Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, America, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, China, Culture, England, Jill, My Fatherhood, Otis, Paul, Shelly
So it’s September.
SEPTEMBER.
What the hell …
That means, in a few days, it’s been a year since I moved back to England.
And in a month, a year since I joined R/GA.
A YEAR!
I have to be honest, I find it amazing how quick that time has passed.
New job.
New house.
New car.
New life.
It has been a lot and I am so happy and grateful for it.
It’s pretty obvious I didn’t really enjoy my time in LA.
I liked an incredible amount of people there and Manhattan Beach will – without doubt – be the most beautiful place I’ll ever live, but there was stuff there I found challenging, stuff that went against who I am. That said, I’m very glad I did it and incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have done it, but I must admit I’m a happier person now I’m out of it.
That said, England still doesn’t feel like ‘home’.
It feels familiar … it feels nice … but having lived in so many countries over so many years, home for me is ultimately where Jill, Otis and Rosie are as opposed to a particular place, city or country.
In fact, I would say if I was made to choose a place where I feel I most ‘belong’, I would say Shanghai, that’s how much I love and loved that place.
That said, I’m incredibly excited we have just bought our first proper family home and I love being so close to my best friend – and Otis’ odd parents – Paul and Shelly, so while the country is acting in ways that are downright madness, I can honestly say I am in a happier, healthier place than I was a year ago and for that, I am grateful to everyone and everything that got me here.
Happy Monday.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Confidence, Culture, Daddyhood, Empathy, Goodbye America, Goodbye China, Jill, London, Love, My Fatherhood, Otis
A few weeks ago, Otis – my son – graduated from preschool.
I’ve got to be honest, I don’t quite get the preschool graduation thing.
Yes it’s a sort-of school, but it’s basically long playtime where you get to piss about with your mates – which is a bit like working in adland, but with less alcohol. Hopefully.
Anyway, whatever it is, Otis graduated which means the next stage is him embarking on his journey of real education.
I can’t believe it.
It seems only 5 minutes ago he was born.
But there he was … graduating for the first time in his life.
I don’t mind telling you I look at my little boy with such pride and love.
He has gone through a lot …
Living in 3 radically different countries – exemplified by the above photo shows him born in Shanghai, starting preschool in LA and finishing it all in London – saying goodbye to people of huge significance in his life, having to start things over again and again, watching his Dad crumble after seeing his beloved mum die, going through an operation … and yet through it all, he has approached life with a sense of optimism, mischief, happiness and curiosity that would put many older people to shame.
Part of this is because he’s just a loving and compassionate kid. Part of this is because he has family who bloody adore him. But part of this is the insane kindness and generosity that people around the world have shown him simply because they have watched him grow through my billions of social media pics.
The reality is Otis has brought more to my life than I could ever have imagined.
Not just in terms of love and happiness … but also in terms of lessons for life.
He has made everything unquestionably richer for both his amazing Mum and me and so as I tried not to cry as I watched him get his significant – but utterly pointless – certificate, I felt insanely proud of him.
Not for what he has achieved, but for who he is.
Congratulations Otis, you’re an epic little boy.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, China, Chinese Culture, Creativity, Culture, Home, Jill, My Fatherhood, Otis, Wieden+Kennedy
So I’m back.
I survived and no one died.
I have to say that while I love China, Beijing is not my favourite place in the World.
It’s also one of the most user-unfriendly … with everything located miles apart and the heat being utterly oppressive.
But that country still has my heart.
Every time I go there, I leave with an ache.
It will forever be a very special place to me.
Not just because Otis was born there.
Or that – in some ways – it changed my career forever.
Or my wife found a group of people that gave her a greater sense of community than she’d had in decades.
Nor even the fact I was there at one of the pivotal times in its modern history.
It’s just because in all the crazy of the country, I felt I found my spiritual home.
I appreciate that sounds mental.
Even my Chinese friends can’t work out why I love it so much.
