Put out More Flags!

Yes, I know, but in my defence I've become a bit lazy. Yes, lazy. I could have made something up about being really really busy and stuff like that, but that would not have been true. I simply haven't had the oomph to go online and write about stuff. So, honest too. Lazy and honest. Not that I haven't got a lot to say about the state of the world... or marketing. But this is just a catch-up blog to get me back into there groove again, so don't expect anything too dramatic or radical just yet. I need to get warmed up before any of that.

I still live here in Tewkesbury and am still working on books on marketing, while writing more novels about sad and weird sales people having a worrying time as they scuttle around the world just trying to survive. I co-wrote a science fiction book which taxed my patience and ingenuity to the limit.

And the cherry on the cake - something called MOVING TIMES, has experienced unexpected success. It has been picked up by a Bloomsbury publisher and should hit the shelves by the end of the year. That came as a substantial shock mainly because it was a first draft, riddled with typos and anomalies, that got sent to the publisher. I reckon it was my sink hole and Bromley Council's attitude towards it, which sold the book to the publisher. Madness heaped upon madness.

Anyway, onto the meat of the blog. I now am doing something radically different from marketing or teaching. I've become part of dedicated team of people who make, paint, repair and distribute banners and flags of all the knights, lords and earls who fought at the battle here in 1471. I suppose it's just another way of marketing the town because the 200 banners which adorn all the main buildings throughout the summer really do drag in the tourist by the coach load. Well, we like to think so.

I did this one from scratch. That meant measuring the thing up and spending the nest part of 3 months carefully painting it. It's the banner of Sir Gervaise Clifton (a Lancastrian), who was one the poor unfortunates who ended up on the headsman's block after the battle. Brutal times.

And this is what they all look like before they get taken out onto the streets.

And this is one of our teams putting the things up - a task which takes most of one morning in early June and is not for anyone with a fear of heights.

So, a world away from selling English courses or talking interminably about postmodernist anti-marketing. But I have to admit that this is considerably more satisfying than sitting at countless stands around the world explaining General English 20 lesson programmes to anyone who approaches. Not that that isn't a rewarding activity, but... not as satisfying.

So... visit Tewkesbury in the summer and meander among our multi-coloured banners and flags from the Wars of the Roses.