NORTHERN PLANNER

I’m sitting alone the Breakfast Club in Soho.It’s the first time I’ve been in here without the coffee morning/planning cabal type people, which feels a little strange, but good strange, it’s quiet and, on your own, this is a good place to sit think and reflect (the carrot cake is beyond reproach too).

Soon I’m off to one of those IPA events full of earnest, slightly scary Unilever type people, I’m sure I’ll learn something, but you can guess where I would prefer to be.

All I have is a notebook, a pen and a relatively decent book on what makes ideas sticky. The phone is off to conserve power and the laptop is kaput (forgot both chargers). And it’s a joy.

Time to slow down, think properly about one or two things. No need to talk, no need to answer persistent emails. Sometimes it’s the little pleasures that you really savour.

Then I walk, I don’t run, to where I need to be. Others are hustling past me, some fizzing with purpose, others needlessly impatient. Time has slowed down for me, everyone is else is a blur, like those stop motion films of clouds hurtling across the sky.

I’ll be them again in a few minutes but for now, it’s nice to exist in different dimension to every one else.