I recently found myself on an early morning train to London. Aside from having to get up at a time starting with a four, an activity verging on the tortuous for an inveterate non-morning person, it was a tad unusual, ...
Barney has a new friend. When I say friend, it’s more of an enforced acquaintance. A bit like that weird cousin or creepy family friend who’s clearly a bit dodgy but we’ve had to tolerate and pretend to like so ...
Last week my car tax came due for renewal. A simple enough operation, one would assume, particularly as, these days, it can be done online from the comfort of one's home. If only! Two weeks previously, the car had its MOT ...
If you’ve been on tenterhooks for the last few weeks waiting for news of the bantam’s fate (see 'The bantam menace'), I apologise profusely for keeping you hanging, but you can now relax and unhook your tenters as the wait ...
Seasoned readers of my blog will know that the Osbornes are keen skiers (see 'A white Christmas', 'Ski boots and celery', 'Piste again' and 'Snow bother'). Sadly, current events have prevented us from going this year, so I thought I’d ...
I don’t get out much these days. Global pandemics tend to curtail one's business travel, I find. Which is unfortunate for a couple of reasons, aside from the obvious one that pandemics can be bad for your health. Firstly it ...
Caution - this blog contains scenes of gratuitous violence and may be unsuitable for children and vegans. It’s also my longest blog yet, overtaking the previous record-holder, '(Bitten to) death in Venice' by over 600 words, so if you decide ...
These days pretty much every news item, blog, tweet, report, article, paper, marketing email and blatant sales pitch seems to have a COVID-19 slant. Which is hardly surprising really. But, if you're anything like me - in which case you ...
I started writing this blog a few weeks ago, when the level of Coronavirus-related selfishness and stupidity was nearing epic proportions. It turned into a fairly substantial rant, even by my standards, on such topics as the ridiculous level of ...
Just before Christmas, my chainsaw (see ‘Boys' toys’ and 'No jacket required’) made one of its increasingly infrequent appearances. It doesn’t come out to play very often, but Christmas is one of the rare occasions when it does, as it ...
During a recent, admittedly somewhat one-sided, conversation with Barney (see '20/20 hindsight', 'Not what it seems', 'Horses for courses' and 'Paws for thought', amongst other previous blogs), after a couple of glasses of wine, I have to confess, it struck ...
A couple of blogs ago (see ‘It’s all geek to me’) I mentioned the fact that I’m not, shall we say, totally wedded to technology, at least not for technology’s sake. In that blog I also mentioned that I’m an aficionado of ...
Last week I was subjected to a torture session masquerading as physiotherapy, to help treat yet another sport-related ailment (see 'Eye eye captain', 'Going head to head' and 'A toe-curling tale'). This time it's a condition called plantar fasciitis, which, ...
A friend of mine has, on more than one occasion, and somewhat unfairly in my opinion, accused me of being a Luddite. It's not that I have anything against technology per se and, unlike the original Luddites, I have no particular desire ...
Last year I had ‘one of those’ train journeys. I suppose it’s only to be expected when you’re travelling on a third world rail system. Like the one we have in the UK, for instance. Many of you will, I'm sure, have ...
I recently spent a week in Sofia in Bulgaria, with a colleague, helping a client with some business continuity exercises and tests. The work went fine and, as expected, an assortment of successes, gaps, suggested improvements and follow-up actions were identified. ...
Seasoned readers of my blog will know that the Osbornes are keen skiers (see 'A white Christmas', 'Ski boots and celery', 'Piste again' and 'Snow bother'). We recently spent a week in Cortina D'Ampezzo, in the Italian Dolomites, with some friends, ...
I've just returned from a trip to the dentist. Not one of my favourite outings at the best of times, for reasons which I'll come to, but it had to be done. It started with a bit of tenderness in one ...
Returning home from a recent client visit, I arrived, after a long, tiring drive, to find that I couldn't open my front door. Whilst previous occurrences were due to me forgetting to take my door key with me, I had ...
A chap I know likes cars. "Likes" is, in fact, a massive understatement - he's fanatical about them. And he particularly loves having a new one to play with, which is quite a regular occurrence, because he changes his cars ...
Despite waking again at three in the morning due to my body clock still being up the Swanny, day two of the conference went fine. The presentations were interesting and informative and I only suffered a couple of relatively minor ...
It would appear that my body clock has gone a bit haywire. Yesterday was quite a long day. By the time I got to the ironing episode (see 'Viva Las Vegas, part 2') I'd been up for almost nineteen hours, which ...
