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2.May.2008
Mixed Bag
Committing to writing a blog is an opportunity to reflect upon what you have been doing over the previous few weeks. When I have reflected on this occasion, it is fair to say that as per title, it has been a fairly mixed bag of activities.
The key event over the past weeks was our Think Pink Ball. Every year we hold a charity ball in aid of our elected charity and for the second year, this was Children North East. We have worked on several of their projects across the North East and the ball helped us to raise more funds for the charity. It was a very select invite list for the evening and we had some great entertainment from young talent. We managed to raise around £13,000 on the night and this will make a huge difference to Children North East projects.
Every event seems to get varying reputations, some good and some bad. I am hoping that the Think Pink Ball is building its own reputation, not only because a large number of the construction industry in the North East turned up dressed in pink, but also because we're building a reputation for being a bit of a boozy evening. For the second year running we were just about forcibly removed from St. James' Park at 2.00am with quite a few of the guests (myself included) looking a bit worse for wear.
I have also been travelling the country, testing out the various methods of transport. Last week I was in Bristol and used the Easyjet method. I have to say that this was incredibly painless and actually quite enjoyable. As well as being a big fan of the trains, I really like airports. A particular reason I like Newcastle is the bookshop, as well as the Dixons shop, which has some great gadgets. When I got to Bristol only 50 minutes later, there was a simple connection to the town centre for my meeting. I noticed on the way back that Bristol Airport has a great mixture of shops and a Starbucks in the departure lounge. All of these things make travelling more bearable!
I was amazed at the number of people travelling between Bristol and Newcastle. The plane was a 737; on the way down it was 80% full and on the return journey it was sold out. Travelling back at 6.30pm on a Friday night was a bit of an education as I was amongst many stag and hen nights. By the time we landed back at Newcastle, I was really ready for a night out and after a quick turnaround I was on the town myself by 8.30pm.