Tag: Blogging

Pret a working

Posted on by philipdodson

I had some time to kill, as the train I was going to catch was cancelled. I decided to go and do my writing in Pret’s by Victoria Station.

So I got a ‘dash’ tea, which I have learnt is Pret speak to avoid getting a rancid milky tea. I have my headphones in and volume is pretty much on bleeding ears level and I still get their bland irritating pop infiltrating my head.

Anyway, I added a Pret Bar to my order, looks healthy, but once you bite into it and it tastes really good, you know that it is going to be about 500 calories.

Someone opposite, who was working away on her super shiny Mac, has packed up, but saved her seat by leaving her coat. It’s funny that, if this is your permanent workspace, then the toilet trip is a regular nightmare.

Pack up and risk losing your seat or take you laptop to the toilet? I guess you’d always opt for keeping the laptop over losing your seat. Losing her coat is clearly a risk worth taking versus the prime comfy seat she has by the window.

I am sooooooooo glad that I’ve opted for a seat right under the speaker, where the shit bland crap is coming from.

Looking round there are people having meetings, people working on laptops, people reading and few people who look like they are taking a well deserved rest and just having a coffee.

coffee shop working

The women’s back – wasn’t a toilet break, she has restocked with drinks and stuff to eat, clearly she’s been here a while and the guilt was starting to takeover. She felt that it was time to justify her seat for another hour or so by buying something.

The people nearest to me are having a meeting, discussing the ins and outs of the handling of what sounds like an HR type situation. Thank god I only worked in that corporate world for a few years.

It strikes me however, that this kind of conversation would be better off being held in somewhere slightly less open. But I guess like me, no one is really that interested in what others have got to say. It is a pretty dull issue, maybe I might have listened a bit more if the person they were discussing had been caught doing something on the board room table.

On the other side is a woman making what sounds like business related calls. Hopefully they aren’t ones to clients, as I doubt they’d be overly impressed by the background music. She is very smartly dressed, so imagine this is your lawyer calling you from what sounds like a Soho wine bar. Wouldn’t bother me, but many wouldn’t be too impressed.

So I’ve eaten my Pret Bar yummy and I am half way through my tea. Shit I’ve not got the hang of this yet. People are circling in uniforms clearing tables, if I finish too soon, they’ll clear my stuff and then I sit here with my laptop and nothing else.

I imagine a light will start flashing about my seat ‘free loader alert’ ‘free loader alert’ will come up.

I think it is slightly worse having headphones in, as their music is combining with mine to create the worst mix ever made.

The other thing, I am a people watcher in these kinds of environments, so I am finding it a little difficult to concentrate as people move in and out.

If I was here for any length of time, it would be weird not to have any conversation, as normally when you’re in a working space with others, then you stop for a chat now and again.

Can you strike up a conversation in a coffee shop? I think if I got up and went over to someone else’s table and started a conversation,that they might think I’m a bit odd. So I’ll stay here pretend to drink my empty tea and put my head down to avoid contact with the staff.

I have been here about 20 minutes and done my writing, drank my tea, eaten my cake and now I am probably ready to move on. I know many do work regularly in this environment, but it’s not for me. I guess it’s fine for a quick stop, catch up on emails or a short informal meeting, but for a prolonged period it would be hard.

I am using my Mi-Fi as trying to log on to their’s was a hassle and hassle is not what you want.

OK and the other thing, I run a co-working space, so I might be a little less than objective. But I do genuinely believe that all the people working in here would be happier, more productive and more creative working from a co-working space than from a coffee shop.

10pm and here I am

Posted on by philipdodson

For the first time since starting this 750 words I nearly forgot to do it, so here I am at 10pm on Friday, sitting to write.

This will not be a pretty one to be honest, I was just having a late Friday shot up on GTA5 and while waiting my turn, I was quickly flicking through Facebook. I had my usual daily fix of Disney Florida courtesy of Brad Burton’s Instagram, then some mad cat posts (Dee, Nikki or Nick), a couple of mentions of shit/sausages from Neil Sayer and then I saw my mate Bernie Mitchell in his usual 5.15 daily pic. Then bingo!!!

The light bulb went on – shit haven’t done my 750 words today, as it was Bernie who introduced me to it.

So thanks Bernie, otherwise my charge to become a Phoenix (100 days in a row) would have been re-set to zero. Phew.

OK so that’s 148 words used up, now what?

Cat pictures, funny photo galleries of people doing stupid things, maybe a quiz to see which fish you are like, if only I was having to update my Facebook status instead of writing.

187 words done………uh oh could this be the first time that I am going to draw a blank and get writes block.

Nah, I am a pro now, I can type pages of shit and at a rapid rate now. Although, I have learnt that my spelling is so bad that I struggle to get a sentence down without any words being underlined in red.

However, spelling really doesn’t matter so much anymore, as people realise that we type stuff on the go, on screens the size of a small thing, that’s not very big for typing, well smart phones. It is difficult to type properly too with the tiny keyboards.

So just hit 300 words.

I am really going to struggle now to be honest with 450 more words. Shit, that does seem a lot when I already feel that I have been typing away for ages.

This evening I watched Kill Bill 2 with my son, while Mrs D and Emma watched films that had Abba as a soundtrack, steer clear of those sort of films is my recommendation. I just checked to see what they are watching, it is a programme on Abba – LOL.

I always had a soft spot for the blonde one when I was a kid.

Well, that’s used up another 100 words.

This week has been a real winner in many ways, one of my big goals that I set myself for the end of the year is looking well on the way to being job done, which is a great feeling, especially as it is the result of many, many months of hard work. But I know that if you keep going on these things, good things will eventually come.

Another project, that I started just over a year ago, is now entering a new phase now and about to move forward big time. I have got a really important meeting lined up for it and that again has come about by consistently getting out there and building my network.

People often look at others who achieve things and they conclude, as they haven’t seen or appreciated all the hard work that goes on, that they were lucky or just happened to be in the right place.

Well that can happen sometimes, but rarely, it’s more likely to be because you make the effort to turn up regularly that things happen.

OK 170 words to go…….do I know any jokes? film quotes? poems? Blank.

Anyway back to my great week, Abba Dancing Queen is playing the background, it has been just one of those few days where things have fallen into place and you get on a roll, as your confidence and buzz goes sky high.

The thing is, when you keep doing the daily things over time you get momentum and then that’s when you just have to focus on not easing off. This is something I have been guilty off in the past, things go well, get some results, then ease up, put my feet up and enjoy the success.

However, this is when complacency can set in and then, without you realising it, over a period of time as you do less and less of the daily things that brought you that success, things all of sudden dry up. Then building up the momentum is hard – stop 750 words.