Carla Francome

I’m still trying to recover from it TBH.

Photo of a Malted Milk biscuit (without chocolate this time)

I reached into the biscuit tin at work yesterday for a delicious Malted Milk, only to discover there was chocolate on the underside!

Believe me I’m a lover of chocolate. But I felt this a completely unnecessary edition! Almost a biscuit blasphemy!

Right! It’s always nerve wracking isn’t it

Me at tech UK

issue, atleast everyone will pay attention!

Anyway here’s me pretending it all went perfectly afterwards 🤗

7/7

leaning in 🤯

“How was it?” I asked people afterwards.

“You were quite loud” they said. “We certainly heard you”. And “did you even need a microphone?”

A lot of lessons learnt!

Have more time for ad libbing, practice on the mic, oh and that if you have a slideshow … 6/7

But there was another problem too. There was a mic on the stand, but despite watching others talk for 2 hours, I hadn’t realised that you don’t have to lean across and talk into it, like you’re at karaoke or something. You can just talk normally.

I did quite a bit of … 5/7

Me in the room again

Buildings in Farringdon with the sun

did some fiddling behind me to fix it.

I did get one joke in, about how my boss was a problem solver, and I rather needed him to solve this problem. Right now.

The good thing though, was everyone was really paying attention now, to see what would happen with the slides. … 4/7

Me on stage

flutter behind me. It turned out my slides were flicking through themselves automatically, by themselves.

Now ordinarily I’d have stopped and had a good joke about this, but my speech was 7 mins 39, and I only had an 8 minute slot. So I did some hand waving and some kind people … 3/7

Me looking tense in the room

Reader it did not go just right 😳

I had been listening to other people talk for over two hours so by the time it was my moment, I’d built myself into a nervous frenzy, and found myself quickly reading through my speech.

Too quick. “Slow down!” I thought.

Then I noticed a - /2

Me in the large room

Beautiful glass building in Farringdon

So - public speaking - it’s a THING isn’t it! 😨

I was booked to do an 8 minute presentation yesterday at tech UK, about the origin story of our company and what we do, with slides too.

I spent a lot of the weekend practicing it, hoping to get it just right. … 1/7

She looks nice. Have fun!

I mean this is just a thought, but for a gig like that you’d want someone who:
~ Saw him on stage when he was getting started

~ Has a good laugh that will be appreciated

a man in a suit is standing in a room holding a jacket . ALT: a man in a suit is standing in a room holding a jacket .

Who are you going with …

Daniel Kitson tickets *cough*

Sabine holding her article in the Ham & High paper, standing in front of her bicycle on a lamplit street.

Cycling has transformed Sabine's life, saving her time, money, and stress on every trip.

She says: "I’m fitter, more confident and more independent. I really look forward to my journeys now."

"It’s nice knowing I can get where I need to be on my own terms."

5/7

Me with Sabine holding her article in the Ham & High paper

Brilliant to see my daughter Sabine’s first article in print in the Ham & High www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/255880..., telling her story about the day she stopped waiting for the bus – and started saving £1,000 a year.

1/7

Sabine as a young cyclist riding a red bike over Waterloo bridge with London skyline and Big Ben in the background.

Sabine cycled a lot at primary school, but didn’t cycle as a teen because her friends didn’t. So it was amazing to see her find the confidence to get back on the road – and now she’s even inspired a few friends to start cycling too.


4/7

Sabine holding her article in the Ham & High paper, standing in front of her bicycle and trees in a street.

Having spent several years and £1,000s of pounds using public transport, just before turning 21 she made the switch to cycling.

She dusted off my mum’s old bike, pumped up the tyres, and we rode to uni together a couple of times to find a quiet route she felt comfortable with.

2/7

There’s one bit of this that always chokes me up!

This is the most beautiful and moving story, of a woman in her early 20s who’s travelling on public transport, when her dad encourages her to get a bike out of the shed and start riding. Read it and weep!

🥹🥹🥹🥹

That really is some bike!

Trike with bright green fenders , with a board across the back basket, which the rider found on the side of the road.

I have done several errands with my e trike over the past three days. Everywhere that I went, someone started a conversation with me about it. If you want to keep up social connections, ride around on a cool trike! @bikewinnipeg.bsky.social @carlafrancome.bsky.social

How fab!

20 Nov - Handlebars of Happiness features storyteller @lesabrecanberra.bsky.social who’ll explain his latest epic.
He took his recumbent tricycle from Canberra to London, rode from Heathrow and hung out with good eggs like @carlafrancome.bsky.social, before riding through parts of ENG & France.

Oof I’m sorry. The problem is they just don’t care. There are so many fake customer service agents from booking.com which just shows how bad it is! Well done for fighting them

Never got my money back. They just don’t care IMO

Haringey folks and those in neighbouring areas, please fill out this consultation about bus lanes and pedestrian crossings around Alexandra Park.

It doesn’t take long and it feels great to get your views in the mix! I loved filling out all the boxes …

haringey.gov.uk/streets-road...

Oh wow!

I just kicked the metal “sick bowl” that’s under the bed and it made a great “gonggg” noise. I realised this is probably the closest I’ll ever get to going to a sound bath session.

The Ranelagh pub

Roast dinner

a big thanks to the Ranelagh pub for offering 20% off to everyone who’d been to the launch. It was fully booked!

Well done to everyone who’s been involved in this, what a brilliant effort. Cycle campaigners, this can be some inspo perhaps … 9/9