31 March 2022

Gillio Slim Compagna

This is the Gillio Slim Compagna in Rosewood Matt Croco printed leather. It's a mixture of red and brown. The photos are a fairly accurate rendition of the colour of the leather. 

This colour leather has been available for other Compagna models, but it has only recently been released in the Slim size. 

'Slim' size takes regular Personal size (Medium/Standard) pages (171x95mm). The 'Slim' is now fitted with 16mm Krause rings. You can't put these new Krause rings in to older Slim Compagnas as the mounting point distance is different at 131mm the older rings had a mounting point spacing of 118mm.

Slim is a popular size/model combining the size of personal with a relatively slim and practical size. 

The front of the Slim Compagna


The back of the Slim Compagna


The interior. I was sent the gold rings in addition to the usual silver Krause rings. I decided this colour leather suited the gold rings best so I swapped them out, 


The inside front cover has a secretarial flap pocket with three card slots and a business card/ticket pocket at the base. 


The inside back cover has a secretarial flap pocket with three card slots and an elasticated pen loop. 


The Compagna Slim comes with the full width back pocket, which is useful for loose papers. 


The Krause rings measure 16mm internal diameter. Most Filofax Compacts use 15 mm rings. Gillio Compact might be a better description especially as it has a clasp. 


Thank you to Gillio Firenze in Belgium for supplying the sample for me to examine and review.

Further information: 

Gillio - IIC bvba
Breedveld 2 unit 7
1651 LOT (Beersel)
Belgium
+32 (0)2 380 63 19

Email: helpdesk@gillio.be
Website: https://www.gillio.be
Facebook page: Gillio Firenze
Facebook groupGillio Firenze
Instagram: @GillioFirenze 



30 March 2022

Video Web Finds - Wednesday 30 March 2022

So I hope you have had a good weekend.

So now it is time to enjoy a great collection of videos from around the internet.

Here are a selection of the latest Filofax videos for your enjoyment.
  1. Everyday Stickers by Filofax - Filofax
  2. New Compact and Classic Binders Now Available - Tonya Plans
  3. PWM - Gillio Amica & Standard Stalogy Bujo - Monique Smith
  4. Plan with Me // How I set up a new month in 3 different planners - the planner spot
  5. Planning Changes - A Life by Angi M
  6. VDS planner Junior 25mm | unboxing| touch me parme leather | Vander Spek | pocket - Plan To Craft
  7. All of the crocs! Gillio, Moterm, & Van der Spek - InitialPlans
  8. VAN DER SPEK UNBOXING | Part 02 - Planswithjay
  9. Junior Van Der Spek | Unboxing - Sam Plans
  10. Custom VDS Unboxing | Order Process + Timeline + Price | Senior/A6 30mm Ring Organizer - The Introvert Mom
  11. VDS Stardust | Standard with Personal Wide inserts & FC Compact inserts | - Lali Plans
  12. Van der Spek Pocket Planner | Set Up with Flip Through | VDS Pocket Rings wallet planner - Plan To Craft
  13. Switch Binders With Me for April 2022! || Monthly Update To MyFranklin Covey Planning System - Sandra Dahl
  14. Spend 4,5 days in Paris with me! last week’s city trip in 30 sec travel #shorts - lizzuplans
  15. Pocket Planner Comparison | Moterm, Filofax, Gillio - Thoughts Along Life's Highway
  16. Planner Flip Through- Franklin Planner Compact Vintage Aurora - My Moxie Dreams
  17. Switch Binders with Me! - BuySellPlan
  18. Franklin Planner Setup || Weekly Plan With Me || March 28 - April 3 || NEW Dashboards from ETSY! - Sandra Dahl
  19. Moterm Pocket Rings Planner Update | Setting Up My Bullet Journal Hybrid System - chamiecreates
  20. Plan With Me | Week Of March 28 - April 3, 2022 | Personal Rings - Tiffany’s Plans
  21. My Current Planning System 2022 | Q1 Planner Flipthrough | Filofax Personal Expression Planner Rings - Nadia Jack
  22. Plan with Me! March 28-31 - BuySellPlan
  23. Delmon Varone XXXL A4 Folio - Review - Graham Rhind
  24. Personal Filofax Malden Stone - On the go Planner - Monique Smith
  25. Louis Vuitton Medium Agenda | Updated Flip Through | FC Compact Inserts - Lali Plans
  26. Moterm Personal Luxe Planner | FCC size inserts | personal planner flip through - Plan To Craft
  27. Gillio Personal rings (medium Compagna) - Reneesplannerplace
  28. Updated flip of my Gillio Black Epoca Medium Compagna - Mod Plans
  29. On the Go Planner Chat - Pocket Plus Print Pression & A6 Aura Estelle Rings - Monique Smith
  30. Pocket Planner Setups | Simplified Setup | Filofax Pocket Malden & TN - Joy2Plan
  31. Filofax Classic Croc - Silver Mist - I LOVE PAPER WORLD
  32. SaltyTwentyTwo | Spring 2022 Planner Setup | A5 Compact Filofax Chester in Black - saltytwentytwo
  33. Print & Trim Inserts for Filofax Personal Planner - Genius Tip! - Planning with Chloe
  34. Planner Destash! | Moterm, Filofax, A5 rings, A6 Rings, Pocket rings and More! - MomYePlans
  35. Personal Gillio Compagna Planner Flip March 2022 - Kerri Pouliot
  36. Planner Flip: Louis Vuitton Large Ring Agenda - Linda Anna
  37. Your YouTube video could appear here. If you have a YT channel that features Filofax organisers or similar, please let us know.
  • Please leave a comment on any of the videos you enjoyed and mention you saw a link on Philofaxy. 
  • For tips on how to improve your videos, please see this post.  Also this video too Webfinds 
  • Your Filofax/Organiser Videos could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 
Enjoy




