S’cuse me but are you ‘a britmums?”

 

so this thing happens, as it always does, with a certain inevitability. When you book a conference online that seems miles away in the future…that future will always turn up and expects you to get on board.

That is exactly what happened, i booked really without thinking to attend the Britmumslive conference and sure enough that weekend turned up and i got my stuff on and headed to London.

I was pretty nervous about the whole thing really it is a very surreal anonymousness of blogging that means that the people you think you know, you have never actually seen. Which if they have a great big smiley picture of themselves on their blog it may be possible for you to have a little bit of an idea…but generally not. It is relationships without faces, without voices and quite frankly it all felt a bit ‘blind date’

But i was determined to get on and enjoy it…regardless. This recent season in my life has been hard going and i needed a break. oh boy did i ever. So this was my ‘break” and it could have been a ceramic tile conference for all i cared..i was getting away, staying overnight and knew there would be wine. This little bit of freedom was enough to fluff the cushions on the knackered mother sofa i feel a bit like i am morphing into at times and I was going to let nothing get in my way of grasping every moment and giving it a high five.

I stayed at the Hoxton in London and once i had successfully navigated the underground, i found the hotel and was told a long list of instructions by a check in clerk called Phillipe. Not sure if it was his heavy french accent that meant i had no idea what he said to me or if i was just too distracted to take anything in. My room was great, nice view of a wall….then another wall…and a bigger wall…and a smaller wall…..

 ah but this is London and its not like i come from the blinkin’ countryside so it was just great. 

 

So the event itself was seminars on different topics, sponsor’s hub where you could weigh yourself down with freebies, an awards presentation with men in pants handing out vino (yes really) and a few celeb speakers.

 

 

My highlights of Britmums

Two particular seminars stood out for me:

A seminar led by the incredibly geekchic lady Julie Hall. Her’s was the only seminar that i actually took notes in. It was about wordpress but essentially she covered SEO and the best way to get visibility through google. What i loved most about her was that she was a true ‘presenter” As in, she spoke in a way that kept the listener interested, no rambling, she was on the money the whole time and knew her stuff. I would have liked to have listened to her for about another hour and asked her a bunch of questions but there wasn’t enough time sadly.  Fortunately i asked my neighbours what they did and i seem to have solved my problem.

Then there was the seminar led by photographer Julia Boggio. Being honest, i wasnt actually going to go to this seminar. But i wrote a guest post for Julia’s personal blog a while back and so i really wanted to go and say Hi and introduce myself. Getting there a little late i hadnt had the chance to say hi before it started so i stayed for the seminar. Admittedly Julia didn’t actually tell me anything i didn’t already know but the way she presented her topic was incredible and still, even today, leaves me with a big smile when i think about it. A very clever and insightful way of showing people that you don’t need an expensive camera to take good pictures. i so loved that. lots and lots.

Letting my h-h-hair down… oh yes, a night with no teatime, no bedtime, nothing to worry about except me and i shared a great evening with some of my new friends who up till that point had only met on twitter but now they are true mummy friends. My partner in crime,  citygirlatheart, the fabulously witty and talented sarah from dearwall and the beautiful babylovesporridge who had me calling on my Irish roots and maybe slinging in a little bit of the craic. We drank too much wine, put the world to rights a little and laughed a whole lot. Let me tell you its been a long time since i enjoyed the company of hangover…..bleurgh..

It was especially bizarre trying to ‘meet’ the people who you have ‘chatted’ with on twitter. Name badges attached to your chest had your twitter and blog name on them and you had to introduce yourself as ‘hi, im sarah from apartyofseven’ and either get a blank ‘i have no idea who you are’ face or the alternative which is much more welcoming ‘ah HELLO!” I pretty much gave up by saturday afternoon..i found the peering at women’s breasts a little bit draining 😉 and just a little bit awkward and so i gave up and hung with the folk i had already met…i regretted not meeting a couple of bloggers though and twitter conversations as i made my way home showed me that someone i though i had met i in fact hadn’t!!

There was a touch of the ‘schoolplayground’ feel to certain groups and whilst you would never totally eradicate that in a large group of women it always gets under my skin a bit. One totally fabulous things to come out of it was discovering some very cool blogs that i hadnt been aware of before!! WHERE HAVE I BEEN?..like this blog alexandaresidence, the author read one of her posts out on the saturday evening and i was totally drawn in by her beautiful writing and fantastic way of telling her story. I have already subscribed to her blog.

Also the fantastic Hermelness, who reminds me a little of someone i worked with years and years ago who used to scare the pants of me..but we chatted briefly on route to a seminar and i found her delightful and lacking the ‘Im so cool” bravado that she could so easily have as she is one of those blogger celebs.

 

I discovered as well that i have actually been busy trying to fit myself into a blogging space that is definitely not me. It was a bit of relief..sort of when you realise at school that the ‘in’ ground are just not that ‘IN.’ It was aided too by the fact that someone who i had followed on twitter and interacted with a lot was pretty rude and dismissive when i said hello. Its disappointing when people are not IRL, as they are on social media. ARE YOU NIAVE i hear you cry. No, no im not..i know it happens….but i can’t bear it.

Im not saying that if someone appears hilariously funny on twitter and then they appear really dull IRL its a real let down. I would be a little curious about a seemingly double life but i wouldnt be disappointed. What i really really dislike is just not being polite, civil, respectful. If you are chatty on twitter or FB then don’t blank people IRL..seriously. be polite. jeez.

But Im having a little re-think about my blog and being inspired by some bloggers who don’t fit into the ‘type’ that i thought maybe i was..it seems a good time for a bit of a change round here.

Of course I couldn’t go without my camera but it gets a little heavy and so i took it with a 15mm fish eye lens and i just loved taking pictures with it. Such a great effect. Works so well. This was Ruby Wax speaking on the opening night about dealing with mental illness. I liked her.