Peter Hiscocks gave an insight into the prizes and perils of being an Entrepreneur in an entertaining and informative talk at the Connected Cambridge meeting last night, sponsored by Anglia Ruskin University
This was an event organised by Peter Hewkin’s newest successful brain child, Connected Cambridge, a high tech network of entrepreneurs, financiers and generally bright people interested in the cutting edge of business in the Cambridge UK area with links to sister networks in Shanghai and Oxford.
The venue, the CB2 restaurant and bistro gave the appearance of a student meeting place and you wandered upstairs into the friendly informality of a relaxed networking meeting, the air buzzing with conversation. The projection screen was an impromptu affair of bed sheet on one wall and for the talk, the audience stood or sat in a casual circle as Peter Hiscocks delivered his presentation.
An outsider glancing in would have been misled by the informal environment until beginning to overhear conversations on new company start-ups, ideas in inception and in progress, of funding opportunities beginning in the tens of thousands of pounds and expected turnovers or company sales in the millions.
Peter Hiscocks talked frankly about three companies he had been involved in as an entrepreneur, where one had been a loss, a second a break even and the third a very profitable sale. It was this view of being an entrepreneur, with its peaks and troughs that was fascinating for the audience; here are a few of the impressions and titbits of information we gleaned about being an Entrepreneur.
Three key points were:
If you are going to do something, do it really well, recruit only the best and throw yourself into the project
Charge high margins – that way you are never distracted by running after money just to keep you going
Sell the business at the right time!
But how do you find the right area? You create your own opportunities by looking for new growth areas with financial potential and finding ideas that fill an up and coming need. This means keeping an open eye for any trends and ideas as well as brainstorming with equally minded people.
Your business plan should be able to excite the investor as well as being realistic – the latter meaning that you should expect it to cost twice as much as originally budgeted and take three times as long.
Your assembled team is critical – a factor seriously undervalued by many new startups. Make your business exciting so that you attract the best who have consequently a burning desire to be involved – especially as the early phases will be hard work with the rewards on or just beyond the horizon, some time away!
And how do you know if things are going pear shaped in your market? Here’s Peter’s tip from London’s financial industry: If taxi drivers experience a sudden drop in fares in the area, its time to sell your company!
Apart from the excellent talk, there was also the enjoyable networking afterwards and I met bright minds from Jordan, from the creative network in our area, a venture capitalist and fellow communicators for B2B, just to name a few.
I reflected on an excellent meeting with a warm glow as I followed the silver ribbon of the Cam river path, cycling home in the gloaming on my traffic busting bicycle in true Cambridge fashion.
Look out for future Connected Cambridge meetings, I know I will.
Ever since I was introduced to QR codes, they have been in the forefront of my thoughts, from an artistic angle.
QR codes are 2D codes that have the capability of storing data that can be retrieved, providing links and even ticketing and couponing solutions, as I learnt from Mirko kisser of Celloon. Indeed, they can be combined with a powerful online tracking system to convert a print product into a remarkable market analysis tool.
The problem is their sterility. Celloon have a solution of combining icons with the code, The Japanese design company Set has taken the QR codes and also made art out of them.
Simplistically, I wanted to understand if I could do the same.
I created my business card information as a QR code using a freely available QR code Generator at www.the2Dcode.com.
The image of the QR code was then printed at about A4 size and I spent an enjoyable hour at the Television, idly doodling a more curvy tracing of the barcode elements, making sure that there were little separate islands too.
I scanned the black and white tracing into my PC and converted it into a vector trace using CorelDraw, allowing smoothing of lines.
It was now possible to colour the individual islands in a random pattern to achieve a much more user friendly QR code - see the slide show above or go to Picasa.
Playing with colours and contrasts showed that you just needed a suitable contrast from the background and not too great a difference between the colours in their contrast if viewed as a greyscale. corners of pixels could be rounded, especially if you created a QR code with some error correction, as is possible.
Most modern mobile phones (cell phones) with cameras can take apps that allow you to read QR codes - www.i-nigma.mobi provided mine for a Nokia.
So if you are new to QR codes, have a play creating some and seeing how much you can bend the rules before the colouring or distortion becomes unreadable!
I've just thoroughly enjoyed the first show in Lincoln, based on songs from musicals old and new, with a talented cast that appealed to an audience across the generations!
My initial response to my daughter's suggestion, that we visit a show based on musicals during our visit from Cambridge, was less than enthusiastic – until she mentioned that it featured Faye Tozer (ex Steps)!
Daughter, parents and grandparent thus sat down in the Drill Hall in Lincoln with the expectation of seeing “In the Spotlight: Songs from the musicals” featuring Faye with a supporting cast. It was with increasing surprise and delight that I found myself enjoying new talent sharing the stage as justifiably equal partners.