29 March 2022

Free For All Tuesday - No. 582

So what questions or discussion points have you got for us today?

It doesn't matter if you are a beginner or a more experienced user of organisers, we want to hear your thoughts, questions, opinions etc.

We are here to answer your questions.

Make today the one day you post a comment or a question.

It is Tuesday after all so fire away with any questions and comments.

28 March 2022

A Date For Your Diary - Sunday 3 April 2022

Given the success and the number of people that took part in the recent  'Virtual Meet Ups' we are going to run another one.

When? - Sunday 3 April 2022 at the following time:
  • Los Angeles 8:00 am, 
  • Denver 9:00 am
  • Dallas 10:00 am, 
  • New York 11:00am, 
  • Moncton 12:00 noon,
  • London 4:00 pm 
  • Paris 5:00 pm etc.  
Do not worry if you aren't available at the start of the session each one lasts 1-2 hours, so pop up when you are available and say hello.

Where? - an on-line chat using Skype. with voice and video (if you wish)

Join the chat here: https://join.skype.com/A85fEyS7HPUP

What do I need? - just a micro-phone and some head phones(in ear phones work fine) and a free Skype account. Using headphones or earphone reduces 'echo' on the call. Video is optional, but a most of us will be on video as well.

Who - All of you... Join the chat here: https://join.skype.com/A85fEyS7HPUP  Come and listen if you don't want to chat.  What do we talk about? Filofax stuff... but anything else as well. It's like long lost friends meeting up for coffee and a catch up.. but don't worry if you have never joined in before... you are an old friend too!

If you have any questions you want to ask then please let us know in the group or before we start.

Come and join in the fun, even if you only pop in to say hello... but don't be afraid to join in the discussion.

If you need any assistance setting up Skype, please pop a comment in this post and I will try and help you get one line. Skype is free for computer to computer calls....

Here is my post on how to improve your Skype audio with headphones or a headset.

Hope to be chatting with you on Sunday 3 April 2022.

26 March 2022

Web Finds - Saturday 26 March 2022

So now it is time to enjoy a few blog posts from around the internet,  so grab a drink and make yourself comfortable for our weekly round-up.