Well, here I am in Vegas after a long, slightly delayed but otherwise uneventful flight. After the standard cheery greeting at border control I wandered out into the Nevada sunshine and got a taxi to my hotel. The driver asked what ...
I've never been to Las Vegas. I'm going there soon and I'm really quite excited at the prospect. Not because I'm a gambler, I hasten to add. I have been known to buy the occasional lottery ticket and enter the office Grand National ...
The Osborne family has recently returned from a skiing trip in France, our first in four years (see 'Piste again'). Actually, for family, read family plus one, as this year we were joined by our lodger, AKA number two son's ...
This is a very difficult blog for me to write and it pains me to do so, but some of you have been with me for several years now so I feel able to confide in you. I'm devastated. And the reason is ...
I started writing this blog absolutely ages ago, as a continuation of the story in ‘Time off in loo’. I've just stumbled across it languishing forgotten and forlorn in my drafts folder, so I thought I should do the decent ...
I write this blog with a heavy heart. Regrettably I have to inform you that the sock situation at Chez Oz (see 'The odd problem') has, after an all-too-brief respite, suffered something of a relapse. In fact, it's taken a ...
I do a fair amount of travelling. It goes with the turf really, particularly as Evesham, where I live, being somewhat rural, isn't exactly a hotbed of business continuity consultancy opportunity. Much of that travelling takes place in my car. Most of ...
Back in December I bemoaned the fact that I hadn't posted many blogs recently, claiming that I planned to address that particular issue in the new year (see 'Eye eye captain'). Since then I've posted the impressive total of two ...
With increasing regularity these days I seem to find myself asking the question "why am I here?". Not in any deep, philosophical way, I hasten to add; rather when I've gone from one room to another then can't remember why. ...
You may be surprised to hear this (unless, of course, you've been a reader of my blogs for a while or are a member of my family) but I'm possibly not the world's most tolerant person. Particularly in the face of ...
I have a drawer where my socks live when they're off-duty. Doubtless some of you reading this have a sock drawer too. And, like mine, yours probably contains the odd odd sock. There are, at any given time, up to ten ...
A couple of blogs ago I wrote about a trip to Oman (see "The ramblings of a travelling consultant episode 6, part 1") and a couple of minor glitches I experienced while I was there. I promised to finish the ...
This is a tale from the mists of time; from days of yore when it was difficult to get people interested in business continuity management and even more difficult to secure their involvement in exercises and tests (OK, in fairness, ...
Long time no blog! I've been a bit of a busy boy recently, with one thing and another and, as a result, I'm afraid I haven't had much time to indulge my blogging habit. I've half-written a few but haven't ...
Yesterday morning I did a remarkably silly thing. Something I hadn't done in almost seventeen years as the proverbial travelling consultant. Yesterday morning I went to London. No, that's not the silly thing - I go to London quite often and ...
I spent last weekend in Wales, at the world-famous annual golfing event, the Abersoch Open. There's a blow-by-blow account in my previous blog "@TheAbersoch" so I won't repeat too much of it here. Suffice it to say that it was just about ...
On Wednesday I wrote a book. Now, before I get picked up on a technicality by someone in the know, I have to admit that it was actually a few Wednesdays ago, but I've only just got round to posting this ...
In our family there's a phenomenon known as the "Thomas goodbye". Thomas is Mrs Oz's maiden name and the Thomas goodbye pretty much applies to everyone on that side of the family, whether or not they've changed their surnames through ...
I've come in for a bit of stick recently from some of my readers. It was fully deserved, admittedly, but a bit unexpected nevertheless. Nothing terrible, I hasten to add, it's just that questions have been asked. Interestingly, it wasn't ...
Following the recent departure of number one son to Manchester (see “University challenge”), on Sunday afternoon I decided to address a small issue that's been troubling me for a while. For several years, in fact. When I say troubling, I ...
A couple of weeks ago we reached a significant milestone in the Oz family history, when we transported number one son (number one as in the sequence in which they arrived, as opposed to any order of preference, I hasten ...
The other day I attended a meeting of a local business continuity forum. It was a very well run, very interesting meeting - the latter despite the fact that one of the topics was business interruption insurance, living proof that any ...
I'd just about come to terms with the (sometimes literally) painful realisation that I've reached middle age, despite my various attempts to fight its insidious approach (see "Mid-life crisis management", "Going head-to-head" and "Fit for nothing"). A few weeks ago, however, ...
As you may be aware - particularly if I, or my co-conspirators, bombarded you with information about it in my shameless quest for votes - I was recently nominated for an award. I feel duty bound to tell you that it was ...