The show really gelled for me by the time it reached “Seventeen” from “Slice of Saturday Night” with assured performances by what I initially thought were clear male and female leads of the troupe. Christopher Finn shone as a vocalist with a sense of comedic acting and petite Rebecca Wicking consistently displayed an excellent voice and exuberance that gave her a much larger stage presence.
Only to find that later numbers showcased an equally talented Annabel King who tugged at the heart with the more wistful and melancholic solos and duets and Mark Daley and Tom Garner completed the primary vocalist talent and attracted the attention of the female audience.
Dancing was an integral part of the show and the further six dancers/vocalists not only enhanced the overall performance, they also entertained as pairs in Act II; with Ellie Cobb and David Kemp (I believe) performing a sizzling tongue in cheek Cha Cha Cha.
Music was professionally provided by the live band, on a raised dais at the back of the stage, such that it provided the reassuring constant and excellent support for the performers and the continuing thread for the audience.
With this being the very first time performers, lighting, sound system and band performed together, there were the inevitable glitches. Future shows will be spared the late or absent microphone fade-ins which did injustice to the voices of both Lindsay Shaw and Charlotte Gayle during their solos; the spotlights occasionally not reaching the artists at the very front of the stage; and the tap dancing by the whole group awaiting that final last percent of synchronization to make it brilliant. However, whilst possibly terminal for the sound and lighting teams if not addressed, these elements only marginally impinged on the overall enjoyment of the show.
But what about my initial reason for coming, Faye Tozer? Faye impressed me on two accounts.
First, her vocal range and delivery were excellent - and the acting experience in the years since I'd seen her in Steps was obvious in the different roles she played. She exuded the subtle aura of an experienced professional performer at ease in the show she was playing in.
Second, she refrained from using these advantages to dominate the show to the detriment of the new talent, allowing them to shine too. Faye thereby ensured that this was a true company presentation. Her confidence and ease with herself and her partners appeared to me to be a key part of the success and nature of this company; one that could have been equally represented on the fliers, posters and program covers.
Leaving the theater late, we unexpectedly met Faye Tozer relaxing with her son outside and exchanged a few friendly words. These reinforced my impression of a professional artist and person at ease with herself and the world. I'd come with a two dimensional memory of a 1990's manufactured pop star and discovered a 2010 likable professional artist and human being; I'll be looking out for her in future productions.
Our family enjoyed the very first performance of “In the Spotlight: Songs from the musicals” and I would recommend it as entertainment for musical song lovers of all ages. Get your tickets now if they are coming to somewhere near you!
It is hard to believe that it was seven days ago, on a Thursday morning, that I was on a train to London with the first reverberations of the Icelandic volcanic eruption and its cloud of ash.
Would visiting Celloon CEO Mirko Kisser actually arrive in the UK on a flight fom Berlin? My arrival in London was matched with the confirmation of his landing.
Then the ash shut down the airspace.
To us, the sun shone in a clear blue sky.
Yet the invisible ash shut down airspace with a finality that was to last for nearly a week.
In a semblance of normality, Mirko's meetings went well with several positive connections made. Then his flight too was affected and uncertainty prevailed.
Mark had had a successful Grundtvig program with delegates from 12 different countries across Europe. When it ended on Friday, here too the ash held sway. For one night, Fitzwilliam College generously helped out by allowing a further nights stay for a tenner each. Then some began their individual adventurous journeys to find their way home.
Five others were offered a haven in Mark's house as the uncertainty continued.
On Tuesday, stranded Irma Jona from Iceland came with Mark for our Cambridge admin meeting.The car, cleaned in the morning, had a thin almost invisible layer of ash by the end of the day - carefully collected for future microscope viewing!
And the sun shone in a blue sky whilst the invisible ash still kept planes from flying.
Suddenly, yesterday - Wednesday, six days after the flight ban started, the airspace sprang into life again. Mirko escaped back to Germany in the morning and soon Marks house would be empty too.
The sun shone in a blue sky and planes were flying.
A grey Cambridge day turned sunny as I cycled the short stretch from Milton to the St John's Innovation Centre. I had not visited for a while and was delighted to see Jeanette, the restaurant manager looking well as I sat down with a very reasonably priced Brie and Cranberry baguette and some tea and looked out over the water feature.
I was joined for coffee by four delegates participating in the Grundtvig Program. This is a non vocational EU lifelong learning programme, aiming to build addtional life skills and confidence. Not that we needed the latter as the five of us soon got chatting.
