I was very fortunate indeed to be invited along to a special event this evening, organised by Gumtree to celebrate the efforts made by their thriving online community. Everyone in attendance had submitted an entry on the area of London or the South East where they live or work, pointing out the good (and the bad!) points which make that place special to them. If you head over to Gumtree’s Community Chest forum and look at the thread here you can see the entries.
Whilst the prize giving ceremony (with £500, a 32GB iPod Touch and a £100 lastminute.com voucher up for grabs!) took place at a pub just off the river next to County Hall, the evening started with a real bang – champagne and canapes on the London Eye as it swept us up into the sky, reaching the top just as the sun caught the buildings below in bright, golden light. Would you believe having lived in London all these years it was my first trip aboard? An incredible experience I won’t forget and one which I highly recommend!
Just to fill you in on why they went to all this effort tonight, you might well be familiar with Gumtree for its comprehensive classified ads, ranging from rooms for rent to used cars, or its popular community area where you can search for salsa classes, sign up for charity events, or get stuck into some volunteering. Up until now, however, you’ve only been able to search across your city or country (Gumtree’s listings have now expanded across almost the entire planet), but upgrades which will be going live soon will enable you to search right down to your local area, so you won’t waste time looking through listings for creative writing classes in Acton, Bow and Chiswick when you just want to be able to walk to a class in Walthamstow for example. You can test the new local features of the site by going to this page. So, if you’ve never checked out Gumtree, now’s the time to do it!
May 28, 2010 at 10:48 am
Nice write up! I would like to imagine that one day I would have your discipline and would do my write-ups straight away but alas, I need my beauty sleep!
June 2, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Oh, I can be quite lax myself Emm – thank Blogger for allowing me to post and pre-date blog entries!