Time to make the UK aware!

This morning I rolled over and sat up on the side of the bed, puffy eyed from last night’s ‘switch the brain off shandy’ with my brother and co-pilot, Jod, at the end of another incredible week. I looked down with disgust at the belly I have grown over the last fifteen months. A lethal combination of countless hours sat motionless in front of the computer whilst working two full time jobs has taken its toll around my midriff.

On a shallow, superficial level I am ashamed of my apparent slobbery. Deep inside, however, I am filled with pride. I feel more alive, happier and mentally strong than I have ever done. Who would have thought, 15 months ago that I would have cashed in my pension, put my personal life on hold and gone flat out to achieve what I truly believe in?

And yet here I am, two months away from staging the most comprehensive green consumer event that the UK has ever seen. Everything is in place to make LONDON AWARE 08 an incredible and (stating the obvious for a second) essential success. An awesome speaker line up, an incredible exhibitor list, the first UK AWARE ‘Eco-Innovation Award’, guest authors, an event contributors networking evening, interactive sessions, films being shown and a few more, yet unannounced, additions will make it a great attraction.

Who would have thought that this Shropshire lad would one day need to contract a PR agency? It doesn’t stop there; I also have a marketing agency, a design agency, a web developer, a sponsorship manager and a team of four incredibly dedicated full time staff working flat out on the project. Each has taken a leap of faith. They are giving their time, energy and expertise because they understand the importance of AWARE events and because they believe in me. I am immeasurably honoured and deeply humbled by their support. The prospect of honouring their investment and displaying my gratitude to each of them fills me with joy.

So I shower and go to work. As I walk into my ‘real’ job at the fire station I get the normal mickey taking question “Been saving the world again then?”. (It’s now almost as inevitable as the “Have you saved any cats from trees?” question invariably and almost involuntarily asked when someone learns what my profession is.) Fire fighters have a natural aptitude for mickey taking. This is often accompanied by a fear of stepping out of line and appearing to be anything other than ‘normal’, lest they should become the next victim of ridicule. Hence you can understand the looks of confusion, pity, incomprehension and blankness, and the mickey taking which ensues once I impart what my ‘part time’ work consists of. They understood when I was just an electrician.

When the recycling bins arrived at station a month or so ago, the initial response was as you can probably imagine. “Change, we don’t like change”, “Climate change is a load of rubbish anyway!”, “I remember when this was all fields” …etc etc.

So you can imagine how rewarding it was for me to see, when everyone else was safely watching the international rugby, one of my colleagues surreptitiously open the boot of his car, take out the recycling from home and carefully sort it into the correct bin. “Nice to see” I shouted as I crossed the drill yard. “Well it’s nice to do!” was the reply. If, even with the fire station attitude, people are genuinely changing the ways that they do things, then the future is looking a lot brighter than I for one had feared. They are absorbing the information which is out there and they are thinking about the effects that their actions are having on the world. Lets just hope that they come along to LONDON AWARE 08 to find out more ways in which they can reduce their impact without the need to compromise their comfy lives.