John Falkner was a sociology graduate from Germany who listened before making thoughtful contributions; David Gallego came from Spain and oozed a certain Clooneyesque air - a temporary victim of the downturn in the small construction industry; Barbara Pononutti fom Italy was currently working in a telephone call centre, but lit up with animation when talking about a children's book she had written: and finally but not least Nora Aguirre, who had extensive experience within travel agencies, seen the Americas and now lived in Italy. Nora was good at the open ended questions to get people talking.
For some reason, the four had foregone the opportunities of setting up Barn Owl nesting boxes or Indian Cookery and expressed an interest in the development of businesses in the Cambridge area and the general way business functioned in the UK.
We were of course sitting in one of the incubators for the region. The St John's Innovation Centre is one of the places providing facilities and a nurturing environment for start-ups and micro-businesses. Whether high tech or "conventional", most businesses (over 90%) have only 1-5 employees and are the unsung heroes of any economy, despite lacking the glamour of larger branded corporations.
It hardly seems possible, but in the brief hour we covered a range of topics from book publishing (digitally and print, how to work out your charges as a business, and of course my favourite topics of the benefits of going out networking as well as finding like-minded people or companies with complementary skills to create new opportunities of your own. The role of serendipity in which way your business eventually developed was inevitably identified!
Too soon, the hour had passed and it was time for them to leave for the Chesterfield Science Park - a location for companies that had grown, established and required more space. The bright conversation leaving a warm memory as I returned to the mundane realities of work at the PC.
I'd met Ulrich Heker as part of the NRW visit to the British Dental Association Exhibition in Glasgow (see Album) in 2009. He was part of a group looking at opportunities for German dental technicians in the the UK. He realised there was a gap in the UK knowledge of the precision methods for dental attachments used routinely in Germany and followed this up with a collaboration with Milton Contact Ltd. This went ahead in the form of educational articles for a number of UK and Irish dental trade magazines such as the GDP, the Technologist and Private Dentistry (see Publications).
Ulrich and I had been frequently corresponding via phone and e-mail but had not seen each other since last year. Therefore, when he heard that I was visiting NRW on holiday, he promptly invited me to meet up with him and Andrea, wife and business partner with Teeth 'R' Us. We opted for a day out with the option of cover as the April weather was thoroughly unpredictable; the Gasometer Oberhausen was hosting an exhibition of the wonders of the solar system that proved an ideal venue.
We met in glorious sunshine and promptly took the opportunity to ride in a glass elevator to the dizzy height of 110m, to the top of the converted gasometer, for some glorious views! Returning inside to the exhibition proper, we were initially blind in the near darkness until our eyes adapted to the excellent displays. Unfortunately for our partners, we had both come armed with cameras and were battling with the low light conditions as we vied for best place at the exhibits. We did return to socialise over a well earned meal at the nearby CentrO and avoided talking too much shop for most of the time. When you go there, do follow Andrea's tip to visit the Mövenpick icecream stand.
I've included some of my pictures here in a friendly attempt to beat Ulrich to it and am now looking forward to his excellent and different photo interpretations of our successful and very enjoyable meeting.
Oh, how naive I was, when as a photographer I thought that image resolution of my camcorder in 4:3 and in 16:9 aspect ratios would be as simple as with digital photos; after all wasn't it just x pixels wide by y pixels high? Apparently not.
Digital video has taken over conventions from analogue video so that the whole industry could have a seamless transition, with interesting consequences.
My camcorder produces PAL compatible videos according to the 625/50i system. 625 refers to the number of horizontal lines in an analogue image. However the images are created by first scanning the odd numbered horizontal lines at 25 frames per second and then the even numbered ones at 25 frames per second, and interlacing them (25 +25 = 50 and i stands for interlacing - hence the 50i).
Of the 625 analogue TV lines, a number are not part of the image itself, 576 lines are used for the actual image. In a digital system this means the image recorded by my camcorder is 576 pixels high.
Finding the width is a bit more complicated. In a conventional analogue TV system, the width of each line (and therefore the image) is defined by a squiggly wave that lasts 52 micro seconds. To translate this into pixels, you have to take discrete samples at regular intervals along the line. An industry standard is to sample 702 times; digitally, this is therefore equivalent to a width of 702 pixels. Actually, in real life, the sampling is often 704 or 720 pixels. (Note, 52 micro seconds divided by 702 equals 74.1 nano seconds. In TV and radio physics, people like to express things in frequencies; we obtain the sampling frequency in Hertz by dividing 1 second by 74.1 nanoseconds = 13500000 Hz or 13.5 MHz - the way in which the industry standard is expressed)
Next comes a piece of strange news for a photographer - a pixel does not have to be a fixed square. in fact, with video, pixels are not square and can have a variety of different aspect ratios!
