Crash Course in Creativity by derval

Assignment two:

‘the lesson learnt was in the random moment at the end of the

assignment research’.

The theme

Observation Lab:Shops selected are more than they appear!

And then the random moment-The last moment, as written on the final 3 slides of this presentation was the best learning for me from all the

observations and I tell you, it is a true story.

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Cork City, Ireland. Bank Holiday Weekend, Jazz festival, midterm for students and last day before Winter and DLS time starts….28th October 2012

Commonalities

Keep away from the High StreetHidden gems

Well loved by localsNot always on the main street

And all that Jazz…

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Random summary

closed

closed

closed

closed

open

open

doors

2

20+

5

4

4

1

staff

jazz

mellow

none

jazz

Jazz live

jazz

music

female

mixed

mixed

mixed

mixed

female

gender

Main findings

These shops are community hubsMeeting points

Where random conversations happenAnd quirky does not mean unusual

Not to mention that final conversation!Never doubt the power of a cup of tea….

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Shop oneThe Cork Flower Studio

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Probably the best Coffee in Cork

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Observations entrance and environment

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Observations products and personnel

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Observations on the customer

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Shop two The Book Shelf

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Hush! no photos inside please!

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Observations entrance and environment

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Observations products and personnel

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Observations on the customer

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Shop three Photos Mayne Chemist

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More images

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Observations entrance and environment

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Observations products and personnel

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Observations on the customer

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Shop four Café Idaho

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Small and quaint

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Observations entrance and environment

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Observations products and personnel

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Observations on the customer

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Shop five Peacock and Ruby

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Personal touch

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Stop and look

Peacock and Ruby is on Facebook.

Blarney Woollen Mills is also on Facbook.

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Observations entrance and environment

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Observations products and personnel

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Observations on the customer

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Shop sixBlarney Woollen Mills

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More images

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Observations entrance and environment

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Observations products and personnel

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Observations on the customer

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Overall observations and thoughts

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Random moment Learning: over a cup of tea

The final conversation: Despite the joy of people

watching and observing, the best of this assignment for me was the random conversation with a stranger at the end….

I tell you no lie: it is the truth.. Here is what happened…

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Random momentAfter visiting my selected stores I went to a coffee shop on my own to have a cup of tea and see how I was going to pull the whole story for the observation lab together.

The city is buzzing and places were busy. But I got a table and sat reviewing my notes, when this very well dressed man asked to share the table.

An older man in his 70’s, sat with his cup of tea, and got comfortable. This was a random selection as two tables in the café had one seat free.

I was about to get ready to leave the table as was almost done reviewing. We started chatting and he told me he was visiting for the jazz but taking a break from friends

and the noise in the local hotel. He told me he is a mechanical engineer and worked on the design of the engine for the original

Boeing 747. So this gets my attention IMMEDIATELY. I teach, amongst other subjects, air passenger services

and Tourism and have an interest in this area. So I ask some more questions and he explained he was 2nd eldest in his family, felt the need to

find a living as typical as the older brother inherited the farm. He decided aged 15 to migrate to England where he worked as a mechanic for a sports car company, or something, he lost me here a bit, as was still wondering where all this was going. He always had an interest in fixing things and instead of presents for birthdays and Christmas he got broken things his mother collected for him. He said he would line them all up and work on them until he got them working,

He returned to Cork at age of 18 because he wanted something more for himself, to be something more and he had a plan.

That notion changed his life.

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The story continues Later in the conversation when I asked him what he felt contributed to his success he said ‘some

one’ was looking after him and he had a ‘notion’ he had to return to Ireland and he knew he had to follow this sense.

He further explained that he spent the money he saved from his time in England on math grinds in Midleton, a town near his home town and that he had to borrow the car to drive over for the grinds.

He did final secondary education examinations, and knew he could not afford University. So he applied for a scholarship examination in engineering. 150 applied and he got one of the three places on offer. Another story was told about the day of

the examination, about his sick father, about having to visit him in hospital between the first and second part of the examination and a lady he called his angel of the day persuading him to pick himself up and go into the second half of the examination. To stick with his plan.

He got the scholarship, had to move to Dublin which he found hard as money low but was so happy be did the best he could to improve his education.

All this lead him to work with Boeing and design some mechanical device that he sold to an engineering company based in Denmark and so on and so on. He told a lot about his career but was very open when I asked about motivation. This is the lesson: I think you may have heard it before….. He said the following…..

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The lesson learnt What was his drive and motivation and so I asked him was it luck or intuition or timing or

life’s purpose? He told me he is very determined and driven. He gets these notions, or sensations about where to be or how things should be or that he

isn’t on the right path, in other words a good 6th sense. He tells me he believes in his work. He believes in hard work. He believes that mistakes make you better as you have to overcome this challenge. His work his passion and he believes he is lucky. He has been broken and at his wits end but still believed he had a ‘higher’ purpose. Believe in what you do and what you can become. I am like ‘wow wow wow’~! This is amazing, and he ends up by telling me his name. He is retired but still working from home in Mallow. He is researching and keeps asking

‘why and what if?’ I excuse myself as had to get to Blarney and came home inspired and delighted that a

random moment could help me so much with my project and see that this is in fact my project write up and not the other information displayed earlier.

He did not know anything about me, the course on Creativity or the questions I was doubting in myself in moving away from what I have been doing the last 15 years

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The end

This was a powerful co incidence or co in siding of two random moments of two strangers going for a cup of tea.

It reinforced in myself that when you are happy with your choices and open to new things and meeting new people that forces show you and support you in ways that are hard to explain or quantify to let you know , in this case through people that you are on the right path

I rarely go to the city centre on a Saturday and had only once before been in this coffee shop All this exploration, of new areas for me, are leading on to more self learning and it is good to follow where your

curiosity leads you, even if that is only for a cup of tea…

His message: have a mission, believe it, work hard at it, let it be for a while but never let it go. Follow your gut, your intuition, your angels, your instinct ion, your 6 th sense… but believe…