... I feel Christmas coming closer ..

as you can see on the images, Christmas is coming closer for us. It feels so strange not to travel to China, RTP or Miami jus before Christmas. I remember last year I had a crazy time flying first to Beijing and than to RTP and Miami just before Christmas, when I finally got home then it was... mmm is it Christmas now, are you really sure ...

today it was Christmas shopping in town, and we just relaxed out time away, looking outside the window and reading some comic strips (our new favorite hobby) ... Only thing i did not count on is the fact my car is being thowed away for the second time. The picture says you are not allowed to park here between 7 and 18 on workdays.... so i went to the police station for a nice and lengthy discussion. Result: a typical belgian situation: saturday are workdays .... no kidding

My god will I be happy when my week of holiday is there, I feel really exhausted. Changing job is not something you have to do to have a relaxing time, on the contrary ... it will be still very busy days and months since the new business is mainly active in January, February, march and April, after which it starts to slow down to practically nothing in December. As said: a new world with a whole new set of rules ... I'm very much amazed how much time it really takes to find your way around a new place, every company's culture is so different and you really need time as an advisor on how to play the cards. But as you all know me: i have a difficult time being patient, but this time i will try to take that time ...

I see the awards for our digital work streaming in: Dare Digital agency of the year with a lot of mentioning of the Sony Ericsson work, K750 getting honors, W800 still in the press ... I must admit: I secretly still feel a part of it , but way to go ... It's so nice to have Gavin and Martin keeping me informed.

Going tomorrow to London, but this time by train. On my way i will try to meet up with some colleagues, but we'll see if the schedule allows it ... i hope it does, because it is during this time of year you look back to what has happened the last 12 months .....

I wish you all love peace and understanding ...


Toon

.... A place called home ...

ok .. i know it has been a long time that i have updated the blog, but moving house has some disadvantges: no internet connection at home, even not today. So had to make a little hack in the system here to get to my update page. All in all our move went just fine: what do you expect we were helped by the whole family. Can you imagine my brother and sisters, my dad and my stepmom and my mom as one team: guaranteed efficiency :-) ....

it really feels like a home .. my little nest in the middle of the city. I call it my little New York since i'm in the middle of the city city center .... Just around the corner is my favorite pub and in my street i have the bakkery, the fresh market and the fish market ... all fresh things. So basically there are two option if you see me next time: or i have slimmed thanks to healthy food or i'm a real elephant since i eat too much ...

with Xmas just around the corner i hope all of you will find the time to do the necessary shopping .. our holiday will bring us another move: i'm moving into my studio in Luxemburg beginning of Jan, so still need to get some stuff for that place. Also the things like electricity, residents permit , .. will need to be fixed in the first of Jan, but we still hope to get the time to go skiing 4 days in the first week of January....

Next week i hope to update the blog with some picture. Talk soon :-)

Time is moving fast

.... I just realized that next week-end we move top my new apartment. Today the kids and I called for help from mother and sister to start the packing . Next week the team will be complete for the moving of one end of Mechelen to the center. ... I think I will throw a house warming part, but we still need to decide on the date ...

last Friday I was out on town with Jan from Jip and Janneke the producers/directors of the WorldQuest adventure. He met up to celebrate the award Sony Ericsson WorldQuest received at the Night of tea advertising in Belgium. We won the award for best Interactive campaign and best return on investment .... a pithy we can not go for the 06 version because after Friday we are sure: it was a one of our best experiences ...

Talking about work: it is not only getting used to new colleagues, but also to new agencies :-0 ... it is when you leave a job after 4 to 5 years and then start over again that you realize how deeply interwoven your thinking is with that of the lead agencies you work with ... It feels like in the good relationships I had with the lead agencies there was a common way of thinking and creating which made life so easy on one hand ... Today I have to start the process with the agencies again to come to that common ground from which the best projects are delivered ... But who from the agencies does not remember the first meeting with me :-) .. History repeats itself ...

talk soon - love peace and understanding my friends

Felt like coming home ....

this week-end. Believe it or not I went to Malmo this week-end. It felt good to re-visit all the places of which I parted now already more than a month ago. I thought I was never going to see them again, but there was some reversal of fortune. The food at Hai still tastes wonderful, served with a smile and that little exchange of thoughts with the people working there make it such a nice place ....

Running into Martin and Lisa had something enriching. Of course we talked a bit about work, but the most important things were what we were doing, how we felt and where we were heading to .... a new house, a new life ....

Earlier that week I met up with Cecilia F and Magdalena at the Audi Open in Brussels where I could witness the class of our Team Sony Ericsson in show jumping. Of course I took them out on a little tour in Brussels to show them my favorite places and my favorite bar.

It was a true joy feeling that after all I moved on, there will always be a place and a time to meet. Let this therefore be an open invitation to everybody reading this blog: don't be a stranger, you will always find an open door when you are around ...

T.

Never realized ...

But last week was the first week in 4 years that I worked and slept the whole week in my own bed.

I'm glad in a way that I was home all week and that I could finally meet up with some friends in Mechelen without having to think about the next flight to catch. In a way it is addictive the traveling and maybe I'm just happy now not having to do this , but I know that I some way I will miss it in the long run ...

this week-end also it got more an more clear that the move is coming really close. We set the date of the actual move to Sunday 27th of November. We have to do this on a Sunday since the apartment is in the city center and on Saturday there is the market and a lot of week-end shopping going on ...

