2 – Weight Watchers members who deserve to be on the naughty step for skipping weigh-in

1 – measly pound to live off everyday

4 – packs of cheap super noodles consumer, 4 packs too many!

1 million – calories to be consumed this week

300 – mile round road trip for Katie & Sarah

1 – very long 4 day week complete!

1 – Munroe climbed

2246 – Sarah’s race number for Sunday’s Leeds Half Marathon

20 – pairs of Damart jubilee slippers delivered to MCG

1 – hamster death in the MCG family

I can confidently say that it was bloody hard.  There have been highs and lows and unexpected revelations.  For example, Tesco Value cornflakes are actually not that bad.  I mean, they’re no Kellogg’s Cornflakes, nor are they my ultimate favourite cereal, Kellogg’s Rice Krispies, but for 30p who was I to say no?   All in all a positive start to the day; although lack of tea was a serious bummer.

My lunch was OK, although I think I made a grave error by splurging on 25p noodles as opposed to the cheaper 11p version.  A self-confessed fan of super noodles, which stems from University days, I simply couldn’t bring myself to buy cheap super noodle imposters.  I shot myself in the foot though as this meant I could only afford to have a banana as a snack throughout the whole day.  For someone who likes to graze throughout the day, this was hard.

Tea was blah.  After a day in work all I had to look forward to was dry potato wedges, without the luxury of seasoning, oil or my beloved mayonnaise and a side serving of raw carrots.  I do like the odd carrot but even I was getting bored.  By Wednesday I was completely fed up but luckily had enough money to mix it up a bit and invest in a packet of value white rice for 40p, value tinned kidney beans for 18p and value frozen veg for 70p.  Again without any accompanying sauces it was a bit dry, but on the up side, nice to have a bit of colour on my plate as opposed to boring beige.

And on the very last day I’ve found myself with 30p.  It’s sad how excited I am at the prospect of going wild in the supermarket at lunch!  Although as I’ve quickly learnt, all food is wildly overpriced and unfortunately I don’t even think 30p could stretch to a chocolate bar (which I’m craving by the way)

So as well as raising money for UNICEF the whole idea of this challenge was to endure what 1.4billion people across the world have to unfortunately deal with everyday.  I’ve also realised how much money I ‘waste’ on food.  Living off a very basic diet hasn’t been great but it certainly hasn’t killed me and these five days will certainly change the way I shop in the future.  Although don’t get me wrong I’ll certainly be making up for the lack of nice food and alcohol in my life this weekend, minus the super noodles.

On a particularly boring tube ride into work one morning, one article in the Metro really caught my eye.

Live Below the Line is an initiative of the Global Poverty Project, an education and campaigning organisation, whose mission is to increase the number and effectiveness of people taking action against extreme poverty.

The idea is to spend five days feeding yourself with only £1 a day, the UK equivalent of the extreme poverty line, and scratch the surface of what 1.4 billion people have no choice but to endure everyday.

Coming from a girl who is reaching for the biscuits by 11am, I’m under no illusion of how hard it’s going to be, but as it’s all for a good cause, I’m raising money for UNICEF, how can I complain.

So far, 30p value cornflakes for breakfast weren’t actually that bad, although with only 70p left for lunch and tea, it’s already looking a bit bleak.  Maybe I’ll follow the guidelines and go for the appetising oxo cube mixed with hot water as a tasty soup alternative.  Nice.

I’ll keep you posted….

What seemed like a few minutes later (it was actually almost an hour) she and the whole audience were smiling, laughing and totally engaged in creating a communal concerto of energetic bongo drumming.

Drum Café, an inspired addition to the national conference programme from client TaxAssist Accountants, describe themselves as building community within companies by using the universal language of music and rhythm – and it clearly works!

So can listening to music improve performance? Well certainly if you’re a runner. I remember the boost I got from the bands on the Great North Run just at those crucial flagging times.  Our MCG PR London team is signing up for London’s Run to the Beat half marathon, where the route is lined with DJs and Edinburgh has just staged the UK’s first Rock n Roll half marathon.

