Great to be back in britain - andrew barton

As nice as travelling the world and experiencing different cultures is, it is really wonderful to be home and to have my own shower and my own wardrobe to choose from rather than a suitcase. Over the years, I've got the knack of travelling really light because I have to take so much heavy hair kit, from electricals to spares and products, which are suprisingly heavy. Generally speaking, I never travel anywhere without my kit, but the other week I had a realy panic because I was taking a really early flight to Glasgow and I left my kit in the exec lounge. I didn't realise I had left it behind until I was getting off the plane; so I went into a group of students I had never met before and had to borrow theirs. The funny thing was that they were all really nervous about what I would think of their kit!This week I had my first brainstorm with Tracey and Alison about Saks' 2009 collection. In this industry, as soon as you put one thing to bed you are straight onto the next one. So now that the 2008 collection is out there we need to start learning from it and thinking about what the focus of the brand is for next year. We need to have a clear idea of how we want to work alongside the other teams such as marketing, communications and education; but for us, the thing that we never stop thinking about is the hair and our ultimate goal of pleasing our clients. I've also spent time filming a huge viral campaign for the Saks brand - which you'll see and hear all about in the nexy few weeks. I can't tell you much but what I can say is that it's an excellent concept and I am really excited about it. On a final note, I'm off to Wembley this weekend to see my team Barnsley play in the FA Cup semi-finals. I'm sure it will be a great day out and I really hope that we make it to the Cup Final.