Food and books

Tim and I had dinner last week at Patara, which was lovely, but we were sat next to a large family noisily celebrating someone's birthday and had to shout at each other to be heard above the din.

The new pictures are of Tim and Tim's recent place of employment, Colnaghi. The office includes beautiful shelves of art history books and I'd long wanted to take pictures. Unfortunately, I'm a dunce with my new camera and most came out blurry - with the exception of those you see here. Tim's off to Italy on holiday (I'm green...) then off to work at the Alison Jacques Gallery in the exciting world of modern art. I hope the bookshelves will be as nice...

Friday we had a team breakfast in the Grand Divan room at Simpson's on the Strand. The 19th century room had once been a private gentleman's club (in the cigars and brandy way, not in the lap dance and vd way. It's probably what everyone imagines when they think of Britishness - historical, beautifully crafted and proud of its traditions. But the breakfast was huge and stodgy and whilst the others went back to work, I took the afternoon and slept it off.

New photos

...Are from the Verge day we had for our Unilever client. Verge is Ogilvy's digital immersion conference and it was a brilliant day. James Murdoch from B Sky B and Esther Dyson spoke. I was asked to host a women and gaming room (which was a shock, being nothing of a gamer and less of a women.) Still, Jospeh Jaffe says that we can't pretend to be digital if we don't use the devices so I bought a PlayStation Portable and have become addicted. The audience for gaming are truly surprising. Older and more female-orientated than many assume. I have all the facts and figures now, if anyone's interested!

Recently ...

...Melting.

...Had a brilliant dinner at Village East in Bermondsey with Shailen, Trond and Alice. Who knew mopping up foie gras sauce with chips would be so satisfying?

...Enjoying music sourced from our music researcher. Jim Noir and Camera Obscura are lovely in this summer heat.

...Reading Anna Karenina for a book group. Very slowly.

...Became enchanted by Loco Roco.

...Re-discovered Jean Renoir's La Regle de Jeu and Ella Fitzgerald.

Terribly worried about the war in Lebanon and deeply disenchanted by our government's response to the suffering going on.

Seriously also very worried about people at the moment. There seems to be a lot of anxiety in the lives of people I love who are faraway and I think (and dream) about them constantly. I do wish peace of mind for everyone.

Oh, and melting.

Who are those handsome people?

I finally figured out how to get pictures off my mobile (and I was an Internet pioneer!). They're from an April day when Trond and his bf Ben, Tim, Jess and I went to see Alison Moyet in Smaller. It was the first sunny day in ages, so we sat outside and after several bottles of wine I snapped these photos.

The other photo is my name outside Old Billingsgate for a D+AD event where I was a speaker at Congress. I was stuck on a train, late, without the right notes, spritzing like a pig in a sauna and none of the media files worked, but I did the best I could. They've asked me back, so it can't have been too much of a disaster...

The legacy of post-modern cultural theory

'I wrote more than a few papers that sounded as though they had been translated, poorly, from the original French.'

Don't worry, I did as well.

He did it

Guy decides to try and trade a red paper clip for a house...and does.

Summer in the city

It's the first real warm weekend we've had. So, of course I have a cold. It just wouldn't be the start of summer if I wasn't hacking and snotty. And trying to impress my new work colleagues at the same time.

So it's official. I've been hired as the head of experience planning at Ogilvy One in London. I was freelancing for them and told Louise I'd be interested in something longer-term. I hadn't realised she was going to create a new role - don't tell, I would've been happy as a planner. So what do I do? I oversee the team who look at online user experience, develop the methodology for putting online at the heart of their 360 degree communications and work with clients to strategise the role of digital in their marketing mix. That's all! I'm terrified, but excited. The sheer size of the agency is overwhelming. It's very different from the digital start ups I've worked for in hte past -- My contract has a retirement clause in it!

So that's the news here. I've had my teeth whitened, bought new clothes, joined a gym, read several books on marketing and am digging in to the new phase of my career.

And now, I'm going for a walk in the park.