Here are some Philofaxy posts you might have missed this week:
  1. Web Finds - Saturday 19 March 2022
  2. Silent Sunday
  3. Having Enough Time
  4. Free For All Tuesday - No. 581
  5. Philofaxy Meet Up - London - Saturday 23 April 2022
  6. Video Web Finds - Wednesday 23 March 2022
  7. Filofax 3CL repair/restoration
  8. Free For All Friday - No. 698 by Anita
Here are the latest Filofax and other brand blog posts from around the Internet. Don't forget to leave a comment on the posts you enjoyed reading, all bloggers enjoy getting comments.
  1. Go Wild! : A First Timers Experience & Guide of the Event - The Fabulous Planner - News
  2. Episode #147: Managing Projects 1 - Getting Things Done
  3. Finsbury vs Kensington (personal size) - Random Pastimes of a Restless Mind
  4. Achieving Mental Equanimity - FranklinPlanner Talk
  5. Organization and cultivating growth in your work with PLOTTER – Miranda Sanchez [Interview No.005] - PLOTTER USA
  6. Finsbury vs Lockwood - Random Pastimes of a Restless Mind
  7. Using a Planner Sheet to Track Your Bills & Bank Balance [freebie] - Planner + Fun
  8. The Franklin Five: April 2022 - FranklinPlanner Talk
  9. Rating every pen I own (100+!) (The pens you need… and the pens you don’t) - All About Planners
  10. Link Love: In the Bag - The Well-Appointed Desk
  11. Web Finds – 23 March 2022 - Travellers Notebook Times
  12. Your blog post could appear here. Please let us know if you have a blog that features ring bound organisers.
  • Please leave a comment on any of the blogs you enjoyed reading and mention that you saw their post mentioned on Philofaxy. Thank you
  • We monitor over 400 blogs and sites, your Filofax/Organiser blog posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 
  • We can not guarantee people will read your posts, but we know there is a higher chance of people reading your posts and returning to read other posts if you make them interesting with pictures and good hints and tips. 
  • Your Filofax/Organiser posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 
  • Consider joining our Facebook group - Filofax for Philofaxy fans

Enjoy




25 March 2022

Free For All Friday - No. 698 by Anita

Recently I've been catching up on some reading and podcasts, and as it often does, it's been making me think about how I can use my Filofax in different ways.

One podcast that I'd recommend is this compilation of David Allen's 'Two minute tips for turbulent times' GTD podcasts:
https://gettingthingsdone.com/2021/12/two-minute-tips-for-turbulent-times-with-david-allen/

I haven't finished listening to it yet, but once I'm done, I'm going to make a list of my favourite ones, as I think that it will be a great resource to help me get going on any days that I might be feeling a bit overwhelmed or stuck. 

I'm also thinking of writing separate 'toolkits' for different purposes that will be a brief list that will serve as reminders, e.g. how to get my email back up to date or do a Filofax review. I haven't started on them yet, but the idea is so that I don't need to do the thinking again and again. 

For example, I have a post-it note on the back of my dashboard that is a prompt for some self-care basics: 
  • Drink?
  • Snack?
  • Have a break?
  • Get outside?
  • Move?
  • Time alone?
  • Company? 
Do you keep lists or reminders like these ones in your organiser?

And as always on Fridays, please feel free to discuss anything organiser related.

24 March 2022

Filofax 3CL repair/restoration

This 'Vintage' Filofax 3CL organiser was advertised on one of the Facebook groups. It looked a little sad and tired, it had certainly been used since it was bought in 1987. 

Talking to the seller he noticed that the ring mechanism was coming away from the leather at the top and bottom. From the photos I wasn't sure how easy this would be to fix. But we settled on a price and he posted it to me. 


With it in my hands I was then able to see the extent of the wear and tear on the leather and the ring mechanism. I had never attempted a repair of this nature before. 'So in for a penny in for a pound'

First of all gently removed the ring mechanism, using my usual method of removing the top cover, take off the tabs, then remove the ring halves and then gently remove the base plate. The backing plate was held in by a strip of leather which I removed and I was then able to clean up the backing plate and do some work on the leather. 

Without the rings, the leather was able to be treated. I used a liquid beeswax leather balm and using a small paint brush I gave it a liberal coating inside and out. I left it to soak in for about 30 minutes before cleaning it off with a soft cloth. This also removed some of the accumulated patina from the leather. 

I then left the leather to dry out again in a cool, but well ventilated area of our basement.  The leather was now starting to feel supple and more pleasant smelling. 

