I’ve known for a while that I needed to move away from Brussels. I even tried to crowdsource some answers about where to move. But now my mind is made up – London it will be, from sometime later this year. I don’t know quite when yet, and I equally don’t know where I’m going to be living there, but the decision is taken.
Why?
It’s all to do with work. Were it about Parc Duden, St Gilles and Tripel Kameliet I would stick with Brussels. But the problem is that I have basically no work in Belgium, and hence spend very, very little time there. Eurostar commuting and living out of a suitcase are only things a person can do for so long…
I see little prospect of the work situation improving in Brussels – the communications environment is inherently inward looking, and the client base for small, edgy web campaigns is minimal. The number of MEPs wanting to make interesting use of the net is equally limited.
London by contrast offers a wealth of opportunities. I’ve just launched a new website for Ken Livingstone who hopes to be Labour’s candidate for Mayor of London in 2012. That builds on the 12 websites I designed for candidates in the UK election. And I’ve managed all of that while not actually being there much! What can I do when I have the opportunity to meet people, build networks, and attend all the interesting events about internet politics that take place in London?
So the planning for London has already started and it will stretch through the summer, culminating with a van full of my stuff on a ferry from Ostend. As an EU nerd there will always be a pull towards Brussels – this is already my second stint – but it’s time for a change.
Appel du 4 juillet pour la fondation d’un blog collectif européen
http://europeanelection2009.blog.lemonde.fr/2010/07/04/appel-du-4-juillet-pour-la-fondation-dun-blog-collectif-europeen/
You could always live in Strasbourg 🙂
Jon, I’m glad you’ve been able to come up with a decision, now you can remove that dilemma off you shoulders. I’m sure you will have lots of opportunities in London, and as Jack says, it is possible to have an EU impact while based in London. Shout out when you need some Norwegian/Scandinavian input. Next PDF Barcelona, Oct 4-5! http://personaldemocracy.com/pdf-europe-returns-barcelona-oct-4-5
Hey funny this is: I found about your blog as I want to move from London to Brussels to do an internship with possibly the institutions or an EU-connected company , and you want to move from Brussels to London.
I think that London is definitely more of a place to be for web design and the market has just started picking up.
As for my move I just hope I’ll be able to find an appropriate internship, if any by how you sound. Best.
Welcome back! London’s the place to be, Jon. Or at the very least, and as the lyric goes, London’s the place for me.
For what it’s worth, my experiences with farmsubsidy.org show that it’s possible to have an impact on the EU/Brussels world without actually living there.