I’m up early on the morning of the last day of a holiday in Barcelona. Everybody else is fast asleep and I’ve been downloading photos onto my mac for safe keeping. I adore Barcelona – there are so many different ways to spend your time here - it’s as if you are in 5 separate cities at the same time. The fact that I’ve been over here to watch my team play in a unique Rugby League match in the Catalan capital has made it even more special this time.

During his annual performance review, a friend of mine was told that he needed to attend a presentation skills training course. Because he knows that I deliver training on personal impact and communication he asked for my advice.

His boss had given him a shopping list of things he needed to cover on any suitable course he found. I can only assume that the list was a composition of the topics that his boss has been taught on the various presentation skills courses he’d attended in the past:

• Learn to use visual aids
• Techniques to practice and rehearse

I had 2 guitars until the 30th December. One was a bright red Gibson electric and the other is a quirky Martin backpacker acoustic guitar that I bought in the US.

We had family staying with us on the 27th and by the time we had put the kids to bed, I poured myself a beer and got the acoustic out for a relaxing strum. To my horror, it had been broken. Somebody had knocked it over and snapped the ‘nut’ – the little piece of grooved nylon at the top that holds the strings in place.

"It is funny how judges both in real life and on Strictly Come Dancing lose touch with the views of ordinary people" - John Sergeant

John pulled out of the Strictly Come Dancing Show today - because he might just win it! A shame really because he's been taken into the hearts of so many ordinary people in Britain. I for one had never watched the show until I heard about John's attempts to dance. As someone who has a poor sense of ...... timing, I can truly relate to John's attempts (and hard work).