Earlier on this evening, I posted out my last batch of Christmas cards, leaving just a few local ones for the morning. Then I get a Swiss Cottage (London) address for a friend from Hong Kong. The idea of the CBM (Chess Board Map) concept is that simple links between places can be drawn on a text file map which can be printed out rapidly on one sheet of A4 paper. The links don’t have to be geographical - the more lateral (INSIDE the box) the connection, the better - as long as it makes sense to the end user.
Some of my links will never make sense to some people, but I hope that everyone can understand the idea of Victoria, as you don’t have to go too far to find somewhere named after her (the British Queen), or after the name derivation (Latin for victory). I would start at Victoria Park in my home town of Royal Leamington Spa, but I haven’t counted that in the list as it isn’t really well known outside Warwickshire.
Victoria Station in London might be an obvious place to start, but there are several other Victoria stations in the UK, not to mention the former Victoria station in the former Bombay. Down under we have Melbourne, state capital of Victoria, and there is also a Victoria University in Wellington, capital of New Zealand. I hope you get the gist - I know there’s a couple left out - maybe Leamington should be included; then there’s the Swedish Queen and Mexico’s first president, but this is the list for now.
The first code is for the airport which serves the city mentioned (as a general rule, no airport = no mention), and the second is for the closest reference on the Chess Board Map (CBM) - e.g. London = C2. Bold CBM references are for cities which are directly on the map, standard text is where the CBM references the nearest point:
Sorry about problems with formatting. I will try and fix this in the morning.
|
CODE
|
CBM
|
CITY
|
NAMING
|
| ATH |
E4 |
Athens |
Victoria Square and station |
| BOM |
F7 |
Mumbai |
former Victoria Station |
| BUH |
F3 |
Bucharest |
Victoria Palace |
| CNH |
B2 |
Columbus, Ohio |
Victoria’s Secret |
| CVM |
A4 |
Ciudad Victoria |
Mexico |
| DAC |
G5 |
Dakar |
Victoria University |
| DGO |
A4 |
Vitoria de Durango (fmr) |
Mexico |
| EBB |
E7 |
Lake Victoria |
nearest major city = |
| EMA |
C1 |
Nottingham |
Victoria Station |
| GZM |
D4 |
Victoria |
capital of Gozo, Malta |
| HKG |
H4 |
Hong Kong |
numerous |
| HOG |
A4 |
Victoria de Las Tunas |
Cuba |
| LON |
C2 |
London |
Station & numerous other |
| LOS |
D7 |
Lagos |
Victoria island (business district) |
| MAN |
C1 |
Manchester |
Victoria Station |
| MAN |
C1 |
Manchester |
Victoria Wood |
| MAN |
C1 |
Manchester |
Victoria Beckham |
| MEL |
H8 |
Melbourne |
state capital of Victoria |
| NYC |
B2 |
New York City |
Victoria Theatre |
| ROM |
D4 |
Rome |
word origin, victory in Latin |
| ROS |
B9 |
Victoria |
Argentina |
| SEN |
C2 |
Southend |
Victoria Station |
| SEZ |
E7 |
Victoria |
Capital, Seychelles |
| SFO |
A2 |
San Francisco |
Victoria Theatre |
| SIN |
H6 |
Singapore |
School & Theatre / Concert Hall |
| VCT |
A3 |
Victoria |
Texas |
| VFA |
E8 |
Victoria Falls |
Zimbabwe (Victoria Falls airport) |
| VIT |
C4 |
Vitoria Gasteiz |
Basque country, Spain |
| VIX |
B7 |
Vitoria |
Brazil |
| YTO |
B1 |
Toronto |
Victoria University |
| YUL |
B1 |
Montreal |
Victoria Square, Metro station |
| YYJ |
A2 |
Victoria, British Columbia |
and University |
Sorry about problems with formatting. I will try and fix this in the morning.
The term “think outside the box” has to be my most hated phrase, competing alongside the dreaded S word (solutions) for the platinum coated trophy of meaningless business speak. So why am I so proud to say that I do think INSIDE the box?
To me, thinking inside the box is a simple case of having an objective, and then defining the boundaries which are relevant for reaching that objective. For example, the Chess Board Map I posted a couple of weeks ago might not make that much sense as a blog post, but it is very easy to explain in front of someone. I said I’d give it to my dad and let him work it out over the weekend. He’s back for the Christmas holiday now, and he worked out the first 20 or so cities in about 10 minutes. He did so, because it made sense to him. Likewise, the map was a lively discussion point with a fellow travel website owner at a Christmas party last week, because again, he thinks visually too.
I am still trying to find that magic bridge between the two different types of thinking, so I’m not quite there yet. Our Christmas greeting comes with the text “from Aalborg to Zweibrucken” or “Anchorage to Dunedin“. A to Z is for the conventional thinkers - yet Zweibrucken actually means “Two Bridges” in German. My grandparents used to live in Burgess Hill, which is not too far from Three Bridges in Sussex - but I digress - One Bridge is all I’m trying to cross here!
In the meantime, if you want simple instructions on drawing a map pr plan to demonstrate any point (remember that MAP is an anacronym for Make Anything Possible), please scroll down below:
A B
a b c d e f g h i
1 / A * * * * * * * * \
2 / * * * * * * * * * \
3 / * * * * * * * * * \
4 / * * * * * * * * * \
5 / * * * * * * * * * \
6 / * * * * * * * * * \
7 / * * * * * * * * * \
8 / * * * * * * * * * \
9 / * * * * * * * * D \
C D
- To hand draw: Draw the letter Z, starting at point A, and passing through points B and C to reach D.
- This represents the basic differentiation between traditional (A to Z) thinkers and visual (A to D through Z) thinkers.
- It also shows that the best thinkers actually DO think inside the box after all!
Once in a while, I stumble on a business which offers such good service that I want to become an instant affiliate of theirs - whether they have a programme or not. Vistaprint are one such company. I placed an order for business cards with them back in early October, and it arrived within a couple of days. My order for Christmas Cards placed a couple of weeks ago also took only a day or two longer - even though this is a busy time of year.
My only regret was getting them sent to our office, which we are now vacating. Even though the intention is to use the office for a postal address (they are another company I’d give a hearty recommendation to, but that’s for another post) - I was too busy last week to go there, so the cards sat for a week before I finally got them today. Print quality was excellent, and I got 100 uniquely designed cards with envelopes and express delivery for just over £30.
- It turns out that they do have an affiliate programme on Tradedoubler - reminder to self: log in to Tradedoubler tomorrow morning (or if anyone reads this give me a call and yank my lazy ass out of bed) - and sign up to their programme.
It might be getting late on a Monday evening, but by Christmas preparation standards, it is still very very early. Except for the fact that posting deadling for Christmas Cards - or any other mail - to the USA is 10th December. Yes, that is WEDNESDAY!
I’ve never really done Christmas Cards in a big way before, but I promise that Flightmapping’s 2008 cards will be a much cherished item in years to come - they are limited to an edition of just 100, and based on the World Chessboard Map concept mentioned in my earlier post. I still think most people don’t quite understand it yet, but that is because, for once, I have produced something that is just TOO SIMPLE - and everyone is expecting something from me to be complicated (AVril LavignE ringing in ears).
Anyway, to repeat what I was just saying, our Christmas card puts the world on a chessboard - and the chances are that our paths have crossed at one or other of the intersections on the board. On paper, this is easy to explain or demonstrate - with text on its own, it isn’t so easy, so make sure you drop me an email or ping me on facebook with the location of the real world bunker that you work from, or live in.
