Denise's adventure

Hello all

The week has passed by in a whirl. Dolores is getting ever nearer to depositing No. 3 onto dry land (though she may choose a water birth, apparently). This means that we are now fully engaged in equipping the nursery. Moses basket, cot, pushchair etc either recycled or bought new. My wife can now hardly move, and it is largely up to myself to keep things going. Having succesfully evaded all threats to my liberty, I am taking the responsibility seriously. I'll draw upon my previous experiences of raising toddlers, but 11 years is rather a large gap, and from what I've been reading, much more is now known about how to ensure one's baby has the best early-life chances. So, for example, Dolores has been eating about 10 kgs of sardines each week in order to ensure the foetus's brain develops to its full potential.

You may be wondering what happened after we left the court and headed back up to Scotland. Denise, you will recall, told us that she had posted a note with a complete explanation of the circumstances under which my release from potential conviction had arisen. When we arrived back we did indeed find a rather lenghty note that did indeed explain everything. The journey upon which Denise embarked was indeed remarkable, and it certainly deserves telling, if only to highlight her remarkable loyalty and commitment. But it is rather a long tale, and would take many blog entries to do it justice.

I told Dr Mark Booth, my ever attentive and creative marketing manager, of my dilemma. He suggested that I might like to use the story to create some revenue for the Matangini Project, which he has now incorporated into an existing registered charity called Stand up for Africa (www.standupforafrica.org.uk). 'It's really simple Joseph!', he exclaimed when I asked him ho w I could possibly use Denise's story to make money.

'How?' I asked

'All you have to do is promise to reveal the next installment when the fundraising total reaches... some threshold. Put the first installment up for free, then ask for donations to reveal the next episode.'

'What an excellent idea!', I said. 'How much do you reckon we should go for?'

'£200?' suggested Mark

I fell about laughing. Sometimes my marketing manager can be just a little too optimistic, even by my standards. 'Let's set our sights a bit lower. Much lower in fact. Have you seen the site-stats recently?'

'Not doing too well are you?'

'That about sums it up. Better than this time last year, but I haven't exactly hit the big time. It's my own fault. I haven't been participating enough.'

'Extenuating circumstances my friend!'

'True. Well, I'll see what I can do. But I like your idea. Let's set the first threshold at £50. I'll start a new blog just for the story, put the first episode up there for free and see how things go. It's all for a good cause, so you never know. Perhaps you could drum up a bit of publicity in Cambridge.'

'I'm already on to it..'

So there you have it. I will tell Denise's remarkable tale, and by doing so I'll help Dr Booth raise some money towards his charity. Suddenly I feel good about myself again.

J McC