DB:LF

Yesterday morning I attended a gathering of free minds and souls, a breed of entrepreneurs that are generally not fixed to any particular desk (quite literally for Rob from Qype) or to any organisation or company, the people I found myself with were mainly freelancers or working for small start up agencies keen to utilise  ’social media’ and web technology.

Some pretty forward thinking people then?! Well, yes, this group of people are looking forward with a mix of excitement and apprehension, never before have so many or has it been so easy for people to work so freely, get paid for just what is going on in their head or combine ‘work’ with play so neatly.

Conversations therefore lent towards the hypothetical, the crazy and ingenious, the Social Media Club offers a great space where these new ideas can build. cheers Lloyd.

Personally, it was lovely to see Mirera again who was present at our Mobile Marketing seminar with 02 and has introduced me to qik (see the intro to yesterdays meeting) , which I just love and am endeavouring to identify an avenue into my clients business strategy. It was also great to speak to Rob at Qype and I’m sure we will be in touch soon re. UGC for destinations (that’s what we (FOX KALOMASKI – MOVING MILLIONS) do, get people to places, countries, shopping areas, resorts, regions) to improve our brands communication channels with local business’. Very exciting.

And a quick shout to unltd world which sounds like an interesting proposition where resources such as web developers can be found depending on your requirements, and also based on your preferences a’la Last FM.

see you again soon

D

Dealers Choice is being shown currently at the Trafalgar Studios in central London.

This play was recomended to me when I couldnt get tickets to Speed the Plow at the Old Vic – which I only wanted to see because of the prescence of Kevin Spacey. Glad I missed you actually Kev because Dealers Choice was fantastic. Patrick Marber obiously loves to write about relationships and obsessions as he has with Notes on a Scandal and Closer. The chracters in this witty play each struggle against their own individual vices in their own ways.

The 6 leads hold your attention in the back drop of this local restaurant obsessed with their small time Sunday night poker game. Each of them have their different ambitions

Out in crystal palace (we live here so not that weird) this afternoon and walked past this exhibition to rebuild the Crystal Palace. They have a really compelling argument to make the new Crystal Palace as a tribute to the glory of the previous building while being a modern ‘destination’ for south london as a host for concerts, museums, snow sports and film. A place of entertainment and showcase for south london. It deseves it and Crystal Palace has such a strong bran name to build upon. Support the cause to reserect a national landmark! Visit the website at www.newcrystalpalace.org

15 miles is a bloody long way! Our housemate, Helen, is training for the Paris marathon and I said I’d train with her to give her some moral support on the massive runs but also to challenge myself.  I do love a challenge! Yesterday was the first of our big ones – 15 miles.  To avoid the depression involved in running in a loop, we decided to run into central London and get the train home.  Unfortunately, London isn’t actually that far so rather than just running to Victoria, we had to run via London Bridge, the City, Pal Mall, Hyde Park, all the way back down to Chelsea Bridge and then finally to Victoria station.  We spotted a couple of mentalists along the way…In Camberwell, near Kings College Hospital, a guy had obviously fancied a spot of shopping on a Saturday afternoon – he was wandering the streets in his hospital gown, dragging his drip along!  People were encouraging us as we dodged the crowds – why do people just STOP right in the middle of the pavement? Grrrr! We saw Trinny on Sloane St, looking very Sloaney, I thought she had her own sense of style! Boring!  And foreigners looked at us very strangely, one even started imitating us - have they never seen people run before?! Ha! All in all, really enjoyed being out in the sunshine and although my legs are slightly stiff today, I’m ready for the 18 miler ina couple of weeks…BRING IT ON!

Some really great pictures here – pretty jealous

Kayode Okeyode

You may think we are lucky getting out of London for Christmas, breathing some fresh sea air and beaing able to stroll along the beach on Christmas Day. However, getting away is both the best and worst thing you can do at this time of year. 

It has been quite a while since my last break from work and I was getting ready to throw myself under the next tube at Victoria station having been delayed, squished, squahed, pushed, jostled and harrased by rude boy loud music blearing from peoples overly loud headphones!

Thank god I only had one more day and then a whole week and a half without the routine battle to get to work.  Christmas? is it Christmas or just a convenient excuse to get a well earned rest from work under the pretence of an ancient religious ritual which really doesnt apply to most people these days. Either way I’m bloody grateful I get that break!

Very few people I know actually care about Christmas in the traditional sense anymore, they care about getting a tiny little bit of their personal life back before it is quickly snatched away again on 2nd January. 

My family has taken to escaping to Devon for a week at Christmas…Being by the sea at Christmas is about as unchristmasy as it gets.  It’s quiet, the air is clean and people go surfing, walking and riding on Christmas day as opposed to sitting in the living room stuffing themselves with Quality Street while wathing Eastenders or similar rubbish. 

This year we went to Croyde and stayed in a beautiful little cottage right on the beach.  We walked a lot, talked a lot, ate quite a bit and took tonnes of photos ( I got a new lens for Christmas).  WE RELAXED.   

This fantastic break is all too soon matched by the horrendous awarenss that it is time to return home and put our busniess heads back on. Christmas is over for another year, our one opportunity to escape the rest of the world and actually spend some time together has expired once again, our time being free, absent of thought abouit about work and the joy of waking up to the sound of the sea every morning has gone. 

To add insult to injury and the rubics cube challenge of packing the car back up is followed by sitting in endless reams of traffic on the A303 with every other Londoner, desperate to get another fix of the big smoke, Wifi, lattes and conspicous post Christmas consumption. It’s so depressing. 

And just a whole year to endure before next Christmas?!

I do question why we do it to ourselves.  Are we hurting ourselves more by living the dream for a few days rather than not all?