NORTHERN PLANNER

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  • The Tamagotchi Gesture

    I've been thinking about the Tamagotchi Gesture for something or other to do with work.

    I like the thought that 'by adding something that requires care and concentration we are nourished'.

    That's so important in a world that's all about now, instant gratification and disposability.

    100_1752

    I guess that's the point of making tea in the pot, or cooking properly rather than zapping something in a microwave. 

    It's also the point of swimming everyday. I can't find a better word that 'realness', 'being present'.

    Anyway, funny how stuff that slows you down actually makes you better. That's why i reject computer mind-maps and planning as a linear process.

    There's something about the squeak of marker on a letraset, or scratching away on  a Moleskin that just works better. Maybe it's arranging post it notes on  a board, but an organic, slightly chaotic process requires organic tools. And don't pretend planning isn't chaotic and hit and miss please, you know process is only there to justify fees and create the illusion of predictability….

  • Last tea post for a while

    100_2911

    I've blathered on about tea here and there for quite a while now. I've even got shirty about tea advertising. And enough is enough. This is the last post about tea for a considerable time I hope.

    First, here's an another observation about that Yorkshire Tea advertising. I stress, I have no idea about their data or objectives, but I have a view on how brands work. This advertisingflies in the face of everything I love about tea and especially Yorkshire Tea. This blog does a a far better job of capturing Yorkshire Tea-ness. Here's the guide to making the perfect cup, which I thoroughly endorse.

    Once perpetual mistake I make is when I leave the pot to brew, manfully resisting the urge to stir and hurry it up, which would force tannins our and make it bitter. The curse of the absent minded means I start pottering on something and forget the pot. This can result in slightly tepid, over-stewed tea, which is mildly annoying. On the other hand, it's amazing what you can find yourself doing in the few minutes you wait, time you didn't think you had.

    What tea means to me is this.

    Pause

    The ritual, the slowness, the rules, the attention to detail, the bubbles on the surface of the freshly brewed cup, the lovely comforting rich taste. It's a moment of slowness. In a world that seems to be always on, always something to think about, somewhere to be, tea is way of pressing pause button. That first cup doesn't just gird your loins for the day, it provides a last reminder of what really matters before the headlong rush into the 21st century re-commences (and the effect is amplified if the first cup is before 7am as someone has observed).

    For me it inhabits the same world making my own pesto rather than the jar stuff, getting on the bike outside rather than in the gymn, writing a letter rather than an email or occasionally switching off the telly and just chatting. None of this stuff really matters, but at the same time it matters more than anything else in the world. Every day should have a good dose of realness, ritual and chance for reflection.

    Pause.

    That's what tea means to me. 
     
     

  • The Great North Swim

    As discussed, I'm doing the Great North Swim this year. Entry all sorted etc, time for some serious training.

    Swim

    I wanted to do it to have a goal. I've let the training slip a little bit, I've coasted. Mostly because of time. Time to step things up.

    Also, when I did swimming properly, I trained for shorter distances. I'm interested in how my body reacts to swimming really long distances.

    And…I have a baby boy, that takes time, good to focus on one thing that will make me happy. Something for me (why can't I be an amateur film critic, would be so much easier no?)

    In this case, it's not just the length, it's the cold, the currents and the waves. Luckily, I'll be in Cornwall at least twice this year, one visit will be the week before.

    I'm aiming to do under 25 minutes (it's a mile). Not earth shattering, but not easy either.

    I'll be resurrecting Tired is Stupid, but naturally some bits and bots will seep into this space.

  • The power of contradiction

    I'm in the middle of reading Andre Agassi's 'Open'. As you might expect. Apparently he wrote it himself and if so, that's amazing. It's a beautiful, tautly written book. Sport is so much more than the performance, it's a freakish, lonely life. This book captures that.

    Anyway, at the heart of the book is a contradiction. He hated tennis but couldn't stop. 'I want this to be over' 'I'm not ready for this to be over'. I think this captures a truth that isn't just about sport, but about anything that's worth doing. It's conflicted and un-simple.

    1984

    In George Orwell's 1984 we have double think. The idea of holding two contradictory arguments in your head at the same time. I think there's power in conflict and contradiction. There's real power in tension. Not the resolution of tension or conflict, as much of advertising tries to work to, but a fuzzy spot in the middle of both.

    In sport, proper sport that requires pain and sacrifice, athletes at once love it and hate it. Pain brings joy, joy in effort etc. You want the pain to stop, but rejoice in forcing yourself to carry on. Every single training session is redemption and escape from your own personal limits. There is no joy without pain. They are two sides of the same coin and need to be allowed to co-exist.

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    This is true of so much in life. Most people in agencies for example at once hate it and love it. They hate the hours, the constant grind, the stress, the unpredictability. But they also love that stress, it makes them feel alive. It's addictive. And the effort and trial and tribulation make the end result so much sweeter. Even that's bitter sweet, there's nothing at once euphoric and sad as coming to the end of a book and having to start again. Much of agency life is like that, much of LIFE is like that.

    Anyone that tells you that a having a baby is simple joy is offering falsehood. It's hard, stressful and restrictive. But there's an intense joy in that effort, doing something for someone else, at the mercy of your own instinctive need to care for your own flesh and blood. And amidst all that is the first smile, the first giggle and the holding him in your arms and just loving him.

