One year on from our successful assessment to become an approved member of security system accreditation company NSI, I am delighted that we have today passed our annual assessment.

Accreditation is important to us and along with our membership of SELECT, Which Trusted Traders, Scottish Building Standards and Buy With Confidence, our NSI membership in 2016 was one of the top highlights of the companies 20 years. 

We value the feedback we receive from these technical and office audits as it helps us improve the services that we provide to our customers.

Thank you to all our team who have put in the hard work in gaining approval from all these highly respected organisations. ​

​It may be the weekend and some of us will be enjoying some downtime but electricity doesn't know its Saturday or Sunday and continues to power our lives which means electrical safety is a 24/7/365 concern and something we all must be aware of to make sure we keep safe as best as we can.

Electrical safety especially in private rented homes has improved greatly over the last few years due to a change in electrical and fire safety regulations meaning mandatory electrical wiring testing and increased fire detectors has improved the safety for the tenants.

Improving electrical safety in homes and businesses continues to be at the top of the agenda for our electrical trade organisation in Scotland SELECT and their hard work so far should be congratulated and their efforts for continual improvement supported.

Last year I wrote a small article on electrical safety and efficiency in homes which was published in the popular Love Localmagazine which covers Stirling and Clackmannanshire areas.

The article can be read below and if you have any questions about how you can improve electrical safety and efficiency in your premises please ask by commenting on this post or contact me via our website. 

Another good source for safety advice within your home can be found at the Electrical Safety First website.

Do you go out of your way to say 'hello' or 'good morning' etc to a passer by in the street.

I'm not the most upfront or forward person in the world but I do know that I find it hard to walk past someone without trying to give some sort of greeting to them. 

I'm not talking about walking past someone in a busy London street or in the foyer of a pop concert hall, I'm more talking about when you pass someone in your small town or village while walking on the pavement as you pass each other by when there's not many other people around.

Just like waving to acknowledge a car driver when they have stopped for you to let you pass I believe where you were brought up and where you live now has a lot to do whether you will or not give out a small greeting or thank you gesture.

For example I've worked on the Isle of Islay and every car driver waves at you to say hello as you drive past, while in the village where I now live sometimes you can tell if someone has lived elsewhere simply if they do or don't do these greeting or thank you gestures.

Going for an early Sunday morning walk like I did today is a prime time to see how many people will say hello to you. This time is when you are more than likely to receive a response. 

Every time I walk past someone in a relatively quiet street I always raise my head or glance towards the person to try and say hello or good morning to them but it still amazes me how many people 'of all ages' just don't glance back in your direction so the hello interaction can never begin.

Don't get me wrong as I approach these people I will likely have my head lowered and nose buried in my iPhone working away and responding to emails but I feel awkward and wrong if when people approach to pass me if I dont raise my head and glance at them to see if they look towards me so the opportunity to say hello to each other can take place.

Is a simple kindness greeting too much to ask for in this situation?

I've been privileged over the past 20 years to travel to and work in the West Coast of Scotland mostly from as north as Isle of Mull / Oban down towards Isle of Bute and all in between. 

I don't travel as much as I used to in this area but I am just back from working this week on Isle of Bute and with wintry weather around it got me thinking about some of the photographs I have taken of the scenery and weather conditions  over the years so I've had a quick look back at my archives and posted some of my favourite ones.

So as the first week of 2017 draws to a close and we all stop talking about the festivities of the last few weeks our minds start to focus on the year ahead and we start to concentrate and work on the steps we need to take to reach the goals we have set for the months ahead.

This very weekend 4 years ago I took my first step(up and around a big hill)  towards one of my 2013 goals which was to lose weight and improve my health by setting a running challenge target in aid of charity. Over the months of 2013 I would take part in numerous 5k and 10k running events in support of various charities which would help and motivate me to reach my goal by the end of that year.

So a dozen official race events later and 3 stone lighter in weight I had achieved my goal by treating each race as taking a small step along the way which when combined would in turn help me achieve this big hairy yearly goal I had set myself.

Similarly last year in 2016 I set my myself a 40th birthday year challenge of taking part and completing my first ever marathon which after achieving smaller training steps and challenges in the many months before the marathon I managed to achieve my goal and complete the Edinburgh marathon.

Whether in business or personal life we need to set ourself various big hairy goals. To achieve the target though we need to break down how we are going to reach our goal by setting smaller achievable targets (mini goals) which when taken lead us to our end big hairy goal.

One of my big hairy goals for 2017 is to complete my second marathon which will be in my home city of Stirling but the only way to achieve that goal is by getting the hard work done in the many months before by setting training targets and achieving the smaller steps through hard work.

No one ever accomplished a big hairy goal by not putting in the hard work and taking smaller steps beforehand.