Toyella have recently released a new set of toys for kids aged 3-8, to help assist them in their imaginary play. Oskar & Ellen are beautiful washable fabric play sets that should last your little ones a lifetime. You can view the range here, and I’m sure you will agree that they are a stunning and original gift for your little ones.

You can win the set of your choice from the range, and as an additional gift, and thank you for your agreement to receive their newsletter, they will offer ALL of you a consolation discount code that will be emailed to you at the end of the competition, so the set can still be yours!

The competition ends on the 13th May 2012, Uk & IRE only and entry is via Rafflecopter, below:

 
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This picture makes me smile…I’d love to hear your caption ideas!

Christmas 2010 my lovely sisters bought me a present that I’d been coveting for a while – a beautiful Pandora bracelet with some charms.  I expected this to be a bracelet for life, and that I could fill it with charms every year and it would slowly grow over time to be a very treasured gift.   How wrong could I be?

Less than a year on, I returned from a dog walk to find my bracelet lying broken on the chair at home.  I was grateful that it hadn’t fell off outside of the home, like the daughter of my friend, who lost £300 of charms from hers.  We could not find the original receipt, so my sister took it to the Canary Wharf branch to be fixed.  She complained that the bracelet had just fallen off, and the assistant was very rude and snotty and told her that ‘a considerable force’ must have been used for the bracelet to break (contrary to the information given below, by Pandora HQ who tell me how flimsy the bracelets actually are).  This was not the case, I do not recall it ever having been caught or snagged on anything.  She was told that it would cost £10 to repair, so we said fair enough and left it.

When she received the call to say that it had been mended, the price for repair had suddenly shot up to £12.  On arrival at the store, was made to pay £18 for the bracelet to be returned!!

I complained to Pandora customer services but all they told me was there’s nothing they can do because they franchise branches.  I felt that this was them avoiding responsibility  -  it is a shop with a great big PANDORA sign on it, they don’t sell any other jewellery, and to me that means that Pandora endorses the actions of the staff. Anybody owning a franchise surely has to abide by the rules and procedures of the parent company, or they could just start selling any old jewellery from the premises. A Pandora shop, selling Pandora goods, has nothing to do with Pandora? Really?

When I posted on facebook, there are many customers that have also had broken bracelets, despite them insisting that the bracelets are very secure and should last a lifetime. Less than three months on from the repair, the bracelet is once again broken, it just fell off my wrist in the garden. I wrote again to complain and was sent the following by Pandora:

“Silver snake chains are by nature fragile and it is important to follow the guidelines for care and maintenance. Especially sleeping with the bracelet and doing manual work can cause a kink which with time can get worse and make the bracelet snap.

Please note that jewellery should never be worn in the bath, the sauna or when participating in sports.
Do not expose jewellery to contact with make-up, hairspray, creams and perfumes as they can speed up the tarnishing process. Avoid exposing your jewellery to household chemicals when cleaning with bleach or ammonia, or when swimming in chlorinated water or salt water, as it can damage the metals.
A rule of thumb is to let jewellery be the last thing you put on in the morning and the first thing you remove in the evening.

I understand it may seem like a lot of incidents when you read the unlucky stories on this page, but compared to the number of bracelets being produced it is in fact only a very small number of bracelets that snap. That you have experienced two of your bracelets snap and also have a friend whose bracelet snapped is extremely unlucky and not ordinary. Manufacturing faults may occur and when that is the case we are more than willing to exchange the bracelet.”

So, Pandora, your bracelets are basically not designed to be worn?  And if they are so fragile, then surely these instructions should be enclosed with every new bracelet.  There is nothing on any website, no product information about how gently you are supposed to treat this jewellery.  The descriptions say “This silver starter Pandora charm bracelet is expertly made to the highest quality” and has a “Threading system to safely display your charms” which leads me to believe that they are strong and should last a long time.

Now, I have a cheap silver snake chain necklace that has been given all sorts of abuse by my toddler and still not snapped, so might I suggest that it is only Pandora snake chains that are so dreadfully fragile?

It’s crazy that a £55 bracelet should last less than a year.  Pandora – AVOID AVOID AVOID.

Added 22/8/12:  I have now bought an alternative bracelet from a local jeweller.  They told me that my story about Pandora was not uncommon, and that they themselves have stopped dealing with Pandora because they are as rude to their sellers and they are to their customers!

Have you SEEN Kandee Shoes? They really are my fantasy shoe shop, so I simply had to enter their blog competition to win a pair.  These are the Blue Raspberry Dragee.  I’ve used rhinestones to represent the shine on the heel and the studs – my photography couldn’t capture how the picture twinkles as you walk towards it.  If I don’t win, at least I have a pretty picture to look at.

