We are having some good fun recording them so hopefully you will enjoy them.

Watford were not able to do the one thing Sours could do  -put the damn ball into the back of the net. But we had a great evening at Vicarage Road and the team did all us Watford supporters proud. We were able to leave the ground with our heads held high – that was important us long suffering fans! Still, a tie against Stevenage would have been pretty good for us.

We continue to make giant strides on twitter – @cover4caravans – dont forget to come along and follow us. We have made some great interactions and it proves how powerful the world of social media can be. I have been utilising the services of @purpledog and if you need help as a business getting Twitter right then I fully endorse the cost effectivt and efficient services they offer.

What else is happening? Well the rebrand remains our largest focuse and we continue to receive some great feedback – thank you.

Time. Sometimes I just don’t understand why people make the choice to not find time for each other. But on the other hand maybe it is just time to move on and let it go over your head.

Have a great day.

Richard

In the car this morning I was listening to Avril Lavigne’s new album, Goodbye Lullaby. It is a really good album and as I listen to it more I seem to understand the songs in new ways. Todays two favourite tracks are “Darlin” and “Remember when” – both have great words. The first has a great little line which says something like “Start smiling and I know your trying not to turn your head away…..” it reminds me of many things. Cool song. Remember when is a simple song but starts with “Remember when I cried to you a 1,000 times I told you everything and shared all my feelings and I never knew there would be a time we would say goodbye…” very good. Stupid me maybe!

I followed someone on Twitter recently called sophilcollins in the hope that this maybe someone who has a similar passion to me about Phil. How wrong was I. The articles are pretty pointless and there are some references to Phil but not what I expected at all. It just annoyed me as I was hopiung to be able to perhaps share some knowledge with somone as passionate as me about this artist, lessons learnt.

I am hoping you watched our video blog last week – we focussed on the disadvantages of the cover provided by economy type Caravan Insurance Products. We have stopped offering ours as it was clear that the small saving in premium was not worth it as many times the customer did not realise all the levels of cover that were missing until they wanted to make a claim. Taking into consideration that over 65% off all our claims are for accidental damage do you really want to save yourself £5.00 to not have this cover?

I believe in treating customers fairly and offering the best cover we can at the most competitive price, we will not and do not offer cheap cover which will only cause you problems in the event of a claim.

I hope this is to our advantage.

Have a great day.

Richard

Anyhow, where am I heading? Ignoring what some of these songs may or may not mean to me it reminds me to not judge music straight away and to get the whole album and then make a decision – I did and hence I am a big fan of Avril – even seeing her live in London last year. Listen first, then judge!

So, today is the first working day for me in 2012. Goodness do we have alot going on! I am writing this blog inbetween numerous meetings – mosty of thenm involving our teams and getting everyone fired up for 2012. I like the new start of the new year. I plan to do alot differently throughout 2012, wtahc this space!

So, Watford Fc, my beloved team, did pretty well over the Xmas period. We dropped points yesterday at Fratton Park  – apparently a dodgy sending off of our Keeper – but at the end of the day we shouldnt be putting ourselves in a position whgere our Keeper gets him self sent off! Generall thouhg not a bad period, it will be interesting to see if we sell any players in January. Hope not!

Straight into a meeting now abour our new Cover4Caravans branding. Exciting days ahead!

Richard

1. January 2012 New Cover4Caravans Branding!
2. December 2011 chance to win an ipad2 in our caption Competition!
3. No increase in rates for 2012!
4. An amazing new top secret Insurer for Touring Caravans arriving February 2012!
5. Weekly video blogs!
6. The chance to win more amazing prizes during 2012 in our Caption Competitions!
7. Access to the best Customer Experience you are likely to find!

What more do you want from Cover4Caravans for Christmas?????

Richard

I now find myself battling to find the time to sit and prepare for next year. It looks like my few days off over the festive season is very likely to be the time this happens – I am sure it will not interfere with my playing with the boys new toys and trying to get out and about as much as we can – after all what are cold evenings for if not for working?

We should not complain though. It is tough times for the UK and we have been pro-active enough to continue to grow across our various lines of business and we are still employing new staff, we even buck the national trend by employing young people! Hey, if we don’t where will we find the next me?

Notice that I didn’t use the word luck when I talked about our performance this year. For me luck is defined as buying a lottery ticket and winning. Business is about laying the strong foundations and driving you and your team towards your goals. Hard work, drive and enthusiasm. I don’t believe that luck has alot to do with our business.

But I can step down off of my soap box now! Tomorrow see’s the dreaded day long Health & Safety Exams. I can put my hand on my heart and say I dont think I could have read the books any more. I am nervous about it – I do not cope with the thought of failing very easily. All I can do is give it my best shot and if it goes wrong I will retake it. No way is this going to beat me.

