With the advent of Trump-Mania, we hear every day that the media are presenting us with so-called 'fake news'. I must say, I often scoff at articles which present only half the facts when you know that there is more to a story than meets the eye.

I have just finished reading a fascinating article about the #1 restaurant in London on Trip Advisor - And it's completely fake. The concept was dreamed up by a guy called Oobah Butler who was a paid reviewer for places in Trip Advisor. He would charge restaurants £10 to review their restaurants and eventually decided to try something a little bolder so created a completely fabricated restaurant called The Shed which became the #1 rated restaurant in London without ever having a single customer. Pretty clever huh?

This leads me to the question of reviews. These days the internet is our prime source of information. No more so than when travelling overseas or out of town looking for somewhere to eat. Last week I was in Hong Kong and the most obvious place to look for restaurant reviews in a foreign city is Trip Advisor. The problem I found was that no matter where you looked, there were reviews rating 5 star, 5 star, 5 star.... and then a 1 or 2 star from a person stating they'd actually been there and the place was terrible. Which led me to question the honesty of these reviews so I went one step further and clicked through to one of the reviewers bio. At that point the alarm bells started ringing. This person was reportedly from New York City but had no previous reviews in New York City and single city reviews from all around the world. Who ever goes to a foreign city for one night? I guess that when you are one of thousands of restaurants in a cosmopolitan city, you have to stand out from the rest and can't afford to be restaurant #5,497 of 6,000 restaurants.

So what's real and what's fake? Who can tell these days? Spam emails leak through everyday with supposedly 'real' messages. Someone makes an observation on Twitter and it get's re-worded and 'leaked'. Reviews are paid for. News articles are regurgitated with facts missing....

The main message here is that it's important to encourage our internet-savvy children to question what they read on the internet and not take every article at face value. We are a generation which has grown up with Encyclopedia Britannica and the National Geographic in hard copy. Articles were written once and printed, not regurgitated a thousand times with a hundred different versions. We need to be smart and question the source of the information.

Podcasts are making waves throughout the world and the best thing is that they're (mostly) free! If you're a New Zealander, you may be aware of "Black Hands - The David Bain Story" which was produced by Stuff.co.nz and is a 10 part Podcast.

What is a Podcast you may ask? Podcasts are similar to the golden age of listening to radio stories first thing on a Sunday morning so that your parents could have a sleep in. I recall listening to Peter and the Wolf and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang when I was a child, snuggled up in bed before the sun came up so that my parents could have an extra hour to themselves.

So, back to Podcasts. Podcasts are stories, memoirs, lessons or recorded feeds of comedians/radio shows/politicians... etc - you get the idea. They can be anything that people want to record. To listen to them, you'll need the Podcast app and then you can download whatever takes your fancy. As I live rurally, I have a 45 minute car journey into town so this is a great time to listen to Podcasts. Just like listening to music in your car, you either plug in (or use Apple Car Play) and play the Podcasts through your car stereo.

My current favourite genre is crime stories and the team at Wondery (search 'Wondery') have plenty of stories to download. Each episode is usually around 45 mins-1 hour long which is perfect for a trip into town.

A few off my favourites:

Black Hands

Dirty John

Serial

Hollywood & Crime

Charlie

Lock Up Abroad

Social media. If you're a teenager then it's your lifeline. Older and you're probably a relative novice like myself.

20 years ago social media didn't exist like it does today. We talked on the telephone and read the daily paper in hard copy rather than on a laptop. We wrote letters to friends and family (and received letters in return). We remembered phone numbers off by heart rather than choosing a name from our contacts. Things were different back then.

So here are a few social media apps which may be of interest to you.

1. Instagram: Everybody's heard of it but not everyone uses it. This is a photo sharing app most popularly used on phones. You take photos of what you are doing and post it on your profile along with a few words and some #hashtags. Hashtags are the search phrases people use when looking for something ie. #funnyquotes (Don't put a gap between words or this ends the hashtag). If you want to search for images on Instagram of #funnyquotes, you enter that phrase and see the 1,057,217 images people have used with that hashtag.

2. Snapchat: Definitely the younger generation's plaything. You take a photo within the app and send it to whomever is in your friends list. Once viewed, unless you save the image, the snap will disappear, never to be seen again. Teens often have multiple accounts and only let you see the one's they want you to see so don't be fooled into thinking your teenage son or daughter doesn't do a lot of Snapchatting. They do...

