so this thing happens, as it always does, with a certain inevitability. When you book a conference online that seems miles away in the future…that future will always turn up and expects you to get on board.

That is exactly what happened, i booked really without thinking to attend the Britmumslive conference and sure enough that weekend turned up and i got my stuff on and headed to London.

I was pretty nervous about the whole thing really it is a very surreal anonymousness of blogging that means that the people you think you know, you have never actually seen. Which if they have a great big smiley picture of themselves on their blog it may be possible for you to have a little bit of an idea…but generally not. It is relationships without faces, without voices and quite frankly it all felt a bit ‘blind date’

But i was determined to get on and enjoy it…regardless. This recent season in my life has been hard going and i needed a break. oh boy did i ever. So this was my ‘break” and it could have been a ceramic tile conference for all i cared..i was getting away, staying overnight and knew there would be wine. This little bit of freedom was enough to fluff the cushions on the knackered mother sofa i feel a bit like i am morphing into at times and I was going to let nothing get in my way of grasping every moment and giving it a high five.

I stayed at the Hoxton in London and once i had successfully navigated the underground, i found the hotel and was told a long list of instructions by a check in clerk called Phillipe. Not sure if it was his heavy french accent that meant i had no idea what he said to me or if i was just too distracted to take anything in. My room was great, nice view of a wall….then another wall…and a bigger wall…and a smaller wall…..

My highlights of Britmums

Two particular seminars stood out for me:

A seminar led by the incredibly geekchic lady Julie Hall. Her’s was the only seminar that i actually took notes in. It was about wordpress but essentially she covered SEO and the best way to get visibility through google. What i loved most about her was that she was a true ‘presenter” As in, she spoke in a way that kept the listener interested, no rambling, she was on the money the whole time and knew her stuff. I would have liked to have listened to her for about another hour and asked her a bunch of questions but there wasn’t enough time sadly.  Fortunately i asked my neighbours what they did and i seem to have solved my problem.

Then there was the seminar led by photographer Julia Boggio. Being honest, i wasnt actually going to go to this seminar. But i wrote a guest post for Julia’s personal blog a while back and so i really wanted to go and say Hi and introduce myself. Getting there a little late i hadnt had the chance to say hi before it started so i stayed for the seminar. Admittedly Julia didn’t actually tell me anything i didn’t already know but the way she presented her topic was incredible and still, even today, leaves me with a big smile when i think about it. A very clever and insightful way of showing people that you don’t need an expensive camera to take good pictures. i so loved that. lots and lots.

Letting my h-h-hair down… oh yes, a night with no teatime, no bedtime, nothing to worry about except me and i shared a great evening with some of my new friends who up till that point had only met on twitter but now they are true mummy friends. My partner in crime,  citygirlatheart, the fabulously witty and talented sarah from dearwall and the beautiful babylovesporridge who had me calling on my Irish roots and maybe slinging in a little bit of the craic. We drank too much wine, put the world to rights a little and laughed a whole lot. Let me tell you its been a long time since i enjoyed the company of hangover…..bleurgh..

It was especially bizarre trying to ‘meet’ the people who you have ‘chatted’ with on twitter. Name badges attached to your chest had your twitter and blog name on them and you had to introduce yourself as ‘hi, im sarah from apartyofseven’ and either get a blank ‘i have no idea who you are’ face or the alternative which is much more welcoming ‘ah HELLO!” I pretty much gave up by saturday afternoon..i found the peering at women’s breasts a little bit draining 😉 and just a little bit awkward and so i gave up and hung with the folk i had already met…i regretted not meeting a couple of bloggers though and twitter conversations as i made my way home showed me that someone i though i had met i in fact hadn’t!!

There was a touch of the ‘schoolplayground’ feel to certain groups and whilst you would never totally eradicate that in a large group of women it always gets under my skin a bit. One totally fabulous things to come out of it was discovering some very cool blogs that i hadnt been aware of before!! WHERE HAVE I BEEN?..like this blog alexandaresidence, the author read one of her posts out on the saturday evening and i was totally drawn in by her beautiful writing and fantastic way of telling her story. I have already subscribed to her blog.

Also the fantastic Hermelness, who reminds me a little of someone i worked with years and years ago who used to scare the pants of me..but we chatted briefly on route to a seminar and i found her delightful and lacking the ‘Im so cool” bravado that she could so easily have as she is one of those blogger celebs.

I discovered as well that i have actually been busy trying to fit myself into a blogging space that is definitely not me. It was a bit of relief..sort of when you realise at school that the ‘in’ ground are just not that ‘IN.’ It was aided too by the fact that someone who i had followed on twitter and interacted with a lot was pretty rude and dismissive when i said hello. Its disappointing when people are not IRL, as they are on social media. ARE YOU NIAVE i hear you cry. No, no im not..i know it happens….but i can’t bear it.

