Lisa, Author at Conversations through the middle

Legoland Florida – new destination for themepark lovers

September 22, 2011

Exciting news for Lego fans, Legoland Florida opens its doors next month – and I have to say it sounds good.

I attended the press launch for the new park this week and the video presentation made it all look very exciting. Mind you, I haven’t visited the park in the UK yet, even though it has been on my list of things to do for years (and my daughter keeps bending my ear about it), so I don’t know how different Legoland Florida will be or if it will offer something the Windsor park doesn’t.

A colleague at the same event who has been to Windsor several times couldn’t see anything new in the film but we wait to find out.

So, a few facts about the new attraction and its surroundings…

** It is situated in Polk County, Central Florida, within easy drive of Oralndo (about 30minutes drive from Kissimmee), Tampa and the airport.

** Ideal for families and children aged from 2 – 12.

** More than 50 rides and attractions.

** Ten Lego lands are located on the 150-acre site.

** Attractions close by include Bok Tower Gardens, water skiing, airboat rides and rodeo.
If my past performance on visiting Legoland Windsor is anything to go by it will be a long, long time before I get to the Florida park so if anybody can add to what I’ve said – how the development is progressing, how it is being received by the local community, and of course what it’s like once it opens, I’d love to hear it.

Festive thoughts in the summer sun

July 29, 2011

I have had a whirl of a month business-wise with the annual spectacular that is Christmas in July. It’s the time of year when PRs and their clients wow us with their wares for the coming festive season. Some events have been truly wow, whiles others – meh, not so much.

Some companies and PR agencies really do not make the most of the opportunity this kind of gathering gives them and could learn a trick or two from those that do it so well. Several times this week I have thought an event was not worth the effort of attending and the cost of the train fare to London – when PRs cannot answer questions about their own clients and products then it’s a big fat fail as far as I’m concerned.

Happily, the mehs were in the minority and most of launches I attended have been informative and enjoyable, while the PRs have been knowledgeable and helpful. I’ve seen some great products, heard about upcoming trends and indulged in one or two glasses of Champagne. However, I have thankfully more or less managed to avoid the Christmas cake and mince pies – result!

What’s in a name – Harper Seven Beckham

July 18, 2011

There’s been a lot of talk on Twitter these past few days about the Beckham’s baby daughter and their choice of name for her.

One of the many tweets I have seen snottily said the name sounded liks a brand of toilet cleaner. On the contrary Harper is a lovely name and not strange at all to those of us with pre-teens into the Wizards of Waverley Place (Harper being one of the main characters in the show).

The baby’s middle name, well I have read several explanations for that, including it’s the number of her dad’s footy shirt, the month she was born, the time she was born and the time she was conceived. Middle names are a strange thing – I always felt left out at school as I didn’t have one, my daughter on the other hand has two and both of them mean something to me and her dad.

Middle names are a chance for parents to remember something or someone special to them. One of my daughter’s names I gave in memory of my mam, who died when I was 18 – how I wish she had been there during my pregnancy, when my daughter was born and every day afterwards. Giving my baby a version of my mam’s name was very important to me, and that brings me back to Harper Seven.

The baby’s name is nobody’s business but her parents’. While clearly there’s a public interest in anything the Beckhams do, whether her name means something personal to them or whether they were just looking for something that’s instantly recognisable, we don’t know, but cheap digs on Twitter at their choice of name is too much.

Hooray for sports day!

July 7, 2011

There’s been a bit of a historical moment in our house this week – my little girl came third in her sports day obstacle race and she enjoyed it! To explain, I hated sports day when I was a school and Dot is no different, in fact the morning of the event she was praying for rain with her friends in the school playground. She definitely gets it from me as her dad used to play schoolboy rugby for Essex.

I spent many a stress-free afternoon in the junior school classroom keeping my hay feverish best friend company while the rest of the class ran, jumped and egg and spooned their way to victory – or tears – at the annual team fest on the playing fields. I learned very early on that I hated sports day. I was rubbish at games, couldn’t catch a ball for toffee and ran with a waddle. Still do. One day I shocked myself by hitting the ball in Rounders – it was bowled by a left-handed bowler. I’m left handed. That might have had something to do with my lack of skill when faced with a right-handed bowler, but I can’t blame everything on being ‘cack handed’ as they used to say at school.

I learned to accept a long time ago that I’m not sporty. Once I’d got to grips with that then sport became more of a pleasure. I run/jog/walk at my own pace, I’ve recently started Zumba (though my merengue is more meringue), and of course there’s my horse riding…

I like to think of myself as one of those creative types – my brain just functions in non-sporty ways. I wish I’d felt like this when I was 11 though. Being bad at sport caused me much heartache and many tears as time after time I wasn’t picked for the team or was last to be selected along with the other non-sporty kids.

Which is one of the reasons why I’m so over the moon Dot enjoyed her sports day and did so well in her race. Hopefully for her sports day will be a fun exercise not become the great big bogeyman it was for me.