Dr Costas Karageorghis at Brunel University has said that listening to music while running can boost performance by up to 15%.

But the jury seems to be out on things cerebral, with the “Mozart effect” on your ability to come up with long-term solutions to logical problems having plenty of nay-sayers and research findings on background music at work having more than their fair share of “it depends” factors: the big one being whether or not the music choice is yours.

The MCG solution, in work as in life, is to mix it up a bit and see what we learn from each other.  So bring on the Nicki Minaj I say, but no, no say the team, we’re loving the Streisand. Great team.

1. Here Comes the Sun – The Beatles
2. Flowers in the Rain – The Move
3. Temptation – Wet Wet Wet
4. Four Seasons in One Day – Crowded House
5. Beautiful Day – U2
6. April Come She Will – Simon & Garfunkle
7. Maggie May – Rod Stewart
8. Spring Fever – Elvis Presley
9. It Might As Well Be Spring – Frank Sinatra
10. I Love Paris (in the Springtime) – Ella Fitzgerald
11. May you never – John Martyn
12. Cherry Pink and apple blossom white – Perez Prado
13. Walking on Sunshine – Katrina and the Waves

If you hadn’t seen it on the TV, it’s Phobia Week on This Morning and it made me wonder how many phobias exist and why. After a bit of research I’ve come up with thousands of phobias but the reasons behind them still seem largely irrational.

After a quick ask around the office, I’ve had an array of phobias the team suffer from; the feel of chewing material, scourers and sponges (unless they’re wet?!), balloons, the ceramic rim under plates and wasps.

Apparently it’s not enough to just be scared at the thought of something though. According to the experts, to be a die hard phobia sufferer you’ve got to actually experience distress and impairment when you encounter whatever it is you’re scared of.

So imagine how I felt last week as a Friggatriskaidekaphobia sufferer (fear of Friday 13^th), spending 12 solid hours distressed and mentally impaired. You’ll be pleased to know I made a full recovery when the clock struck 12 on Friday night.

Just to give you an idea of the sort of phobias that people do have, I’ve listed a few below that you might find interesting.

1. ‘I am a bee, I am coming for you and my sting will kill you.’ Really? Well that’s probably what you’re thinking if you suffer from Apiphobia, a fear of bees.

2. If you’ve ever watched Stephen King’s film IT, or been subject to collectible china clowns, you may have found you have a new, unhealthy fear of the cross eyed creatures. A phobia of clowns, also known as Coulrophobia is apparently rather common.

3. Most of us love a bit of PB on our toast or crumpet, but a small number of unfortunate souls suffer from Arachibutyrophobia, a fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth.

4. Some people love a good tickle. Others hate it. There are another group of people, who hate it a thousand times more if it involves using a feather as the tickle instrument. This is the fear known as Pteronophobia.

5. If having a dance on a Friday night fills you with dread you might be suffering from Chorophobia, a fear of dancing. If you’ve got this, it wouldn’t matter if you could move like MJ, you’ll not only fear dancing but any event that relates to it.

With the sugar rush kicking in from polishing off yet another Easter egg, I wanted to write a blog about an issue which has very much been front of mind for me in the last week or so.

More and more, customer service and public relations are becoming intertwined, especially as we increasingly run our clients’ social media accounts.

In the last week I have been subject to polar opposites in customer service and it really does make you think about how much the customer service a brand provides affects the perception of that brand.

Last week, along with Kate and Sarah, I stayed at a motorway-side Premier Inn.  Expectations were pretty low and, whilst the hotel itself was no more and no less than expected, the customer service was exceptional.  To the point where, a week later I still remember the name of the lady on reception.  Geraldine.  What a great ambassador for the brand she was –  friendly, informative and professional.  Every member of staff we came across seemed to be cut from the same cloth, giving the impression that they would bend over backwards for you if it was necessary (Kate was particularly impressed that they offered to heat her croissant in an oven rather than the provided microwave, even if they did stop her putting it through the toasting machine).

