By Niall Hughes, Account Manager, Clarion Communications
There aren’t many workplaces I can think of where you can sit at your desk, having spoken with a TT Motorcycle racer about his upcoming documentary film, and then find yourself opening a package containing a SpongeBob SquarePants designer wall mural…while being surrounded by Christmas decorations in July. But then I’m sure there aren’t many desks quite like mine.
Not since being at school – when you could see thirty children marching in a silent line holding chairs, or see a grown woman chase after a huge cockroach (science was always interesting) – have I been aware of how many bizarre things go on every day, without a single confused expression or puzzled look from those around me.
So when I sat down to think of a topic to write for the Clarion blog, I couldn’t think of anything more varied, odd and whimsical than describing a ‘day in the life’ at my desk.
I’ve been working on several projects for Vue, one of which has been the TT3D: Closer to the Edge twinterview with Guy Martin, who has been the star of a documentary on the Manx TT 2010 race on the Isle of Man. Guy is one of the most down to earth people I’ve ever met and definitely one of the funniest, with comments such as “until yesterday I thought twitter was a rude part on a woman” flowing freely throughout the twinterview…
So anyway, having come back to my desk I see that it is surrounded by boxes, which are all full of Christmas stockings, festively scented candles and wreathes of faux poinsettia. Yes, it was approaching that time of the year again – Christmas in July – when we hold Festive-themed journalist events in the blazing sun, to discuss products that won’t be available in store for months to come. This event is for Bernard Matthews Farms Christmas range, and will be held at Marco Pierre White’s restaurant Marco at Chelsea football ground Stamford Bridge, where the famous chef will cook up a selection of Christmas dishes. In July. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to it.
Once I had put Christmas, and the reminder that our dubious summer won’t last forever, behind me, I turned to my mail to see I had been sent a SpongeBob SquarePants designer wall mural. Puzzling as to why someone would send me such a random item, I noticed that they had included an entry to the Nectar Business Small Business Awards 2011 – and realised that someone on the team had placed the parcel on my desk from the recent awards judging. The annual awards have been set up by Nectar Business to award excellence in small business and we’ve had a great response, though I can’t tell you quite yet if they won.
So murals, motorbikes and Christmas decorations… all in a day’s work. And to top it off I met Nick Frost and Joe Cornish at the press junket of their new film Attack the Block (above), which was hilarious and resulted in Nick saying that he took “beef droppings” to the cinema after he misheard someone saying beef stroganoff – but that’s another story for another blog…
