Stepping Back in Time – Donnington Castle

Some black and white photos of Donnington Castle, near Newbury, taken in April when we visited.

iMedia Asia Brand Summit 2009 – Day Two

Day Two saw another good day of talks at the iMedia Asia Brand Summit in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, with a lot of good time for networking.

Talks on this day included:

• The Rise of the Silver Surfers – Wealthy, Wired and Rising in Your Markets Now – Kim Walker, CEO, Silver Group
• The Social Media Hype – What’s Hot and What’s Not – a roundtable discussion I joined, chaired by Ken Mandel from Yahoo! and Robbie Hills from Group M
• The Digital Talent Gap – a keynote panel with Jason Kuperman, vice president, Asia Pacific Digital Development, Omnicom Group; Ken Mandel, VP & MD, Yahoo! SEA; Steve Stine, principal, Heidrick & Struggles; and Steven Tan, AP&ME regional marketing director, Aspect Software

The iMedia Brand Summit 2009 was a fabulous event. I met a lot of interesting people and learnt a lot about what other companies are doing on the digital marketing front in Asia. I sincerely hope I can attend the next one in Australia.

Well done to all the DMG World Media team!

Back from Takasaki

My lovely wife is now back from Takasaki, Japan, after visiting grandma for a few days, who has been unwell and in hospital.

Welcome back, darling! 会いたかったよ！愛してる！チュー！

Get well soon, grandma!

Tanjung Aru Resort & Spa, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Well, I am now back from Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, after a short three-hour stop-over in Singapore.

I stayed at the Shangri-La Tanjung Aru Resort & Spa.

The Tanjung Aru Resort was very nice. I stayed in a Seaview room with views of the South China Sea.

More on the fantastic iMedia Digital Marketing Brand Summit and discussions on digital marketing in Asia over the next few days.

A Walk along Jubilee River

The day after Yayoi’s birthday, we once again went out for a walk. It was glorious day. This time, we chose the Jubilee River, starting close to Eton Rowing Lake in Dorney, and running down towards Slough.

We had driven over the river past the The Pineapple pub in Dorney and on through Eton Wick to get home to Windsor many times, but this was the first time we stopped to walk along the banks.

Jubilee River was built in the late 1990s to act as an overflow from the River Thames, to prevent flooding in the towns nearby – Windsor, Eton, and Maidenhead. At the time, it was the second largest man-made river project in Europe.  Didn’t know that – thanks, Wikipedia!

Jubilee River is now a nature reserve and is home to a myriad of different species of birds and animals. There are also a number of hides for photographers or bird watchers to catch a glimpse of visiting species. Yayoi and I saw a few men with very nice cameras with large zooms. One day, I would like one of those!

We wandered down the river as far as Manor Farm Weir and back again.

Jubilee River is a really nice place to take a walk. They even have a boardwalk out into the middle of the river, so you can get closer to the wildlife. The more I get into photography – taking nice photos anyway – the more I would like a nice camera and get closer to subjects further away. Jubilee River nature reserve is a great place to do that. One day!…

Basildon Park – National Trust

We went to yet another National Trust property two weeks ago. Making good use of our membership. The time round – Basildon Park.

Basildon Park is an 18th Century mansion located just outside Reading and recently featured in the 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.

Basildon Park was saved in the 1950s by Lord and Lady Iliffe. The back has glorious views across the Berkshire countryside.

Spring 2009 iMedia Brand Summit in Kota Kinabalu

I will be off to Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia next week, via Singapore, to attend the Spring 2009 iMedia Brand Summit.

It will be held at the Shangri-La Tanjung Aru Resort & Spa hotel, which looks lovely.

The schedule looks really good – some meaty digital marketing topics to listen to and debate. I’m particularly looking forward to the round table discussion on social media.

I will try to update my blog with a few things whilst there.

Anyone else going?

Birthday Picnic Lunch at Cliveden

Two weeks ago, it was my wonderful wife’s birthday. I took her for a picnic lunch, along with champagne and raspberries, at Cliveden – just down the road from Windsor.

Cliveden is a National Trust property, so with our new membership, we could get in free of charge. Nice!

Set amongst 376 acres of gardens and parkland, Cliveden House was first built in 1666 by the 2nd Duke of Buckingham as a hunting lodge to entertain guests. It’s been re-built twice due to fire and has been home to three Dukes, an Earl, and Frederick Prince of Wales.

We had a lovely picnic in the sun to start. Yayoi had made some lovely sandwiches, and the champagne and fruit was really nice.

We wandered down to Cliveden House after lunch, taking a wander down the thousand-yard-long Parterre garden (which was laid out in 1855) and taking in the views of the River Thames from the War Memorial.

And finally, on the way out, we passed the famous Fountain of Love. Unfortunately, it was being repaired when we visited, so no spouting water. Nevertheless, it is quite an impressive amount of stone!

We had a really lovely day out. Yayoi’s birthday was topped off with one of her favourite meals – a KFC!

Happy Birthday, darling!