times they are a changin' .....

Sorry about that. I've always had a slightly strange sense of humour. Well, where do I start ...... a friend and business associate has suggested that we share a lve-work space in central London (not at the same time...I'm not that sort of guy and neither is he :) to enable a proper presence in the City for both of our businesses. Sounds very interesting, as we only have a non-official presence there at the moment.

Add to that the sudden influx of database job enquiries, both here and in London, and it looks likely it will happen.

However, do I commute or do I go down for a week at a time or what?

living in interesting times ......

Slightly sick title, as this blog is about death. In the last 5 weeks three people I knew have died - one was in his late 80's so he had a good innings, however the other two were the same age as myself (52) and died from illnesses. Sobering thought!

However, a friend is due to have another small human soon and my business partner's son has his 8th birthday this week, and so there's always a positive to balance against the negative.

poetry stuff.....

I've had an interesting chat with a sculptor mate of mine. Basically it's a bet that my 2nd book of poetry (which has taken 27 years to arrive at) won't be ready before the book that he's writing is finished. The bet is 2 tickets for the RSO later in the season, to an opera of the winner's choice.

I'd better get working......

hehe..me and technology .....

I love technology. I've been used to using it, in one form or another for most of life. However, this new all-singing all-dancing pda / phone / swiss army knife device is driving me mad. Unlike the last one, this one has to be actively plugged in, and I constantly forget to. Upshot? Two hour-long (plus) meetings 15 minutes apart, one for Empire HR's new multimedia project and the other for Aberdeen College. Needless to say, Ian Caie, my co-director in Rocket, took one and I took the other.

I missed my friend's leaving do in London. AH well, I'll hopefully see her later in the year when I go on holiday. After all I got 1 week in Florence last year, that's a sign of things to come ....... time off. Hopefully the 70 hour weeks won't keep going for another 18 months.

It was brought to my notice by designer friends, that a couple of design companies are being hit with the closure of all the shops and offices on the south side of Justice Mill Lane, due to a new hotel development. The Bonaccord Swimming Pool next door is also closing due to council cutbacks ..... is this a coincidence? I don't think so. We've been hit by this as well, as we had a small shareholding in a Chinese Takeaway in the same block, and our lease has not been renewed. C'est la vie.

growing up ......

We have had to make some mature decisions for the various businesses recently. Not as much fun as usual, but it still has to be done. We've actually put a formal HR protocol in place, complete with contracts and all the gubbins, and actually employed an external service to administer it. Scary! We've also had to seriously look at setting up a holding company for our various interests. This may be getting too serious. While I enjoy business, and largely treat it as fun, I've had to make some hard decisions recently regarding expansion, particularly of Rocket. While Paradox has clients all over the world, Rocket is also now getting more and more work from clients in other countries. We've supplied to Switzerland, amongst other places, and have just completed a new site for the Amber Trust in Rajasthan.

so it's happening ....

Looks like we've got agreement on a new place where the eight of us can work together. Definitely bigger, and as per usual, a bit off the wall (who me? never!) but is a lot bigger with much light (the existing place only gets the sun in high summer). London is going to have to wait a few more months.

The new service which accompanies Rocket Print will shortly be in place all ready to service our ever growing client base. It should be fun (business really should be about enjoying yourself, no?) and may make our clients even happier.

Had a shout from an ex-workmate who is soon going back to the Antipodes, asking if I want to nip down to Londinium for the leaving bash.... I'm trying really hard to make that one...or do I want to wake up face down on the pavement at 8 in the morning :) Oh yes!

hmmm...should I ?.....

Well that was really surprising. Fifteen years after laying down my camera, professionally, I suddenly realised how much I'd missed it. Cause of this? This shared exhibition that I'm doing with Jonathon Holt. Though it's not a big deal in the scheme of things, I really enjoyed putting together this one, with completely fresh images, and without being tied to what the Times and Telegraph want to see. However, just as I get back into a bit of fun photography, a large local company wants me to shoot all of their properties for a new brochure. Do I want to do this...I think so, but time will tell.

On the design side of things, I have to go off to London again shortly to see some more clients ..... the opening of a (part-time) studio down there has been discussed and discussed, but now it's time to make the decision.........