Have a great day.

Richard

Our sister website, www.caravan-insurance-gurus.co.uk , is coming along nicely. If you are reading this and are a Caravan Park please get in touch so we can put a review of your site up onto the directory. This site is going to be a great resource for caravanners!

The new Cover4Caravans branding is trundling along, seems to have stalled a little at the moment but that is always the way when you are coming to the end of the project, the idea is to launch early in January, I am hoping to release some sneal previews soon so watch this space.

My team, WatfordFC, seem to have found momentum at last and are beginning to get the results we deserve. Time is always required but in football no one ever seems to offer this to managers. I suppose at the end of the day “going down” is not an option so this remains tjhe important factor. Well done to our man though, Sean Dyche, and fingers crossed for a great Xmas period of football for us.

The new car has a multi CD player and although I love my iphone gadgets there is nothing easier than simply playing a CD. CD of choice this morning was some Phil Collins. I actually chose the “Hits” album and enjoyed blasting out some of the older hits. sadf maybe but I cannot and will never change from being a massive Phil Collins fan. It’s just the way it is – excuse the song pun!

Have a great day.

Rich

I have a foolish desire to understand Health & Safety in the workplace as the responsiblity rests squarely on my shoulders. I have not undertaken exams for a very long time and full written answers are certainly an art when compared to the reletive ease of multiple choice.

Interestingly I have quite honestly seen my knowledge increase in leaps and bounds and I am slowly getting more confident, will it be enough to pass? That I really do not know but I hope so.

On a different note the infamous rebranding of Cover4Caravans continues to move forward and we are confident of our January 2012 launch. Watch this space.

The cold weather looks like it is beginning to arrive – please protect your caravan from the freezing temperatures – you did well at this last year as we did not see a huge influx of claims!

Finally this week has seen my two boys performing in their school Christmas Productions. This morning was the turn of my youngest and tonight will see us go and see the eldest in his.

The amount of effort and dedication shown by all the School Staff is truly reflected in the shows – we are left to ask why are we trying to upset the status quo and destroy their pensions? Is it right or is it wrong? If only one of the involved parties would actually tell us what it all really means and perhaps us Joe Public would be in a better position to decide if we support them or not.

Ignorance is bliss but it doe snot always help us!

Have a great afternoon.

Richard

I have been out pretty much all week and have embarked upon a Health & Safety Level 4 course which I am finding pretty hard right now. The hard part if finding the time to dedicate to the self study side. But I think I am on track and am determined to give it my best shot. It may not be good enough but that is all I can do right now.

We have just returned from Nottingham and we had a good review with our friends at Amtrust. I did not have the energy to have a lively night with them and hope they have forgiven me!

I went to see Watford play Tuesday althought we gave away a two goal lead and drew 2-2 I had a great time with some good friends.

The weekend is hear and tomorrow I can make up for being such a poor dad over the last week. I have been away and very stressed out – not the greatest of combinations!

Mums on Sunday and looking forward to seeing the family back over in Ruislip and Northwood.

Have a great weekend.

Richard

Next week see’s me embark upon the first 2 days of my 5 day Health & Safety Level 4 course – I must admit I find myself quite apprehensive about the whole thing, with a number of pass or fail exams at the end it could all end in disaster. I do hope not!

Next week starts with a Governor Meeting on the Monday – I think it promises to be interesting as we wil be appointing our Chair and Vice Chair. This is followed by a trip to see my team, WatfordFC, on the Tuesday evening with my good friend from Arista Insurance. We haven’t been for a little while so we will be childishly excited as always!

Then the week vanishes and ends with an overnight stay up in Nottingham – one of my favourite places. Lots of business to be done before our evening out and then dash back to the office on the Friday.

The weekend? Is there one inbetween the bustle of work? Ofcourse there is and I will be cramming it with quality time with the clan and a trip to Bluewater for some Xmas Shopping and I get to clean the new car on Sunday – Hooray!

For those of you who don’t know remember we are on twitter @cover4caravans where you are welcome to join us!

Have a great weekend.

Richard

Next week see’s a trip on Monday out to Nerja, near Malaga, to see our amazing Adword provider http://www.cwa-europe.com/ and undertake our regular review to ensure we are both working in the same direction. I love being able to mix business with pleasure when your business partners also become your friends.

We have ordered our new video blogging equipment and hppefully when I finally land in the office next week I will be be able to start posting video blogs on a regular basis. Quite what the content will be I dont know yet but I have the weekend and a flight to Spain to start working it out! Any ideas?

Finaly our new caravan insurance website and new cover4caravans branding is in it’s final stages of development and I cannot wait to show you all the new design.

The video blogs will probably introduce you all to the new us – I just hope that everyone loves it as much as I do!

Have a great weekend and I will try and blog from Spain if I can.

Richard