Lockdown London

Doesn’t pre-pandemic life seem like a million years ago? Entire days constructed around BoJo’s nightly bumbling addresses at 5 or 8pm on the Beeb, or grocery shopping trips to Sainbury’s on Brixton Water Lane. Unfortunately forgetting one’s camera and/or microphone is on in a Zoom meeting. Visits to the big superstore on Clapham High Street if one is feeling particularly adventurous, for another trawl around their homeware section. Holidays and nightclubs becoming but distant memories. Boxsets wearily started and discarded then restarted. Yet another circuit of Brockwell Park. Still no end in sight

I WILL NEVER TAKE AN INVITE TO A HOUSEPARTY, CLUB NIGHT, NIGHTCLUB, SMALL GATHERING, SUNDAY ROAST OR BRUNCH FOR GRANTED EVER AGAIN.

LOCKDOWN LONDON A supersize colouring sheet created for SupersizeWorld, in collaboration with Uncommon London. Sale of the posters raised more than £3000 for the Florence Nightingale Foundation, an amazing organisation that offers support and training scholarships to nurses worldwide.

Essential Workplace-Making The pressure is now on companies, commercial developers, and city authorities to understand what types of environments might draw people together in knowledge-exchange. Unlike an office, the use of such places cannot be dictated. Instead, like a park, the space itself must offer an experience that is appealing to its users.

Zoom Dating As if internet dating wasn’t bad enough, now it’s COMPLETELY online. At least if you show up to a virtual date you can use crappy wifi as an excuse to duck out of it. So I guess that every cloud has a silver lining, even if it is a cloud of COVID-19 germs. I imagine that the day is coming when we will all feel a certain nostalgia for meeting up in a bar or restaurant with an unattractive stranger for two hours of your life that you won’t get back (and before you say so, I have been the unattractive stranger in question….)

Yoga with Adriene Work I tried Adriene’s Thirty Day Challenge.
I lasted three days (well, technically two-and-a-half.)

Barry’s Bootcamp Hmmmmm.

Et in Arcadia Ego Nothing like queueing up on a balmy autumn evening to buy eggs and toilet roll……. life is all about the simple pleasures. If you’re wondering what ‘Et in Arcadia Ego’ means, it is a phrase used in many works of art and literature, and traditionally understood as ‘Even in Arcadia {an ideal pastoral idyll}, I {Death} am still present.’ Well if that doesn’t apply to a COVID-19 pandemic I don’t know what does.

Our Great White Hope Work I was once advised by an AOI (Association of Illustrators) to save any rants that I might have, political or otherwise – for Twitter. But I just cannot get the hang of it. So I’m going to rant here, about the podgy, bumbling, Suetonius-quoting, lying, mendacious, calculating, spineless, slothful, greedy, entitled, gormless, self-promoting twat that has manoeuvered himself into the leadership of our country and dropped us into the Brexit toilet bowl. Not to mention his appalling mistakes and poor judgement with regard to dealing with the pandemic. Words fail me.

Watering Holes Work is a social experience! Human-to-human interaction is a key element of everyday work and life. People in full-time jobs spend half the waking day at work on average, which makes the office a key environment for establishing social bonds, support networks, and even close friendships.

The New Foundation Well-designed offices can positively impact three physical scales: the street, neighbourhood and city while integrating people and sustainability for the planet. These spaces are more desirable, more resilient and prosperous for everyone!

Looking Forward Workplacemaking benefits everyone. Companies benefit from the bringing together of employees around shared tasks, and from their exposure to other industries and diverse experiences that lead to more crea-tive problem-solving. Cities benefit from the socialising of citizens with different backgrounds, skills, experience and outlooks. Commercial developers benefit from the making of more desirable assets, that are more resistant to the market fluctuations by taking root in the needs of people and place.

Connective Tissue The commute between the office and the home is the final important factor to consider in the shaping of future workplaces and workplace experiences. ‘Connective tissue’ is vital for accessing places that invite people to socialise, learn, belong, collaborate and think in the urban realm between the office and the home.