Sometimes I think it must be nice to be French. Discounting all the rhetoric about “Freedom Fries” and “cheese-eating surrender monkeys” (from The Simpsons for those fundamentalist evangelicals who wondered. And it’s a fabulous show in case there was any doubt), the French take most of August off, going to the beach, the mountains or just out of town to the country. Nice. Now, we’re off to Somerset tomorrow, ourselves, but only for a short break. There are things to do when you’re blessed with a protestant work ethic, and things have been being done as well. A short sample we’ve included below just to say we’ve not been just sipping Pimms and eating strawberries at Wimbledon.
Alleyway.org is just about out of beta with one page left to complete. My mother and father have finally achieved their dream of gallavanting around the globe as a job. They will be documenting this on their site.
We’ve just set up the website and full management console, CRM system and communications console for my good friend Jane Chevous who has only gone and quit her job and started her own consulting business. She’ll be serenading us with her know how, current issues she deals with and offers of top-notch consultancy at Reshapers.org.
Jane and I are also trustees for s:vox, a charity set up to provide a voice for abuse survivors and those who support them. I promised Concetta and Charlotte of s:vox I would design them a site. This has turned into rather more than that. If you happen to come around soliciting donations for this cause or that, please understand this is where our resources go. It’s a 21st century way to do charitable giving.
I’ve recently been made chair of our local Safer Neighbourhoods Ward Panel for the St Leonards Ward of Streatham in South London. As a part of this I’ve also set up the Ward Panel’s website and we’re doing a lot of the administration and management using the website itself. Although this seems completely normal and unexceptional to me, some find this cutting edge management. I can’t imagine sending a letter to get information I need from someone. If something important happens, people want to know about it now, not when the newsletter comes out at the end of the quarter. And the days of website-as-brochure are long gone and good riddance. Once again we’re trying to introduce reluctant folk to how the future is going to be.
Which reminds me, I have a list the length of my arm of things to do on the MorganAlley website. Hmmm, not much rest and recreation next week methinks. Ah well…