Then it was time to tackle getting the rings back in again. The backing plate sits in a concaved area in the spine. This seemed to have retained the same shape and the backing plate sat in this area naturally.

To hold it in place, I used a suitable gel-type glue and then pressed it down and then held it with a couple of clothes pegs and left it to set for about 24 hours. I was surprised how secure it seemed. 

To cover it up I had some thin black leather. I cut this into a thin strip and then glued that in to place over the top of the backing plate, being careful to leave cut outs for the tabs. 

Again I left this for 24 hours to set and dry before reassembling the rings. One of the ring pairs was slightly out of alignment, but I was able to encourage it back into shape with some needle nosed pliers. 

I am reasonably pleased with the end result, but I was then wondering how to improve the appearance of the outside leather. It had been worn down through the top layer of the leather.

I gave it another treatment of the leather balm, again leaving it to soak in and then wipe off and polish. But the worn patches were still very obvious. Now some people would be quite happy with that. I wanted to see if I could improve it a little bit more. 

If you look on-line you will find lots of 'leather repair kits' available, all of them promising outstanding results with very fancy prices attached to them! I wanted to try a more 'what do I already have' approach! 

To treat the outside leather I used some black wax shoe polish applied with a stiff brush and left on for about 15 minutes before removing the excess and buffing it with a soft brush and a soft cloth. 

And the net result I think is quite pleasing, it is not 'as new' by any means, but it is certainly much better than it was originally.

Could I improve it further? Yes, instead of gluing in the strip of leather I could use a wider strip of leather and sew it in, but that would involve some delicate surgery to the existing leather stitching. I might make it worse than it already is. I therefore think that my initial approach was the best way. If over time I see that it isn't working, I do at least know how it was assembled and I can take apart and try again. 

I've put it to good use already to hold my French key phrases notes and a guide I also received with the Filofax 3CL. 


The Filofax 3CL Wallet was sold for many years. It is in the 1984 catalogue. It has 3 pockets, hence the 3 in the name and it is made from Montana Calf Leather (CL). The rings are a tiny quarter of an inch (about 13 mm). 

23 March 2022

Video Web Finds - Wednesday 23 March 2022

So I hope you have had a good weekend.

So now it is time to enjoy a great collection of videos from around the internet.

