Ladybird, ladybird

It's been a busy week, but I'll try and fill in the gaps.

We've spent a lot of the summer thinking about words. The words customers use to talk about us and the language we use to describe the business. Now we're looking at the way we speak to our customers, on the page and in person. It's important. We'd like to try to get it right.

So after school on Friday, Jamie and I met Chris and Al to talk words. I think simple words are often best, which is why we keep coming back to Ladybird books; the building blocks of our childhoods. Simple words. Easy to read and understand. Beautifully, cleanly presented. Informative but not patronising. Hard to get right.

The discussion prompted us to get our collection of Ladybird books out of the cellar and have a jolly old wander down the brown and orange memory lane of our seventies childhood. Wearing our purple corduroy dungarees and our horrid Clarkes T Bar shoes. With our BAGA gymnastics badges proudly sewn onto our gym knickers (just Jamie).

The variety of titles is amazing. From 'The Story of Gas' to 'The Customs Officer'. 'A Tinker's Wig' to 'Danger Men'. 'Play with Me' and 'What to look for in Autumn'. Tom said if he read them all he'd know more about everything than anyone else at school. Right! They're going to live in his bedroom from now on and he can dip in and out whenever he likes. I wonder where he'll start.

( I just asked him: he said 'Tricks and Magic'.) I'm going to read Dick Whitington to Sal. Apparently she has absolutely no idea who he was. And, when pushed, it turned out that neither did I. It's ok. The Ladybird will tell me.