Last day of March

Q1 of 2011 has come to an end. One third of the year has passed. The question is if one third of the aspirations for the year have been met? Time to consolidate, time to take stock, time to refocus if necessary. Continue on the motorway if the flow is right. Or if on one of those ring roads going around the city, it's time to decide what exit to take.

BBC Calling All Royal Enthusiasts and Anglophiles!

Are you a Royal Fanatic? Are you excited about the forthcoming Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton? Are you planning on trekking to London for the big day to see the King and Queen-to-be?

If this sounds like you then we would love to hear from you.

The BBC Royal Wedding Events team would like to speak to people who may be coming to London to celebrate the Royal Wedding and catch a glimpse of William and Kate on their big day.

The BBC team would like to interview enthusiastic people in the crowd, who have really made an effort to attend, people who are fans of British culture and the Royals.

....

I think they are trying to track me down...

Some of the advantages of working from home

I can and I do take calls while still dressed in bathrobe. I have tea and biscuits from Fortnum & Mason. I guess I could take them to the office but I don't, so they are definitely a treat married to the home office. I allow enough time to think a thought from beginning to end and finish writing sentences without interruptions from stressed or sociable colleagues. I can, and I sometimes do, take a long walk in the afternoon.

And work (or no work) can be done in favourite chair with the sun caressing my shoulders.

When every meal becomes a meeting

Breakfast meeting with potential new partner. Lunch meeting with managment team for current client. Dinner meeting with a coaching objective. And in between: more meetings but without food. So when the mobile goes off in the evening there is absolutely no energy at all to listen to anyone, let alone formulate a sentence. Just a need to be quiet. That's me.

Love. Honour. Disobey.

165 Eaton Place in 1936. The story of a family and its staff in a splendid BBC production. English romance, scandals and a splash of history in Upstairs Downstairs.

This is my latest DVD purchase. Sadly there are only three episodes available and I'm just about to press play on episode three. Monday night treat and then start the search project for more episodes. Surely they are available somewhere...

...and tulips

Not to forget organge nailpolish. All means that bring colour to life are good means.

The importance of daphodils

To perform or not perform

'You should challenge your need to perform. Do nothing. Lie on the couch and eat chocolate.'
I nod. Yes, why not. Interesting experiment. Not sure how relaxing it will be, but still.

So what happens on a typical Saturday when in theory this challenge could have been put to test?

Wake up early, write lists of things to do, things to buy, things to remember.
Grocery shop before 9 am for the planned dinner party.
Get in the car for a quick visit to the suburb to pick up birthday present to Sweetest M.
Coffee with the designer of birthday present. Admittedly a quick one.
Back into town for a lunch time yoga class.
Pick up turkey from turkey shop and fresh flowers from the shop where I should be offered a loyalty card of some sort (probably platinum by now), but have to make do with a Ranuncle for free.
Prep for spontaneous dinner including cake baking, sauce making, balcony cleaning.
In an attempt refresh my music library, a random search project on Spotify and iTunes to download just about anything.
Dingdong - first guest arrives.
A lovely evening with fantastic friends, new and old, who some met for the first time. Conversations stretching from religious sects to telemarketing and everything in between.

So, no... the experiment didn't work. But I'm glad I didn't stay on the couch with a box of chocolate this time. May be another day...

Apple knows about human psychology

Seen today: 'Fortyfour iPads to be released at five pm!'
How to maintain the hype. All about the law of scarcity. It works.

The nothingness

Look at a painting. See the empty space between the objects. See the space without any colour. Sometimes there is none. Sometimes there is a lot. The same as in life really. What happens in the empty space? What happens in between an inhalation and an exhalation? Not much? Or may be that's where all the happening takes place. It depends really. Interesting conversation about the nothingness that so many of us have so little of.

Tuesday morning meeting

Shadows in need of courage

There are shadow artists.

'Artists themselves but ignorant of their true identity, shadow artists are to be found shadowing declared artists. Unable to recognise that they themselves may possess the creativity they so admire, they often date or marry people who actively pursue the art career they themselves secretly long for.'

* The Artist's Way - A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, Julia Cameron

I would expand shadow artists to shadow people. People who live their lives shadowing others. Or people staying in the shade out of fear of what the sunlight may reveal. A false sense of security. Walking a trail walked by so many people before. Following rather than leading. Ignoring the gentle knock on the door from something that is trying to get attention. A sign of what the real purpose of being here may be.

A way of generating postive emotions

As the temperature slowly augment and rays of sunlight reveal my dirty windows, the lust to spring clean is awoken like a bear coming out of hibernation. One wardrobe after next. Clean, bin, store, re-organise. There is something very satisfying with an organised wardrobe. Or is it just my brain that needs re-wiring?

To turn on the light

You don't need to understand electricity to use it.

An allegory that can be applied to many different situations. Synchronicity. Communication with something intangible. Just because we don't understand it doesn't mean it doesn't work.