On the work front things are starting to get in place .. I tumbled from budget meeting to budget meeting. In Sony Ericsson it was the last thing I did, within Dunlop it is the first thing I do .. Talking about continuity :-) .... It is really fun trying to find the right tone of voice :-) for this new environment and to figure out the specifics of the business ....

it has been now already two weeks that I closed a very big chapter .... and I'm slowly getting used to my new habitat. Last week on Thursday I had a meting in London (sorry flew in in the morning and out in the evening so no time for a social visit, but next time I will make sure I have the time) and it felt so strange not to get off at the Hammersmith station on the Piccadilly line .... wonder when it will feel strange to do so ....

Life is pretty hectic for the moment with trying to sort all paperwork for my apartment in Luxembourg and the one I bought last month in my home town Mechelen . We can hardly wait to move and to build a new home which I hope to see more often than I did my current place .... a new home, seems like such a big new thing, an opportunity to make a fresh start, but aren't things a bit more simple, since the simplest questions are the most profound: Where is your home? Where are you going? What are you doing? Think about these once in awhile, and watch your answers change.

feels like I have found the answer to the first question, but the second question I hope to have some indications when I have a more clear view on what I'm doing today .....

ons toontje

Good Year (Dunlop) and Good Times

Stay tuned with Toon

To Good Years and to Good Times.

 

the past is never brighter than the future.

the future is only brighter by the day

the day is never here to stay

the road ahead a long and winding way

Brother
Koen
 

There is a part of me ....

that I have to leave behind with all of you at Sony Ericsson. To feel whole again I will have to come back to the memories. It sounds strange but here am I sitting at the eve of a new challenge feeling sad to leave behind the wonderful time and people I had to pleasure to work with the past 4 years.

 

When I was my last day in Malmo-Lund and my last day in London I took the opportunity to wonder around the both cities to pick up memories of the places I visited the most and came to the conclusion that the memories would be meaningless if they were not filled with people. But at the same time I realized that we tend to forget and take the time to just sit down and look at the surroundings and the everyday life we work in .... Malmo and London offered me a tremendous farewell present: under the warm autumn sun I enjoyed watching people at the squares in Malmo, having my light dinner at Hai, overseeing the sea with an setting sun on my way to the airport. London gave me the pleasure of shopping for some nice new shirts at Paul Smith and strolling around Portobello discovering all little shops full of fashion treasures .... A recommendation to all of you: why not just take of one late afternoon and taste the cities you visit instead of rushing in and out ... Ok, I should walk the talk , but what I did not do in the past, I can still do in the future...

 

The last four days I really enjoyed the silence of no mails, no calls ..... the weather in Belgium was superb, as if the last weeks they granted me the favour of sun, good food, great fun with friends and family . But tomorrow reality strikes back ... still haven't decided to which glasses I will be wearing for this first day :-)...

 

I wish you all a nice week, and I will keep this updated on a regular basis (maybe already tomorrow night with the first impressions of the new colleagues)

 

Peace love and understanding

 

ons toontje

PS: for everybody who still wants to make a posting: feel free to send it in on: onstoontje.friends@blogger.com

Wij zullen u missen

Ik wens u veel geluk voor de toekomst en ik hoop u terug te zien in t'kort.

Kieron

Greetings from the AM team

Dear Toon,

It has been a pleasure working together with you over the last years. You have been a tough but fair requirement owner. We wish you all the best for the future and hope that our paths will cross again!

Best regards
The AM Team

Per Pedersen

Good Luck!

Toon,
Lund will be a duller place when it looses the color of you glasses, now we will never know what really hids behind all that glamour!

It has been a pleasure working with you - I wish you all the best for the future.

/Dan

Toon you are a bad bad bad good friend wish you all the best!

whatever happens it was fun to be a part of you journey, who knows we might travel together sometimes in the future!!

Jörgen Berg

Thanks for a good year!

Great to get to get to know you during this year Toon. Good luck in your new life and hope to see you soon again!

/Tomas

An era comes to an end

Many thanks for working together. It was a joy and a great experience. But particularly it was a lot of marketing fun.

Good luck on the Goodyear-shoed Dnjepr.

/Serge, your man on the Belgian marketing frontier.

The SoundToon to my job

I'm not sure if I've got enough Sony Ericsson moments yet to do a
Walkman 100, but certainly there is a consistent theme too many of the best ones.

Where to begin? Creating experimental whisky and fruit juice cocktails
in Berlin? Dinner with Amelie Mauresmo? Picking up ex- tennis players
and taking them back to our private box in Miami? Helping Greg Rusedski turn around his tennis match at the Nasdaq Open? Being on our 'very best behaviour' whilst meeting famous people with Dee? The quiet dinner until 5am in Amsterdam? Maybe turning Martin into our 24 drinks waiter after the Revolution Awards?

I’m not sure if it was such a good idea though that same night to leave a phone message for my fiancé saying: “I’m not coming home tonight, I’m sleeping in in Toon’s hotel room.”

As I was drunk my message was slightly slurred, and my good lady thought I’d said “I’m sleeping In Simone’s hotel room.” I got home to a slightly more frosty reception than I was expecting!

One thing is for sure, I'm going to miss Herge's Adventures of ToonToon!

Good luck with the new job.

Never forget to check your rubber before you ride! :)

Andrew Warner

Good Luck

Dear Toon,
It's been great working with you - hope you have as much success in the future as you have with Sony Ericsson.
Love, Liza

Good luck!

Hi Toon,
I’m going to miss the weekly conference calls, especially the ones at 7am on a Monday morning!

I’ve learnt a lot from you and I wish you the best of luck for the future.

Kelly

Mr D - more than just a man

Tchau!

Toon,
Wishing you the best always!
Enjoy the ride :-)
Um abraço,

Adriana Morales

It's been a pleasure...

Toon,

You will be greatly missed by all your friends at Dare. As you might say, Mr Diependaele, it's been a pleasure...

Look forward to playing air guitar with you in the near future.

Best wishes and stay in touch,

Mark