A Real-World Link

Today the decal for the van arrived.

Also arriving were the business cards, postcards and a desk mat. Let’s face it: the desk mat is pure decadence. There was no practical reason for it. I wanted one, so now the Reluctant Nomad has somewhere suitably branded to put a keyboard.

The postcards have more of a purpose.

The idea is to create a link between the website and the real world. A small physical thing I can hand to somebody I meet—a route from a conversation beside the van, at a campsite or halfway along a trail back to the stories online.

Websites can feel oddly weightless. A postcard is harder to pretend does not exist.

This weekend is going to be a Scouty one. St Michael’s and All Angels Scout Group is celebrating its sixtieth birthday, which is no small achievement for any group built on volunteers, borrowed time and the occasional missing tent peg.

The turnout from the Cubs was a little disappointing. You plan something, put the effort in and hope more people will appear.

Still, sixty years is sixty years. The people who do turn up are part of the real-world link too.

Perhaps that is the theme of the week: making things tangible, then seeing who arrives.