Day 26: The one that's 24 hours behind...

It was around 8:30 in the evening by the time I was able to take my post-work shower, but as the water poured down, I cleansed my hair and body in total auto-pilot mode.  My mind though, was anything but cleansed.

Instead, it was awash with questions, concerns, ideas and a multitude of thoughts. Again and again, I pondered over the work I’d completed so far, whilst images and short conversations from the day flashed-by:  How would I organise my schedule better the following day?  Had I got an accurate grasp of the assignment?  Was my tone, terminology and ‘personality’ all delivered in the right context for the correct customer base?  …Should I get the 7:40 train, or the 8:10 train to Manchester in the morning? - All these questions were simple individually, but I was simply unable to get my head around them.  It was the end of an adventurous day.

One of last week’s blogs anchored around the television, and the huge impact it’d had on my recent life.  8:30 was slap-bang in the middle of last weeks “international night of television”, but had now been replaced by the simplicity of shower-time.  Just one week earlier, ‘Beauty and the Beast’, ‘Mary Portas: Secret Shopper’ and ‘The Joy of Teen Sex’ had all been swallowing up my mind.  What’s more, the international friendly between Denmark and England was live on the box this week, but none were on my radar.  By the time I’d even remembered about the game, it was already 1-1.  ...By the time I’d finished my shower, we’d scored the winner and I was still none-the-wiser as to who our goal-scorers were.  What a difference one simple day can make.

The story of that one simple day actually begins deep in the middle of the night before when predictably, I hardly slept a wink.  Typically, after all these weeks of ‘rest’ and a golden opportunity to revitalise myself, I woke up looking like death.

My high hopes of feeling fresh for my fresh start were all-but blown away by a night of broken-sleep, weird gypsy-themed-dreams and the ‘gulping’ sounds of our presently faulty central heating system.  Perhaps I didn’t help myself by becoming over-tired, having too much pre-sleep stimulation (er, no …not that!) and by munching cheese-on-toast for my supper!  An old wives tale it might be, but I’ll never have cheese again the night before a big trial, or any other task that requires full focus.

Having woken up at the relatively ‘normal’ time of 8am the previous day, I'd experienced as tiring a day as I could’ve hoped for.  Come half eight-ish, I’d started to feel a little bleary-eyed and that was the point I really should’ve popped up the apples-and-pears and got myself tucked up into bed with a book.  Instead, I watched ‘My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding’, filled my face with cheese-on-toast (“that’ll make you dream young man”) and then all of a sudden, I started fretting that I "didn’t feel tired".

It appears I’d randomnly concocted some kind of ideal-weird-dream-making-potion, as I spent the rest of the night in an uneasy state of semi-consciousness.  For some reason, I couldn’t allow myself to fall into a full-on gypsy-sleep because my gypsy-culture wouldn’t allow it!  I was being held to the bed by the sheer weight of my gypsy biceps and whilst I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t snap out of this semi-sleep either!!  I honestly thought I was some kind of spooky, nocturnal, gypsy insomniac!  ...Weirdest.  Dream.  Ever!!!

When I did eventually start stacking full-on zeds, I was soon woken up by a ‘whistling’ radiator, squeaking, clunking and dripping until I was forced out of bed to kick it and fiddle around for a bit with a big screwdriver!

Not surprisingly, I woke up almost certain that the sandman had filled his dust-gun with superglue and peppered it into my eyes!  I had a dry mouth, fiery eyeballs, dark circles and that all-round ‘spaced-out’ feeling you get when you’re knackered.  It wasn’t exactly the way I’d planned to start my big day!

I quickly dragged myself out of bed and settled the outfit dilemma that had bothered me the day before without fuss. After a quick brew, I promptly walked into the rain and in doing so, left the safe, familiar warmth of home behind for the first proper day at work, in what seemed like ages. 

'Smart casual'?: What I eventually decided on!
[NB: Note the 'rag' to the bottom left of the faulty, sleep-depraving radiator monster!]

In my attempt to be uber prepared, I allowed faaaaar too much time for each leg of my journey, arriving at Darwen Train Station a full twenty minutes early for my 9:10 train to Bolton.  As I wanted to check out the train route via Oxford Road station (in preparation for the BBC interview on Monday) I decided not to travel direct to Victoria and instead, got off at Bolton.  Arriving at Manchester Oxford Road station just before 10:00, I had a full hour to locate the BBC building, before navigating my way on foot to JD Williams.

I found the BBC building within two minutes and then headed back in the direction I'd came from, and then headed off towards the Northern Quarter. 

With the help of my iPhone, I found the JD Williams office within 15 minutes and so, I still had forty five minutes to kill before I was due to arrive.   Just around the corner, I discovered the coolest little old-school café, with its classic 60’s styling, rustic charm and wall-to-wall paraphernalia of the Manchester music scene.  I ordered myself a bacon butty, a much needed cup of strong coffee and enjoyed the groovy surroundings of this former record store. 

