated over anything. Mention the word Star Wars, though, and all hell breaks loose.

The general consensus seems to be that anyone who doesn't like Star Wars "doesn't have a soul" - so when one brave dissenter admitted to a secret penchant for Star Trek, suddenly the whole place was up in arms.  

Personally, I love that whole fairytale battle between good and evil, and I don't care what anyone says but those opening credits are guaranteed to put goosebumps on my arms every time...

But whether anyone who doesn't like it doesn't have a soul... hmm, possibly a tad harsh. 

What do you think? Answers on a postcard! (or, rather more handily, you could just post a comment below...). 

 

Under a cloud

Normally when I look out my window, I have a lovely clear view of Reigate Hill but today it is almost completely submerged in swirling grey clouds.

Frankly, I've had enough of this grim weather, especially when we urgently need to get some more pictures for the next issue.

Most pressingly of all, we are still waiting to take another picture for our '12 of the best summer pub lunches', but as you can imagine, a photo of Reigate's Skimmington Castle swathed in cloud is not really the look we were going for.

Just checked out the weather forecast and there's no sign of a let-up either - ho hum... At this rate we're going to have to start drawing the pictures in the magazine...

    

Rained off

So the Surrey County Show was battered not only by torrential rain but gale-force winds too... what a shame.

Did anyone else manage to brave the elements? I'm afraid I looked out the window and quickly decided that my overflowing inbox was more pressing than trekking through the mud in sou'westers and wellies...

A few hardy souls from our office still managed to make it, including my deputy Matthew Williams and production co-ordinator Helen Hughes, but they said it was more akin to the final day of a muddy music festival than the Surrey County Show.

Apparently, the organisers lost £150,000 last year because of the bad weather - I dread to think what this year's deficit will be.

I feel so sorry for all the people who worked so hard to put the show on. Fingers crossed that the weather is better for them next year.      

Terminal boredom

Had our magazine review meeting yesterday, which all seemed to go fairly well with one notable exception. Namely that I very nearly didn't make it at all after getting hopelessly lost between one of the many multi-storey car parks at Gatwick Airport and the Hilton hotel.

I know, I know, it sounds ridiculous, but you have a try and see how you get on.. There are no signposts at all and it's one of those places that can only be accessed from a certain level, meaning you have to go up, under and then over, or something...

The only reason I ever stumbled across the others at all was because some bloke from Virgin took pity on me and kindly guided me through the multi-story maze, bless him.

I must admit, it was a tad embarrassing, though, when he asked me how long I was staying, as he was clearly under the impression that I was some poor jet-lagged holiday-maker who had never visited England before. Needless to say, I decided to skirt around the fact that I was the editor of Surrey Life and just mumbled something about a meeting...ahem...  

Anyway, the upshot was that I kept the others waiting for a full half an hour and I think they had given me up for lost (or possibly assumed I had decided to take a flight to Spain instead) - sorry everyone...

Atishoo!

Did anyone else see The Apprentice last night? I thought it was marvellous - though how that lurid yellow tissue box won over 'I Love My Tissues', I will never know.

In a further twist, I can't believe that slippery snake Michael survived again either - the sooner he gets his come-uppance the better.

Anyway, was interesting to note that Rafe and co. filmed their tissue advert at a Surrey school so we're now on the case trying to track down which one in the hope of sourcing a pic (any excuse to get The Apprentice in the mag...). 

In other news, just a reminder that the new magazine is out in the shops from today.

We've gone for a bit of a different look this month with a wildlife debut on the front cover - the deer in Richmond Park. Hopefully people will like it - it certainly makes a change from blue sky anyway!

Right, better crack on... Off to Gatwick this afternoon for the monthly review meeting and got shedloads of stuff to prepare beforehand.

 

Even bigger rant

I have just opened a letter from a Mr Marshall, of Croydon, who takes great offence at, of all things, my photograph.

Not the content of the magazine, not the fact that we have made a few design tweaks here and there but the picture on my editor's letter.

Here is a little taster for you...

"Please don't be offended, but I really think you need a better picture of yourself for your Editor's Letter column. The grey background and your rather ill-at-ease smile make for an amateurish-looking picture, whch doesn't get each issue off to a bright start."

Well, pardon me for sullying the start of the magazine... What would you like me to do, Mr Marshall? Put my picture at the back instead? Undergo a make-over perhaps?

In fact, why stop there? Maybe I should think about a spot of of cosmetic dentistry so my smile beams out the page more brightly.

Honestly, some people...

 

Bit of a rant

Back in the office today after a wonderful day off spent exploring our neighbouring county of Hampshire.

First it was down to Portmouth where we whiled away a fascinating afternoon gazing at the magnificent remains of Tudor warship, the Mary Rose - a truly mesmerising experience - then it was over to Hayling Island - the destination of many a childhood holiday.

What a joy it was to discover that so little had changed on the island! 

The attractive cream building where we used to stay, right on the edge of the beach, was just as we had left it some 20 years ago - albeit now owned by the local Housing Association rather than holiday apartments.

