Quo Vadis Brida?

I would love to meet the person who had the idea to invent ideas. It is a really a fascinating and sometimes painful process. Let me explain. 

Companies, organizations, have their own vocabulary. Brida is no different. It starts with our descriptions, Fruitloop and Mayor. It continues that our shared drive is called the Coffee Tin. There we have a “Playground”, our database of ideas and materials. Other “tins” have other functions. 

We don’t work, we go on adventures, play and have fun with our Brida residents and visitors. And because Fruitloop and I met over a conversation about potatoes, our to-do list is our “potato list” and we divide the world into Cheerios (boring people) and Fruitloops, (exciting people). If you are a Cheerio, please don’t take this personally. We share our Bug Sheets (diaries) so that we don’t get on each other’s nerves when not welcome. Or help each other when reality gets a little overwhelming.

The internal language begins to spill over into the visible side of Brida. When we send invoices, you pay taxes. We don’t teach or facilitate, we host. The community now has a population of ‘residents’. As Brida evolves, so will the vocabulary. 

Which brings me to the central point here. Quo Vadis Brida? The builders have left now, the interior decorators are adding the finishing touches, most of you will have seen the work in progress. But while the paint was still drying, the first new ‘resident’ knocked on the town gates. Bohumila marched in, set up residency, and promptly offered her services as the Resident Poet and offering a Writing Course.

Mayors need to listen and lead at the same time, leading by listening and observing. Cléa told me that it was exciting to see Brida evolve. But where is it going?

Fruitloop made me look at the history of Brida, and she showed me that the origins were not bad. Then she called in the builders. They did their thing. She’s painting the town pink, and a poet arrives, who by the way, is so good, she can write a poem at the drop of a hat, as all of us at yesterdays ‘Lunch with Janita and Frank’ could witness. Stunned silence! 

What is Brida? Where are we headed? Brida is an imaginary town, located near Perpignan on the French/Spanish border. That was decided by the Brida History Association back in around 2016, when they told the story of a gardener who went from Brida to Versailles to design the gardens for some insignificant person, (Louis XIV) who was building a tiny house there, named after the town, west of Paris. 

Since then residents have moved in, stayed and moved out. Because we are a multicultural and multilingual town, the common language is English. To interact with other residents, you have to communicate in English. And if my English is not up to standard? Brida’s town spirit is such that we all help and support each other. 

What do we talk about? Anything and everything. Which is why we have a Cheese shop, a Pet Shop, a job centre, a town hall, several cafés, and a bookshop, where you will meet Bohumila. There is the literally, world-famous Fruitloop Club, which needs no further introduction. And lots of other places in which you can interact. 

This is where I as the Mayor and Fruitloop at my side together with all of you as Residents are taking Brida. On an adventure in English. We don’t teach, we host. You learn by being active residents. Brida is the town where English is lived. Residents pay taxes, but these are re-invested in the town’s development. Everyone is welcome to participate, share, learn, basically to live.

It’s as simple as that.