Phew. That’s it. Thank goodness that’s over. I started work this morning at 7.30am so I’m completely whacked.
Yep – success was indeed ours with the most successful client event we’ve ever hosted! Hurrah and more hurrahs. I still have a job!
One client remarked that if she ever considered going ‘agency side’ (in other words working for a Market Research Agency rather than a client company), she’d come to us because it was clear from the event’s professional organisation that we’re a class act and therefore a great place to work. How brilliant does that make me feel? Just about on top of the world, I can tell you.
Someone else said ‘it was the best, most interesting conference I’ve been to – I wanted to see everything, not have to limit myself to one stream’. That’s also a pretty good accolade because all of the delegates get bombarded with conferences and events to go to all of the time.
For me, it was a bit like supping with the devil because the event was at Chelsea Football Club and I even stayed in the Chelsea Hotel last night. I did, very childishly I do confess, lay out my full Spurs kit on the bed in the hotel before going out to host a speaker dinner in the Blue Elephant opposite. I must say that even I was impressed with Chelsea's facilities and we did get really good treatment from the club.
To dispel my guilt at putting money into the pockets of ‘the opposition’ I stayed on in London tonight instead of going home so I could go the ‘the hallowed ground’ and spend my evening with the Dog Shit Hill Mob at White Hart Lane. I’d been a bit lucky because Slavia Prague hadn’t sold their ticket allocation so they’d returned a chunk of tickets (yeah yeah Dad - I do know you can only have a chunk of a homogenous substance!) So, I sat in ‘the away end’ like ‘Billy no-mates’ away from my buddies but thrilled beyond belief to be ending my day with my friends and at what is probably the only place I’ve truly missed in London since I’ve been in Cornwall. The start of this season has been one of the hardest times for me since we’ve been gone – I’ve felt myself slipping away from my team, the Club and my friends.
So, when tonight it was just like old times in every respect, aside from no DM by my side, a newly fitted lock on the toilet door in the pub so no more trying to keep the door shut with your foot while taking a pee and no Madges of any type - senior or junior. I met Sarah in our old spot at Liverpool Street then went to the pub that transforms itself into a sauna on match days, otherwise known as the Bell and Hare, I was greeted like a long-lost friend by Carol and Maureen, who were yelling ‘hello lindarocks’ over the hubbub. That was fab.
After a couple of pints of ‘wife beater’ we went next door to the match and although I thoroughly enjoyed myself, it was obvious we’ve got a bit of a crisis of confidence and a dozen or more missed chances were to be seen. Still, in the end we got there, Robbie Keane popped up with a goal and we won the match and progress through to the next round of the UEFA Cup.
Back in the pub, more of the Dog Shit Hill Mob had arrived and so I got to see more of my long-lost buddies.
This shot, other than dull work ones, was my only shot of the day and is my lovely Sarah with Olly on Liverpool Street Station, on the opposite platform to me, just after we parted.
Who knows when I’ll get the chance to go to the Lane again. I hope it’s soon. I miss Sarah, the DSHM (sorry Sarah...she hates the shortened version) my Spurs and if my Mum is to be believed, they miss me too – she thinks it’s because we’re not there that the season has started badly for us – meself (sic), I think it’s more likely no Carrick than no Linda but there you go.
All together now…..
#‘I love Martin Jol, Martin Jol loves me…..’
#‘I can’t smile without you’
Last year, there were BAD THINGS going on on pbase.
