72 hours in London
So last week I got on a plane and headed for jolly olde. OpenRoad recently brought onNESTA as a new client, a really interesting institution in the UK responsible for fueling innovation. They purchased our social software platform ThoughtFarmer and I was lucky enough to head over, meet their team, then spend a few hours with some of the leading thinkers and doers in the social software field.
NESTA's new intranet
Thursday and Friday were action packed and it was great to be able to meet with everyone and have some great conversations about social software in the enterprise.
I also managed to spend Saturday walking about and taking far too many pictures with my good old friend Matt. Last time I was in England was for Matt's wedding and it was great to catch up. I think we must have walked close to 15km around London, from Trafalgar Square over to the Tate Modern then to Tower Bridge back to St. Paul's, then off to Belgo the bierodrome for the start of our evening of beer. Not to mention then our slightly inebriated stroll around Soho and then back home. I took a lot of pictures.
The John Snow pub
One highlight was a pilgrimage to the John Snow, the pub at the corner of Broadwick and Lexington, home to where the Broad St pump was in the 1850's. I have Steven Johnson entirely to blame, having devoured his book The Ghost Map on the 1854 cholera outbreak during the Christmas holiday. Matt and I headed up there for some outside pints in plastic cups, then some real inside pints in glasses, and soaked in the ambiance (and cigarette smoke) of a real English pub. And two pints were only £3.40!
John Snow pints
Then it was back to Vancouver. No sooner had I arrived, then it was time to turn around and fly half way across the world. Cross-continental airline travel really is quite shattering, especially when it's a few days apart. Not recommended on a frequent basis, but every now and again it's a great thing to do. I think my head is still somewhere above northern Canada or the mid Atlantic...
NESTA's new intranet
Thursday and Friday were action packed and it was great to be able to meet with everyone and have some great conversations about social software in the enterprise.
I also managed to spend Saturday walking about and taking far too many pictures with my good old friend Matt. Last time I was in England was for Matt's wedding and it was great to catch up. I think we must have walked close to 15km around London, from Trafalgar Square over to the Tate Modern then to Tower Bridge back to St. Paul's, then off to Belgo the bierodrome for the start of our evening of beer. Not to mention then our slightly inebriated stroll around Soho and then back home. I took a lot of pictures.
The John Snow pub
One highlight was a pilgrimage to the John Snow, the pub at the corner of Broadwick and Lexington, home to where the Broad St pump was in the 1850's. I have Steven Johnson entirely to blame, having devoured his book The Ghost Map on the 1854 cholera outbreak during the Christmas holiday. Matt and I headed up there for some outside pints in plastic cups, then some real inside pints in glasses, and soaked in the ambiance (and cigarette smoke) of a real English pub. And two pints were only £3.40!
John Snow pints
Then it was back to Vancouver. No sooner had I arrived, then it was time to turn around and fly half way across the world. Cross-continental airline travel really is quite shattering, especially when it's a few days apart. Not recommended on a frequent basis, but every now and again it's a great thing to do. I think my head is still somewhere above northern Canada or the mid Atlantic...
4 Comments:
Lovely photos, and congrats on the work, but the Bierodrome site should be cautioned against as a Class IV Flashcrime.
By
Ryan, at 9:24 pm
What? No Paris-Roubaix?li
By
Anonymous, at 7:36 am
Lisa, I was on the phone with the airline, trying to get a different flight. It just wound up being too crazy and too expensive. And I figured if I was going to spend that much money to change a flight, I may as well do it properly and spend a couple of weeks in northern France and Belgium sometime. It was a bit sad to know that I was only a few hundred kilometers and an EasyJet flight away from l'enfer du nord.... Bravo Stuey.
By
Gordon, at 9:50 am
Great to meet you both, Gordon, and excellent to read your reports of the trip. I've been away for a fortnight, in Morocco, so all thoughts of intranets have been distant until today. But I'm back now, and thoughtfarming away :)
S
By
Gwawr Sam, at 5:15 am
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