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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
A few weeks ago the powers that be decided it would be a good idea to re-surface the main road that runs from the village where I live to just about anywhere I want to go. This was a good ...
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, ...
If you've been reading my blogs for a while you may recall one I wrote a while ago ("Keeping it together") about my younger son's hockey goalkeeping exploits and the fact that he was hoping for selection to the under ...
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 ...
Hooray! I'm not usually given to bouts of unfettered glee, but just occasionally one has to make an exception. And the thing that's got me all worked up is the time of year. Yes, it's time for the world-famous Abersoch ...
On Friday I presented a webinar, on scenario-based exercising, as part of the Business Continuity Institute's Business Continuity Awareness Week. And I have to tell you, it was one of the most nerve-wracking things I've done for a long time. Which ...
Warning, self-indulgent blog approaching! I spent three days last week traveling to and from Cannock in Staffordshire, a round trip of well over a hundred miles, to sit in the cold and the wet and bite my fingernails to the quick. ...
On Saturday evening I couldn't wait to get my trousers off. In fact Mrs Oz helped me, so as not to delay the process unduly. This was nothing to do with the fact that it was my wedding anniversary or ...
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 ...
To quote a certain Mr Crosby, I'm dreaming of a white Christmas - specifically, the one I've recently returned from. The Oz family spent a fantastic week, up to and including Christmas day, skiing with our friends in a place called Pila in the Val ...
At the weekend I bought a new toy and I've spent the last couple of days playing with it. The 'toy' in question is a chainsaw. Unlike other midlife crisis sufferers, I have no desire to buy a motorbike or a ...
Today’s schedule went something like this: 09:00 write post-exercise report; 10:30 call client to discuss forthcoming business impact analysis workshop; 11:00 write proposal; 12:30 conference call with client to discuss business continuity strategy; 13:30 deal with today’s e-mail mountain; 14:00 ...
Readers of my previous blogs will know that a couple of years ago I started playing hockey again, after a short break (of 20 years or so). I was roped into it by my sons when they moved up from ...
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 ...
In recent months I’ve rediscovered the Telegraph crossword – that’s the daily cryptic crossword, not the fiendishly difficult “Toughie” which is just impossible for a mere mortal like me. I used to do the Telegraph crossword years ago, after my mother-in-law ...
At the weekend I competed in the Abersoch Open golf tournament. I can tell you’re impressed, but please don’t get too excited. And don’t worry that you’ve never heard of it – there’s a good reason for that. The Abersoch Open ...
Two years ago, at the ripe old age of 46, I started playing (field) hockey again for the first time since my late teens. I was coerced into it by my sons, who play for the local hockey club. Their team ...