3. Facebook: Known as 'Only old people use Facebook' which is kind of ironic because you often see teens looking at it so it can't be that archaic. It's a place where people post photos of what they are doing and let others comment on it. It's also a good way of remembering who's birthday it is on any given day as it reminds you about everyone in your friend group (very useful!). It is also known to create FOMO (fear of missing out) when you see others having a good time ("Why wasn't I there?").

4. Reddit: My new personal fav to waste a bit of time. Download the app, set up an account and click on 'popular' at the top and you'll get huge amounts of completely random trivia/photos/videos to peruse through. When you see something you like or don't like, click on the UP arrow (upvote) or DOWN arrow (downvote) to give the post more karma. It's a democracy thing and you are the voter. A few of the subreddits (boards) I like are: r/mildlyinteresting, r/mademesmile, /showerthoughts & r/oddlysatisfying. You can follow boards by clicking on the Subscribe button within that board.

5. Twitter: The Donald Trump's of this world use Twitter as their personal stage. Others use it as a way to get information out there in a hurry (ie. traffic incidents, weather alerts, road warnings). Twitter allows sentences of 140 characters in length and the 'tweets' go onto that user's profile. You can chose who's profile to follow and you'll see their tweets come up on your 'feed'.

'Busy' seems to be the new buzz word these days. Everyone is so BUSY. Perhaps Busy is the new Normal and we all need to take a step back and reassess what we are doing in our lives to all be feeling this way. Is it where we live? What we try to take on? Or perhaps what we think is expected of us?

A year ago we left the city and started a new life in the country and that's when I noticed things were slowing down a bit. I had time to work in the garden, tend to the chickens (ha, I now have chickens?!) and even play a bit of golf. I didn't mind getting up at 6am in summer to be on the course by 6:30am and was still able to get a full day's work in. When and if I have to go into 'town' the drive is 45 minutes which gives me time to listen to my favorite Podcasts (more on this later). I get to the end of the day and still have the time and energy to make a nice dinner, spend time with my husband and if I'm really lucky, have a bath and read my book (kindle).

So what's changed? Technology means that we are able to work from home more easily these days. I tend to get up earlier so have more hours in the day to do the things I enjoy. I don't have to spend precious hours in the car commuting to work. I'm more organised and efficient. I answer emails from multiple devices (but try not to do work related emails in the evenings). I spend a lot of time in gumboots, not high heels (much better for your feet!) and don't spend anywhere near as much on clothes so the bank balance is looking healthier. I grow many of my own veges, live in a community where bartering is currency of choice and get plenty of exercise. Healthy heart, healthy mind.

Grab a coffee and take a seat folks, it's time for some funny sayings (straight out of our tea towel and apron range).

For the kitchen:

1. My cooking is fabulous. I'm expecting applause but stunned silence will do.

2. A quiet man is a thinking man. A quiet woman is usually mad.

3. Bad decisions make good stories and I always have a good story.

4. We are just like the girls in Sex in The City. Minus all the hot men. and the sex. So basically we just live in a city.

5. I'm thankful for many things. My fabulous wardrobe, my awesome taste in friends. And wine.

For the wine lovers:

1. I enjoy a glass of wine for the health benefits. The other glasses are for my witty comebacks and flawless dance moves.

2. Dear wine: We had a deal. You'd make me funnier, sexier and smarter. I've seen the video. You lied.

3. Wine pairs well with food. I pair well with wine.

4. Wine: You say glass, I say bottle. Po-tay-to, Po-tah-to.

5. Friends are therapists you can drink wine with.

Everyone's day starts with a pop (or a bang depending on how loud the music on your alarm is). Words can be either shared with a loved one or sung in the shower but for most people, words are part of our everyday lives.

A good way to promote the power of positive thinking is to surround yourself with positive words and positive people so try leaving yourself motivational post-it notes in prominent places. I like, "Stay positive, work hard, make it happen". Give yourself a pat on the back when you achieve something, whether it's sticking with a diet or not saying that (not so nice) comment you so desperately want to say to someone. Use powerful words like, 'will do', 'yes' & I'd be happy to' rather than 'might', 'maybe' & "alright'. Don't take everything others say to heart. We are sensitive beings and often what one person says can be interpreted differently by another. Be strong, be independent and be positive. As the younger generation say, "YOLO". You only live once.