So, when I record a video in a conventional 4:3 aspect ratio, it is 704 x 576 pixels in size. However, when I record in a 16:9 aspect ratio, it is still 704 x 576 pixels in size, it's just that the video pixels are wider!
Even worse, if you use an on-screen ruler, you will find that none of the formats actually precisely fit the 4:3 or 16:9 image ratios!
So, when I record my video and display it on a screen, it should be 576 pixels high; however, the width of my video on screen will vary, depending on the width of the 704 video pixels!
If you want to have more detailed information, see the references below!
It was quite refreshing to go to a networking event dedicated to international trade for regional companies. Even more so as the Global Trade Network is a free network run by volunteer business people, without any other agenda.
Forty or more companies turned up, most of them experienced in at least some international trade, to listen to Chris Jarvis's "Back to Basics" and an entertaining non scientist Nick Tait, talking about his science based company Syrris and it's lesson's learnt whilst penetrating international markets.
A bit jarring were poor Mike getting an earful about the UK Technology logo, (it is not the most inspiring of designs - see top left in document here) and some people talking at the back of the room whilst the presentations were going on. Rude? or am I just turning into a grumpy old man.
The networking afterwards was great, helped by the excellent buffet. It was good to chat to companies as diverse as quality vegetable seed producer Pro-Veg Seeds or XJTAG, a debugging software and hardware provider.
From past experience of organising international events or participating in them, I look forward to future meetings where we companies with international connections can share our expertise. Make sure you don't miss the next event by visiting The Global Trade Network site.
On the lookout for a new enjoyable snack, I chatted to my neighbour David, a young chef to be with an interest in pastry. He recommended a simple pastry dish, the mixed pepper tart.
For a small tart, I would need:
100g plain flower
25g butter
25g lard
a teaspoon or so of water to help bind
(David recommends using the butter lard mixture because as it prevents the pastry cracking as it would with butter alone)
Sieve the flour into a bowl
Add the copped butter and lard
work in with fingers to breadcrumb consistency
add water sparingly until bound together
Chill in fridge for 20 - 30 minutes for easier preparation later
In the meantime prepare the filling:
Two halves of different coloured peppers
half an onion
small clove of garlic
salt and pepper to taste/season
1 small egg
about 100ml milk
finely chop the onion and garlic
fry them lightly in oil
chop and add the peppers
carry on cooking gently until the peppers are nice and soft
add the seasoning to taste
Optional, add some basil for additional flavour
take out to cool
Whisk the egg with the milk lightly in a jug
Now we need to prepare the pastry
Take pastry out of the fridge
onto a floured surface and with a floury rolling pin, roll out the pastry to about 3mm -4mm thickness
Line a suitably sized oven proof dish or tin with butter
Wrap pastry around rolling pin and carefully deposit in dish
tamp down gently
remove excess above dish rim with a knife
add the pepper and onion mixture
add the whisked milk and egg
Cook in a preheated oven at 180 degC for about 20 minutes or until lightly golden and set.
Serve hot, perhaps with a light salad as an accompaniment!
I arrived in Berlin in the dark today to find lots of snow (6 inches) and sub zero temperatures. The dilapidated Student quarter of Fichtenhain in the city where I'm staying in the NU Hotel is transformed by the snow under the street-lights.
Paths are either clear and icy or covered in an inch of mocha coloured, churned snow, with the consistency of sand (that is strangely pleasant to walk on) between pristine white borders.
It was a delight to sit in a cosy little candle lit restaurant, with good food and a view of the occasional tram trundling through the cold white outside.
No doubt illusions will be shattered in the cold light of day!
Snow wrapped Milton in the morning meant cancelling meetings (negative) and using the opportunity for some quick photography (positive!).
I reined in my desire to photograph absolutely everything white and sought a different perspective to the impact of the weather on our village of Milton.
Fortunately, this turned out to be people I met on my walk; the friendly neighbour who was clearing the path to the house of an elderly resident; Two women delivering bales of hay to feed their horses; The father and the delighted children he was towing on a sleigh and the fellow photographers met going to and from the river and country park.
The novel weather seemed to bring out the best in people, taking time to do unusual tasks and enjoy the change, and this is reflected in the photos.
Technically, snow is challenging, because of the extreme brightness, the automatic settings on the camera tend to underexpose.Thus with a digital camera, set to overexpose by one or two stops. I found some useful advice at The Luminous Landscape and Theschoolofphotography.
Different photographers also see different things. I met Philip Mynott, a commercial photographer, on my walk and he had a different set of perspectives of the same morning - see his blog. I also look forward to seeing the pictures from the other members of the Milton Photographic Club as they are posted.