The Koffee Pot: A funky retro cafe and provider of the
nerve-calming brain stimulation before the storm!

Still with fifteen minutes to spare, I popped in a spearmint and headed round the corner to make my way to the impressive glass-fronted entrance of the JD Williams headquarters.  In real time, I was probably only sat in Reception for no longer than twenty minutes, but again, it felt as though I was waiting forever.  Then, from ‘round the corner, the friendly face of RD appeared and finally …it was time to go to work!

The reception at JD Williams

After a few formalities, it was straight into a meeting where I met the FashionWorld Marketing Manager and the Brand Manager.   Over the next hour or so, I heard about every fashion fix for every body issue from muffin-tops to bingo wings ...and every on-trend colloquialism imaginable, from maxi-dresses to military styling.

After a whirlwind tour of the impressive building, I was allocated a desk in the middle of the design team (my possible future colleagues?) and I started to type the first few words of my task ...which I'll explain more about later!

The first hurdle to cross though was the Apple Mac.  Having only had about six weeks experience of using a Mac, I spent more time over the following few hours farting about with formatting and text boxes than I spent actually writing copy!!  Luckily, I'd taken my laptop with me, so I asked RD if typing up my work on Windows would be a problem.  "No problem at all Jason ...I use a PC myself!".  Instant reassurance from the main man, and it wasn't the last time I'd receive some much-needed reassuring words.

Now ...at this point I should add that I always knew that RD was ‘important’.  But it wasn’t until I saw the vast umbrella of managers and staff beneath him, that I realised just how important he was.  I’d heard him mention his business trips to Miami and South Africa for photoshoots, and I was well aware that he was ‘a boss-type’.  But my word …he’s a really big boss!

What makes his position even harder to believe, is how down-to-earth and genuine he is.  All I'd previously known of RD was that he was a real nice guy, who clearly loves his wife and kids and likes a bit of footie banter.  ...Oh, and that he worked in fashion for a big firm in Manchester!

...But now, I was discovering the vast landscape of RD's responsibilities and that he was actually a key cog in the company.  All this, and yet he was still a top bloke!  You've gotta respect that.

Having realised how important RD was, I was reluctant to ask too many questions, but I needn't have worried.  RD had loads of advice and tips and took lots of time out to introduce me to his colleagues, walk me round the displays, show me where the restaurant was and even made me a brew!   I didn't have a cooler, older, bigger brother to look after me at school, but if I did, I imagine this was what my first day at school would've been like!

As far as the work was concerned, the task was to write a number of webpages for a special online marketing campaign.  As the day drew to a close, I slowly started to get to grips with this and started making some progress.

In summary, the task is to write an introduction paragraph for a 'wedding outfits' section, and then write up the decriptions for five seperate wedding outfits.  I then need to write an introduction paragraph for a 'glam/sparkle outfits' page with five outfits and finally, the same again for 'casual/street party outfits', with introduction and descriptions of five further outfits.

I've got a week to complete the assignment, which must include short, snappy descriptions, and advice on each outfit from three fashion "experts", who each provide help about certain elements of products.  

Typically, each 'outfit' will include a dress, a cardigan, a pair of shoes, underwear, a bag and some dress jewellery.  And for each outfit, I'll need to decribe the technical qualities, the on-trend features, the affordability and most importantly, its figure-flattering styling. 

An example of this would be:  This stunning mink maxi will help accentuate your curves with beaded trim at the bust and the delicious back tie will help create a slimmer silhouette.  Perfect for long wedding days and even longer summer nights, this beautifully ankle-length maxi is a shape-sure classic.

Believe it or not, this took me a very long time to complete!  Key words, hidden strap-lines, advice and the wedding theme have all been entwined in that short, sharp description. But is it short and sharp enough.  Is it accurate enough? ...I really don't know!

I then go on to describe the other pieces of the outfit and finish off with some "quotations" from the in-house experts!

Being under pressure to deliver quality is one thing, but delivering it all to a tight deadline is quite another.  As I got towards the end of the day, I still wasn’t sure if I’d got a firm grasp of the concept, and I wasn’t happy at all with the small amount of copy I’d produced.  I spoke to RD about submitting the work and once again, he reassured me to take my time to get my head round the brand.  I really couldn't ask for any more than that!

As 6pm approached, RD asked me how I was getting home and offered me a lift.  I politely declined as I wanted to acclimatise to the commute, especially if I'm going to be lucky enough to make this a regular thing.  (...I also wanted to utilise the train journey home to start making notes for this very blog!)  Having walked from Oxford Road Station earlier that day though, I'd lost my bearings a little and wasn't quite sure how to get to Victoria Station.  RD kindly offered to drive me to the station and with that, we dropped down the lift into the carpark beneath the building.

The day was topped off when RD raised his key-fob to unlock the doors of his motor as we walked across the parking lot.  Flashing before my eyes were the indicators of a brand-spanking new, shiny black Audi TT.  ...I'd be arriving at Victoria station in style and with that ...my day was complete.

Until next time, many blessings,

Jason