Comfortable Disorientation

Posting elsewhere

John Grant has invited me to write a few posts on his blog Brand Tarot, around the project I mentioned in my last post which he and Juliana are working on. So I'm giving co-blogging a go over there. I've written one post so far and it's a funny experience. I feel like I'm rummaging around in someone else's drawers; a little surreptitious although I've been given permission.

This also gives me a good excuse to mention GreenNormal, John's other blog which is all about the way forward for green marketing. It's the blog I'm talking about most at the moment, pointing it out to clients, friends and colleagues, because it's packed full of smart and optimistic thinking. (Dad, if you're reading, I've been meaning to mention it to you - I think you'll like it)

I haven't met John yet, but I've learnt he's not only frighteningly prolific and clever, he's also extremely talented at galvanising.

A blog less ordinary

Sometimes blogs I follow go quiet for a while.  When I notice radio silence on a usually active blog, I just think to myself "they must be busy" or "perhaps they've had enough for the time being". But because I feel connected to the blogger, the thought "I hope they're ok" will usually go through my mind.  And so it was when standinaqueue went quiet.

For those not familiar with William Deed's blog, it was a place where he recorded his experiences of queueing in the UK.  Watching people in mundane situations is my kind of thing, and I loved reading and seeing his observations. To my shame, I didn't follow up the links on his last post and had just assumed he was resting the site for a while.

Yesterday, I was gobsmacked (in a good way) to discover William is in the Democratic Reublic of Congo, working for Wildlife Direct. This mostly involves him blogging about the (often dangerous) work of the Rangers in Virunga National Park.  I mean The Congo? That's not just Africa, that's deep, deep Africa! Somewhere I can barely imagine - so it's lucky his blog does such a good job of bringing it to life. Still, it's a very long way from standing in queues in the East Midlands.   

Go and have a look for yourself - link here. I know William and the people he is working with will really appreciate it. Here's a video that William helped Elie, one of the rangers, to put together.  It does a great job of introducing what his job is all about and is simply a fantastic example of why I love the internet!