So,if its still snowy where you are - take up your camera and have a play - then let me know what your perspective was.
I enjoyed an early morning meeting with Christian Berner and colleagues from Revacom in London. Not only was it an informative and enjoyable event, it also gave me an opportunity to go on a meandering perambulation through the capital afterwards. Part more business - looking at Christmas Markets for another client - and part pleasure by visiting the Anish Kapoor exhibition and the Rosetta Stone.
The route started by exiting the tube at Mansion House as Blackfriars Station by our meeting place in the Crown Plaza was closed. The walk down Victoria Street afforded glimpses of St Pauls in the rush hour sunlight. After the meeting, it was across Blackfriars Bridge to the South Bank, walking towards the London Eye.
The Cologne Christmas Market spread in a ribbon on either side of Hungerford Bridge. The little chalets were frequented by a smattering of visitors at around midday, with the Eye rotating majestically in the background.
I took the Jubilee Footbridge to cross over the Thames again and via Northumberland Avenue, found myself negotiating a Climate protestors village in Trafalgar Square before reaching Picadilly Circus in the throes of being a building site.
I found the Royal Academy, and the queue, off Picadilly. A half hour wait and I was in the Anish Kapoor exhibition that was ending this week. “Shooting in the Corner” was of brief interest but “Yellow” was surprising for the vertigo it induced when standing very close. Leaving the exhibition, I ate an excellent salad lunch in the Burlington house restaurant, before setting off again.
A long walk down Picadilly brought me to Hyde Park where the “Winter Wonderland” gateway incongruously stood. This Christmas market was large, and by 3pm, getting very busy. At one end were the many stalls, some constructs very large, whilst at the far end, the brash funfair lured in the thrill seekers.
The winter light was fading as walked to a deserted Speakers Corner and Marble Arch to enter the bright lights of the shopping parade that is Oxford Street. A portion of prime construction land had been fenced off and enclosed a smaller Christmas Market adorned by a German Christmas Pyramid that sold Bratwurst – at £3 a go, I gave the sausages a miss.
The pre rush hour crush had started as I walked the 2km along the illuminated Oxford Street to reach the British Museum off Great Russell Street. At 5pm, there was just time to pop in to see the Rosetta Stone, which gave the breakthrough in the translation of Egyptian Hieroglyphics. Another kilometer and I gratefully boarded the Piccadilly line at Holborn to start my way home again after a good 10km tour!
Professional and personal interest led to a visit to the 2009 Lincoln Christmas Market, one of the largest in the UK and Europe with over 130000 visitors expected over the four days it ws open.
Timing and certain masochism meant we went by car on one of the busiest days, Saturday. Fortunately, arriving by 10am at the P&R made getting into lincoln relatively painless.
Three things really stood out about the market:
The mass of visitors was so great as to warrant a one way circuit around the stalls and the crush almost hindered stopping for a purchase at peak times.
Whilst a significant proportion of stalls went with the festive theme in terms of content and dressing up, many did not. The uniformity of the canvas stalls also diminished the expectations of a Christmas market people may have gained, for example in Germany.
Go a few hundred yards from the market route and the masses dropped off considerably - making it worth taking refreshments some distance from the market. We enjoyed an afternoon tea with carol singing in St Peter in Eastgate Church.
The location made the venue, with the Cathedral and the castle providing very scenic backdrop - shame the castle walls were not open for access as they would have provided a fantastic view!
Probably the most enjoyable part of the visit to Lincoln for me was actually the Museum of Lincolnshire Life, who were following a Victorian Christmas theme and had lots of interesting exhibits manned by actors in Victorian garb. The Victorian Sweet shop was doing a roaring trade in sugared mice and I spent an informative time with the printer talking about the wonderful man-powered printing machine he was operating.
Trying to return to the P&R stop in town around 5pm, we hit an enourmous queue, at one point 5000 people long, I was told by an official. We delayed our departure till 9pm by having a meal in town - by then the queues were gone.
Photographically, it was a difficult event as you were carried along and buffeted by a sea of people. I used a small portable camera, rather than the SLR. However, the positive Christmas spirit meant that many of the people in costume were happy to be photographed and provided a festive view.
Richard Wishart of Delivery Management is a good friend and networking colleague, with whom I've collaborated over the years.
As part of his continued interest in using online collaborative tools, Richard moved his company website to a Windows Office Life based server. He then gave me the challenge to utilise the site design facilities there and establish a basic framework that he could follow and use to grow his site.
The initial constraint was to use one of the existing wireframe templates. The colour scheme was suggested by the company logo. Since Richard and his company are forward looking and technology driven, the final top banner was the result of a desire to hint at wireless connectivity, via a broadcasting arial, and forward movement by releasing the logo's eagle to fly on.
