Our new site is live!

I just wanted to make a quick post to announce the launch of our new Devant web site. It's been a long time in its gestation, but I hope you'll like it. We've updated it to reflect more of our style and philosophy, so the general feel is more up-beat and personal.

We've also added a glorious sign-up button, so that if you want to be told when there are new articles to download, or special deals on training courses, you just need to leave your email address and we'll do the rest.

Oh soggy day...

We didn't actually get flooded - unlike some of our less fortunate clients. The water was several inches higher on the outside of the office than the floor level on the inside, but mercifully it stayed outside and our lovely computers remained safe and dry.

Unfortunately the same could not be said of the car, which I managed to drown on my way to collect the children from school (which closed early because it, too, was flooded). I would like to extend my grateful thanks to John and the rest of the team at PP Construction Limted at the aptly named Deepwater in Swallowfield, who offered me shelter from the downpour, hot tea, and even (thanks again, John) a pair of dry golfing trousers to replace my sodden skirt.

My sojourn at PP Construction was brought to a peaceful end when the sun finally came out, and some of the chaps dug out the oars for the old tin boat in the yard. Yes, we rowed gently down the stream to safety, past my submerged car, with the sunlight glinting on the water. If it hadn't been for the fact that the stream was supposed to be a road, and I was supposed to be at work (with a nice, dry car in the drive), it really would have been a lovely way to spend a Friday afternoon.

Bacon and eggs

Never volunteer. In the land of Cub Scouts, even the faintest hint that you might possibly be less than 100% averse to helping out is roughly akin to jumping up and down, waving your hands in the air and shouting 'Me!! Pick me!".

So there I was, at 6.30am on Saturday morning, struggling to light the urn in a damp marquee in Marlow while hoards of grubby Cubs stuck their heads through the tent flap to enquire whether the bacon was on yet. Friday had seen me trundling around Sainsbury's with a trolley full of 300 bread rolls, having already loaded the first two trolley-loads of groceries into the capacious boot of our Volvo estate. And that didn't even include the meat and veg, which were coming direct from the farm shop.

Although I spent most of the weekend in a tent, slaving over a hot camping stove, I must confess that I love Cub Camp. It's the combination of enthusiastic kids, just as happy to muck in with making packed lunches as they are to grapple with raft building, and hard-working parents, whose sense of humour never seems to fail them in the most trying of circumstances.

Not, of course, that I'd ever consider doing the catering again. At all. Ever. So don't go getting any ideas if you're reading this, Akela...