Here are a selection of the latest Filofax videos for your enjoyment.
  1. Planner Woman Cave - Monique Smith
  2. Create// Dividers for my personal rings! - Rachel Blundell
  3. VDS Stardust Croc Review - rledzn
  4. Filofax Mail Time #7. Fair price?  Link in description below. - Flatability
  5. Vacation Plan w/ Me - Standard Stalogy & Medium Gillio Amica - Monique Smith
  6. My Planner Essentials And Favorites -  Tiffany’s Plans
  7. Van Der Spek Unboxing - Goes Terribly Wrong! - Planswithjay
  8. Planner Unboxing! | VDS A6 Custom Stardust Croco - gcplans
  9. My Complete Planner Capsule Collection - dr_alvaplans
  10. 2022 Planner Collection | Filofax, Gillio, Van Der Spek, Mulberry & Moterm Eat Pray Plan
  11. Vdsshop planner/ Van der Spek personal ring planner /parme / システム手帳/ 다이어리 개봉 - ぐうの手帳ばなし
  12. What does using a planner say about your personality? And planner flip through - Tonya Plans
  13. Filofax Together Collection - Supporting the work of global non-profit organisation Girl Rising - Filofax
  14. Filofax Mail Time #8. Fair price?  Link in description below. - Flatability
  15. Weekly Plan With Me || St. Patrick's Day and Lots of Birthdays! - GanchiPlans
  16. Planner Chat - Standard Stalogy & Medium Gillio Compagna - Monique Smith
  17. Design With Me! Making Planner Dashboards + Inserts in Canva | MadyPlans - MadyPlans
  18. Plan With Me || Personal Rings || Functional Planning - Life With MJB
  19. Should you have monthly tabs in your planner? Planner Setup Tips - UKPA Minimal Functional Planning - Sort Stuff Out
  20. Weekly Plan With Me || March 21 - 27 , 2022 || Franklin Covey Classic - Sandra Dahl
  21. Plan With Me | Week Of March 21 - 27, 2022 | Personal Rings - Tiffany’s Plans
  22. Wait just a minute here... | Personal rings, pocket rings, Filofax, Moterm - Thoughts Along Life's Highway
  23. How I Budget and Expense Track in my Filofax | Super Simple System for 2022 - PlansMeetPaper
  24. Wellness & Faith - Gillio Medium Amica - Monique Smith
  25. Silent Plan with Me! Week of March 21st - BuySellPlan
  26. VLOG // Where has the planner community gone? - Rachel Blundell
  27. Overview of my A5 Business/Work planner - LongHaul PRO Fitness
  28. Gillio Medium Compagna Black Epoca - personal ring flip through - Daniela Janoušková
  29. Moterm Personal Planner Setup Flip & Gillio Compagna anthracite "unboxing" - kti. plans
  30. February 2022 Flip Through And Current Setup || Gillio Medium Compagna - Miss Mrs Mom
  31. Gillio Medium Compagna Croc/Epoca Black flip through March 2022 - BKK Plans
  32. Plan With Me | 3rd Week of March | A5 EC Daily Duo Inserts and FILOFAX Agenda - Christie Nicole
  33. 2022 Filofax Personal Rings Unboxing and Setup | Filofax Original in black - MomYePlans
  34. Personal Rings Planner Flip | Filofax Finsbury Slate Grey - Tanushree Pruthi
  35. A Flip Through Of My New EDC Filofax Planner | Pocket Size | Soft Domino In Orchid - Shirley Joss
  36. EDC Planner | March 2022 Flip Through - rledzn
  37. Plan with Me // How I plan my week step by step - the planner spot
  38. Your YouTube video could appear here. If you have a YT channel that features Filofax organisers or similar, please let us know.
  • Please leave a comment on any of the videos you enjoyed and mention you saw a link on Philofaxy. 
  • For tips on how to improve your videos, please see this post.  Also this video too Webfinds 
  • Your Filofax/Organiser Videos could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 
Enjoy




22 March 2022

Philofaxy Meet Up - London - Saturday 23 April 2022

I will be visiting London in April. It is a bit easier than our last visit in August last year!

This event is open to everyone, there are no qualifying requirements... if you enjoy good company and you like organisers and planners of any brand then you will be very welcome and you will be amongst friends.


London - Saturday 23 April 2022

So this is a 'calling notice' for people who would like to attend the Philofaxy Meet Up in London

Please read all of the post before you apply for a place on the meet up.

When and Where

We will meet initially at 12 noon at Vapiano in Great Portland Street. This is not far from Oxford Circus underground station.

We will be observing what ever COVID restrictions are still in place in London in April to the letter... We don't want anyone catching this virus. 



You can read all about the restaurant on their website here

During the meal there will be plenty of time for chatting and sharing organisers...

Our meet up will finish at about 4:15pm but you don't have to stay to the end. 

How to book a place on the meet up

To get a place on the meet up you need to email: steve[at]philofaxy[dot]com and mark your email 'April 2022 London Meetup', you can book a place straight away.

As places are allocated you will receive an email back again confirming your place on the meet up.

Please do not book travel tickets etc until you have a confirmed place. I will attempt to confirm places within 2-3 hours of receiving your email.

Additional Information

If you aren't familiar with London or how to get to Vapiano from the station you are arriving at then use the Transport for London Journey Planner, it's generally quite good. 

Once we have our full list of people, we will exchange email addresses and if you aren't familiar with London you might be able to get someone to meet you at the station you are arriving at.

Your safety on the day and your enjoyment on the day is of paramount importance to me, so don't be afraid to ask any questions by email, I want everyone who attends to get the most from the day.

Thank you... any questions?


Free For All Tuesday - No. 581

So what questions or discussion points have you got for us today?

It doesn't matter if you are a beginner or a more experienced user of organisers, we want to hear your thoughts, questions, opinions etc.

We are here to answer your questions.

Make today the one day you post a comment or a question.

It is Tuesday after all so fire away with any questions and comments.

21 March 2022

Having Enough Time

How many times have you heard people say 'I haven't got enough time to do.... x y or z'?