The intrepid exploring eagle then became the leitfaden through the main images for the five different areas. Minor details such as curved corners reflecting current visual trends.
The site is a dramatic improvement over the initial basic functionality, with greater regularity and obvious underlying structure that the eye subconsciously detects. Most importantly, Richard appears to be happy with it, such that he has been confident enough to start populating it with content.
As a designer, I know there are always further improvements or alternatives! That said, the Windows Office Live platform provides a cost effective way for many to design a competent functional business site.
I've been intrigued by the restrictions of twitter and also about the impact of social media on family life. Tonight, an idea thats been germinating for a while came to fruition in the form of a short story in tweets via www.tweetchat.com. The Twitter messages or "tweets" are reproduced below, with the identifier #grancare - an easy way for Twitterers to follow a thread amongst the flood of messages.
I want to try a short story, in tweet chapters so to speak. If an illustrator want to collaborate for a future repeat, great! #grancare
Helping Granny, a tale of our time #grancare
Granny lived alone and had coped quite well. Like anyone, sometimes she was sweet, sometimes she laughed, sometimes she spat fire! #grancare
One day, her grandson Errol came to visit. They drank tea, ate lots of cake and Errol listened enraptured to Granny reminiscing. #grancare
In a quiet moment, Granny confided to Errol "Things are such an effort nowadays - the sales calls on the phone, the junkmail!" #grancare
I find it hard to remember which pills to take and when and I think Ive read the newspaper twice today!" she added chuckling #grancare
"Most of all, it's very quiet at times, with families too busy with their own lives to call or far away to visit" Granny sighed. #grancare
Errol drove home from his visit to Granny very thoughtful about her words. "What can I do?" #grancare
That evening, Errol sat in the lounge with his laptop in front of the Telly, with his cup of hot chocolate and supply of biscuits. #grancare
He logged into facebook and read the many entries by family and friends. Suddenly he began to write a new post. #grancare
"Dear all" wrote Errol "wouldn't it be great if we all phoned Granny a bit more often and visited more regularly?" #grancare
The next day, Errol innocently logged into facebook and received an unexpected surprise! #grancare
Errol had forgotten that Auntie Sandra was the black sheep of the family and only spoke to Uncle Eric. #grancare
The whole Sanderson family held the Hendersons in contempt ever since the unfortunate incident of the aspic at Ronnie's funeral. #grancare
Emily was on an extended research project in Borneo and Errol's brother was preoccupied with his sextuplets starting school. #grancare
"I'm tied to a tree fighting loggers" came short shrift from Emily "and my solar powered mobile is breaking down!" #grancare
"Our stretched family limousine can't make the hairpin bends or climb the hills near Granny's" wailed Errol' brother. #grancare
The Sandersons were unanimous in blaming the Hendersons and conversely the Hendersons said they'd done more than their fair share! #grancare
Uncle Eric told him to sod off! Only Auntie Sandra responded positively, (if Errol understood her text in nuspeak correctly). #grancare
Somewhat shaken and deflated, Errol swapped the hot choc for a full bottle of finest malt and was unconscious for the weekend. #grancare
The next week, he resolved to call Granny - but the line was engaged. Using callback, Granny finally got in touch. #grancare
"I don't know what's got into everybody!!!" she raged, "I haven't had a moment's peace from the phone!" #grancare
Then she added more mollified "Your brothers visiting next week! He's hired a bendy bus. And Eric's coming for lunch next week!" #grancare
"You could visit more often" Granny said pointedly. "But I visited last week" Errol sighed. "Oh yes! - But you're always welcome!" #grancare
An hour later, Errol rang off and sat down to log onto facebook. "No", he suddenly decided happily, "I'll twitter today!" #grancare
The Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square was unoccupied since its completion in 1841, when money for a planned equestrian statue failed to materialise - until the Mayor of London and various arts groups initiated a series of exhibitions upon it. One & Other is the current event, assisted by Sky Arts, a brainchild of Anthony Gormley, of "Angel of the North" fame. See him talk about his vision here
For 100 days since the middle of July, members of the public have been occupying the plinth for 1 hour each, 24h a day, come rain or shine. They are chosen by a draw from those who had applied to be part of the project. What you do on the plinth is entirely up to you, as long as it is legal. The project will provide not just a piece of art but also a social record of our society in 2009.
With around 30000 applying for 2400 places, I thought it was worth joining. The August and September draws came and I was unsuccessful. Resigned, I was therefore surprised to have a call a couple of hours after the September draw results asking
"We have a slot free on the Plinth. It's at 2am on 16th Sept are you interested?"
