I arrived home in Lewes at 6.15 this morning after a good night at the ME Awards in Kensington. Eschewing the ridiculous notion of paying £150 for a hotel room that I was likely to enter, just about realise where I was and then hit the mattress like a suicide onto a pavement, I decided to walk to my brother-in-law’s place in Acton.
Ignoring friends who were on their way to Soho I set forth, tripping along the way until I got to Notting Hill Gate then on the road to Acton I turned from Taurus to Saint Paul and thought I have a couple of hours before the 4am train to Brighton, why not walk back to Victoria station?
A good idea as it turned out. I followed the routes of my despatch-riding days, thought about spending the night in the Natural History museum but the doors were locked, smiled at the inevitable Police cars that shadowed me en route and dreamt of a McDonalds breakfast (not open – gutted).
London at night is great and I awoke in my own bed, unlike my colleagues who are probably WAKING UP NOW AND FEEL AWFUL. The Awards were fun and thanks to Nokia for the invitation and it’s the first time I’ve been for three years. Nothing much had changed, the pre-drinks party was wine and beer instead of champagne, but that was about it.
However, there was one difference from three years ago. There was a ‘Best Social Network’ award and although the event should have given the prize to itself because trade awards are all about the social network innit, the award went to…. yes, Facebook.
What was interesting, however, was the silence when the award was announced. The poor woman who picked up the award was quick to understand the mood and her acceptance speech was brief, it was almost as Microsoft had won an award.
Then there was the eternally embarrassing sight of uncle-dancing-at-wedding mobile executives dancing to what seemed like drum n’ bass, instead of rock n’ roll and I may have detected some dubstep or grime, but whatever, I went for my walk.
So, it’s now 11.50am and I started writing this as 11.41am so I’m very pleased with myself and it’s been a great week. Cities are great at night, but I’m looking out across the countryside at my neighbour doing her gardening and I feel quite OK with the world, maybe I’ll go for a walk. Doh, I’ve already had one, now where’s that breakfast?
Monty Munford has more than 15 years' experience in mobile, digital media, web and journalism. He is the founder of Mob76, a company that helps tech companies raise money and exit. He speaks regularly at global media events with a focus on Africa, writes a weekly column for The Telegraph, is a regular contributor to The Economist, Wired, Mashable and speaks regularly on the BBC World Service.