I started to write this blog some time ago, but I didn't get around to posting it, or finishing it for that matter, because it was overtaken by my blog about some other watery exploits. Which, as it happens, also ...
I've just finished doing one of those straightforward "I'll knock that off in a day or two" type jobs. It only took me seven days. Over a period of four and a half weeks. The last stint used up pretty ...
Last week I paid, quite literally, a flying visit to Dublin to meet a prospective client. The trip presented me with two opportunities. First and foremost, the possibility of some new business, but also the rare opportunity to sample "the ...
I've not long returned from a trip to the supermarket. Not my favourite activity at the best of times, I have to say, but I usually manage to get through it without having to have an argument. Sadly, not today. It ...
As is the Oz family's wont - in a tradition going back as far as, let me see now, oh yes, the Christmas before last - we spent Christmas skiing. So, whilst a number of my readers were sweating over ...
It's been an interesting few days. If I had to sum them up in one word, I think that word would be "watery". Let me explain why. Large parts of the UK have experienced wet weather for a couple of weeks ...
Last week I went on a trip to Germany with a colleague. I’ll call him Ian – mainly because that’s his name. I’ve known him for almost as long as I’ve been involved in business continuity management and we’ve worked ...
I can't help feeling that my last blog ("(Bitten to) death in Venice") was a little on the long side. Several people told me they enjoyed it, which was great for my ego. But I'm conscious of the fact that we all lead busy ...
My favourite Italian city is Venice. It is this week at any rate. Until this week, and for the past year, my favourite Italian city was Verona (see 'A night at the opera') and up until about this time last ...
It's finally caught up with me. I tried to ignore it and hoped it would go away but whatever I did it was destined to happen anyway. I was utterly powerless to prevent it. Resistance was futile. In the end I just had to take it ...
I've spent the past week hobbling about with a sore calf. Before you ask, no I haven’t branched out into veal farming or bovine veterinarianism (if, indeed, that’s a real word) – the sore calf in question is my latest ...
I do like a nice cup of tea. In fact tea is pretty near the top of my all-time favourite drinks list (see "An icy crisis" and "Open all hours" for one of the others). Five or six cups a day is the norm ...
In my last blog I wrote about my recent skiing trip and how much I enjoyed it. I love skiing. It's right up there on my list of top ten favourite things (I’ll keep the other nine and their relative ...
I was walking Barney recently when someone stopped to say hello. To him, not me - he's always the first one that people talk to, I can't think why. "I love Springers", she said, when she eventually acknowledged my presence, "in fact I have ...
It may not have escaped your notice but I quite like writing. I like reading too, although with everything else vying for my attention, I don't get nearly enough time to read for pleasure. On the writing front, I blog when I can, ...
This week saw a significant milestone in the Osborne household and, regrettably, one of my worst fears realised. Yes, my younger son was officially proclaimed to be taller than me! It's not as if I didn't see it coming - he's been sneaking up ...
Sunday is cricket day for the Osborne boys during the summer. Last Sunday's match was away at Nether Whitacre, a lovely little village cricket club about an hour's drive from Chez Osborne. We set off with just about enough time to spare with the ...
I had a fabulous weekend, thank you for asking. It wasn't the usual, run-of-the-mill weekend of dog walking, cricketing, operating the Osborne taxi service or household chores, enjoyable as (most of) those things are, because this weekend Mrs Oz and I jetted off ...
Unless you've missed the news recently, you'll know that last weekend was a hugely significant one for all of us. Or not, as it turned out. No, I'm not talking about my birthday on Friday, even though it was significant enough for me ...
Yesterday was, without wishing to sound overly dramatic, a momentous day for me. After a year and a bit of discomfort (and, prior to that, 30-something years of actually getting around to doing it) I had my braces removed and revealed ...
On Sunday, my wife and I took our dog Barney to Cleeve Hill, near Cheltenham for a walk. We had a very nice time, but it was ever so slightly marred by a minor altercation on our way back to the car. Now ...
In my last blog I wrote about the trials and tribulations of working from home during a recent snowy period. What I didn't mention was that the hassle of trying to work from home amid the Osborne menagerie was compounded by a ...
Just before Christmas, as a result of some rather inclement weather, England was closed for a few days. It happens pretty much every year, as soon as we get more than a millimeter of snow, and this time we had about 20 ...
I wasn't planning to write about Barney (our spaniel puppy) in this blog, but his antics last week sort of made it inevitable. Barney's rapidly approaching doggie adolescence and, as one of the books on puppy training that I read recently ...
