There really is something exquisite about a high-end restaurant that charges €100 per head. Half the dishes you can't pronounce and the other half doesn't make sense. But everyone is sitting proper, and there is always an air of distinguee. The wine will be fantastic, and the price per bottle astronomical. So the notion of such an haute cuisine restaurant being family-friendly where the waiter will happily warm a baby's bottle would be quite unthinkable. Not so in Disneyland Paris; screaming children and foie gras de canard go hand-in-hand, so everyone can get chance to enjoy the good life and ignore the recession. But it just doesn't feel right, like when the Gents' toilets are closed for renovations and the instructed alternative is for men to go ahead and used the Ladies'. But then again it is France.
An internet friend pointed out to me recently that my commitment to blog more quality more often seems to have faltered. Guilty as charged, madam. But my desire to explore social media and blog ferociously was borne out of unemployment and uncertainty, procrastination and escapism. It is very easy to look for a job on the internet, but easier again to get lost in the unlimited resource that the web is. Indeed, at one stage I was getting packages delivered from ebay vendors so frequently that I had lost track of what I was expecting! But my epiphany came, and my activities ramped up a gear or two, and I got busy, real busy. Doing real work. Making contacts. Getting out there. Being productive. Getting paid. Feeling enriched. Empowered. Social media lost out! Work became the curse to my blogging and social media exploring. Now it is about balance, and maintaining that balance.
Recently I read, and then subscribed to, Seth Godin's blog. That's when I realised I was doing it all wrong. Blogging was about me and my issues. Blogging is bigger that that – bigger than me. Blogging is going to change, at least while I am the author. Blogging will have more value, and others should benefit. No more self-indulgent, auto-immersed dribble about what peeves me off, or what gets me hot. Hot and cold. Blowing. That's what it was, but that is not what it should be. I was doing it all wrong (like so many others!) The challenge is to have the quality of content, and purpose of message. Where there is no challenge, there is no purpose.
So this 1st of September was good – an early walk before the dawn broke on a quintessential September morning reminding me of the poetry I learned as a schoolboy a quarter of a century ago (Another September, Thomas Kinsella and On An Apple-Ripe September Morning, Patrick Kavanagh). Just as I was in the last 10 meters of the walk the dawn started to break behind me – the sun was not yet visible but peering over the horizon was a few crucial rays to illuminate the school building in front of me. What an poignant combination: the September rays bouncing off the school building, shining light on the house of learning of sagacious babes! (for clarity: sagacious babes means wise little children - not what you think I was trying to say is it!?!?)
It reminded me that I wrote a blog exactly four years ago about the same topic (I’ve moved off Wordpress onto Google’s Blogger) , and followed it up with another a few days later after I started my job in Airtricity. It’s interesting what I wrote about the company that hired me back then, and fired me last month: “But the single thing that differentiates this job from my last is that no matter who you pass on the stairs or in the corridors they say hello, rather than staring past you blankly, or even forcing not to make eye-contact”. Well, by the time I left last month, or mid-July when you take the month’s gardening leave into account, Airtricity’s culture had moved to "blank stares" and "avoiding eye-contact". A consequence of having been bought by a UK FTSE 30 plc, no doubt. Four years ago, I said in that blog that there is the making of a thesis in there, and I think the topic is truly a candidate for just that in the MSc in Organisational Behaviour that I am about to embark on.
On an apple-ripe September morning/Through the mist-chill fields I went/With a pitch-fork on my shoulder/Less for use than for devilment. (from On An Apple-Ripe September Morning, Patrick Kavanagh).
Great night out in Dublin, closing of the week that I was made redundant by Airtricity! Here I am with daughter Robyn in front of the U2 360 stage in Croke Park, Dublin. The set list was as follows, with Bono really waxing with passion in the final song Moment of Surrender.
- Breathe
- No Line on the Horizon
- Get On Your Boots
- Magnificent
- Beautiful Day
- Mysterious Ways
- I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
- Angel Of Harlem
- In A Little While
- Unknown Caller
- The Unforgettable Fire
- City Of Blinding Lights
- Vertigo
- I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
- Sunday Bloody Sunday
- Pride (In The Name Of Love)
- MLK
- Walk On
- Where The Streets Have No Name One
Encore: - Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
- With Or Without You
- Moment of Surrender
Enjoy!
0