This week I’m on holiday in Finland. Except I’m not fully on holiday, because the reality of self-employment is you can take as much time off as you like as long as you accept you’ll have to spend at least some of the time either working or thinking about work.

I am, at least, in Finland. I can confirm, as Monty Python did, that it has mountains so lovely and treetops so tall. More on that shortly.

Some things I did this week

The team are making rapid progress looking at the path of least resistance in moving a whole bunch of content from old sites to a new intranet. At this stage there’s SO much left to define, but I’ve been impressed by how everyone has got stuck into the detail while being pragmatic about what really adds value.

Sure, you can look at every single page, you could even migrate every single page – but who does it help? And how could that time be better used to deliver a better, more user-centric solution?

We’re working as a blended team with some in-house folks, some of whom have been with the client a long while and have heaps of institutional knowledge. It makes so much difference when you have people on the inside who know where the (digital) bodies are buried.

I’m still juggling two other very full-on projects alongside that one, while Jonathan is having an actual holiday with his family. I feel like I’m being pulled in too many directions at once this week. I’m exhausted.

Some non-work things I did this week

Despite – or perhaps because – I am totally stacked with work, I found my exercise mojo again and went to spin, Sanctum or the gym every day until I headed on hols. In fact one day I went twice. I feel so much better when I’ve had time to step away from screens and move my body.

On Thursday I hopped on a plane to Helsinki. This is the third year in a row I’ve had a little summer break here, and the fourth visiting my dear friend Hanna.

Hanna and I originally met at a work conference in Denmark. We hit it off immediately and have been good friends ever since. I love how being a massive intranet nerd has given me such a great network of friends.

For the second year in a row we went to Flow Festival, a pop/rock/arts festival on the outskirts of the city. My highlights were:

• Idles. Brilliant raw energy and the lyrics – against the backdrop of recent racist thuggery back in Blighty – felt particularly apt
• PJ Harvey. Always a delight.
• Fred Again… Has been on repeat in my ears for the last two years.  Danced like an absolute twat and loved every second
• Alvvays. Everyone raves about how much fun they are live, and they were quite right.
• Pulp. I was at the first show in their Euro tour in Amsterdam, back in May, and it was rather lovely to be at the finish too. In Finnish.

I was looking forward to Raye but honestly I found her a bit meh. But we worked our way through all the flavours of longkero so swings and roundabouts.

This morning I went for a long hike in the rain around a lake in Nuuksio National Park and it was absolutely stunning. That cleared my head and filled my heart post-festival. I want to spend more time outside the city next time I come here.

Disconnections

Twitter has been a huge force for good in my life. I joined in 2008, with an account that hardly anyone knows about, before joining as the highly original handle @sharonodea in 2009.

For 15 years it’s been a daily presence in my life, and right in the middle of my homescreen on my phone.

And Twitter suited me. I enjoyed the challenge of finding a scathing pithy comeback in 140 characters. The perfect bon mot to encapsulate an idea.

I loved how being on Twitter meant I was always two news cycles ahead of everyone else. It was the place I went to find out about anything from an unfolding disaster to advice on upholstering a chair.

Twitter was a connector. It helped me find my tribe, prove my chops and grow my confidence. It connected me to brilliant ideas and even better people. Some of the most important people in my life are those I originally connected with via the platform, before quickly finding they were every bit as smart, interesting and funny face-to-face in a pub.

Twitter connections took from an early Tweetup in St James Park to my first digital jobs. To speaking stages all over the world and live on the BBC News At Ten from a conference in San Francisco.

I became smarter, sharper, funnier and more outgoing in real life by honing my craft on Twitter.

I was good at Twitter. I mean, I had enough practice. But I clocked up 21,000 followers and got an OG blue tick for being A Good Tweetist. I went viral many times, usually (but not always) for the right reasons.

And Twitter was good for me.

But now it isn’t. Negativity and anger and disinformation and straightforward hate have been allowed to run rampant. It’s infested with charlatans, liars and grifters. Promoted by an owner who has been driven mad by his own algorithms. When I open the app it doesn’t bring me joy or wisdom. It just makes me despair.

I’m sad about that.

It’s ok to be sad. Some of that is mourning what it was. And, transparently, I guess some of that is the knowledge I was a (low key) somebody on Twitter, and now I’m not. I had a tribe and reputation on Twitter and now I have to start again somewhere else.

But it’s time to go. I don’t want to be part of it anymore. I’m not deleting my account; I’ve got too many links and conversations there I want to preserve.

Moving forward I’m sharing my observations on comms, collaboration, intranets, politics, travel and whateverthehellelse is going on in my mind over on Threads and BlueSky. Do connect with me on either. Or both.