[2024] Week 28

I am in danger of overdosing on optimism. Ben is right – not bad for week one. So many sensible decisions and appointments I am getting overwhelmed and am genuinely suffering from FOMO as I see opportunities to get stuck in on new Missions with new Ministers.

…and somehow England are in another final! This is the most unlikely sporting achievement since Leicester won the league. Sometimes though the journey does not matter – just the destination 😆 I have this theory that England are playing TikTok football (rather than tiki-taka football). The game boiled down to a couple of moments that can be ‘clipped’ for TikTok scrolling and the rest is just b-roll. Somehow this seems to be effective? Spain might be a bridge too far but it’ll be fun and who knows?!

Had an hour chatting with an A-level student doing work experience at TPX. Absolutely no idea whether she would have found ANY of it helpful but I enjoyed it and had to laugh when it turned out her mum went to my school (quite some time after me mind), she lives in my neighbourhood and I share friends with her dad. Bristol is a village part 1046.

Yesterday I was in London (actually I still am) to attend the Local Digital programme gathering. It was a really great day. It is still a lovely treat to meet people IRL (and decide if they are taller than you thought) and just to have some corridor conversations. There were talks about Ransomware (which I realised I knew quite a bit but had some gaps now filled), Policy (which was measured, insightful and timely) and then some Bristolian bloke babbled about blogging and being open for a bit and nobody grabbed the mic out of his (sweaty) hand.

A few of us went for a drink or two after (or five wines in the case of your author 🤪) and it was time well spent, the kinds of work adjacent chats that build relationships and trust in teams – something that is just not yet replicable over Teams/Zoom/Chat.

I’ve got some clarity on what I am going to be working on for the next couple of months at least – I didn’t end up on the team I’d been lobbying for (totally sensible reasons why and they got someone top tier in the role instead but I was still a little sad) but I do have a couple of interesting teams to support, including a sponsorship piece outside of the Local Digital space, while we are pursuing an exciting lead that is nicely Jukesie shaped.

Finished the Ed Zwick book (loved it) and am now reading ‘Where We Come From’ by Aniefiok Ekpoudom about UK Hip Hop.

I’m definitely in a movies and music mode when it comes to my reading at the moment. Haven’t been tempted to pick up any of the pile of fiction or ‘business’ books on my ‘to-read’ pile.

Got up early today so I could have the Leake Street Tunnel mainly to myself for a bit – it was a bit of a mess to be honest. Fewer high end pieces than usual but what there was…we’ll see for yourself.