The Twodeck Christmas Blog – Evolve
OK – so the ashtray lingering on the coffee table is not a great look, but this was 1978 and times do change. I am sure my long-departed grandfather would attest to the present day faux pas and if he was with us in 2017, at the very least would go outside to smoke (he was not one for quitting). So, the theme of this Christmas blog is the changing of the guard and how we all need to evolve.
Granda sadly passed some time ago, a great old man whose Navy stories in some way made my transition from civilian to serviceman an easier one. The stories he told were legendary and like fisherman’s tales all the more exciting for a young sixteen-year-old boy to want to make a few of his own; and so, I followed in his footsteps and kept watch for us all during the cold war fuelled late eighties.
My sister, my courageous sister, sits on the left (no not the doll) and knew little of the kidney she would donate to my brother some 40 years hence. Humbled as I was by this act of pure love that ‘our Ab’ (Abigail) is now the leader of the gang. I maybe the oldest, but ‘our Ab’ is the wisest of us all.
So, this blog is all about how we evolve and as you look at the picture below you will see three siblings who knew nothing of the future. Even though my brother was harvesting a great future challenge, all we could think about was ice-cream and sunshine.
Do not let anybody tell you they know what the future holds, none of us do, but maybe when we look closely we can see the future unfolding before our eyes. Maybe it’s my sister sitting just that much closer to my brother that defines a future bond. Or maybe it is the ship and the distant island that tells us that travel would be our perpetual re-connector. Or is it the heaving line that anchors the ship to the shore that connects us, welding our togetherness as we tumble through space and time. We are all retrospective to the stories we craft.
Kidney-gate, the lead up to the event, the event and the post event was handled in as best a Northern English way as is humanly possible and is a model for any transplant ready family.
We all entered into it with more concern to the clothes we would wear the day after the operation than we did the actual operation itself. We of course planned our coffee routine and aptly shored up the Marks and Spencer share price with our daily intake of toasties and mini sausage rolls. We had the dog along albeit Airbnb said no dogs. We had as many teenagers as we could muster in our tiny flat and oh how well behaved and clean they all were (FFS). We drank – real drinking, pints before and after every evening meal. And we laughed so much at times it was hard to see where any of our youth had gone and for one momentous week we all became one unit again. Family when run right is like an old Mercedes, smells great, never fails to start and runs like new. The kidney worked – 🙂
Twodeck Agency – https://twodeck.com/
The agency is coming up to 8 years old and much like my son, is beginning to find its feet. We thank all the clients we have had the privilege to work with this past year. We thank all the people we have interacted with for their patience and commitment to the cause. Building an international profile is not the easiest of tasks.
For 2018 we wish you our brand family and your businesses, growth and happiness and an abundance of ideas!
To our undiscovered clients – we are here and stand ready to help your dream grow an APAC business reality!
Twodeck Brand – https://www.twodeck.net/
The TD001 has come to life. After two years of work we launched the TD001 sandal in November. The goal is simple, 1 million pairs sold in 7 years and 5 million books donated through https://www.roomtoread.org/.
We have a mountain to climb, but we are committed to the journey and the view and we aim to make every step count.
Deckhand – https://deckhandit.com/
Steve Jobs as he wandered around Xerox saw a young engineer working with a mouse. A strange box with wheels that made your cursor move on screen. He did not see the future, but he did see a great idea and so he quickly turned his own engineer’s attention to how they could build it better. Deckhand and my trusted lieutenant Jamie Wilson is both Steve Jobs, Emily Pankhurst and Dr House all rolled into one, she is also the mastermind behind Deckhand. When Jamie joined the Twodeck team, her brief was simple: “demystify the web and build it better for my little company.” And so, she did and out popped Deckhand along the way, a company designed to do the job without the ego and the associated costs of your traditional web agency – and of course, they do build it better.
The kids the family and same sex marriage
Finally, to my children who give me pause to accept that I am always work in progress, I could say the usual that I love them dearly and they make my life complete and of course, this would be true – but it only tells half the story.
There is the challenge of two parents working and the constant juggle. The money, the money, the money it costs to perfect a perfect child. And then there are the debates that you never thought you would never have with your 9-year-old daughter. Same sex marriage has dominated our public discourse and screens for a good portion of 2017 and in my daughter, I have discovered a caring, passionate and firebrand young woman when it comes to equal rights. If to evolve is to see the world created through the eyes of the future generation then I have seen a truth. That to evolve is to be open to change and commit, without prejudice, to fairness and equity and to subscribe to the human truth that everyone deserves to #walkthesamepath. Equality is not in the result, but in the talking part. Equality is not to win but to be given the right to compete and in a world where speed never stops, competition is all we have.
And so, we as we all buckle up to the challenges of the coming new year, the laughter we will enjoy and the inevitable tears that we will shed let us take on the challenge to really evolve and let us all grow with confidence and in a spirit of unity. We may not all win – come second or even finish – but if we can compete and strut our own stuff then we will have evolved.
Good luck and goodnight – 2017 – #walkthesamepath