    Yep, there's power in contradiction, not necessarily in its resolution, sometimes (mostly) in NOt resolving it.

  • Find your passion

    Guitar

    I went to see some of my friends play in a band this week. I've known some of them since school.

    I'm pleased to say they were very, very good. But that's not what made me happy.

    They're in their thirties, they are Dads, employees, boyfriends, husbands. But for an hour or so, they were five men totally lost in what they were doing. They were alive, present in the moment, released, not one of the ordinary people, empowered, confident, euphoric. To be honest, they were teenagers with a dream again.

    That's what made me happy. It doesn't matter what it is, it doesn't even matter if you're good. Find your passion and never stop doing it. That's what it means to be truly alive.

    On another note, one of them has stood his ground in a way I'd like to think I would, but I'm not so sure. He wrote and performed in a band that was good enough to get signed by a major label. But the label wouldn't release the finished album, it wasn't commercial enough. Rather than give in, they refused to release it. He left London and started a family.

    But he never gave up.

    Thanks to the splintering of the music industry, they're releasing a new album, one they want to share, in  small way in Europe. And playing some dates all over the continent.

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    Go on my son! It's never too late.

    That's the other side to the enthusiastic amateur. If you're truly gifted, you should follow it through. There's nothing like the joy of doing something well. Craftsmanship, inspiration, feeling your talent. It's good.
     

  • Slow roast pork shoulder

    It's been a little cold recently, perfect time for a warming, comforting recipe. This is one for the weekend, or to prepare the night before. Not only is it worth it, for the tender meat falling apart as soon as the fork tickles it, it's no work, the time is dedicated to slow marinading and cooking.

    That gives you lots of time to do something else.

    This is best eaten with people you like, the telly off and the fire going.

    You'll need:

    A boneless pork shoulder joint, the best you can find. That usually means sourced locally, ideally from a butcher. Supermarket ones are fine of course, but please try and avoid Dutch pork, they castrate their little piglets without anesthetic.

    Four garlic cloves

    Olive oil

    Two onions

    Plenty of scrubbed, chopped carrots

    One large sweet potato sliced into thin discs (skin on)

    Two tablespoons of flour

    One pint of hot stock, ideally ham stock, or chicken if you prefer. We're all busy, make it from a good quality stock cube

    Ideally the night before you want to eat it, take the pork out of its wrapping. Thinly slice two garlic cloves and then crush with a fork, stir into a tablespoon of olive oil. Rub the oily garlic all over the meat and wrap tightly in kitchen foil.

    This needs to marinade for at least two hours, in the fridge if you're cooking on the same day.

    10 minutes before you want to cook the meat, set the oven at 190 degrees C. Put the meat, still wrapped into a deep roasting tin and then put in the oven.

    You want to cook the meat for 35 minutes per half kilogram, with another 35 minutes added on.

    You have lots of time then to chop your vegetables. They'll need to be ready for the last 35 minutes of cooking.

    At this point, take the tray out, unwrap the meat, pour the juices back into the pan and toss your vegetables in it. Put the meat on top (the fatty, skin side up), and cook for that last 35 minutes. spoon some of the juices over the meat before it goes back in.

    When it's ready, take the pan out the oven, remove the meat, wrap in more foil to rest for twenty minutes.

    Stir in two tablespoons of flour into the vegetables left in the pan and pour in a pint of stock. Stir it all up and put back in the oven for the twenty minutes the meat is resting. This will create a lovely, thick, tasty sauce and finish off the veg. You might also fancy adding a glass of cider.

    When it's all done, carve the meat. Pull the fatty skin off first and, when I say carve, I really mean distribute the soft chunks as it fall apart.

    Pile the veg into big bowls, put the chunks of meat on top and pour lots of sauce over it. You want a nice soupy, saucy finish (so serve with lots of good bread to mop up the juices and let everyone have a spoon).

  • I’m leaving TBWA soon

    Context for why can be found here.

    During over two years here I have:

    Will

    Had my baby boy and grew up a bit.

    Shared a hotel room with a female colleague, 9 months before she had a baby.

    Bags
     

    Taken more clothes on a trip abroad than a girl.

    Fainted in  hotel.

    Smiley

    Failed at a moody black and white photo.

    Trainers

    Worn questionable trainers.

    Wore a suit.

    Fought bravely in the cause of tea.

    Spilt stuff.

    Mug

    Drank from the ultimate tea mug.

    I also won an IPA thingy.

    I made one or two friends who I will miss (more on them later)

    I also discovered the perils of group proprietary planning models and how they get in the way of good thinking and good work, but that's another story.

  • Specialism…

    A blog about point of sale

  • Gemma’s ‘Interesting’ talk on horses, lions tigers and bears

    It's funny. The people you know best, you never see the whole person. What's my wife like at work? I haven't a clue. What are my favourite work people like at home? Don't know entirely.

    So it's with pleasure I share Gemma's Interesting presentation from 2008. It's very good.

    She's a planner in Leeds, but I know here as sporadics coffee shop/relaxing beer conversationalist rather than a work person (or a home person). Nice to see her to her thing, always wondered what she would be like presenting.