blog.

Can it really be twelve months since we last wrote a blog article wishing everyone a happy Christmas? Time has flown, and we haven't had a chance to tell anyone about the things we've been up to during a very busy 2011 - but we've all made new years resolutions to make sure we shout more in 2012.

So the studio is effectively closed over the festive period from 3pm on Friday 23rd December until Tuesday 3rd January 2012 but we will have an emergency email address in operation for anyone needing to contact us instead of drinking and eating turkey - we can't promise an immediate response but we'll do our best to help. Please use:
rudolph@thisisfocus.co.uk

All that remains is for us to wish you all an excellent Christmas and New Year and we look forward to seeing you in 2012.

So... it’s all over again for another year... no more turkey, mince pies or mulled wine for another 12 months. We’re all agreed here that this is not entirely a bad thing! With Christmas over and done with, it’s time to look forward to the New Year!

Things we’re looking forward to in 2010:

• Google’s Nexus One Phone. Launching today – likely to well and truly divide the camp here. So long iPhone? The jury’s out as yet.
• Celebrity Big Brother. Or the backlash anyway. At the very least, we can be pleased that it’s the last one. EVER.
• Real – time search taking off. Still not sure whether I need to know everybody on Twitter’s opinion on my desired search term, but could be a giggle to start with.
• Onwards and upwards for Focus. We’ve had a great 2009, with a bit of a team reshuffle, and we’re looking forward to a cracking 2010. 

The big day is nearly upon us so we would like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Focus team.

So it's that time again, time to decide where to go for Christmas lunch!? Every year the responsibility some how ends up with me. It seems like an easy enough task to choose somewhere to go, especially as Bristol is filled with so many delightful eateries. But it is not so easy when you work with the Focus bunch - which range from Vegetarians to Meatatarians - new word!

This year however I think I came up trumps, we went to the newly refurbished Pump House and the food, service and atmosphere was all very nice.

We then decided to venture down to Light up Bristol and stop at a couple of pubs along the way. We tried to go to the Grain Barge but it was closed so we opted for the closest option which was the Mardyke on Hotwells road. It's a very interesting little venue where they serve you wine in tumblers and lime cordial with rum, but when you buy a round of 7 drinks and still get change of a tenner - I think we came up trumps again.

Judith, our client from the triumphant Sustrans Connect 2 project joined us for a festive tipple and also got to enjoy the delights of the Mardyke.

Light up Bristol was slightly more subdued than Monday evening; maybe they're saving themselves for Friday night? Overall it was a lovely evening.

Happy Christmas everybody!