"YES!!!" was my resounding exhilarated reply!
I set off at nine pm to catch the train to London, where a narrow band of rain had been inundating the Plinth with nearly an inch of rain over the past hours. I arrived at Trafalgar Square with rain still bucketing down at 11pm. Fortunately, there was a warm welcome and a cup of tea in the temporary two storey One&Other building on the square from which the event was run, within sight of the Plinth.
There was a camaraderie in that cabin amongst the Plinthers who had just completed, and those who were to go up in the next couple of hours. Stories and experiences, ambitions and fears, Distances travelled and places to go all discussed. Plinthers would go out to view the current incumbents and lend support in a constant ebb and flow. There was tight security, but very sensitively handled. Safety was paramount too. We were all also interviewed and photographed individually as part of research by the Wellcome Trust as well as to provide material for the forthcoming record as a book of the event.
I was extremely lucky! The rain stopped just before I got onto the cherry picker, Stuart of security walking ahead of us as we slowly drove to the plinth, only missing the red flag that men walking in front of early automobiles used to have. I turned to One & OtherJamy who was escorting me and found out that his hobby was Birding with a pleasure at having recorded some Ospreys earlier this year. The Cherry picker rose well above the plinth and then delicately lowered to the edge of the plinth where Mike from Wales had been dancing for the full hour, ready to come off on a physical and emotional high.
The main thread of my stay was people's hobbies, demonstrated by mine, microscopy. The link to the plinth was the Victorian connection to the birth of amateur microscopy and its flourishing in the Victorian age. I was able to include my favourite 17th Century scientist Robert Hooke, of the Royal Society, who's excitement initiated real interest in microscopy with his book Micrographia; Darwin, who used a simple microscope on the Beagle and later at home, for example on his studies on the goose barnacle; John McArthur, early 20th Century medical researcher in Malaria who settled in a nearby village in Milton, Landbeach, and who invented the McArthur portable microscope used by the Trans Antarctic Expedition headed by explorer Vivian Fuchs, later Sir Vivian Fuchs, and head of the British Antarctic Survey, now based in Cambridge. John also developed the 1972 prize winning McArthur Microscope in plastic for the Open University, who used nearly 8000 of these for students studying biology in their homes for over 25 years.
I'd brought my Watson Kimamicroscope along, dating from 1957, just one year after I was born (and the year that the Trans Antarctic Expedition successfully completed its journey after 99 days), to look at a few prepared slides, one of Black Oak by Ernie Ives, a Foraminiferan mount by Brian Darnton and a Head louseprepared by myself. The spotlights onto the plinth provided sufficient light and an additional bond of the activity to the plinth to let me view and photograph the samples.
There had been queries about bringing glass slides onto the Plinth for safety reasons (glass was excluded). however, I conducted a full risk assessment - the first submitted by a Plinther! And special permission was granted in advance. (Copy of Risk Assessment here)
The highlight for me was the sample that I had plundered from the fountain in Trafalgar Square (with permission!). The small amount of green sediment captured in a plastic Petri dish not only contained algae, but a free living nematode! A particular delight as I'd worked on parasitic nematodes in the past.
The hobby of microscopy was brought bang up to date by using a digital camera to capture images and then to upload them using a dongle on my laptop to a Picasa album for all to see (see the album at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/miltoncontact/Oneandother# , for time reasons, I did the upload back in the One & Other shelter).
This would all have been a little remote for the viewer at times as they could not see the samples and photos there and then. I was therefore extremely pleased that, thanks to the generosity of Peter Burt and Jamy Limited, I had a brilliant banner with large photos that I could demonstrate to both the small audience at the base of the plinth and the cameras.
All that remained at the end was to round off with a summary and to pack up. The last few minutes were used to photograph the steel Plinth surface which, after 60 days or more, was showing interesting surface effects (see slide show at top).
Emotionally, I came off on a high that stayed with me for several days. I spent some time back in the One & Other shed uploading pictures. Then, because there was no tube running and no trains to Cambridge till early morning, I set off at around 4am to wander the streets of London with the camera, finally progressing the Victoria Embankment from the Houses of Parliament in the dark to St Paul's at dawn.
Arriving back in Milton, I collapsed in bed and finally slept, with a deep sense of satisfaction at taking part as a small facet in this snapshot of people in Britain in 2009.
I would like to express my special thanks to all those who commented and supported me on my Plinther'sChris_T_1 One&Other page.
It was a big mistake getting off at Elizabeth Way bridge with a camera last Saturday, as my original intention was just to visit the bank and Waterstones. Instead, I stood captivated by the murals in the Underpass and decided to see what other interesting Art I could find by meandering through the backstreets of Cambridge..
