I’ve been mostly off work, but it’s been a fun month. I went with my wife and son from New York to England and Italy, our first proper vacation since before COVID and the first of little Freddy’s life. He was only born in March! So: What did we learn from taking a five-month old baby to Europe during a pandemic? Well, I’ll tell you in a moment…
First, though, your useful comms content™. Because you’re here for the thought leadership, am I right? Right…
3. Beware the corporate mission statement! I loved this rant by Pilita Clark when the FT published it last September. You can almost picture the flack who pitched her reading it in horror as the penny dropped that Pilita was going to do a total hit job. A lesson to us all: When you pitch a journalist, you do so at your peril.
4. Want to be a star performing Communications Director? Here’s how. Thanks to The Works. They also did a good piece on how to stamp out presenteeism. It’s good content for a recruitment consultancy. They know their audience.
5.You should probably subscribe to BBC Select. It’s $5 a month and I’m smarter having spent just $30, which I think is a good return on investment. Simon Schama’s documentary about Rembrandt alone is worth the price of admission. The documentary about Rupert Murdoch is also excellent.
6.Want to start a newsletter? I think you should! And I can thoroughly recommend Dan Oshinksy’s “not a newsletter” as the best resource for doing it. It’s a great way to find and hone your voice. Grow your audience and platform. Get over your impostor syndrome. You have stuff to say.
7. What are you reading? It’s the first question I ask as a writing coach. Lately I’ve been reading The Glasgow Trilogy by Malcolm Mackay because even with “Dad brain” it’s compelling and I love how taught the prose is. Do please recommend a book to read. I follow up on book recommendations and love to receive them. Two recent examples: I loved Boy In The Water, about an 11-year-old boy who swam the English Channel. And The Book of Five Rings, which is amazing if you like sword-fighting or strategy (who doesn’t?).
8. Are you watching The White Lotus? It’s one of those once-in-a-decade-good TV shows like Mad Men was. Particularly for its writing around race issues and the construction of masculinity.
9. “When you think about the past, that’s your ego. When you think about the future, that’s your pride. When you think about the present, that’s humility.” NBA Champion Giannis Antetokounmpo gives a life lesson I’ve been reflecting on ever since I saw the video.
10. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s newsletter is incredible.
Now I’ve fulfilled my mission to give you the ALL THE COMMS, let’s get back to our European vacation.
What did we learn from taking a five-month-old baby on a European Vacation during a pandemic?
Well, it’s expensive. Obviously. I think we spent close to a thousand dollars on ‘rona tests. And at times I felt like Chevy Chase, going nuts. We took formula. We took diapers. We took his little drinking bottles. But I feel Chevy-Chase-levels-of-going-nuts most days in New York, anyway. And let’s face it, if the biggest challenge of jet lag is interrupted sleep, we were well prepared.
It was a blast. You can catch up on the basics by following me on Instagram. My wife Logan gritted her teeth through those shots of the Grand Canal in Venice but as I pointed out to her at the time, “you’ll love the pictures, later.”
Leisure travel remains enriching and nourishing despite the apocalyptic challenges. I’ve come back to New York with a new appreciation for the city’s energy and global outlook. I also have a deeper appreciation than ever for the relationships and experiences I treasure that have brought me to this point in my life with such confidence and verve. More than ever, I’m convinced: Every experience is worth grabbing with both hands; It is worth investing in one’s relationships; Creativity is the power that can turn even the most difficult of our experiences into art.
