mapping the moment

Sunday. Finsbury Park. It's all about time. Are we going too fast to catch up with ourselves? Yesterday at the first workshop How to Create Happy Healthy Cultures we looked at how going fast gets your places, but you doesn't give you the space, or the relaxed frame to absorb or perceive what is going on. This conference is going at a wild pace and I'm running with it - gatherings, talk, workshops, talk, meetings, talk, open space, talk, lunch, talk, cabaret, talk - and the usual dilemma. Do I immerse myself fully in all this, or do I hold back and blog?

I am typing this at Jo's flat in Finsbury Park, where four of us have been staying. It's six am and there is a fox trotting down the street bold as you please. I'm flicking through the reports from the crew - Anne, Kerry, Jay, Caroline. Mark will be up and wanting this computer soon to write his first impressions of the conference. We're filing short reports as we go and next week back in our houses will be reflecting on this intense gathering at the Battersea Arts Centre. So stay tuned!

Meanwhile here ar a couple of shots of Friday evening. I'll be adding more later on this post (if we can get an internet connection at the media hub!) The first is by Jonathan Goldberg of a superb launch of the Transition Free Press in the Octagonal room, accompanied by Alexis' summer punch and Mark's 35 plant herbal refresher. There was a great buzz (followed the next day by an equally vibrant Open Space editorial meeting). We have a stall with a fast disappearing stack of newspapers and are busy recruiting initiatives to distribute future issues. If you haven't come and seen us yet, do swing by at any of the breaks today and add your name to our map on the wall.

The second is of the first meeting by Mike Grenville who is uploading some ace shots of the weekend for us all to use. 270 Transitioners are about to do some mapping to orient ourselves. A good third of the participlants are from abroad so there's a real international mix this year. In Sophie's workshop we were converging with people from Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, South Africa, and Ethiopia. This morning we're going to be gathering back in this old Town Hall to do a "big group process" together. It's under wraps, but something to do with newspaper and lots of cardboard . . .  first though I've got to find a coffee.