I'm not sure if "why do you have a ponytail" is a question about a course or about a subject we teach ... actually it's rather personal... but it's a good question and I have chosen to answer in this case. Here are three possible answers for the beard - and - ponytail question. Which do you think it is?

a) I like it. I feel comfortable with it, and I have chosen it for that reason.

b) It's easily maintained. No need to be rushing to the barber's shop every few weeks, nor to be shaving on a daily basis ... and there's something exhilarating about trimming one's beard that you don't get from shaving.

c) It's a career choice. I used to train under contract for another company, and jobs were allocated by the "buggin's turn" (the selection of a trainer by rotation) principle unless one particular trainer was asked for. Now I got good reviews, and I wanted repeat bookings (= a more consistent income flow!), so I took on a distinctive look so that people could ask for me by name ... or by distinctive looks.


The answer is that all three reasons apply. If I didn't like it, if it wasn't easily(ish!) maintained or was unpleasant to maintain, I wouldn't have it. However it still, years later, provides that slightly different look that helps me to stand out in a crowd and, with my various roles, that's no bad thing at times. Take last night, but that's another story ...
(written 2009-02-21, updated 2010-10-13)

 Z800 - Whimsy
  [24] Impossible terms - (2004-08-22)
  [39] A Change is as good as a rest - (2004-09-05)
  [44] Serious subject - (2004-09-10)
  [69] John Toner - (2004-10-01)
  [94] Special change - (2004-10-20)
  [151] Coffee Standards - (2004-12-14)
  [156] Signage - (2004-12-18)
  [300] Dentist's Waiting Room Syndrome - (2005-05-04)
  [331] 08:45 is a difficult time - (2005-05-31)
  [346] No Smoking Pubs - (2005-06-13)
  [395] Making Orangutangs - (2005-07-28)
  [520] Three life changing comments - (2005-12-07)
  [547] Taking the dog for a walk - (2005-12-29)
  [568] NB ''Aspiration'' - (2006-01-18)
  [610] Need a hankie - (2006-02-16)
  [661] Dressed up for a phone call - (2006-03-29)
  [689] The call of nature - (2006-04-18)
  [701] Minature Cyclists only - limited headroom - (2006-04-27)
  [758] Very good for woodlice - (2006-06-12)
  [761] Great new inventions - (2006-06-14)
  [784] Which way to turn? - (2006-06-28)
  [807] Telling large from small - (2006-07-18)
  [850] Lighter moments - (2006-08-31)
  [892] A pattern in change - (2006-10-12)
  [973] Too much used to Skype - (2006-12-08)
  [1075] I'm not the father - (2007-02-11)
  [1167] Leaning tower of Cheeser - (2007-04-28)
  [1171] Traffic light control for horses - (2007-05-01)
  [1241] If I say 'I am fine', what do I mean? - (2007-06-23)
  [1440] Useful command or messy screen? - (2007-11-21)
  [1604] M25 / South Mimms Service Area - (2008-04-07)
  [1662] Westonbirt Arboretum Postcode - (2008-05-31)
  [1886] Keys to friendless churches - (2008-11-15)
  [1952] Small Print - (2008-12-19)
  [1977] Going round the block - (2009-01-04)
  [1980] Michelle - (2009-01-06)
  [1988] Melksham, Wiltshire. Town Crier Competition, 2009 - (2009-01-11)
  [2009] The Royal Mail Receipt - (2009-01-26)
  [2028] Things people say on the phone - (2009-02-06)
  [2089] The Longest Day - Wednesday, 28th September - (2009-03-18)
  [2108] Funny Amusing, Funny Amazing and The Smarts - (2009-03-29)
  [2127] Call in the professionals! - (2009-04-12)
  [2131] Patterns in street names - (2009-04-17)
  [2138] Ski bore ... train bore ... dog bore - (2009-04-24)
  [2143] Throughout the year, around the world - (2009-04-27)
  [2152] My four feet! - (2009-05-01)
  [2157] From the 51773 family - (2009-05-04)
  [2180] Patterns in numbers - room occupancy - (2009-05-13)
  [2250] Bluegrass comes to Melksham - (2009-06-19)
  [2251] Over a third of numbers start with the digit 1 - (2009-06-19)
  [2256] Is it Python past cheetah already? - (2009-06-24)
  [2397] Signwriting is dead. Long live the sign. - (2009-09-06)
  [2496] A better design of mouth - (2009-11-07)
  [2542] My armpit was like a zebra crossing - (2009-12-19)
  [2626] On Malachite Green - (2010-02-06)
  [2676] Changing Times - (2010-03-13)
  [2945] Last, final, etc - (2010-09-04)
  [3030] Liquorice allsorts and Dolly Mixtures - (2010-11-05)
  [3203] Melksham Town Council announces ... - (2011-03-16)
  [3215] Solution looking for problem - (2011-03-27)
  [3223] Answering at my earliest convenience - (2011-03-29)
  [3226] A busy morning for railway announcements - (2011-04-01)
  [3288] Random Questions ... - (2011-05-14)
  [3369] Local Council leads bans on many activities - (2011-07-24)
  [3462] Hangers, luggage and possessions - (2011-10-01)
  [3738] Adoptive homes sought for abandoned babies - (2012-05-20)
  [3851] Who is this? Picture Puzzle - (2012-08-28)
  [3868] How to make an ohno cake - (2012-09-23)
  [3912] Sand to Arabia, Coals to Newcastle or Woodburners to Russia - (2012-11-04)
  [3922] Twerp - A person regarded as insignificant and contemptible - (2012-11-12)
  [4067] The woman, the television, the bullock and Darlington - (2013-04-23)
  [4329] Does Santa Claus need a CRB check? - (2014-11-25)
  [4392] Interview conditions,and other instructions to staff - (2015-01-12)

