It was a year of frustration with the business. Trying to work with Liverpool City Council and their development department called Liverpool Vision – they have no vision! But hey! We soldier on and at least now we can say we done it without any support. Our major contract should have started in April and we are still waiting.
In the meantime we have moved office again to the Cultural Quarter of Liverpool in a huge renovated warehouse and have started our own creative industries incubator – the first companies are moving in this month.
On the European front I had a visit to Italy and Spain, even had time for a good look around Madrid. Great city with lots to do and eat! (Even as a veggie I managed all right!)
We also hosted two meetings in Liverpool, one was the final meeting with our Polish partners and the other was a study visit, “Entrepreneurship for the Creative Industries”. We showed a group of assorted Europeans how we work with artists and designers and we won a best practice award for our efforts. Must be doing something right!
Still exploring the technical joys of the internet and I spend too much time on Facebook etc. but its great for catching up on old friends around the world, unfortunately its emphasis on the old – where have the years gone.
Finally got to see Bob Dylan when he came to Liverpool in May. It was a great gig and very nostalgic for me, singing along with tears in my eyes, well I say singing, never could sing.
Also gained a new pet, I was out walking Frankie across the fields and came across a rejected hamster in an open cage, so what could I do but rescue him. He’s beautiful and fearless and Frankie play bows to him when he’s out and about.
Joan’s band had great success at a festival in Belgium but unfortunately the accolades went to the lead singers head and made it impossible for Joan to work with him, so she is without a band at the moment, but watch this space. A great pity because this band, apart from the superb musicianship had something special going for it– oh! the joys of band politics.
I have acquired a new shed…the Rolls Royce of sheds – its wonderful, huge and is already full of my rubbish – a man has to have a shed, especially when he reaches a certain age.
Ruth and Jethro visited from Puerto Rico, their restaurant and guesthouse is very successful and they had their first super star guest for breakfast this autumn, Bjork.
Ellen’s second year at UCL went well and she did well in her exams and she has been rewarded with a study year in Avignon. It sounds wonderful and beautiful and has lots of international students there. Ellen is working as a language assistant and the Lycee in the city centre and has a small apartment in the old town.
Pacificstream has only two projects at the moment. We are working with Preston City Council preparing a European bid for them and we have an international fashion project with a company in Romania where we take fashion students around Europe for two years and then they get a fashion show in Bucharest ant the end of the project.
The Christmas season has started and we had our office party this week, a good Chinese in a ‘real’ Chinese restaurant in China Town complete with Karaoke, needless to say I didn’t attempt to sing!
