A really cool woman that I know slightly via the internet (and who also loves roller derby) divides her life up into segements. She has work, play, hobby and pastime. Within those categories she places all the things she does; roller derby comes under play, work is office but also laundry, pastime is watching lost. So that's very organised, but she also says that she has whittled her life right down to the things she likes doing best. Because perhaps in the past she had things like 'quilting' and theatre production' in her hobbies, now she just has 'writing'. She says that life is hard enough concentrating on the main things you do, without having all the other little categories all adding up and wanting input from you.

She has taken this idea of division of time to the extreme level, with weekly charts divided up into time groups and even pre-planned menus.

I don't think I could do that; for one, she doesn't have kids. But I'm thinking that in the main it's an excellent system. I might try it.

Flying a Kite by Rebecca Elsom

It seems to me the kite
Has all the fun,
The view,
The weightlessness
The wind,
Ecstatic shudders,
Tail streaming out,
The urging higher,
The exhilarating dives,
And me down here,
Left holding the string.

The Early Learning Centre have recently introduced a policy of gender branding the packaging and the colour of their toys, producing things in two colour waves, pink (for the girls) and blue (for the boys).

I am supporting the Pink Stinks campaign group http://www.pinkstinks.co.uk/ in their boycott of the Early Learning Centre and I am posting my intial letter to the company here:

Dear Customer Services,

I have long shopped at ELC but I am writing to tell you that I am now boycotting your stores. I strongly object to your recently introduced gender branding, something which I feel is a step back and completely unnecessary. By presenting yourself as a bastion of education and play learning, you have a duty to children to present positive gender role models. This would obviously present itself as non-gender-specific branding for toys. The ELC has a very specific and easily recognisable colour palette. Toys should be packaged within the colour palette of the shop, not in the gender colour deemed 'suitable' by some unknown designer or branding advisor.

There are many shops in the UK who have a practice of gender colour branding, but none of those shops are presenting themselves as centres of excellence for play education.

I would like the ELC to rethink its branding policy. I would like a reply explaining why the ELC has recently chosen to incorporate gender branding, specifically the recent pink and blue run-out . I would like a statement from the company on it's policy of gender branding of toys and why it has decided now is the time to introduce this strange demarkation of toys.

I am supporting the campaign group Pink Stinks in their boycott of ELC and I shall be advising my many playgroup friends to do the same.

I do look forward to hearing from you, as soon as possible,

Kind regards

etc,etc.

I don't of course expect this to be the end of the conversation, I fully intend to continue correspondence with them; I expect the immediate reply will be that their market research shows the majority of their customers support gender branding and I am looking forward to receiving that letter!