I HAVE had a whopper week since we last spoke. Tuesday was dedicated to the writing of a speech with my neighbour. There was much quaffing. This made Wednesday very tortuous when I had much to do about everything.

On Thursday, I hot hoofed it over to Trowbridge to take full advantage of the free business expo, which had the very unfortunate hashtag #wiltsexpo13. Have you ever been to a sexpo? No, me neither, but the Wiltshire event was very good and I was able to network and showcase my column.

I spent the whole day explaining that I was blogger.

“What’s a blogger?” was the over-riding reply. I persevered, although it was reminiscent of the infamous question when I was working summer seasons as a sailing instructor: “If you do this in the summer – what do you do in the winter?”

In the end we would make up jobs: “Oh, I’m an Arctic seal clubber”, and the like.

After the Sexpo I hurtled down to Dorset to attend a local business awards. They had a Twitter board and it was hashtag-tastic. The advent of social media is even beginning to penetrate the shires. Soon, you’ll all be blogging and tweeting. It’s just a matter of time. This also seemed to unravel late into the night. And I managed to persuade a chartered accountant to wear my high-heeled shoes.

#hilarious.

Then, still suffering from the night before, I had to get myself to #BritMumsLive, a swanky conference in the heart of London, where 500 parent bloggers convene to talk about all things blogging and tweeting.

I was a finalist in the awards but alas I didn’t win – which was very disappointing because I like winning things.

In fact, I really would like to win an Oscar so at least this was good practice for being nominated and not winning as I made my Oscar face, with gritted teeth grin, and celebrated with magnanimous clapping.

I also did the tourist thing, a highlight of which was meeting Elmo, the owl actor who plays Hedwig in the Harry Potter films.

But the most significant thing I did was attend a seminar on feminism. It was here that I decided to create a new hashtag – a significant one #Makechildcare100percenttaxdeductible.

If we actually did this and empowered more parents to work, maybe both parents would have a pension instead of just one and both parents would have a voice, which creates the sort of political change we actually need.

Of course, if I had my way I would turn Westminster into a tourist attraction and build a government campus in the West Midlands but until that mythical day happens our country will continue to be run by men in tights.

#happydays 

  • Writer & journalist Clare Macnaughton’s latest book is available on Amazon.

Follow Clare on twitter: @amodmilitarymum Blog: amodernmilitarymother.com