Freshly Social

Knot-tying is an important aspect of sailing and the basics are easy to learn and are usually taught on an RYA course. The Figure of 8 knot and Bowline knots are some of the most basic, and yet most useful knots to know.

In boating, it’s important to know that there is a different name for each end of the rope. The loose end in your hand is called ‘the bitter end’, which originates from the name for the posts onto which you secure your boat while docking, called the bitts. The other end, which takes the strain, is called the standing end.  The middle part or loop of the rope also has its unique name in knot-tying terminology and is known as the bight.

Internationally famous celebs have made their homes in Chelsea for decades and apartments and penthouses in the exclusive tree-lined borough are still highly sought after by the rich and famous.

King’s Road in Chelsea was home to some of the world’s top rock and pop stars in the sixties and seventies, including the celebrated Beatles and Rolling Stones.  For centuries, the nearby Belgravia square was the most fashionable place to live, with the Duke of Bedford once occupying  house number 6.  While London has expanded and changed around the boroughs of Chelsea and Kensington, the area still remains relatively unchanged and one of the most exclusive places to live in the world. Chelsea nightclubs are where you go if you want to spot celebrities and even nobility, as even Prince William and Harry have started taking an interest in the area recently. Walking though Chelsea, you’ll be unaware that it is teeming with celebrities living out their lavish lives behind sometimes modest-looking closed doors.

It was just a matter of time before celebrities’ toilets became fodder for gossip, lapped up by the star-struck public and, as you can see on YouTube and in tabloids this is already starting to happen.

Dylan provides portable toilets for his guards

Bob Dylan caused quite a stir with the portable toilets that his bodyguards use outside his luxury home. Neighbours complained about the chemical smell emanating from the portable toilet system, which stands near his house in Malibu but the mayor dismissed the complaint as unimportant. Perhaps former eco-warrior, Dylan, should think about investing in some decent, non-air polluting toilets for his employees.

Leo’s eco-potty

Air conditioners, both of the portable air conditioner and installation varieties, have changed where we live, the design of homes and office units and improved our standard of living and day to day comfort. Most of us didn’t grow up with them but if asked to give them up now, we would politely decline. Yet there was life before air conditioning.

How did they do it?

As a freelancer or a contractor, you run the business, do all the work and do your own accounts. Chances are things can get a little disorganised if you don’t have a system in place that works. The digital age has taken us a step beyond the old dog-eared diary and pen. As an IT contractor you can keep track of your finances, keep contracts details and manage your work load, all online. Social media sites offer useful tools for freelances that keep things in check.

Invoicing can be annoying and time consuming, causing you to battle with Excel documents at the end of a long job, but Blinksale is a way to store and send invoices easily online. The templates are all ready to use and you can custom design them to suit your specific needs. Joining is free and you can set up reoccurring invoices and create tags to organise the invoices.

Converse shoes are a must-have for any teenager’s wardrobe, from the shoe hanger to your feet. They represent the art of rebellion, something which appeals to most people, especially during their adolescent years. The underlying message is that you don’t have to accept things the way they are; make a change and make a difference. And that is exactly what Converse is doing with their RED campaign; making a stand for the fight against AIDS in Africa.

Ironically enough, I stumbled across Converse’s RED campaign when I was searching for fashion shoes. Converse is working with the Product RED initiate run by Bono and Bobby Shriver that invests a sustainable flow of private sector money in African AIDS programmes. The Converse RED project has brought together 100 artists globally to design a new line called All Star Africa that focuses on the Aids crises and used African-sourced canvas and mud cloth designs.

Quad biking is one of the fastest growing adventure sports in the world and South Africa, with its amazing weather and spectacular scenery is one of the best places to enjoy all the thrills (and spills) that the sport affords. From the arid lands of the Northern Cape, the mountains in KwaZulu-Natal, the green Garden Route in the Eastern Cape and the adrenalin-fuelled trails in Gauteng, each of South Africa’s nine provinces offer quad biking enthusiasts something unique and entirely unforgettable.

Nature Discovery Tours is a mere 45 minute drive from Cape Town in the Western Cape and caters to quad biking enthusiasts who not only appreciate adventure but nature as well. The quad bike trails used by Nature Discovery were designed with the help of Cape Nature Conservation and offers bikers the chance to see some of the Cape’s rarer plant species. The area covered by Nature Discovery Tours includes the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve in Elgin Valley, which is famous for its award winning wines. Nature Discovery offers a range of quad bike trails suited to beginners to experienced bikers, including morning and afternoon trails, full day trails and overnight tours.