Syntagma Media is on the move.

We’ve been planning a move of office for a year but have been unable to find anywhere with the right combination of location and facilities. Until now.

The historic Quay district at Exeter’s Watergate

Next week will be spent packing up and the move will happen over the weekend beginning February 1st.

We’ll probably be offline for a few days while we struggle to get the comms going again, but all should be set again by Monday the 4th.

The new Syntagma Towers will be situated in the Elizabethan Quay area of Exeter.

A few moments ago there was an enormous racket outside Syntagma Towers. People passing were looking up in the sky as if a giant asteroid was about to hit us.

I rushed outside with the new camera (12X zoom) and found our police helicopter hovering directly above our little haven of peace.

Darn, I thought, they’ve caught up with us at last.

I’m now hoping it was just a training exercise, or maybe a criminal gang was hiding in a neighbour’s garden.

It’s gone now. We live to fight another day.

Updated

I took the opportunity of great weather today to down tools and grab the camera for another photowalking session in my “Summer in Exeter” (Devon, England) series. I really am doing the 4-hour workweek this August — and why not.

The series can be seen in full by clicking on the Flickr logo in the sidebar.

The Exe Valley running through the heart of Exeter

This is taken from the centre of the city and shows the Exe Valley which runs through it. The great thing about Exeter is that you’re never far from country and farmland wherever you’re situated. You can see the 18th-century streets leading to the River Exe, which runs from right to left down the valley — unsighted in the picture.

These Georgian cottages (below) are in the street shown directly ahead in the pic above. If you were to remove the plastic rubbish bags and the overhead cables, you could film a Jane Austen novel here. Mind you, you’d have to lay a dirt surface across the street as they didn’t have metalled roads in those days. Takes you back though, doesn’t it?

Cottages from Jane Austen’s day — slightly gentrified

Going forward — across the other side of the street are the offices of a media company in another old building. I love the combination of modern knowledge-based companies housed in 18th-century surroundings. They are so complementary they could have been made for each other. You may then get some idea of where the new Syntagma Towers is going to be situated.

This is the end of the street where Georgian meets Victoriana. It’s so quaint here you almost expect to see Charles Dickens in a stove-pipe hat coming around the corner. There’s an office to let right ahead across the road, but it’s far too small for the industrial needs of Syntagma Media. Very pleasant spot for an internet business, though.

18th century meets Victoriana in the centre of Exeter

Below, and just around the corner from the cottages, is the Old Priory, which is 900 years old. That means it was built around 1107. Next to it, out of shot, is the Old Mint, where Exeter’s coinage was made. Strange to think the Government in London had nothing to do with such important stuff in those days — except collecting taxes in the coinage, of course.

The Old Priory and Mint, around 900 years old

But 900 years is a long time for a building to stand and remain so sturdy. It really doesn’t look a day over 850.

Lastly, a wonderful French-style office building with Exeter Cathedral behind. Now that really would make a great Syntagma Towers. We’d have to borrow the Cathedral towers, of course.

French-style office building with the Cathedral towering behind

Only this morning someone asked me where we got our name Syntagma from. It happens quite a lot.

The original Syntagma Towers in Athens

The boring answer is that I found it through Linguistic Philosophy — do not switch off! It means creating a “whole” from many parts, as words make up a sentence. A bit like a blog network, in fact.

There is a much more famous meaning, though. Syntagma is the name of the Greek Constitution, and also the Square where the Parliament (pictured) is located. I really didn’t know about all that when I named this ship and all who sail in her : Syntagma.

The guidebooks say :

Syntagma (constitution in Greek) is the square in front of the Parliament (formerly the King’s Palace, built between 1836 and 1840 by King Otto and financed by his father Ludwig I of Bavaria) and it is considered the main square of Athens.

Interestingly, our Syntagma is number one on Google for the word “syntagma”, just above the Greek Constitution and Square.

How’s that for fame?