I’m not a beach babe. I love walking along the beach at sunset and one of my favourite days of 2014 was wandering along Coronado’s white sands at sunrise. I generally prefer the rugged, windswept beauty of the coast in winter. But when I read on Facebook that a thousand tons of deep, fine sand had been spread over the Olympic Park, it was too tempting to miss.
In the metaphorical shadow of the iconic Stadium and ArcelorMittal Orbit, the early evening sun shone as my friend Karen and I joined in a beach ball game (kind of!) and watched the volleyball on this, the largest urban beach in the country. A couple of bars, the canal and some water features surround the beach, giving it a real holiday atmosphere, but we didn’t stay long. Too many children enjoying the start of the summer holidays.
We jumped on the tube to Shoreditch instead, where the Food Fest beckoned, street musicians entertained and a rain cloud burst at the precise moment we threw our finished dinner into the bin. Timing is everything.
The carefree atmosphere in Stratford was what you may expect to be the opposite of a business event held in a bank’s head office – but your expectations would be wrong. I was invited to a networking evening at Metro Bank in Holborn on Thursday. Exiting the glass elevator into a lobby decorated with photos of partying dogs and a large display of free lollipops, I had an inkling that I was going to enjoy the evening.
As the red wine flowed, I met an eclectic assortment of businesspeople, along with a number of very human bank managers. I’ve made friends with a film maker and a gallery owner; they invited me to an exhibition of Chinese art and movement, but I already have a dinner date that evening. I also saw a woman there that I’d been introduced to 25 years ago – the mother-in-law of a colleague when I worked in recruitment. I even impressed myself with my face recognition skills for that!!
Also impressed this week with Darren, one of the guys at my accountancy client’s firm, for being a double finalist in the Business Excellence Awards… Well done Darren!! Having worked closely together to create the perfect application, I know that he’s brilliant at designing systems to improve their clients’ businesses, so these accolades are well deserved.
‘Beach baby, Beach baby, there on the sand from July ’till the end of September. Surfin’ was fun, we’d be out in the sun every day…’ Well I might not be surfin’ and I may not be on the sand for the next three months but I’m happily offering a summer special – any 1-2-1 training session for 25% off the normal price. This offer applies to sessions booked by July 31st and delivered by September 30th. Call me if you’d like to know more, or ask me here: @WeekendWitch.
Leave a Reply