Mum's Blog

Vlogging a dead horse? Hopefully not!

I’ve known for some time that video blogs (or vlogs) would become an essential medium for a website such as ours to use in order to reach readers. So last week I finally plucked up the courage to give it a go and make a vlog based around our ‘What’s on in Surrey this week’ listings.

We chose Loseley Park as our location as we were there anyway for a review. It’s a lovely place with gorgeous parkland (do I say this enough in the vlog!) and a great environment for a relaxing afternoon out with the family.

Luckily we managed to find a fairly secluded spot to vlog from, as I was suddenly overcome with self consciousness due to the stares from passers by. But I got into it eventually and we recorded from three or four locations to give ourselves more variety.

We experienced a couple of technical hitches, the main one being that the microphone picked up the sound of the wind rather than my voice at certain parts, so we’ll be investing in a small microphone for next time.

I felt that I could have done with an autocue as well. I was reading my notes and then looking up and trying to remember what I had just read! It seems that you can buy some kind of autocue for your iPad for under £50, so we may well be investing in that too.

I’m still not convinced about the final product, but I guess it’s not too bad for a first attempt. It was fun and I’m determined to streamline my presenting skills; something I know I will only do with practice. Watch this space!

(In)appropriate questions to ask a pregnant lady

I've just finished a conversation with the umpteenth person to ask me whether my pregnancy was planned and it's made me wonder why so many people think that this question is acceptable.  
 
What really baffles me is that, once someone is pregnant and clearly planning to keep the baby, how can the answer to that question possibly be relevant to anything.  So it was planned... well that's nice.  So it wasn't planned... well, oh dear, but that's nice anyway.  If someone is willing to volunteer that they're delighted as they've been trying for ages, or that it was a pleasant "surprise", then fine, but why feel the need to ask? 
 

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