Hello
I hope you’re enjoying the bank holiday weekend. We’re all off making the most of this rare bit of sunshine, but the girls will be back in the office tomorrow. In the meantime, I wanted to share a handy little app that I like to have on my phone (just in case), and news of what we’ve been up to recently.
What Three Words?
What3words is a website and app that you can use to pinpoint exactly where you are in the world. It’s used by emergency services, search and rescue, and car breakdown services to help find you quickly and accurately.
It’s a really clever system. What they’ve done is broken down the whole surface of the Earth into 3m squares, then given every one a unique set of three words to describe it. The words have been randomly assigned to each square, but they never change – so the same place always has the same what3words “address”.
If you need to tell someone your exact location using what3words, you can either use an app version on a phone or tablet, or their website (what3words.com) on any device. If you’ve got the app – called “what3words: Never get lost again”, you don’t need an internet connection to find your location. So if you’re going on a long journey or out into the wilds somewhere, it might be worth getting the app before you go.
It’s a completely free service, and very simple to use. It shows you a map, and all you do is click or tap on the square that shows where you are. It gives you three words, separated by dots – e.g. “speaks.glow.tooth” or “prices.slippery.traps”. You can share those three words with whoever is trying to find you. They just need to type those words into the what3words website or app, and it shows them where you are on the map.
Very clever, I think.
What’s in a memory?
I also wanted to tell you a bit about the new book we’ve been working on over the last few months. It’s a bit of a departure for us, actually – because the “techy” bits aren’t really the main point…
You see, I reckon everyone has a story to tell. Whether it’s about them and their life, the people and places that have made a difference to them, or the history of their family. But it can be hard to know where to start.
Sitting down to actually write about your memories can be a scary prospect – I’ve faced down the blank page of doom many a time – but there are lots of tips, tricks and techniques you can use to make it all come much more smoothly and easily.
And the end result is one of the greatest gifts you can give to your family… the stories that would otherwise be forgotten. The knowledge of where they come from and what that means.
We’re still putting the finishing touches to the book at the moment, but I’ll tell you more about it later in the week. (I’m rather proud of it, actually.)
All the best
Yours
Julie Wakeling