Similarly, a quick hop across the sand dunes and through the beach huts, and there was the Inn on the Beach - one of my favourite places in the world as a child. It was as if time had stopped - everything from the art deco semi circular windows to the fairylights were still there - even the name was the same!

All this got me thinking about how different things are in our own little county.

Here in Surrey, barely a day goes by without some lovely old building being knocked down, or some ugly new housing development springing up, and I can't help feeling we are in danger of losing the historic character of many of our towns - not to mention the ever-growing threat to our Green Belt.

I don't mean to go on, but I bet if I had enjoyed childhood holidays in Surrey rather than Hampshire, and then made a return trip yesterday, it would have been a miracle if nothing had changed.

Anyway, there is a point to my ramblings...

On Friday June 20, there will be a lecture taking place at the Menuhin Hall, in Stoke D'Abernon, entitled simply "Goodbye Surrey? Does anyone care abour our heritage?" - and if you share my concerns about safeguarding the historic character of our county, I would strongly suggest you attend. 

The speaker will be Dr Simon Thurley - formerly director of the Museum of London and now the Government's principal advisor on the historic environment in England - and he will be talking about the constant threat to the heritage of Surrey, reminding us of the riches we have inherited and and why we need to protect what remains. 

Strike a chord with anyone else? If so, I'll see you there. Tickets cost £12 and more information is available here

 

Nick Owen, reviews and Guinness

Just been editing our main interview for the July edition, which is with newsreader Nicholas Owen, who happens to live just down the road from the Surrey Life office.

I only mention this because I just wanted to say again what a top bloke he is.

As ever with our celeb interviews, there's been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing as we double check facts, elicit extra quotes where needed (I was fascinated to learn, for example, that he has an allotment in Brockham) and request extra pictures etc.

Despite the fact that he must be sick to the back teeth of seeing my name pop up in his in-box, he has been nothing but charming, helpful and good-humoured throughout, bless him.  

In other news, we're still ploughing on with getting everyone's performance reviews wrapped up (my own included), so just dragged my deputy over to the Panther to do his...

Tempting though it was to order a glass of wine and a pint of Guinness respectively, we were both a picture of professionalism, and filled out the relevant forms with a demure cup of tea and an orange juice.

Now I have a load more forms to complete, which then need to go back to HR. Honestly, sometimes I think editors have more forms to fill out than teachers.  

Anyway, will worry about that next week. Have booked Monday off so am looking forward to enjoying a long weekend away from the office - just keeping my fingers crossed (for all our sakes) that the weather improves - here's hoping... 

 

Down the local

Sometimes, it can be a real challenge working for Surrey Life - today, for example, we're busy researching the best places in the county for a summer pub lunch.

Believe me, it's hard work having to sit in a garden, drink wine and eat food in 12 different places... 

Actually, if the truth be told, we're not actually going to the pubs - well, not today anyway - instead, we're speaking to our very best contacts across the county and asking them to recommend their favourites.

Then, I suppose, we'll have to check them all out at the weekend - it's a tough job, but someone's got to do it.

Anyway, if any of you have your own particular favourites that you'd like us to consider, we'd love to hear from you.

We're looking for pubs with gorgeous gardens, river views or that overlook a cricket green, ideally providing top notch local produce or a really good bbq or amazing salads etc, etc.

So, if you think your own local is one of the best in Surrey for a summer pub lunch, either post a comment below or send an e-mail to editor@surreylife.co.uk, and you could see it included in the July edition!

 

Strange deliveries

Apparently, this week is National Doughnut Week, which I must admit had rather passed my by - until, that was, three bags of them arrived at the office.  

They were sent to us courtesy of The Children's Trust in Tadworth, so a big thank you to Ruth and her team for such a generous gift - needless to say, they went down a storm.

In fact, it must be the week for unexpected deliveries.

No sooner had the last doughnut been wolfed down by someone on the sales floor who shall remain nameless (but freely admitted to having had "more than one") than a whole load of stuff arrived from Zizzi's.

Apparently, the restaurant chain has a new branch opening in Surbiton, and keen to promote the fact had decided to send us a bag of Italian goodies  (which will no doubt send ad manager Damien into raptures as rarely a day goes past when he doesn't mention his love for Zizzi's in Haywards Heath).

Problem was, as a vegetarian, I was mildly horrified by the enormous salami sausage, which had to be swiftly removed from the scene, though I'm sure the crisp almond cookies and Sicilian wine will go down a treat.    

Post-deadline delirium

Many apologies for being so slack on the blogging front over the past few days.

Following our complete system meltdown last Thursday, we have been frantically busy playing catch-up in time for last night's deadline.

Spent the day down at our head office in Worthing yesterday, in order to try and speed up the whole process (the system is painfully slow here in Reigate), and we finally finished getting the pages to the printers at about 8.30pm.

We've had worse deadline days, but it was still a long old day and I finally got home at just before 10pm.

Then, no sooner had I got my breath back after deadline day, it was off to Kent this morning for our annual 'corporate briefing' - which is basically where the managing directors give us an update on how the company is faring and talk about general industry trends etc while doing a complicated Powerpoint presentation. 

Now I realise this probably all sounds a bit dry, but it's actually quite interesting to find about about this kind of stuff.

