the art of conversation

We play our games and the sky goes on

I was on the road last week, around Birmingham and Manchester, talking to people about money and bank accounts and the like.

Two things occurred to me, both quite obvious things I suppose.

The first thing is that, doing research 'out there' where people live is probably something we should all do more often.

The places where we often talk to people in a research context condition what we learn.

The second thing is that, when you build in a little 'dwelling time', you notice more and learn more.

If you look around less familiar places you can see how people are being affected by the downturn.

Income inequality has never been greater.

A friend told me this staggering stat yesterday. The wealthiest 400 individuals in America have more money than the poorest 140 million.

It pays to take the time to look around.

As I say, obvious, really.

On the buses

We’ve been doing some behavioural research for Greener Journeys, exploring people’s habits and experiences around bus travel.

Our research informed their report, 'A step change for Britain’s buses: Maximising the economic, social and environmental potential', launched at the House of Commons yesterday.

It’s odd, buses are at the same time very familiar to us, yet rather overlooked, almost invisible to everyone except regular users. This applies to the public and also (I suspect) to politicians and business leaders.

Arguably we ought to be championing buses more, as they are obviously more eco-friendly than private cars (at least when reasonably full), they are cheaper and more flexible than trains and they also represent the ultimate in local, community transport. As ‘localism’ these days is all the rage (Big Society etc) why are buses so far down the political agenda?

Greener Journeys is a bus industry initiative trying to change this, to get buses noticed and taken more seriously within the legislature. And no, the Reg Varney image is not helping to modernise the image of the bus, but possibly does speak to the local community aspect. Interesting that the bus was used as a London Olympics icon.

Both of these examples are London and London is atypcial in relation to buses and so much else. We researched how the bus is used and seen amongst car-owning households outside London: what were the triggers and barriers which would encourage and hinder greater use of the bus?

We spoke to people at home, took a journey with them by bus that they would normally make by car, then invited them to reflect on their experiences and behaviour. (We call this method ‘co-discovery’).

We produced a report and made a film of the whole exercise, hopefully to be linked to here soon. Key highlights are:

• transport choices are habitual and the car is a hard habit to break, with many ‘short cuts’ which keep the car top of mind
• people who don’t use the bus rarely consider doing this (availability bias) and have forgotten some basic ‘bus habits’
• all too often the cost of going by bus and the ‘pain of paying’ count against buses
• buses have something of an image problem
• but the reality is better than the perception, buses are not nearly as bad as some people expect (although not as good as they want)
• and there are some unexpected rewards and benefits from going by bus

36 hours in Jakarta

On a business trip last week I asked the taxi driver to take me on a little tour on the way to the airport. 

Two things struck me:

1. I shall never complain about London traffic again having seen Shanghai then Jakarta *

2. How alike and yet how unalike we all are, citizens of these great cities of the world

 

* I may or may not stick to this

Impressions of Moscow

My image of Moscow came from Spitting Image, James Bond and current affairs (Litvinenko, corruption allegations, FIFA). What is it really like? It was my first visit and I had only 29 hours to find out.

Domodedovo airport, at 4.45am is minus 15 degrees C. Business as usual. It  reaches minus 20 to minus 25C. They can do cold here. I take a coach to avoid airport taxi hounds and reach the Metro by 6am, joining drab half asleep commuters. It seems like it is snowing inside the carriage (did I imagine it?). I miss Paveletsky station, due to unfamiliar writing and general lack of signage (and sleep). 

Above ground, lots of people scurrying around, hunched over. Is it just the cold, or is everyone here in a bit of a hurry? Workers sweep away the ice and frost with long reed brushes - surprisingly effective.

More by luck than judgement I find my hotel (highly recommended btw). The windows are triple glazed.

  Off to groups via (overpriced) taxi. So much traffic! It takes nearly an hour on an 8-lane highway, going not that far. Cab weaves in an out, driver mutters as blue-sirened darkened-glass 4x4s sweep through. Every so often we crawl past an amazing building or vista.

Over dinner I learn that Russians like Brits and Italians more than Poles, that vodka is in fact very drinkable, that Moscow's population is nearer 12.5m than 10.5m (Wikipedia), due to migrants. Angry demo against non-Slavs the day before. Foreign Office advises non-white Brits to be vigilant here. Not a place for the faint-hearted.

The next morning, again stuck in traffic, only half an hour in Red Square, strange clash of Soviet era and commercialism, too cold to take many pictures. Back to Domodedovo on the express train.

A fleeting visit, some of my stereotypes persisted. Moscow is vast, fast, hard-working and rather surly. They can certainly cope with snow and cold. They have embraced capitalism wholesale. The traffic's appalling, the Metro's very good.

I'd love to come back and have a proper look.

Preferably in the summer.

Beach Reading

 It was David Ogilvy in Confessions of an Advertising Man who (roughly) said when on holiday read; but read something that's unrelated to work. Reading will keep the mind ticking over and give it space to de-clutter. 

Asking round the office, we've pulled together some beach reads we will be taking with us this summer to depressurise to some near and some far-flung climes. 

 If you're looking for American urban grit and a fan of The Wire (as quite a few of us are) then David Simon's Homicide and the Corner have come highly recommended. Although looking out to a sunbright sea may be more therapeutic.

 Wolf Hall, Man Booker Prize for 2009, has received mixed reviews by those who have already read it here.  Although giving us a pretty vivid picture of the early 16th Century England some have found it confusing to follow at times. Compared to Joyce's Ulysees though, it's a doddle.