Im not saying that if someone appears hilariously funny on twitter and then they appear really dull IRL its a real let down. I would be a little curious about a seemingly double life but i wouldnt be disappointed. What i really really dislike is just not being polite, civil, respectful. If you are chatty on twitter or FB then don’t blank people IRL..seriously. be polite. jeez.

But Im having a little re-think about my blog and being inspired by some bloggers who don’t fit into the ‘type’ that i thought maybe i was..it seems a good time for a bit of a change round here.

Of course I couldn’t go without my camera but it gets a little heavy and so i took it with a 15mm fish eye lens and i just loved taking pictures with it. Such a great effect. Works so well. This was Ruby Wax speaking on the opening night about dealing with mental illness. I liked her.

well was actually..last week and as it was a school day is was generally the same as every other day. Tough to be indulgent when you are the only person getting these little folk out the door and into school.

But it didn’t rain, the sun came out for like a second or two and we ate cake. All in all. good.

I was going to share this story on my last mother runner post but it was so late by the time i got to where i did with that post that i sacked it off and went to bed.

So….i needed running shoes. I bought some (all running pro’s look away now) about 3 years ago and i noticed recently that the webbing on the top of the shoe had not in fact changed colour but was actually my socks pocking through as i was running…yeh so quite bad then.

So i resolved to remedy the matter and give my ageing knees and hips a bit of  a break and visit a running shop for some more shoes. Predictably the only day i managed to get there was teeming it down with rain (which lets face it could have been any day recently!) and I had the delightful company of my two youngest daughters. joy.

Arriving in the shop i was greeted by a young person with zero body fat who bounced out from behind a counter wearing a flourescent top and skin tight trousers. Telling myself to not be intimidated i asked for some advice. In a proper running shop it seems that you are not allowed to browse and you must be assisted in all that you do by zero body fat girl. She agreed with me that holes in my running shoes was a bad idea ( i have no idea why i told her that at all) and suggested that i put on a pair of ‘padded running socks’ before i try anything on.

I beamed inwardly and said ‘ah i already put some trainer socks on’

she replied in a flat tone ‘but are they padded running socks?’

me: er…no…no they are not padded running socks.

So i obliged and put on the socks, then she told me she needed to do a ‘gait’ test. Being around horses when i was younger meant that i didn’t think this had anything to do with the entry and exist of a field, so in a confident manner i strode to the running machine and stepped on. ZBFG (zero body fat girl) then started the running machine up by leaning her index finger on the ‘up’ arrow of the speed-y-do-dar thing….and she kept pressing it….and pressing it…and pressing it..  until i said ”ohh thats a little too fast!”

She seemed to stumble and bit and said ‘TOO FAST?!” incredullously and if its possible to press a button in a disgusted manner then thats what she did as she slowed it down for me..

suddenly all my running efforts recently have been swiftly downgraded to slow jog by a few simple words by the ZBFG.

She disappeared for a few minutes and i regained my composure wondering if in fact what i needed was a good pair of walking shoes! .I caught sight of the screen in front of me which was showing my feet and ankles as i was running on the treadmill.

‘ooh my ankles look skinny’ i thought. yes im that shallow!

She informed me that i ‘pronate’ a little bit and then endeavored to show me on the screen with some arrows, numbers and other markings. I had zoned out a little bit staring at my skinny ankles and so missed a bit of what that actually meant.

But i get to have a shoe with a raised bit under my instep. Then she dragged out every single pair of shoes they had and i had to try them on one by one and then go and run on the machine wearing them. Sometimes even wearing a shoe from each pair to compare.

Anyway quite a few pairs of shoes later and getting a bit of a sweat on, cheered on by my daughter who kept saying ‘go faster mummy!” I decided on the first pair of shoes i wore! Ha!! being honest though im not sure if i really knew if there was actually a difference in any of them. I almost felt obliged to make up a ‘oooh that one feels a bit tight there’ to satisfy the expectant face on ZBFG after each style.

Getting back into my unsatisfactory trainer socks and my super unacceptable converse to pay. ZBFG obviously struggling with conversation says ‘so are you doing races yet?”

Having sort of reached the limit of being patronised by ZBFG i said ‘um..no..if i had to race there would be other people and i like to be by myself….my victory is in getting out of the bed, dressed and outside the house, that alone is a great thing, i dont really need to race too!

She didnt really reply but it sort of left a bit of an awkward silence between us….

So payment and a quick exist was in order and we strode out into this ….neverbloodyending rain. Now i love trying on shoes as much as then next girl but im thinking that is a bit too much of an ordeal for a pair of chuffin’ trainers!!..