Wednesday 13 May 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

On the occasion of our finance director's birthday, I thought an ode might be in order. 
She will hate me for it. 
Sorry!


OWED ON AN EARN

You've always been thrifty,
Straightforward, not shifty.
Is that why you're nifty
At forty two?




Tuesday 5 May 2009

The Lost Art of Communication



Good grief. The things some people do at the weekends. The bank holiday saw me breaking in a new pair of boots on Arenig Fawr, North Wales.

All was well until the top of this gorgeous mountain, where we found the wilderness besmirched by a twenty-foot portable radio aerial and the summit cairn occupied by a dominatrix of uncertain age barking an incessant babble of code into a handset.

Utterly preoccupied by her own self-importance, this harridan of the airwaves completely ignored every walker who arrived at the peak, leaving at least half a dozen of us irritated and in the dark about why this remote and tranquil spot had been so ruinously commandeered.

No eye contact was made, no smile exchanged. None of the mutual acknowledgement that is traditional among genuine hillwalkers. Now and again, a non-gibberish sentence:  "Any stations out there wishing to make contact?"  Well, ‘hello’ would have been nice!

We moved along to a quieter peak to contemplate the deeper meaning of this encounter, which was so symptomatic of communication today.  

When the medium becomes the message, it is just irritating blather. You can twitter and text (yes, and blog) all you like, but don’t let it take over from actually talking to people around you, noticing their interest and responding in a human, normal, sociable way. Please!

Back at my desk I am writing a sustainability report for one of our clients. Here are engineers engaging with students, listening and learning, being good neighbours. It gives you hope. In our language, communication and community have the same root. These are the contacts that count, in business as well as in life.

Further research reveals alarmingly that there is an international society dedicated to broadcasting from mountains.  SOTA – Summits on the Air – even offers an award for ‘mountain activators’.  It’s called (you have to smile) the Mountain Goat award.

I know who would get my vote.

Carrie