Timesheet for the two days

12 hours on a bus
7 hours conference
9 hours party
5 hours sleep
Pretty much sums up the last thirtysix hours of my life. The three hours of unspecified time did not include any indecent behaviour, memory loss or otherwise unmentionable incidents. So that leaves eating and comfort breaks I guess. And "in-between-time".

Not what it looks like

But I wish.

This time the purpose is quite the opposite. A conference in Gothenburg.

Very early start

Still, there is light. Spring is definitely here.

Spy

I admit, I was spying. On the yoga teacher who currently instructs the morning class I've been asked to take over. I felt like a cheater. Being in the class with an intention other than enjoying the yoga, but rather to observe the instructions, the group, the use of candles, music and microphone. I didn't reveal my ulterior motive.

The iPhone man

She: 'What did you think of your iPhone when you first got it?'
Me: 'Still uncomfortable around it...'
She: 'Well, it's the same way with him. He is like the iPhone.'

Extract from a very interesting conversation that I'm still trying to get my head around.

So sweet you want to eat him

So we did.

Finally...

Yesterday the first glass of 2011-after-work-rosé with Beautiful J was consumed. Today the sunglasses woke up from a winter in hiding. Short and sweet, but long enough for the dust to surrender in the brisk whirlwinds. Spring is coming to town!

Or is it me?

Some people have no sense for how to keep an interesting conversation. Or their sense of how much they need to hear their own voice during the conversation must be skewed. Yesterday I was stuck with people rambling in three different conversations. And three times I was thinking to myself what would happen if I stopped giving the habitual confirmation 'yes', 'oh no', 'really'?

Answer: Nothing happens. They gladly continued talking; all three of them.

How can you be so totally out of it? And whose role is it to tell people when they are rambling; when it takes fifteen minutes to get to the point that could have been made in two? Just to make it clear: I appreciate a detour on scenic routes, but what I'm referring to here is a traffic congestion or complete stand still in the tube.

Next question: Does this happen to everybody or am I more exposed to 'ramblers' than other people?

May be there is a trick that I still have to learn. How about: 'You are rambling - get to the point'. Or 'Do you realise you have been talking non-stop for fifteen minutes?'.

The law of scarcity

Window shopping creates new cravings. My latest hang-up is a Céline clutch. Elegant, simple design with an edge. The fact that it was sold out in London and seems to be impossible to order anywhere makes it even more attractive. It's a must have clearly! What to do? Send a plea to Little B who Eurotrotts as part of her job and happens to be in glamorous Cannes:

"If you happen to pass 24 Boulevard Croisette and see a two coloured clutch with my name on it...."

This morning's office

Meeting started in Starbucks to continue in the creative environment of my business partner's kitchen in Clapham.

Where to throw a party for your three-year-old?

My Hotel is not only the favourite London resort for once-upon-a-time residentials, it's also the number one spot for Chelsea mums throwing a party for their three-year-olds. Yesterday it was Céline's turn. On the ground floor that is. The lower ground floor was occupied by Adam and his four-year-old friends. Professional children entertainers with cars full of balloons, toys and sweets parked outside the hotel. Girls dressed up to their teeth in pretty dresses, tailored shoes and curly hair. Singing, dancing, cakes and what have you. A gentle question at the reception confirmed that this is the normal activity at the weekends. Always fully booked and I woudn't be surprised if you have to book the venue years in advance to make sure you get it. Especially if you want to make sure you get the bar area at the ground floor.

Fantastic for the little ones. Less so for the post-shopping crowd who wanted to relax with a glass of wine in the bar. Note to self: next time at My Hotel, remember not to return to the hotel before five thirty.

The perfect breakfast at My Hotel

Back where it all started

I first entered this building in 1998...

It's that time of the month

London time! Starting with moments of happiness...

Listening to the BA flight attendant's announcement in the most delicate BBC English.

Sitting in a row of three with the middle seat unoccupied.

Being in transit, out of reach for emails and mobiles, with no expectations or demands to do anything.

Having a London weekend ahead of me, filled with my favourite cherry picks.

This morning's office is Arlanda airport

New mission

I have lived in Stockholm altogether for sixteen years. Still I had to ask my two new acquaintances, who moved to Stockholm less than two years ago, how to get around by tube from central suburb to my part of the city after our induction training. They also made me aware of the fantastic bus service (in the opposite direction from my normal tour) to the bohemian parts of town where one of our possible workplaces is located. Yes, we are all going to be colleagues with a mission to inspire people to exercise on a regular basis. Regular basis we now know means more than monthly but less than daily. Twice a week to be specific. And bribing is not allowed.

Spring!

First of March and officially the first day of spring I believe. There is something about the calendar that doesn't quite work in the north of the northern hemisphere. But we can still be filled with the Spring Spirit, i.e. ideas of rebirth, renewal and regrowth. Or just spring cleaning. Time to get rid of that old baggage and make room for something fresh. Whatever the baggage may be and whatever the freshness consists of. Then we are ready for a glass of rosé as the sun appears behind the thick winter clouds and the sunglasses behind the old baggage.