Plus, in contrast to all the doom and gloom being reported in the press, it was encouraging to learn that our company is actually doing pretty well - in fact, across the country, sales of our magazines we're up an average of 12% year on year.

Anyway, enough rambling on - I seem to be suffering from my usual monthly bout of post-deadline delirium, when I am prone to talk utter rubbish - that's if I'm coherent at all.   

Good news at last!

After what has turned out to be an enormously frustrating day, with the computer system going into complete meltdown, we have just received the most wonderful piece of news.

The circulation manager rang to say the April edition of Surrey Life is our best-selling issue ever, and not only that but sales were up by more than a third year on year - hurrah!

We are still awaiting exact figures but this is absolutely fantastic news, and it's not due to any one individual but a superhuman team effort.

I don't really do this kind of thing very often, but I would just like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to a few of the people responsible - my right-hand man Matt Williams and senior designer Donna James who have both worked so hard to make the magazine what it is today;  the rest of the team here at Surrey Life for all their amazing support (Damien St George, Sarah Dowd, Helen Hughes, Ade Holder and Callum Sims); and also to all our fantastic contributors for turning out such consistently excellent features.

At risk of doing a Gwyneth Paltrow style Oscar speech (sob!), I would also like to say an enormous thank you to our circulation manager, Phil Elcome, for all his hard work and such a brilliant result.

Most of all, though, I want to thank our loyal readers, who spend their hard-earned cash on buying the magazine every month. As ever, we will continue to do our very best to get better with every issue.

Right, speech over and time to go home for a celebratory glass of wine!        

 

 

System meltdown

I  knew it!!!! No sooner do I utter the immortal words, ‘things seem to be on track’ than everything goes spectacularly wrong.

Our whole system went down this morning – internet, e-mail, server, the lot… - and I’m writing this from my desktop in the hope that normal service resumes shortly.
 

Given that we’re waiting for BT to come to the rescue, though, I’m not holding my breath….

In any event, if you’re reading this now that means that we are back up and running – and if you’re not then we have a serious problem and will probably all have to decamp to our head office in Worthing.

Oh joy! Just what we need on deadline week….

 

 

If you can't stand the heat..

Phew - it's scorching in the Surrey Life office today, not that we're complaining, mind!

It's so lovely to see a bit of sun at last, and looking out the window towards Reigate Hill, there isn't a cloud in the sky.

Things are hotting up with the magazine, too, as we approach our Monday deadline (sorry, think I've been writing too many headlines today...).

All seems to be on track at the moment - though I say that cautiously, as normally when I report that things are going well, two minutes later a monumental crisis unfolds.  

In fact, we've still got to get the cover agreed by all the relevant parties (I've got that little treat to look forward to in the morning) so it could all start going spectactularly wrong tomorrow.

We've gone for something a bit different cover-wise this month - and, wait for it, no blue sky!! - but I think it looks marvellous.

I won't tell you anything more as yet, for fear of tempting fate, but I'll let you know what everyone thinks tomorrow.

A trip to ancient Egypt

Back in the thick of it today after a lovely break over the long weekend.

Went to the British Museum yesterday, and spent most of the day looking at mummies dating back to 2,000BC and gazing awe-struck at the Rosetta Stone.

It's many years since I last paid a visit there and I had forgotten what a truly exotraordinary place it really is... In fact, I can't wait to go back and explore the next section!

It go me thinking, actually, that I must make the effort to visit some of our museums here in Surrey.

To my shame, I haven't been to any of them, something I now intend to make a priority.  

Come to think of it, it might actually be nice to do a feature profiling each one of them...

Back on the current issue, just waiting with baited breath to here what the final pagination is going to be - always a hair-raising time as we wait to see whether we will have to lose any of our precious editorial pages.

Thank goodness it's Friday!

Just off home for the long weekend - and, I have to say, I'm looking forward to having a break.

It's been non-stop this week, trying to compensate for the bank holiday, so it'll be nice to have a bit of time off to re-charge.

Think the weather forecast isn't too bad, so fingers crossed we'll all be able to get out in the fresh air, perhaps enjoy a bbq and maybe even visit one of the 20 must-see gardens in the May issue (out in the shops now)!

Hoep you all have a relaxing weekend - and see you next week.

 

 

The Apprentice

Every Thursday morning, the first thing we do in our office is conduct a post mortem of the previous night's episode of The Apprentice. 

I've always been a big fan of show, ever since the first series, but it just gets better and better...

Anyone else see it last night? Making greetings cards to encourage people to be more environmentally friendly? Brilliant!

From what I can glean, it seems that the outgoing candidate, Kevin "I've never lost a pitch yet" Shaw, may well reside in Surrey (judging by his boasts about all the restaurants he's visited in Guildford) so that's something we'll definitely be looking into.

In other news, things are fairly frenetic here as we try and compensate for the fact that we have a bank holiday coming up.  

Whereas most people can't wait for a bank holiday weekend, the majority of people who work in newpapers or magazines usually dread them, because it simply means cramming more work into less time.

Anyway, on that subject, better get back to the proofreading extravaganza!