This thought was provoked when I was recently glancing through some book recommendations on Time Management. Two or three books included 4000 weeks in the title. 

4000 weeks, where does that number come from? So I quickly did some mental maths forgetting leap years. 4000 weeks is approximately 77 years, or 76.92 is you want to be accurate, but we will round it up to 77 as it makes things easier and 4000 is a nice round number to start with.

How do you spend those 4000 weeks? let's break it down...

Sleeping, this varies from person to person but let us assume that you sleep 7.5 hours a day. You will sleep longer as a baby obviously, but shorter in later life, so to keep things simple we will assume 7.5 hours a day for the whole 77 years! This calculates to about 1255 weeks spent sleeping. 

What else do we do? 

School/Education, we spend about 36 weeks of a year 5 days a week of about a 7.5 hour day for about 17 years going to school.... or about 137 weeks (2.6 years) 

Most of us will go to work, 261 days a year. Not allowing for holidays (annual leave and public holidays) if we assume a working life of 40 years with an 8 hour day, we will spend nearly 500 weeks at work or 9.5 years. 

Watching TV from say the age of 10 for say 3 hours a day, or if it's not watching TV it might be checking social media these days! That consumes another 435 weeks over a life time.

Washing, showering, doing your teeth each day. Say 30 minutes a day, another 84 weeks used up. 

Eating, an hour a day? that adds another 168 weeks 

Take that away from your initial 4000 weeks and you get 1421 weeks left to go on holiday, read, do the DiY, travel to work, exercise, keep up with reading all the posts on Philofaxy etc... or 27 years! 

Spend that time wisely..... 

 


19 March 2022

Web Finds - Saturday 19 March 2022

So now it is time to enjoy a few blog posts from around the internet,  so grab a drink and make yourself comfortable for our weekly round-up.

Here are some Philofaxy posts you might have missed this week:
  1. Web Finds - Saturday 12 March 2022
  2. Silent Sunday
  3. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Plannerverse - Episode 124
  4. Free For All Tuesday - No. 580
  5. Video Web Finds - Wednesday 16 March 2022
  6. UKRAINE: Van der Spek Special Planners For Auction
  7. Times Are A Changing....
  8. Free For All Friday - No. 697
Here are the latest Filofax and other brand blog posts from around the Internet. Don't forget to leave a comment on the posts you enjoyed reading, all bloggers enjoy getting comments.
  1. Van Der Spek Group charity auction in aid of Ukraine - This Bug's Life
  2. Behind the scenes: Together Collection - The Official Filofax Blog
  3. Are Planner Kate stickers worth the hype? - All About Planners
  4. How to Colour Code your Planner ( Family, School & Work Calendars ) - My Idle Moments
  5. Seeking Results vs Opinions - FranklinPlanner Talk
  6. My Finance Section - Random Pastimes of a Restless Mind
  7. I Wrote A Book | The Functional Planning Handbook - Strange & Charmed
  8. Episode #146: Slice of GTD Life with Simon Penhaligon - Getting Things Done
  9. Monthly budget routine - Random Pastimes of a Restless Mind
  10. It's Filofancy's 10th Anniversary Today! - Filofancy | Life On Paper | Zara M.
  11. Link Love: DST Forever - The Well-Appointed Desk
  12. Web Finds – 16 March 2022 - Travellers Notebook Times
  13. Your blog post could appear here. Please let us know if you have a blog that features ring bound organisers.
  • Please leave a comment on any of the blogs you enjoyed reading and mention that you saw their post mentioned on Philofaxy. Thank you
  • We monitor over 400 blogs and sites, your Filofax/Organiser blog posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 
  • We can not guarantee people will read your posts, but we know there is a higher chance of people reading your posts and returning to read other posts if you make them interesting with pictures and good hints and tips. 
  • Your Filofax/Organiser posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 
  • Consider joining our Facebook group - Filofax for Philofaxy fans

Enjoy




18 March 2022

Free For All Friday - No. 697

I've started to think about travelling again. Possibly for a meet up in London. Could things be getting back to normal... pre 2020 even? 

Are you planning any travels yet? 

Of course it is Friday so please feel free to discuss anything Filofax related. 


