In honour of Social Media Week Glasgow, Creative Scotland partnered with the Tartan Authority to develop a Crowdsourced Tartan Design competition. The idea was to integrate the concept of a traditional tartan with the new technology we use every day. (more…)
On Saturday, Equator had its famous (infamous?) Summer BBQ Beach Party at Loch Lomond. Right from the get-go, we were troopers. At 11am, the rain was bucketing down in Glasgow but 40 of us still showed up for the bus taking us to Luss. (more…)
The Girl’s Mountain:
The first group was Laura B, Laura D, Carrie and Sharon. They stormed on ahead, down the tortuous steps and were the first ones to reach the fork in the trail. Laura B decided on the direction but the rest of us weren’t so sure. In such an emotional state, with the finish line in sight, the group had a minor disagreement. Thankfully, Laura B picked the right way and the friends made up by singing a bit of Beyonce’s Halo to end the walk (though Laura B wasn’t impressed with the singing).
Vickie and Nicola were the second group and not so lucky with directions. Slightly behind the others, they took the wrong path at the fork and ended up going down a very steep hill. They continually said, ‘I don’t remember this from the way up, I just do not remember this’. As they got to the bottom and arrived at the youth hostel instead of the tourist info car park, the usually positive, optimistic, chirpy, problem-solving Vickie got a wee bit crabby about the fact the walk was not yet over. They eventually reached the finish line, crawling into the car park and feeling a little emotional. (more…)
The Girls’ Mountain:
Saturday morning we set off to meet at 8.30am – two of us with particularly sore heads. After driving around for 20 minutes, we eventually found the start of the walk. It is here the different adventures begin as Brent raced up the hill and abandoned most of the girls.
Brent’s Mountain:
As we were preparing breakfast at 8.15 am, I was thinking to myself “don’t worry … it will only hurt a little” and “I hope the girls are okay, and not too hung over.” (more…)
Since February 2011 a group of Equatorites have been embarking on hill walks around Scotland to build up to the Ben Nevis climb for Neil’s Wheels charity.
On Saturday 13th August, the intrepid Equator adventurers Brent, Sharon, Rose, Vickie, Laura B, Laura D, Kirsty, Nicola, Emma, Olivia, Beth and Laurent (joined by some friends) climbed UK’s tallest mountain. At its heart, this is the tale of two mountains: Brent’s mountain and the girls’ mountain, a tale of misunderstandings, a tale of strength in the face of defeat and finally, a tale of the thriving metropolis that is Fort William. (more…)
The ladies in the mist at Ben Ledi
The Equator Walking team has successfully conquered Ben Ledi! Since the walk was so lovely during the winter, the team thought that it would be even more wonderful in the summer. Ah, but the Scottish summer was true to form and it might as well have been November! (more…)
Here at Equator, we’re quite the bicycle enthusiasts. There are so many wonderful things about biking: it’s environmentally friendly, it’s healthy and it’s pretty cool too. When it comes to biking, nothing is cooler than the Tour de France. Last Friday, we tapped into that cool Frenchiness and hosted our very own Tour De France day!
The proposition was simple: wear your favourite cycling wear or wear something French. There were berets and LYCRA all over our studio! Then, towards the end of the day, the thrilling Tour de France would be played on the big screen and you could eat baguettes and brie and croissants and pain au chocolat. Needless to say, those French really know how to throw a good party.
The Slowest Winner Ever!
The party was great but we needed even more cycling to make it as cool as the Tour de France. We removed all the elaborate rules and stages and points involved in the Tour de France and played a different type of classic race. In this race you had to keep moving forward but you had to be the last one across the line to win. At 6pm this ultimate slow motion bike race began! Ninecontestants, with dreams of being Equator’s equivalent of Mark Cavendish or Thomas Voeckler rolled up to the line to await the slowest race of all time. Now, a slo-mo race is time intensive to begin with, but this version seemed almost as long as the real Tour de France! Every time someone put down a foot, that person was disqualified and the race began again, and again, and again. Thankfully the weather held up long enough for David Conlisk to win the coveted Pink Jersey (and a lovely bottle of whisky).
After our version of stage 19 was complete, us Equatorites hit the real stage. For those who are more arts orientated than sports orientated, Wii Dance-d all over the place and even Sing Star was a hit. You’d never have known about the sweet, sweet moves hidden in the design and marketing teams or about the angelic voices of client services and the development team. Everyone really was a winner Friday night!
Equator’s walking team set off once again, this time conquering Ben Lomond. As Scotland’s southernmost or Glaswegian Munro (mountain over 3000ft) Ben Lomond is one of the most climbed hills in the area which makes it relatively easy and accessible with a target walking time of 5hr for its 5.5 mile trail.
In true Scottish style the day began very sunny and dry with high team spirits at the base of the Munro however the mood of the walk started to turn as the weather did. At about 700 meters up the team stopped for a quick spot of lunch to replenish energy where they then suited up for the final push to the summit which they made in an impressive 2.45 minutes. So well done to Sharon, Vickie, Kirsty and Emma as this was their first ever Munro, and of course a big well done to Brent too, Equator’s walking master!
Everyone’s musical taste is a very personal thing and equally as personal is the way people find and listen to new music.
Hype Machine (www.hypem.com) was originally built to trawl the internet to find newly uploaded songs for users to rate and consequently create a chart of the most popular new music on the web. Now with its added functionality hype machine allows you to create your own personal music feed pulling in particular artists you like and music blogs that you enjoy. It’s a great way of finding new music by letting someone else do the hard work for you.
Another week, another challenge for the Equator walking group. This time they tackled Ben Ledi, situated on the southern edge of the Highlands, it can be seen from many parts of the southern Highlands in Scotland’s National Park.
The group climbed the 2800ft to the summit over a distance of 5 miles which took them around 4 hours. Yet again the weather was misty and cold at the top so views were minimal but the team got some lovely shots on lower ground and even made time to stop and chat to Hamish, the local highland cow.