And the winner is:

 

Ring Jewellery – specialists in gold, platinum and titanium rings – offered me an opportunity to host a competition to win your very own pair of cufflinks, customised with the design of your choice. The cufflinks are like those owned by George Lamb and Theo Wallcott in the pictures here.

All you have to do is design your cufflinks and email me the design (comp@mummylion.co.uk), or tweet me @mummylion.  Your email will NOT be stored or used for marketing purposes and will be deleted when the competition ends.

You can have absolutely anything on the cufflinks, from your logo or individual design, to a picture of your child, something that your child has drawn, or some words or a date that has some meaning to you.  The choice is yours.

The competition ends at midnight on the 25th April 2012, and I will judge the design over the next few days, probably with some help from family and friends.  The winning design will then be posted here, and made into a very special pair of cufflinks.

UK only.  My decision is final.

Happy designing!

My skin started troubling me with spots in my teenage years.  Twenty-something years on, I am still battling the little blighters, so I was pleased to try Greenleaves purifying acne mask and gentle facial scrub.  I was surprised to open the pots and find that they contained a powder, rather than the gloopy goo you normally associate with face masks.  Very clear instructions guide you to add the correct amount of water to make the powder into a mask/scrub.  I like that the product is a powder, because presumably this means that it will last longer and won’t need to contain any preservatives.  The facial scrub is lovely, not too abrasive but left my skin feeling clearer and refreshed.  The acne mask was spectacular – it dries hard and crackly on your face and I like face masks that do that – they make my skin feel fresher when they are removed.  I have used a huge amount of different face masks on my spotty visage over the years and purifying acne mask can only be matched in effectiveness by Lush’s cupcake mask, but because the purifying acne mask is delivered as powder, it will last a lot longer than the cupcake one, and you don’t have to faff about keeping it in the fridge.

Greenleaves has offered one of you the opportunity to win your choice of one of the following 30ml sample pots:

Purifying Acne Masque
Gentle Facial Scrub
Exfoliating Body Scrub
Peppermint Pumice Hand & Foot Scrub

The competition will close on the 1st May 2012, and can be entered using the rafflecopter below.

UK & Ire only.  If the winner has not replied within 5 days then the competition will be re-drawn.

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After a long and gruelling journey from Penzance to the Midlands to attend a family funeral, a lifelong friend of our family was once again headed home. She booked a ticket and seat on the 2.47pm train from Tamworth to Penzance.  Suffering from Parkinsons disease, she has restricted mobility and needs to be seated for the very long and tiring trip.  According to Cross Country Trains passenger charter “We want you to enjoy travelling with us, from the moment you start to plan your journey to the time you reach your destination”.  What happened today, completely contradicted this and in fact made all of the claims made by this charter seem like a cruel and distasteful joke.

Because of her disability she needs help boarding the train and getting to her seat with her luggage.  Last time somebody helped her onto the train, the train doors shut on him and he was transported, against his will and with no ticket, to Birmingham from Leicester.  This time, my sister assisted her onto the train and my Dad stood on the platform to make sure the train did not depart with my sister aboard.  Our friend is a very proud lady and it is clear to see that she is not able bodied but this did not stop the ticket inspector from showering my sister and father with a tirade of verbal abuse for helping our friend onto the train.  The train was already running late and he told them that passengers have less than one minute to board the train.  Each minute that my sister had spent assisting our friend to her seat had apparently cost the rail company £200.  Additional time had to be spent on the train by my sister because another passenger had sat in the seat that had been booked by our friend.  When the train reached Birmingham, and it was five minutes late, the lateness was announced on the tannoy to all passengers, blaming ‘people for messing around on the platform at Tamworth’.

Can you imagine how this must have felt to any human being, let alone a grieving human being who used to be active and mobile and now needs help with getting herself seated on a train?  I am disgusted and outraged, so I looked on the web and discovered that this inhumane treatment is actually illegal.  The government gateway tell us that  “trains have to be accessible to disabled people (including those in wheelchairs) to help them get on and off trains. This should also allow you to travel comfortably if you’re disabled.”.  More detailed information here gives guidance to train operators and states that the Equality Act 2010 “allow the Secretary of State to make “rail vehicle accessibility regulations” to ensure that disabled customers can: – get on and off regulated rail vehicles in safety and without unreasonable difficulty”.  Less than one minute to board is definitely “unreasonable difficulty” to a person with Parkinsons, and if the train had started to move when she was on her feet she would very likely have collapsed onto the floor.

The Department for Transport provided its own website and explains that:

• “Since 1996 it has been unlawful for service providers to treat disabled people less favourably than other people for a reason related to their disability.
• Since October 1999, service providers have been required to take reasonable steps to change practices, policies or procedures that make it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to use a service.”

