460 CC Driver Review.

I've just bought myself a whopping 460cc Cube driver by Dunlop. Apparently it's worth £99 but I know the £30 I paid for it is more realistic. It looks and feels like a good club, although it is definitely at the budget end of the market.

Anyway, I went a gave it a whack today and to be honest, if all these drivers are like this one, there are not all that great. It's a very light club, but the air resistance on the face as you make a downswing makes it feel as if you're swinging through custard. I was knackered after hitting only a few balls!

It didn't add any distance to my drives either. If anything they came up a little shorter.

I'm much better with the Taylor Made driver I also use. It's obviously a better club and a lot more expensive. With that I can make a full blooded swing and still keep it fairly straight. So my advice is - get yourself a quality driver, learn to use it and stick with it.

(If you've got a driver that genuinely gives you longer tee shots - let me know)

Closer Shaving with a Big Saving

If you've been dragged into the razor war lately, that is the more blades you've got, the better the shave, then this is the blog post you.

Firstly, throw out all the 5 bladed razors and buy a cheap twin edge razor and blade. They are about 4cm long by 2cm wide and have 2 blades. One one on each long edge. They come in plastic packs of about ten and cost a fraction of price.

Then wash, shower or bath. The longer the better. Next dry your face almost completely and apply a good shaving oil. Although olive oil would work just as well.

Next, just shave as normal. Rinse your face after but don't use any soap, as the remaining oil leaves the skin really smooth and moisturised.

Give it a go and say good buy to cuts and burns for good.

Mixamatosis - Don't Ignore It!

Today was a sad day in our house. It began with one of our rabbits developing what looked like an eye infection and ended with the poor thing having to be put to sleep. Fortunately our other rabbit seems OK and has now been vaccinated. However, this is apparently no guarantee of protection from the disease.

Surprisingly it isn't passed from rabbit to rabbit. It is spread by biting insects that carry the disease.

So if you've got bunnies, get them sorted, especially with all the wet and warm weather around this year. The bugs just love it.

R.I.P

Honey.

Died 3.10.07

Teaching Children Basic Punctuation.

For a long time now I've been searching for a method of teaching basic punctuation to children. Yep, they all know what a full stop (period) looks like. They even know to follow one with a capital letter. But what they do not know, is when to use a full stop.

There doesn't seen to be much advice out there, apart from the obvious stuff. However, this method is pretty good.

Begin by looking at simple sentences with your class. Explain that they are just single thoughts or pieces of information. Work on a few exercises where they explain what the info is in various pre-prepared sentences.

e.g.

It was raining outside Bob put on his boots.

This contains two thoughts and so should be two simple sentences.

From there, progress on to letting the children write at length, but stress that each sentence should be simple and contain one thought.

They'll probably struggle to be brief enough and write sentences which are too long. From here, let them repeat the exercise, but insist that no sentence be more than eight words long. It must still make sense though!

When they get to grips with this (which they will!) every time they write at length, give them a calculator and have them divide the number of words by the number of full stops they have used. This will tell them their average sentence length. Eight to ten words is perfect.

Get them to read their work out to the class. They will really be able to hear the difference in style between 8-10 average and those which are higher.

The children can now rework pieces or writing, trying to lower their average sentence length when necessary. It's a challenge most of the children I teach enjoy.

Try it teachers - you'll be amazed at the difference it can make.