Life in the middle

Long weekend.

I'm off for a long weekend in the sun. To recharge the batteries. Soak up the rays. Drink a little veno. And perhaps make my way through a book or two.

Back Wednesday.

Can someone water the plants and respond to comments in my absence please (you just have to say 'good morning', and check Tom's okay).

Good morning, sorry I mean evening.

Grey cars.

Outside of work there is a car park which is run by a man I've always found quite unfriendly. He can be quite terse when allocating spaces, and for that reason I've never really taken to him.

That was until yesterday, when he decided to park all the grey(ish) cars in one row.

It's not a big statement. But it is a statement. And possibly a cry for help.

I'll keep an eye on it, but for now - good morning.

Blogging.

Russell is blogging again like a bastard, over here. So I thought I should try and put something up as well.

I've not been doing that much recently, so it's difficult to think of what to write about. Mostly, I've been striking various poses on top of a car-park.

There's moody, which I'm thinking of using for my new album cover.

And messiah like, which I'm pondering using on business cards (if I had a use for such a thing).

Other than that it's been work, sleep, and table tennis.

To what end I don't know.

It's just advertising.

Another day, another navigation through the maze of life, from one vitally important decision to another.

Which nice teacup to use in the morning meeting I was in.

Whether to disturb Kim (our Executive Creative Director) from his incredibly intense thought process to see if he wanted a Mars Planet. I did, he didn't.

And finally whether to waste a moment of my time talking to Ben. In the end I decided that it would be worth the effort, so we sat a little, and shared some tales about our respective days. Time well spent.

Then it was home, to write this boring blog.

Good evening.

People, food, and books.

Since I last posted I've done a good job of putting a little time aside each day, to do something enjoyable and enriching.

I've hung out with the Internet's most infamous anonymous advertising blogger, in a suit. (He was nice.)

 

I had my dinner on Primrose Hill.

I caught up with an old and very good friend, and took drink.

I took an ad out for this blog to try and increase readership (the slogan if you can't see it says 'read it'). So far it doesn't seemed to have worked, but I've got my fingers crossed.

And I visited a friend who stacks their books by colour.

Good times.

A way ahead.

I spent a bit of time yesterday with my nephew, Wilf.

Here he is...

He's a pretty good little fella. He pulls his socks up high, wears a little red now and then, and is not afraid to experiment when it comes to his trouser wear. He seems to have a pretty smart approach to life too. Wandering around examining stuff (often by putting things in his mouth) and gazing at the world with a sense of awe. And if anyone tries to take things off him before he's ready to give them up, he moans (quite a bit).

It's life on his terms, and you have to admire that. I'm sure with age he'll learn that some of these things are not completely acceptable (you can't put other people's car keys in your mouth). But I hope he doesn't listen too much to convention. Or spend too long lapping up the orthodoxy of the day. I'll do all I can to encourage him to hang on to his sense of wonder, his desire to make himself happy, and his enormous sense of personal style.

As I sit here now, typing this post, looking at his smiling happy face, I'm tempted to follow his lead - to quit my job. Abandon the stresses and strains, the long hours, and the increasing sense of inevitable doom that the advertising industry is currently gripped with. And make a change. To do some thing else. Something I can do wearing long socks perhaps. But I'm reticent, I suspect I'll just make all the same mistakes again.

So, instead I'm going to create 'Wilf Hour'.

I'm going to reorder life a little. Bring the balance a little closer to where it needs to be. To do this I'm going to defy my own current belief that working in advertising will never make me healthier or more interesting as a person, or even allow me to do it outside of work because of the long hours and the pressured deadlines that are always hurtling towards you. From now on I'll dedicate one hour per day to trying to prove this hypothesis wrong.

The hour will be used simply - going to the gym, or taking a long bike ride, or perhaps a session of MMA. But it will also include some things I wouldn't normally do - the odd long walk around London, more trips to museums, that kind of thing. And a few things that I can't explain why I like, but I do, like sitting on a bench having a read of the paper, or mooching around a bookshop. Yes, they're good, so they'll be included as well.

So that's the plan. One hour a day. To be healthier. And more interesting. It's bound to be a bit of a fight, but if I don't try then I feel like I'd be letting little Wilf down.

One hour, it can't be that hard, can it?