G998 - Well House Consultants - Newsletter Highlighted Box
  [1011] Well House Manor and Beechfield House, Hotels, Melksham - (2006-12-29)
  [1068] ls -l report, Linux / Unix - types and permssions - (2007-02-06)
  [1132] Well House Manor, Melksham, Art Gallery - (2007-04-02)
  [1237] What proportion of our web traffic is robots? - (2007-06-19)
  [1307] Troy, up state New York - (2007-08-17)
  [1375] Python v Ruby - (2007-10-02)
  [1475] Tcl/Tk - updating your display while tasks are running - (2007-12-16)
  [1521] Evening drive across the roof of Wiltshire - (2008-01-27)
  [1621] Linux and Java Course in London - (2008-04-24)
  [1629] A short introduction to our courses - (2008-05-03)
  [1751] Public Training Course Dates until July 2009 - (2008-08-13)
  [1843] How many cups of coffee? - (2008-10-17)
  [1967] LinkedIn - Thrice Asked, and joined. - (2008-12-30)
  [2125] We have lost a regular business guest - (2009-04-10)
  [2222] A (biased?) comparison of PHP courses in the UK - (2009-06-07)
  [2385] Reading all our recent news from a single source - (2009-08-29)
  [2400] Are you wanting to learn PHP? - (2009-09-08)
  [2520] Global and Enable - two misused words! - (2009-11-30)
  [3168] Web Sites - Subject to Advertising Standards from 1st March - check your sites - (2011-02-13)

G207 - Well House Consultants - Staff
  [10] What do you look for in your IT trainer? - (2004-08-10)
  [41] A Thousand and four words - (2004-09-07)
  [88] Getting the right level of trainer - (2004-10-14)
  [168] Welcoming Leah Davies to our team - (2005-01-04)
  [185] Who am I? - (2005-01-21)
  [371] The training team that's looking out for you - (2005-07-07)
  [393] Trainer answers phone - (2005-07-28)
  [578] Woman screaming at me - (2006-01-26)
  [862] 4 weeks to go - (2006-09-11)
  [895] Welcome, Martin - (2006-10-16)
  [972] Both one team and two - (2006-12-08)
  [1002] Meet the neighbours - (2006-12-20)
  [1065] Graham Ellis - an Introduction - (2007-02-05)
  [1083] Behind the scenes - (2007-02-17)
  [1141] A strong team broadens the professional coverage - (2007-04-10)
  [1324] Well House Manor appoints a General Manager - (2007-08-28)
  [2044] Please Trouble me - (2009-02-16)
  [2164] Updating my public profile - Graham Ellis - (2009-05-09)
  [2566] Excellent staff make for excellent hotel - (2010-01-07)
  [2772] Graham Ellis - Summary of Training Record - (2010-05-21)
  [2775] Declarations of interest - knowing where you stand with people - (2010-05-22)
  [2934] Not so much software training - more hotel keeping! - (2010-08-25)
  [2960] The Well House team - September 2010 - (2010-09-19)
  [3051] Positively reforming the system - could it be done? - (2010-11-14)
  [3103] Thank you - and Happy Christmas - (2010-12-24)
  [3201] A change to the Well House team - thank you and good luck, Chris - (2011-03-14)
  [3212] Well House Manor - a home from home for the business and leisure guest in Melksham - (2011-03-26)
  [3311] Exhilarating day! - (2011-05-30)
  [3425] Our National Autograss Champion, from Melksham - (2011-09-08)
  [3460] Flying Colours! - (2011-09-28)
  [3490] How not to call when job seeking ... - (2011-10-20)
  [3586] Emergency First Aid Provision at Well House Manor - part of the service - (2012-01-19)
  [3961] Well House Staff Party - (2012-12-22)
  [4189] Who are we - Lisa, Graham, Gypsy and Billy - (2013-10-07)
  [4227] Happy Christmas from the Well House Manor team - (2013-12-25)

Back to Why Choose Well House Consultants for your course?

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Forward to A Presentation about our company - web and PHP

Tuning httpd / the supermarket checkout comparison
What a difference a MySQL Index made
How was my web site compromised?
A Presentation about our company - web and PHP
Why the Pony Tail?
Why Choose Well House Consultants for your course?
Learning to program in PHP, Python, Java or Lua ...
Small Web Server in Perl
Finding variations on a surname
Does robots.txt actually work?