Lastly here’s some frivolous observations I have about England, Italy, and New York. I hope you enjoy them:
| England 🏴 | Italy 🇮🇹 | New York 🗽 | |
|
Passport control 🛂 |
🏴
Lackadaisical. With a four-hour line full of screaming kids. The overall vibe was, “welcome to England. Now: F__k off.” |
🇮🇹
Laughed when we tried to hand over the Covid locator forms we’d filled out on the plane and waved us through. |
🗽
Rigorous and a bit frightening yet, quick. “Welcome back.” |
| Quarantine + attitude to Covid. 😷 |
🏴
People trust the government to handle things, and 87% of people are vaccinated. No quarantine is required from an amber list country, just a Covid test two days before flying and two days after arriving, and to fill out a passenger locator form telling them where you’ll be. Arrivals from red list countries, on the other hand, have been subjected to traumatizing 10-day stays in sequestered hotels. |
🇮🇹
People got scared by the initial toll of the virus and are grudgingly going along with the new rules, even though it’s not in their nature. You need to get a Covid test two days before flying and there is strict quarantine in a house for five days after arrival. Although see above. We got the sense that an Italian attitude to rules was being enforced. So, see below, on “attitude to rules.” |
🗽
The first thing we heard on arrival was a ground crew member telling someone she didn’t trust the vaccines and that “the only people getting the Delta variant have been vaccinated,” which is a lie. You needed a Covid test two days before flying. And they aren’t letting anybody in who doesn’t have an American passport or green card, as far as we could tell. Which is very American. Sad face. |
| Taxi drivers 🚕 |
🏴
The guy literally would not take a tip despite driving miles out of his way to find an obscure car rental place behind a quarantine hotel guarded by dozens of scary men in high visibility jackets. |
🇮🇹
Our hosts drove us everywhere and wouldn’t have dreamed of us getting a taxi anywhere because in Italy, you treat your guests like royalty, it seems. Or our friends are just very nice. By the end of our stay I kept asking “Guillermo”, our Italian host, to “bring me some grapes,” because I like to test the limits. And he did. He actually did. Although I suspect he may have been contemplating adding arsenic. |
🗽
Wanted to know if we could pay cash. We couldn’t. Then had a long, loud phone conversation in a foreign language, watched Bollywood musical videos while driving 75 mph on the Van Wyck expressway (to stay awake, we thought), and his seatbelts didn’t work so we just tied a knot in them—but he was very nice to us when we tipped him anyway. |
| Airport lounge ✈️ |
🏴
Full of middle-class people wishing they were the Queen. |
🇮🇹
Full of slightly-corrupt people wishing they were Silvio Berlusconi. |
🗽
Full of middle-income people wishing they were Donald Trump. |
| Gelato 🍨 |
🏴
What is Gelato? |
🇮🇹
Is to die for. |
🗽
Is…okay. |
| The quality of light 🥴 |
🏴
What is light? |
🇮🇹
Is to die for. |
🗽
Is…okay. |
| General attitude to other countries, introspection/ extroversion/ competitive trading spirit. ✊🏻 |
🏴
Is increasingly introspective to the point of madness (*see Brexit). |
🇮🇹
Italy is the only country worth thinking about. This can be great when it comes to prosciutto but likewise you can’t help thinking, aren’t you a little more curious about, you know, sushi and stuff? No? Okay, well, I guess that prosciutto IS good. And not every Italian is like this. We stayed in Treviso, where Ernest Hemingway was taken to hospital after he was wounded, and which formed the basis of his work in A Farewell To Arms, and our host had studied his Italian influence and influences in college. So: This is a general (aka frivolous) cultural observation and not a universal critique! |
🗽
Is a global trading center, can be a little full of itself at times but likewise, takes the best of everything and offers it at a vastly inflated price for sale. It is what it is. Everything is commoditized. Even the things that shouldn’t be. |
| Cars 🚗 |
🏴
Small. Quiet. Rubbish. They gave us a Skoda at the car rental place “as an upgrade.” |
🇮🇹
Small. TORQUEY. It’s the Diesel engines, apparently. And torque is different from horsepower. Who knew? |
🗽
Big. Loud. Obnoxious. But nobody owns one because where would you park it? |
| Rent 💰 |
🏴
Is outrageous. |
🇮🇹
What are we even doing, living in New York? |
🗽
|
| Attitude to death ☠️ |
🏴
“Oh well, mustn’t grumble.” |
🇮🇹
Is Catholic. |
🗽
“I hate the stress of being alive, but I want to live forever.” |
|
Attitude to rules 🧑🏿⚖️ |
🏴
They exist to ensure people don’t kill each other. See: Queuing. |
🇮🇹
They exist so that we have something to apologize for breaking. And occasionally feel guilty about / confess to. But mostly enjoy. Also what’s a queue? |
🗽
Ask forgiveness, not permission. As I cut in line. |
| Most prized institutions 🏦 |
🏴
The civil service. The monarchy. The Opera. The universities. (“Both of them.”—this is a quote from the BBC show, “Yes Minister”.) |
🇮🇹
Church and the family. |
🗽
Corporations. |
| Anything else? 🌈 |
🏴
England is complicated. |
🇮🇹
Italy is complicated. |
🗽
New York is complicated. |
That’s it. Feel free to reply to these with your impressions. I like hearing from you and I like to hear what’s on your mind.
Remember: You’re doing great work, you’ve got this, and everything is going to be okay.
It’s September 1 tomorrow, so let’s get back to schoo! 🎓 (*Whatever form that takes, for each of us…)
Matt
