As Busy As A Mad March Hair Part 2

In hindsight I should have chosen a better name for this pair of posts as it’s almost May. Perhaps I should take a leaf from the book of Tom Morris and do away with titles. The need for good search engine rankings and to gain peoples interests quickly has done away with catchy, clever and witty headlines, but that is a topic for another day.

An now the concluding part of my recent adventures. A week and a little bit ago I was in London for Future Of Web Design.

What an event! I had heard that events run by Carsonfied can be very business-y, that is, a lot of marketing people trying to sell you stuff and not much substance so I was not sure about what I would get out of the event and being a student I was a little bit worried about how costly an event like this is for me. Train tickets, accommodation, sustenance and the cost of the event itself all soon add up, would it be worth it. In short, yes it was. The day was punctuated by two awfully embarrassing sales pitches from Microsoft and Adobe (though you’d be forgiven for thinking they were there to sell cars not software) but the amazing line-up of main speakers put together by Paul Boag was excellent.

I won’t go into depth about what was said. Jeremy Keith was doing some rather superb live blogging. I think my favourite talk was from Jon Hicks. From Design To Deployment was the title of his talk was the day in the life of a website type affair. What I liked about it was that while I’m sure most in the audience new it all already being a student and often feeling isolated from the rest of the web community it was nice to now that I was doing it right. It being the basic workflow of web design.

On the topic of being isolated it is the case that in Cornwall there is very little chance of meeting and talking to like-minded people. So you can image my surprise when I was browsing the attendee list that I discovered two more people from Cornwall that would be there. I managed to meet up with Richard Quick and his associate Dan Oliver at the event and was very glad I did. We grabbed a bite to eat and had a few drinks together at the after party and I hope it will be the start of fruitful professional relationship. Woohoo for Cornwall. I am not alone!

At the pre-event party Media Temple put a load of money behind the bar and thus the free drinks lasted well into the night, plus the event was held in a nice place where you weren’t afraid to touch anything. The event’s after party by contrast was a very strange affair. It was held in the sort place you feel you might get chucked out of just for standing in the way that isn’t perceived as cool. The music was very loud and after the pitiful amount of money that was put behind the bar ran out after just an hour we were expected to pay a fiver for a small bottle of disgusting Japanese lager. Not an environment conducive to socialising and networking. It wasn’t long before most in attendance had escaped to the pub next door or caught a cab to pub standards that was also taking place that night. Poor show from whoever organised that awful soiree.

Now for the it you have all been waiting for. Why did it take me 3 days to get home! I arrived at Paddington Station promptly and very good use of the free wifi I get as part of my iPhone contract. The train departed on time and I a very pleasant journey home, the seat next to me once again being unoccupied (I’m either very lucky or smell really, really bad). I arrived on time to Camborne and enjoyed the spring sunshine on my short walk home from the station ready for a weekend chilling out in front of the telly and playing Mario Kart Wii. All that stood in my way was my front door. Here in lies the problem. I had lost my key. Normally this wouldn’t have been a problem as my girlfriend Claire would usually be in at this time of night or at the very least on her way home for her day’s activities. However this was not a normal weekend. Claire was in fact in her car about 200 miles away on her way to a weekend at the Super Car Showdown at Silverstone. It was well after 5 so the estate agents would be shut and not open again until Monday morn’ and I don’t know how to contact the landlord. Bugger.

Luckily may parents live only a short while away and I would be able to shelter there until Claire returned on Sunday evening. So I gave them a ring and attempted to arrange safe carriage to a hot shower. Yet more problems. Only my brother was in. My father was working lates and for him to get me, drop me off and get back to work would be over an hours round trip which wouldn’t go down well with his boss; My mother had gone out to run an errand and was not expected back anytime soon and while my brother does drive he was under strict instruction not to leave the house as a Tesco delivery was imminent. I had a few hours to wait on my doorstep while I waited for my mother to return home, have the tale regaled to her by my brother and then come and get me. To top it off, in a perfect example of pathetic fallacy it had begun to rain.

I was eventually collected and spent the weekend with my parents and siblings which wasn’t the worst way to spend my time. Claire eventually arrived back from Silverstone in the wee hours of Monday morning and I could finally sleep in my own bed and relax in the knowledge that I had nothing planned for the foreseeable future. Well, except for my 21st birthday next weekend which I have left in the capable hands of Claire although I do insist that a trip to the cinema to watch Iron Man is incorporated into her plans.