Back to school

It was a very weird experience, sitting in front of a class full of students from my old school. OK, it was a long long time ago since I sat in its drab and dusty classrooms and we were sitting in Campus North rather than the school itself yet it was still an odd experience. … Continue reading Back to school

Hard cyber

I’m not sure if cyber is a word that is used much outside the pages of a William Gibson novel or the Cyber security industry itself. It may not be many people’s vernacular yet it is a word that has come to dominate a lot of my time, both as an employ of the local … Continue reading Hard cyber

Intellectual property

I’m meeting some interesting people these days. My recent blog about wearing out shoe leather tramping the streets, in order to see people nudged Helen to get back in touch. She told me about Lucy who had had a similar experience. She really had worn out a pair of shoes and has kept them in … Continue reading Intellectual property

Six degrees of database separation

According to Frigyes Karinthy, everyone in the world is separated from everyone else by six degrees of separation. You know some people and they now some other people and they know some others etc. until eventually everyone knows everyone. In my peregrinations of late I am becoming more convinced that this is true, People I … Continue reading Six degrees of database separation

Channel shift again

When I look back through the canon of my blogs, there are over twelve hundred of them, a regular topic is channel management. It is something I keep coming back to. Well, you don’t expect me to write on a completely different topic every time do you? The reason I write about it regularly is … Continue reading Channel shift again

A woman at the chemists

The woman behind the counter asked me a very unusual question. You see, I had popped into Boots the chemist near the Monument in Newcastle. I wanted to buy some pain killers and for some peculiarly British tradition there is a ritual that we have to go through. The tablets contain codeine, which can be … Continue reading A woman at the chemists

Welcome pack

When I was in the office products trade I came up with what I thought was a cracking idea. At the time I was the general manager of the depot in Newcastle and it was my job, among others, to make sure that the business grew and returned a profit. The idea was not original, … Continue reading Welcome pack

There’s nothing more beautiful than having a book

I came across this story a few days ago.  It is not new but it is inspiring. It is about a refuse collector from Bogota in Columbia who has been saving books that have been discarded and offering them to people in the less affluent areas of the city.  It is a modern Robin Hood … Continue reading There’s nothing more beautiful than having a book

Wearing out shoe leather

I am wearing out some shoe leather. Ever since I started on my own I have found myself tramping the streets, walking between appointments with people I need to talk to. My feet are hurting and I have lost pounds. When I talk to anyone who has ever been in the same predicament they nod … Continue reading Wearing out shoe leather

Perception of who I am

For some reason I had the impression that, when I was at Durham, everyone in my management team was bigger than me. There was an element of truth in that as I am not exactly amongst the biggest of people. I believe however that I am of average stature. Looking back there were two tall … Continue reading Perception of who I am