Our friend was without doubt treated less favourably, and was publicly blamed at Birmingham for holding up a train that was already running late when she boarded.

I could go on, but if Crosscountry trains would like to study the law in more detail, they can find The Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations 1998 here and then justify why they have treated such a wonderful lady so very very shoddily.

Here is an e petition to help fight discrimination against disabled people on public transport.

UPDATE:  14th April 2012:  on Thursday I had a rubbish tweet from them saying sorry and to contact their customer services. I replied that my Dad has already emailed them, and that in the circumstances, sorry wasn’t good enough.  They did not reply to that.

My Dad emailed them and received an auto-reply 7 days ago now and has had no reply.  Shocking.

UPDATE: months went by and he received the following reply and ONLY after the ombudsman had been involved. Cross country trains ignored all correspondence from my father.  Shoddy, I think you will agree.  The lady in question was offered ONE free journey as compensation for her many indignities. I am indignant on her behalf. Surely it is discriminating against the disabled if one has to phone a number just to be able to make the same train journey as everyone else?  Shouldn’t she be able to travel freely, just like I could?

Dear Mr *****

Thank you for writing to us.

I’m very sorry for the length of time it has taken for you to receive a response regarding your complaint.  Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Please let me assure you that we take these kinds of complaints very seriously and we always expect our on board staff to provide a high standard of service to all our customers.

I have made your comments available to the manager of the member of staff concerned and they have addressed this issue with them.  They will be sure to point out any areas of performance that undermined what we try to achieve in terms of our service and hopefully ensure that this won’t happen again in the future.  They have also provided some feedback regarding the incident you experienced.

In this instance the Train Manager was correct in advising you of the legal and financial ramifications for holding up a train.  However, we would expect them to communicate this clearly and with courtesy, so I’m sorry if you felt his tone was aggressive in any way.  The Train Manger states that he initially blew his whistle to indicate that the train was due to leave and request that all people stay clear of the doors.  As you had decided to prevent the door from shutting he had to walk down the platform to investigate what was happening, all the while delaying the train further.  Whilst I do appreciate that your daughter was attempting to assist her friend onto the train and locating her seat, we cannot accept individuals who are not travelling, holding up the trains departure.  We as a company, along with the Train Manager as our representative on board, have a duty to try and ensure that passengers reach their destination on time.  So, by preventing the door from closing you were further delaying the 250 other passengers who were on board.

Subsequently, and in line with our policy during a delay, the Train Manager made an announcement on board to advise passengers why the train had been delayed.  Stating that it was because of a person holding open the doors which meant the train couldn’t leave.  At no point was the phrase ‘messing about’ used.

As advised above, we can never condone people holding up our trains, regardless of the reason.  But, if your friend is planning to travel in the future they may wish to consider booking Journey assistance.  This can booked by calling the JourneyCare team on 0844 811 0125.  They will take down details of the journey and the type of assistance that is required.  Then, they will pass this on to the relevant stations so that their staff can provide this at each point on the day the passenger is travelling.

I’m afraid that in this instance, we would accept that the Train Manager acted appropriately considering the circumstances.  As such, I’m afraid I would be unable to provide any compensation to you or your friend, nor the letter of apology you requested.

Once again, I am sorry if you feel this incident could of been handled differently and I hope this won’t deter you from travelling with us in the future.

Kind regards,

Chris Dade
Customer Relations Consultant
CrossCountry  

I was talking to a friend recently who said that she didn’t get up to many arts and crafts activities with her little one, so I thought I’d post a few pictures of Cub’s masterpieces. First here is some general colouring in. We have a stash of washable felt tips, some crayons and some kiddies paint from asda, and I ordered a few cheap sticker books off ebay. The stickers do tend to get everywhere, but they are a great easy art activity.  We paint and draw on anything – old cereal boxes, cardboard boxes, backs of letters and somebody on twitter suggested backing paper that you can get for just over a quid a roll at wilkinsons.  We use brushes, fingers, hands, potato stampers, he likes to run his trains through the paint and create stripes with them. It’s such a lovely way to spend time together, communicate and bond – even if it does result in much cleaning-up!

I had loads of empty egg cartons one day and found some pipe cleaners and googly eyes so we made egg box bugs.  I made some holes for the legs and he pushed the pipe cleaners through and stuck the eyes on (most of them!).  I learnt a lesson that day about toddlers and glue sticks when i had to cut gluey chunks out of the poor dogs hair.  Art with a two year old is far from mess-free.

Not wanting to be restricted by our four walls, he even made smiley faces out of things he found in a field, and arranged them on top of a plastic tub that he found there.

And he can use the touchpad on my laptop too – I selected the colours that he asked for then held down the button while he created his first piece of computer art.