THINKING INSIDE THE BOX

A thank you to the readers of this site who have been, in a loving and supportive way, asking what the heck's happened.
Your support is appreciated.
I am climbing a mountain.
At least, that is what fills my dreams as well as my waking activity.
I am spread thin between old world and new world - the old world of my consulting practice, and the new world of the business venture I am building. This naturally means I'm busy. The old world has to go on paying till the new world gets built. And, since the new world is heavily web dependant, there is a lot of building to be done, some by me, some supervised by me.
It is a very different experience from starting my business eighteen years ago. Then, there was a manic energy, fuelled by sales coming out of my ears. When, in two trading months, I had made my annual salary, I knew I was on a winner. Then it was ego all the way, and, for a number of years, a rock star / rock group kinda life. We claimed the outrageous as brand property in a way that the more austere zeitgeist now does not allow. We were awash with sales - and no factory needed.
The energy now is calm, and considered, even though the production pace is intense. The reason is simple. Eighteen years ago I was riding, though I strenuously denied it, on a cult of personality. Now, I am building a product, a system, a box. It is a very nice box, but a box, nonetheless. And it needs a factory to build it, without which there can be no sales, and with which comes the inevitable fear - all this time and money is going out - will there be any?
I've had feedback which has gone: "it sounds great, but not at all resembles you."
Fantastic.
That tells me I am on the right path.
You see, there's a problem with personality. Its appeal may be great, but its scale is limited to you. I have wider ambition. And, in a quiet, English sort of way, I have a confidence that my box will fulfill it.
Once I've climbed the mountain, I will have fully designed and built it.
The climbing is a marathon, not a sprint. I'm not even sure we've seen the summit yet, let alone got anywhere near it. That sales and accolades for the system are already building is pleasing, but I can't let small achievements now persuade me of an importance greater than they actually have. They are steps. They are knolls, rock features, minor peaks passed. But they are not anywhere near the summit. There's an awful long way to go. And the steps are careful, measured and considered.
To those who've missed this blog - thank you, and I hope I shall find some time to stop on the climb and share the view.

HB 1

Pointyheads 0

BEWARE "CONTACTLESS" CAR WASHES

Can't make the buggers work .............................................................................yet.

I find myself looking at older men.

I know, I know. Not that.

I just can't find any role models.

It's quite depressing.

Suggestions, please.

Some people think they have a God-given right to live beyond the system.

HAIKU

Look, friend. Suffering
Has made you more beautiful:
Lines of a survivor.

HAIKU

You could taste my soul.
It would taste just like water
Drunk underwater.

• New year
• New business
• New bagpipes

NEW YEARS HONOURS LIST

The Laytham Gazette today records the following as awarded the Order of the Berry Empire (OBE), dated today, 31.12.11. in recognition of acheivements across the year.


AL SUWAILEM, Faisal, for services to international leadership.
ASTILL, Lady Sonia, M.Sc. for services to the Samaritans Listening helpline.
BARNETT, Robert, 1st Baronet , for services to higher education.
BLAMEY, Dame Difna Maria Bernadette O Leary, for services to mental health and international development and cooperation.
BRADSHAW, Professor Simon, Master Mariner, for services to navigation.
BRATCHER, Paul B.Sc. DSLR, for services to photography and digital art.
BRUCE, Lady Amanda, for services to mental health.
BYRNE, Jo. For services to photography.
CASSIDY, Right Rev Matthew, DD, for Church services.
COMPTON, John Montepulciano, for services to online literary community.
DEAZLE, Adrian PhD., for services to international development.
DESFORGES, Gerard Stancomb Wills LLB, for services to the development of an intuitive literary recommendations system.
DESFORGES, Ursula St Honore, services to spiritual tourism.
DUNFORD, Daniel, B.Sc. for services to aviation.
ECCLES, The Marquess, for services to digital and film media production.
FENNELL, Paul Kendal Mintcake, BA, Services to art and flavoured vodka.
GILBERTSON, Prof David for outstanding scientific inquiry into the nature of gravity.
GOVIER, The Hon John, services to leadership.
GRAINGER, Keith Merckx for services to the Lycra industry.
HAMBLETON-GRAY the Hon. Catherine, for services to ethical business practice.
HIBBERT, Andrew, for services to leadership.
JONES, Dr Robert Stalin PhD, for services to the liqueurs industry.
MACINNES, Commander Ron McSpinnaker, Joint Founder, The Charm Points Foundation, for services to marine cost efficiency.
MOREL, Kevin Risotto, for services to hospitality.
MORRISON, Neil, M.A., Author, for services to literature.
PAGE, David, for services to polysomnography.
PAVEL, Michelle, for services to arctic exploration.
SHOEBRIDGE, Captain Charles, Algernon, Half Timbered, Poinsettia, M.A., LL.B, MC, DSO for services to the counter intelligence community and real ale.
WALES, Jimmy Donal for provision of encyclopaedic knowledge.
WARD, Professor Sir Christopher, services to the development of text messaging.
WELSTEAD, Justin, MA, for services to sports journalism.

HO BLOODY HO

Suicide statistics soar at Christmas. I can see why. We may have forgotten what we are supposed to be celebrating at Christmas, but advertisers have not. You, my friend, are meant to be celebrating a consumerist fantasy of happy families, grinning through extravagant consumption.
So life hasn't yielded you the frictionless nuclear idyll? The bombardment of messages about its desirability at this time of year makes you - what - a pariah?
I don't know of a family which does not have lurking not far beneath its surface deep fracture lines. Perhaps such families exist and I just haven't seen them. I do, however, know of many, many lonely people who live lonely lives within the frameworks of such supposedly whole and untarnished networks, just as I know of lonely people who live beyond them. And believe me, satisfying the consumerist dream by spending, or even having the means to spend, makes precious little difference to one's isolation within or without the Ladybird Book of Family Christmas.
This blog piece is dedicated to you - you who are honest enough to see "this is broken and I don't know how to fix it."
So what have we got? Advice from Mr high and bloody mighty life coach?
Alas, my life is as fractured as anyone else's.
So what can one do?
See the societal messages for what they are, perhaps. In some instances, commercial tools, nicely targeted at the emotions. In some instances, the genuine expressions of friends and family - wishes that life - your life perhaps - were not as fractured and broken as it is.
Breathe. Celebrate the life that is in you, through you and beyond you everywhere you look, whether it is December 25th, June 4th or any other date.
Have a glass or two of something, and toast through gritted teeth. This really is as good as it gets.
Be alert. Listen to the choir. Life is always singing, even when the song is a sad one.
And I, just like anyone else, will try and do the same.
May you, in your heart and mind, with all your heart and mind, have a truly happy Christmas.

CHRISTMAS IS A TIME FOR.......

This amazing piece, in watercolour, was painted by my good friend Paul - one of this country's preeminent botanical artists. You can see why he is.
Apart from the appeal of its prodigious skill, the image sums up in my warped little mind all the putrefaction as well as the abundance of Christmas and what the modern world has made of it, and is for me the very essence of what I think of the "festive season". At a time when Brussels is in crisis, its tower of power is an apter than ever visual pun.

A very merry Christmas to all our readers.