17 March 2022

Times Are A Changing....

Last weekend the USA and Canada moved over to Daylight Saving Time (DST) for the Summer months. However, not all US States observe this convention, Arizona and Hawaii stay on their normal time zones (Standard Time) all year around. 

UK and Europe don't change until the end of March, so there are two weeks in between the change when the time difference between Europe and most of the USA states is one hour less than normal. For example Washington is normally 6 hours behind my local time in France, at the moment that has dropped to 5 hours, it will go back to the usual 6 hours once Europe goes to it's Summer time at the end of March.  

I have to be careful when scheduling blog posts at this point in the year, because the blog time is based on East Coast USA time, but we have to set the time on the blog posts based on our own local time! 

Since 2001 the change over to summer time in Europe has been governed by a European Directive, meaning that all EU countries changed over at the same time. Prior to that there were local arrangements for each country!

However, in 2019 the European Parliament voted to allow individual member states to choose if they observed the changing of time in the summer or not, or even to adjust to permanent summer time effectively shifting themselves on the time zone map... fortunately because of the impact of COVID no member states have made any decision on any of these radical changes yet. Basically watch this space!

Confusing isn't it, especially with some countries using half-hour increments such as Australia?  You will spot other areas using half hour increments as well. 

Given that a lot of us are working between different time zones these days, I find it essential to have a time zone map in my organiser. 

Time Zone Map
Printing the above:
  • A5 Print on A4 size paper then fold in half and fold back to the edge (Z fold)
  • A6 Print on A5 size paper then fold in half and fold back to the edge (Z fold)
  • Personal Print on A4 size paper cut to 171 mm high then fold in half and fold back to the edge (Z fold)
  • Pocket Print on A4 size paper cut to 120 mm high then fold in half and fold back to the edge (Z fold)
If you want to use the PNG image for say a dashboard or divider it is here. 

16 March 2022

UKRAINE: Van der Spek Special Planners For Auction

Once again Van der Spek have risen to the challenge and produced two very special planners that are being auctioned this week. 

All of the proceeds of the auction will be going to a charity in the Netherlands to give humanitarian aid in Ukraine. The planners are in the colours of the Ukrainian flag. Each one is one of a kind and has the VDS embossed stamp to show that they are special editions.


The two planners, one with rings the other for bound planners are being sold on the VDS Sales Group, this is a group for fans run by fans, but as a special concession we have allowed Van der Spek Leathergoods to sell these two special items in the group. 

If you want to bid, just comment on the posts. Not a member already, just apply to join and we will make sure you are accepted quickly. 

The full details are as follows: 

We have 2 very special planners that we are auctioning to the highest bidders.
100% of the proceedings will be donated to humanitarian aid in Ukraine
via the Dutch foundation of Cooperating Aid Organisations (Samenwerkende Hulporganisaties) https://giro555.nl/
The 2 planners are available in the VDS Sales Group, where you can place your bid in the comments.
–> Please always look at the latest comment to see the highest current bid and then add your own bid as a new comment.
–> You can bid as many times as you like.
· On Friday 18 March at 12.00 CET we will close the bidding and contact the winners. Worldwide shipping is included in the bid. The winning bids will be expected to pay in full by Monday 21 March. The planners will be shipped immediately after payment.

Standard 30mm | bids start at € 250,-
https://www.facebook.com/…/Vand…/posts/3257399041197147/
Outside Leather: TM Bleu de France
Inside Leather: Lemon Nappa
Stitching: TM Bleu de France
· 30mm Silver Rings
· Stiffener: Bontex
· Big Back Pocket
· Blind Embossed VDS Logo on the right bottom pocket
· Chunky Clasp
· Flyleaf

Codex Standard Mega | bids start at € 250,-
https://www.facebook.com/…/Vande…/posts/3257403747863343
Outside Leather: TM Bleu de France
Inside Leather: Lemon Nappa
Stitching: TM Bleu de France
· Big Back Pocket
· Blind Embossed VDS Logo on the right bottom pocket
· Chunky Clasp





Thank you to everyone at Van der Spek Leathergoods for making these two planners and for donating 100% of the proceeds to benefit the people of Ukraine.