Looking for magic

Today my colleague, Steve, and I did 'the bounce'; down to Heathrow and back in a day. Approximately nine hours of travelling for a 45 minute meeting. But that's the way it goes; we don't want to draw attention to the fact that instead of being a swish London based agency, we're actually a bunch of guys working from a (gorgeous) converted shoe factory in the south lakes. So, if we're required for a meeting, we go and there's no grumbling.

I got back up to Kirkby just before six to pick up Dan and Abi. I had to pop into Booths to get some food for this evening and the morning, and as I was sat in the car, this hot are balloon appeared over the houses. It was a magical moment.

I think there are two types of magic: there is magic according to Clarke's third law - "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" - which we see all the time. Who among us really knows how our smartphones work? They are just magical in that respect. And then there is the magic in a moment: a child's laughter; leaving the house on a sunny yet chilly autumn morning; a shared joke with a loved one.

In some ways, the balloon had both. OK, so the tech is fairly basic - hot air rises - but there is something odd about seeing an object with mass floating in the air. And there was just the wonderful moment of seeing it appear above the houses.

I think it's good to look for the magic in the everyday, to avoid taking both our modern world and the natural world around us for granted. There is a lot to love and at which to wonder, if we only take a moment to enjoy it.