Whilst preparing my annual report to the board of trustees and referring back to my previous year’s report my first reaction is that I seem to have achieved more in 2016 than I managed in 2015. In some respects this would be a logical outcome based on 2016 being my second full year in this CEO role, and a direct result of becoming more familiar with my tasks. However, my diary tends to tell a different story in that the number of hours I seem to be committing to the task of being CEO has significantly declined. Continue reading “Thoughts on achieving more by working less”
Month January 2017
Stylish Cable Ties – Holdall Co
I have sometimes been accused of living too much in the past, with my love of the style of the 1920s/1930s. I prefer to think, rather as William Manchester and Paul Reid state in ‘The Last Lion’ that ‘He did not live in the past; the past lived on in him‘! One of my pleasures therefore comes from visiting museums (and often antique stores) looking for inspiration – and marvelling in how in the past much care had been given to crafting beautiful yet functional products to compliment life’s needs. I think for example of cigarette or cigar cases, writing cases, or small travelling cases for all one’s toilet requirements.
Rake Magazine Review
I must start this post by publicly stating my love of magazines – not the online versions, but the heavy, glossy paper ones.
I enjoy wading through the endless adverts, reading the editorials and then the quick page flick through to obtain a high level overview of the excitement to come. Amongst others I consume Vanity Fair, Tatler, The Chap, Country Life, Cigar Aficionado, GQ, and occasionally Esquire.
How did I land up in a ‘hipster’ magazine?
Last summer my blogging colleague the Grey Fox contacted me to say a talented local photographer in London called Chris Aadland was looking for subjects for an upcoming magazine article called “Men and their dogs’ – would I be interested in being photographed? This would be a first – I have never been professionally photographed.
I made an appointment to meet with Chris at the Bomber Command Memorial in Green Park, across the road from my Club in Piccadilly. It did not take long to learn how I must “keep my chin up”, smile (endlessly), look relaxed (whilst being concerned about how I appeared!). However, my aged dog Oscar did not share in this new found skill set – he simply refused to look at the camera. Easily distracted by everything (Oscar is recovering from a stroke, has no teeth left following a gum infection, is 15 years old and deaf!), the longer the shoot took the more tourists kept stopping to take photographs and added to the distractions for Oscar. We tried standing, crouching, even me holding Oscar like a baby in my arms. Then, after countless images (and the heat of June getting to me) Oscar finally turned to look at the camera and voila – an image to keep! Continue reading “How did I land up in a ‘hipster’ magazine?”
