Life in the middle

Quite a day.

What a day, and it's only early evening now. It started in fine style, with a morning spent talking blogging shop, with Ben and Beeker.

It took a while to get going, a first it was all embarrassing silences and periodical checking of phones.

But before long we were off, sharing stories, comparing technorati ratings, and pushing life in the correct direction.

As we left, to go follow our own paths, I was struck by the difference in my two friends, and the unlikely nature of the warm bond of friendship between us all. And I felt all the better for it coming to be, despite those odds against it.

But soon warm and good feelings had to be banished. Business needed doing. A boil needed lancing. A bully needed sorting. A certain storage situation required resolving.

So I bowled up to Big Yellow, and steadied myself.

 

Of course I had one last look around (it's mostly yellow).

 

And then I fired the jokers.

For too long they've taken my storage business for granted. I offered to be their 'blogger in chief', and didn't get so much as a 'no thank you'. So I had to act.

Of course there was paperwork to fill out, hoops to jump through, but take a look at that face - and try and tell me that's not the face of regret right there.

 

So, goodbye Big Yellow. At first you had me at 'we do tape and boxes', but then you played me for a fool. So now it's you who must be downsized.

Refreshed by action and decision I went home and continued the laborious process of packing up the flat ahead of the move tomorrow; books in piles, clothes in bags, and shoes in boxes.

Tomorrow will be trying, I'm sure, but I do get to drive a van for a day. So in that small way I'm looking forward to it. In most other ways I'm not, but I guess that's the nature of life in the middle sometimes.

See you around.

Moving on.

It's that time again in my life to move house. To pack up all my belongings, stuff them into any bags I can find, throw them into the back of a van, and set up somewhere else. Paperwork pending the move should happen Monday, so I'm at that putting things in piles stage now.

The only real value this blog has in the world is that it serves as a bit of diary. Somewhere to capture little snippets of the life I make. So here are a few pictures, boring to most of you, and not that accurate a record of the flat visually, but a nice reflection of the mood of the place, which is probably best summed up as 'shabby, but alright'.

The chair I'm sitting in now, more comfortable than it looks.

Places for stuff. To dump things you want to keep an eye on and not forget when you're walking out the door in a rush the next morning.

The garden, a rare treat in London. A good place to sit in the summer, feet up, a good brew, and a section of the paper.

Look at that light, hitting the kitchen table - that's the flat at its best - soulful.

For all its faults (and there are a lot - too many to go into here), I've enjoyed living here. Don't get me wrong, it's time to go, turn the page, and move on. But I'll still look back and remember the calm of this old place with a smile.

Goodbye Urlwin Street.

This and that.

I've been all over the place recently. Over here, over there. Up and down. Around and in between.

I visited Bruges and took a picture of woman who had dedicated her life to wearing burgundy.

Burgundy trousers - check.

Burgundy jumper - check.

Burgundy jacket - check.

Burgundy beret - super check.

While in Bruges I took the opportunity to visit one of my favourite shops.

I didn't buy anything, but I was extremely tempted by their burgundy range.

Once back in London I swanned around with my trousers tucked into my socks, ready to jump on my bike at a minutes notice.

And finally, I took a picture of someone on the internet and in real life, at the same time. Tricky, but possible.

And I made some plans for the week, they are;

- find a new place to live
- wear something other than blue (at some point)
- get to a dentist
- do some work
- do some training
- read a book (I just finished Dwain Chambers biography)
- and maybe blog about nothingness

Until then, good evening.

Change of gear.

I went to a conference yesterday, which was quite interesting. People talked about all kinds of things that will impact the media landscape of the future, and therefore my job. Some of it scared me, a little. Some of it excited me, quite a lot. And some simply drifted in one ear and out the other.

I made notes, drank sparkling water, and thought about what it all meant in terms of how the world is changing. I didn't come to any conclusions, not really, just a realization that this thing is moving fast towards a place that's currently quite blurry. Focus will come in time, I'm sure.

In the evening I changed gear and taught Margot (my niece) to high-five.

So at least that particular future is assured.

Wash off the piffle.

While this might look like a bad picture of skip, it is in fact a very bad picture of a man washing his car (he's on the right, two cars forward from the skip). I wanted to get closer, but he was eying me suspiciously.

While I don't care much for his suspicious nature, I do like the fact that he looked out of his window this morning, saw the blue skies, the sun shining, smelt the first whiff of spring, and knew that this was a car washing day.

A day to do those things that have been put off since September. You know - mowing the lawn, painting the fence, cycling the bike, and sitting on benches. A day for going the long way round, a little slower, and a little less fussed by the pointless piffle that dominates so much of every day.

Slightly ill.

I've got a bit of blog block at the moment, and I'm feeling slightly under the weather at the moment (it could be flu).

Tomorrow I'll be explaining what brands can learn from this, not.

More life in the middle.

I've been making my way through life, doing the things that I normally pay little attention to and let pass without acknowledging their contribution.

Like a good cup of tea. That warming break in between the emails, the presentations, the meetings, and the crud of life.

Or those little objects, that make the big things possible - like a gum shield, or sterling.

And somethings that used to make my jaw hit the floor, I now take for granted, like a Skype call to India (look, that's India, for free, in my computer, gosh).

Finally I need to pay more attention to simple evenings with friends. Good chat. A little liquor. And much cheer.

One of the best of things.

Any how, on with life.

Jamie's gone to India.

Do you remember Jamie, he worked at Rainey Kelly as an accounts assistant. I often used to run into him in the office at the weekends (he was hard working). Here he is waiting for the lift to the 6th floor, back in the day.

I left Rainey Kelly sometime ago, but Jamie and I stayed in touch, it's been mostly a Facebook thing, but we have had the odd coffee. It had actually been a while since I heard anything from him, although on the grapevine I'd heard he wanted to try something new. Then out of the blue I got a direct Twitter message from him asking if I'd be able get him some work experience in one of our offices as a planner.

As luck would have it W+K Delhi are looking for planners, and I now have enormous influence over there. So I made a few phone calls, wrote some letters, half-nelsoned the right people, and got him the gig.

He arrived a week ago, he flew BA, and seemed to be making quite a good impression.

Although today I did get an email from him explaining that he's been struck down with the infamous 'Delhi Belly', hates all the traffic, misses his friends, thinks he might have made one of the biggest mistakes of his life, and has taken up smoking reefer again.

It's nice to see him following his dreams. I hope he doesn't stuff this up and embarrass me.