ErUpNorth

M y son thinks I'm a sad person for using Twitter, hates that I pick up my phone and randomly giggle at it. I don't care what he thinks; I don't see the point of having hundreds of 'so called' friends on Facebook, people that you don't even know. My other-half hates the fact that I already know breaking news before he does. He told me something the other day and I acted like I'd only just heard it, but he crowed so much about beating Twitter that in the end I had to say, "Actually you didn't". I was happy to let him have his moment of glory but he just wouldn't let it go. I love the randomness of the conversations you get into on Twitter, usually with complete strangers. Although when you've been tweeting with someone for months are they still complete strangers? Sometimes I'll get a tweet to say, "Your quiet today, are you OK?"; and that's nice, that someone out there misses you. I follow celebs and oc...

I was reminded the other day about my early days in an office. I took shorthand and typing at school but wasn't brilliant at it. I persuaded mum to let me leave school at the Easter break, I had taken my CSEs and was not going on to take GCSEs. I left school with no job but was eventually offered a trainee secretarial position at International Combustion. The scheme meant we spent 10 weeks in a different office learning the ropes, in some offices it was 20 weeks. We were given time out to do shorthand, typing and audio typing lessons in their in-house training school. As the examinations were Pitman only I went to college in the evenings and took RSA shorthand and typing, using the EMFEC board of examinations as a stepping stone up. I also took O'level English Language for which I gained a B. I learnt to type on a manual typewriter and was told if I didn't make it as a secretary then my over use of Tippex would assure me a job as a painter and decorator! I...