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The Leith Agency's weblog.

On the train from Aberdeen to Edinburgh yesterday and this particular train conductor seemed to have a bit of a luggage fixation. Not in the sense of stroking a nice looking suitcase or drooling over a Louis Vuitton. No, this lady had a terror that the train would be drowned in over-sized luggage.

She made two announcements, one before the train set off and one after, explaining where varying sizes of luggage should be left. And to avoid catastrophe, two seats had been “uplifted” in the middle carriage to cater for “very large items”.

I could ill resist the temptation to ask her, when she came for my ticket, whether any very large items were expected. I shouldn’t have. She spoke for quite a while about how these trains lacked storage space and you got buggies and now that the summer was approaching, golf clubs and there just wasn’t the space to store them. And you didn’t want to block the doorways as this would be a safety hazard. All very admirable.

I was slightly disappointed that we weren’t expecting a small travelling circus to join the train at Arbroath. Maybe next time.

Now I don’t make a habit of reading children’s books. (Unless I’m reading to children of course.) But a 15 year old recommended this in a drugs group at the start of the year and I thought I might take a look.

Having read up on it, I’ve just discovered that it was written in the mid-eighties so you can see why it created quite such a storm. As it’s a fantastically detailed and engaging account of a couple of teenagers who leave home for their respective reasons, end up living in a squat and wind up, after a (slightly telescoped) catalogue of misfortunes, injecting heroin. Says the author, Melvin Burgess:

“Junk is set in the early and middle eighties… all the major events have happened, are happening and will no doubt continue to happen. This book isn’t fact; it isn’t even faction. But it’s all true, every word.”

All credit to Mr Burgess, he does not squirm away from his subject matter and there are some fairly graphic descriptions of misfortunes ensuing from injecting - given that he’s talking to teenagers. I’m sure my life has been sheltered (in fact,  I was talking to injecting drug users yesterday and yes, I know my life has been sheltered) but as a grown girl and not a target audience teenager, I found it a fascinating account of the downward spiral in which it’s all too easy to get trapped.

I would thoroughly recommend it for any teenage children you may have. And I’ll even lend it out to adults too.

Overheard on the train through to Glasgow yesterday afternoon:

“Did you hear what I made him for Christmas? A fully poseable Bob Doolally doll. He’s so difficult to buy for.”

I clearly don’t lavish nearly enough time and attention on my gifts for my nearest and dearest. I haven’t made a doll for anybody since a rather cruel prank I played on my sister when I was wicked nine years old.

Months ago, a client described Brian as the horse whisperer amongst clients.

Today, I have some throat ailment or other. David Watson just wittily quipped that I was the hoarse whisperer.

Oh, that one day, I can be the other kind.

Every month, we hold a drinks party in the Leith Barge.  Last week, in aid of Comic Relief, we held a Dance  Off.  Unfortunately, I was unable to make it, but I’ve been reliably informed that over £100 was raised on the night and by all accounts we have some great “movers and shakers” in the Agency.

Rumour has it that the guys and gals at The Shore can really strutt their stuff, amongst them Mariapia, Les, Brie, Sarah F, Mona, Emma and Annie to name but a few.

The esteemed Judging Panel (Richard Marsham, Stevie J and Anita) took its responsibilities very seriously - so Brie’s blatent tease act and playing up to the Judges won on the night (she is now the reigning Dancing Queen).   Two to one on the voting, eh Anita?

On Monday morning everyone was still having a good chuckle  - expect Mona on Reception  who was still miffed and said she was “robbed” of the title!

Mikey created an invite for All Staff, you might recognise some faces if you watch it, and there were posters put up all around the Agency to encourage everyone to join in.

Other Comic Relief efforts so far have been a Pie Bake held last Friday in the Leith Boardroom (anything involving food always attracts a good crowd in here) and the girls at Stripe have had a Bake Sale, more news on these soon.

A couple of weeks ago we held a very pleasant lunch in the Leith Boardroom to bid farewell to Caroline Anderson and Nicky Siegal, both now off enjoying a well-earned maternity leave.

And we were delighted to hear the good news yesterday about the safe arrival of Caroline’s second son.

We’re still waiting to hear about the imminent arrival of Nicky’s first baby……

Bloomin’ marvellous!

I popped along to a talk from Mark Cridge, owner / proprietor of glue last night, courtesy of the IPA. It’s easy to be fawning in this industry. But what a brilliant man. He struck a lovely balance between sharing his view of the digital world and showcasing his agency creds. But with such a fine set of creds to share, I was not complaining.

He didn’t resort to taking live twitter questions - a deliberate ploy on his part according to his twitter feed.

But I was delighted to see a guy in front of me taking notes on his iPhone.

More delighted still when someone else in the row in front of me wrote a note to himself on his wrist.

I had an old-fashioned notebook. Spot the planner.

Lovely blog post from Dave Trott can be found on faithful Brand Republic today.

We were absolutely delighted to pick up see me after a very interesting pitch process recently. We had a great team working on it - though I suppose I’m biased… You can read more about it on our website here.

Anyway, the point is not a self-congratulatory one but an invitation to get involved. see me ran a survey a couple of years ago to explore attitudes towards people with mental health problems in Scotland. And they have just launched the follow-up, the very neatly titled hear me 2. If you have five minutes, go take a look. Self-interestedly really, as it’ll help us work out what to do next! Visit it here.

Thank you.

Now it seems you can share your twittering with the world via an amazing technical T-shirt. Check out psfk for more.

Mr Adams, when might your birthday be?