But I do.
The people are warm, fascinating and interesting.
The culture is rich with history, modernity, complexity and beauty.
The hunger and ambition is unparalleled with anywhere I’ve been to prior or since.
I love the sense of connection and isolation that China makes me feel about myself.
That sense of returning to a place I truly felt was home for 7 wonderful years while also realizing that period might as well have been 10,000 years ago given how quick the country has changed.
And while I acknowledge there are some very questionable decisions being made by the leaders right now – decisions that undermine the potential of millions – the people within the country have been nothing but kind and compassionate to me and my family and for that, they will always have my heart.
Wherever my family are will always be the definition of home for me.
But China is the one place where that rule has some flexibility in it.
Which is the greatest compliment I could ever give a country, though if I still dislike Beijing.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Childhood, Culture, Food, Italy, Jill, Mum, Mum & Dad, My Fatherhood, Otis
Yes, what you’re looking at is a piece of chocolate inside a bread roll.
Also known as my dinner.
Now I appreciate this might make you feel ill – it made Jill actually gag – but I bloody loved it and I don’t mind admitting it.
I have a strange relationship with food.
Basically, my pallet is rubbish … as I find everyday grub far tastier and more enjoyable than the nice stuff I get served when I go to a fancy restaurant for work.
I have a theory behind it …
You see my Mum and Dad ensured I grew up eating healthy, nutritious food.
Given we didn’t have much cash, there was no eating out except for birthdays and a treat was a once-in-a-blue-moon trip to the fish and chip shop.
Then – when I was old enough to go out on my own – I discovered a World of shitty food. A World of choice where I could have anything I wanted as opposed to my World being whatever my Mum and Dad wanted me to have.
In some respects, shitty food was my act of rebellion given I didn’t ever try cigarettes or drugs.
I still remember the look of disappointment my Mum gave me when I bought a can of Heinz Spaghetti Bolognaise from Asda … though on that one, she was well within her Italian rights and I’m grateful she didn’t disown me.
Which leads to how I live …
Asking for economy food on a plane even when I fly at the privlidged pointy end or, as the picture shows, thinking a piece of chocolate in a bread roll has Michelin star potential.
Of course I am not a total lunatic.
I know I can’t live like this all the time.
I’d like to … but I can’t … especially if I want to see my son grow up and set him on a path of healthy eating for the rest of his life.
So while I’ll eat tons of greens and lean meat and vegetables of every description, the reality is that every time I chew, my brain wishes it was a chocolate sandwich.
Christ I’m pathetic.
Filed under: America, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Family, Jill, LaLaLand, My Fatherhood, Otis, Parents
I recently was in LA for work.
Being a sentimental sod, I couldn’t help find the time to go visit some of the places that became so important to me – and us – when we lived there.
Hell, I even went to the house of the man who bought my car just so I could see it again.
But of all the places I’ve revisited in LA, visiting Otis’ preschool is the one that made me the most emotional.
This is a place he loved.
Where he met his beloved Elodie.
Where his Mum connected to people who will be life long friends.
Where they were both made to feel they mattered from the second they arrived.
Leaving LA was hard. Not for professional reasons, but for personal.
Yes I was sad to leave people I’d met who had grown to become very important to me, but hardest was taking my wife and son away from a place they had thrived in.
Even though we were only there for approx 18 months, we wanted Otis to always know there was a time this was his home … that leaving didn’t mean he’d disappeared. So we wanted to do a few things for the school of which one of them was ask if we could donate a park bench in Otis’ name, so generations of future kids could play on it and – in some way – get to know the little boy who loved that place so much over 2017/18.
By pure chance, when I was driving past the school – it was a Saturday – I saw they had an event on, so being a cheeky sod, I went in hoping they’d let me see the bench we made.
They welcomed me with absolute open arms and as they let me see the seat we left for Otis, I realized – for the first time – that I’d also left a bit of myself here as well.