Circular

A few weeks ago I got hideously confused in the Baker St / Paddington / Circle Line area. As a result I was stupidly late for meeting Jackie, Adam and Ruth for drinks.

In general, because I use it a couple of times a month maximum and don't have to act like a commuting sardine (although obviously when I take a backpack to the airport on the tube it usually times with rush hour) I still enjoy its novelty. Something about the efficiency, rapidity and collective movement of thousands of people empowers me, especially when listening to up tempo music while navigating around platforms, corridors and stairways. The bold colours of the tube branding are always appealing too.

Was at our new (relocated) London office space today where a small number of colleagues are permanently based. Visitors can sneak into the common room where there is a hubbub of 20 somethings using the breakout spaces to work in digital marketing, crowdfunding and whatever-the-latest-startup-is. There are free cookies if you're willing to listen to some spiel about signing up friends to the workspace, and free beer on tap. I doubt many of the people there had been discussing protected area management in South Sudan: we felt decidedly out of place. But thankful for the space as we made good headway on a concept we're writing for US government funding.

Which we don't think will be snatched away by the future US administration but you never know... Oh, what a funny planet we inhabit.