Our broadband has been down since yesterday morning – hence the silence on the emailing, blogging, tweeting, Facebooking front. (Don’t get me started on the reasons why our broadband is down, I’ve spent enough time yelling at the relevant Customer Services people and am trying a new Zen approach – which largely involves denial.) Fact is, it has become incredibly apparent how much we rely on having access to the internet and email to do our jobs. And my job in particularly, which includes in the job title the word “Online”, well,…you see my point.

So, in order to get some work done, today I took myself down to our local café, Reynolds, armed with my laptop, a coffee and their free wifi.

And, I must admit, I’m quite liking it here. There’s a general buzz about the place, including the intermittent clang of coffee cups and shrill whirr of the coffee grinder to keep you alert, the sight of three other laptop users clicking away (I’m guessing: student, designer, and sales rep)  and various business-meetings taking place on other tables. This enforced exile from my usual work environment,  has merely led me to an alternative, communal office space.  I’ve even ‘hot-desked’ twice (first to a bigger and more comfortable table and then to one by the wall so I could plug my laptop in when my battery died) so am enjoying the new view below:

 And this change of scene, this hub of activity and business chatter, is all rather stimulating. It’s not suprising that home-based workers and freelancers use cafés as their offices. There was actually a study that emerged recently which showed that working in a moderately noisy environment, including coffee-shops, boosts creativity (read more in the Guardian…). And it explains why more organised initiatives like Jelly (which aims to encourage entrepreneurs and freelancers to work together at various locations rather than in the isolation of their homes) are taking off.

Plus, you don’t need to make your own coffee. Bonus. They can take all the time they want to set up our broadband again.

Chiara Priorelli, Publicity & Online Marketing Manager