My first find was the Cricketer's Arms in Melbourne Place. Windows on the first floor sported three pictures of first, a Cambridge United footballer, a cricketer and an Irish Rugby player. Chatting to the publican Martin Hyde, who was delighted in the interest, I discovered the following.
The pictures had been designed by the pupils of nearby Parkside school as part of a competition set up by Martin to convert the ugly blacked out windows into something a lot more interesting. A teacher then converted the ideas into scaled up paintings in emulsion.
On my way to Mill Road to see Martin's other pub, the Earl of Beaconsfield and Disraeli painted as a leprechaun, I discovered Mill Road Cemetery.
With graves predominantly from the 1880s to early 1900's, it was a peaceful picture of genteel neglect in the glorious sunshine of the day. A number of the monuments were broken and there was evidence of vandals desecrating tombs and gravestones both from the distant past and extremely recently. Poignant WWI memorials were scatted with the bodies of the young who died, including one in 1918 close to the end of the war and another at Paschendale. The delightful find was the memorial to John Reynolds, who ran the telegraph coach from London to Cambridge back in the 19th century.
Just before Kingston Street, I asked two ladies if they were aware of any interesting art or signage nearby. None they could remember, and yet within 50 yards I found the wonderfully decorated 80 Kingston Street. Chatting to Claire, who just happened to be at a window, i discovered that this was the home of the women's Paradise Housing Cooperative, colloquially know as housing “The Birds of Paradise”.
Taking time and looking around, I found the leprechaun, Mill Road bridge mural and many other artwork and signs, where a little imagination had created a small but positive impression on their environment in Cambridge.
Click on the slideshow to be taken to the Picasa album with captions to the pictures. (Oh yes, and despite wandering around for 4 and a half hours, I did get to Waterstones and the bank too.)
Meeting with a group of German IT companies in Potsdam in preparation for the marketing assistance programme to the UK, I was again struck by the diversity and ingenuity of their ideas. As part of the afternoon they were supposed to fill in company information forms, ostensibly to assist with our market researchers. Like forms everywhere, my fear was that they would inexplicably lack the company's vibrant USPs, so essential for our market researchers to understand if they were to successfully find interested UK contacts. Having been up since 4 in the morning that same day, the silence of studious form filling was also likely to be highly soporific!
So we tried something different! Pairing up, one of the pairs would describe their company, its goals and ambitions, which the other partner would then interpret and use to fill in the form. The roles were then reversed. At the end, each company gave a presentation. In fact, we've We even had one company brave enough to give the presentation of their partners in English to general applause!
The background hubub and engagement was stimulating, the presentations informative. The companies gained useful insights and practice in honing their pitch in a safe environment. Even better, there was also a bit of networking afterwards! An application for a XING group has been initiated.
My suggestion is therfore to use a future networking meeting to try this with a trusted partner.
1. Describe your company, ethos and offers briefly
2. then see what your partner understood and reflects back to you
3. Of course, you can return the favour!
The slideshow is of Potsdam and the museums in Berlin, two cities in constant change, which may also reflect the positive forward looking attitudes of the companies from this region.
"Tragic life stories" was the sombre heading of one book selection in WH Smiths on Saturday 15th August. However, this was totally counterbalanced by:
The blind spectator joyfully improvising Jazz songs with the delighted black guitarist street player near the market square.
Iron, the handyman, resting on a bench by the river intently watching a duck being plagued by a pike.
The way people stopped on the bridge near the Green Dragon pub in Chesterton to gaze at the water and boats.
Hanging baskets bursting with flowers outside the Green Dragon.
The friendly welcome and brilliant conversation with Dino and his brother at Dino's Hair Salon in Chesterton, when I entered for a hair cut at the spur of the moment, despite it being nearly closing time on a long Satruday afternoon.
Five nights at The Haven, run by Michael and Lorna Marsh, revealed why they had been accorded the only AA Four Star rating for a B&B in Truro. It was the fantastic personal service that made one feel home from home, instead of just as paying customers in lodgings.
Friendly and accommodating when needed, they were unobtrusive and left you to your own devices when you you were OK on your own.
The single long breakfast table was a case in point. Over our stay, guests naturally introduced each other and, more often than not, had inclusive conversations. Mohammed Afasi a General Manager from Egypt on training, Maureen the concert goer, Dorothea and Guenther touring the Southwest and Dave on Bang & Olafson business were some of the lives that touched one another.
Having run other businesses in the region for many years, Michael and Lorna's exceptional skills have been honed to a very high level.
We were lucky to visit them early in their first year of business and achieve a booking at short notice. As their well earned reputation spreads, you are advised to book well in advance in future.