Since last week I have told at least half a dozen people about my great experience at Premier Inn and I think Kate and Sarah have done the same; it goes to show how a little training in good customer service – putting the customer first – can make a real difference.

The polar opposite of that happened this week.  For the last few years we at MCG have been fortunate enough to be members of an upmarket gym chain in North Leeds.  Whilst there is no denying that the facilities are great, the customer service has always left something to be desired.  This week they surpassed themselves as, without warning, I found myself subject to the demands of a debt collector on a membership I no longer have and haven’t held for some time.

Having explained the situation to at least three members of staff, the response was always pretty much the same – ‘Whilst that is your side of the story, we have terms and conditions we have to comply with’.  I was left after each experience feeling like no one was actually listening, rather they were going through the motions.

The recent stories and Watchdog documentary into gym chains had largely passed me by. However, having now become a victim, I have done a lot of reading and this seems to be very common practice.

From their perspective, members are not people.  They are numbers on a spreadsheet.  Their mentality seems to be: “we will collect, no matter what” and  “we’ll make their lives a living misery in the meantime, to scare them into paying up”.

It remains to be seen whether they pull it back from the edge, however the customer service I have received at every level has been sadly lacking.  No compassion, simply a “computer says no” attitude.

With so many service providers going under at the moment, it does seem to me that customer service is sadly overlooked.  Would I recommend and go back to a Premier Inn?  Yes I would, unequivocally (having checked the branch on TripAdviser first!).  Would I go to or recommend this gym firm in the future?  It makes my blood boil even to consider it.  Try mentioning their name in my presence.

1 – big office move round to welcome aforementioned new team member

1 – new running club joined

2 – celebrations for Katie

2 – very long walks for Katie and Sarah

5 – days of sunshine

8 – litres of coloured paint used to create the new EASIpanel photography

First impressions were a little confusing. You enter into what seems to be an old school NY deli, with long slim tables you stand and scoff at,  but on closer inspection there is a downstairs more formal eating space; dimly lit, with TV’s mounted on the walls showing American sports, low hanging lights and deep comfy booths. This place screams ‘Stay all day and night. Indulge in our meaty goodness.’

There was a special ‘Game Day’ menu in place which consisted of buffalo wings, ribs, pulled pork, fries, coleslaw and a beer, all for £15. That seemed very good value, but neither Dave nor Big Tony could bring themselves to wolf down all that meat in the middle of the day (obviously eating that sheer amount of food after 7pm would have made the world of difference!).

So, heading Katie’s advice Dave and I went for the famous Bodeans burnt ends. I chose pulled pork and fries with mine, whilst Dave went for the ribs and fries with his. The burnt ends were succulent, melt in the mouth, pieces of beef shin that had been burnt on one side, but fell apart once on your mouth. My pulled pork was delicious and the fries were covered with something sweet, it could have been cinnamon. The only let down on the plate was the coleslaw. It was lacking in crunch and flavour.

Dave’s ribs were again cooked to perfection with the meat falling away from the bone. Big Tony (poppa bear) went for the 8oz burger. It looked good and he didn’t offer any to anyone, which means it must have been tasty. Mum opted for the chicken burger (chicken is always a safe bet for mums) and she thoroughly enjoyed it.

I’ll definitely make sure I make time to meet Katie there next time she is in the big smoke. To top the meal off they gave us a free Bodeans fridge magnet with the bill. Now that is right up my strada.

1 – Deckchair and a string of bunting delivered just in time for next week’s photo shoot

1 – Sport Relief mile planned

2 – New clients won this week

2 – Sausage rolls each the size of a small child eaten

2 – Laps of Hyde Park on Boris Bikes on a beautifully sunny day

6 – New plants bought for a little London garden

50 – The exclusive club welcomes another member this weekend