AI doesn’t have teeth.
I say that because if I told you I had my wisdom teeth out in London a few months ago, no amount of scraped copy peppered with Oxford commas (the staple diet of ChatGPT) would really capture the actual human experience.
Perhaps an explanation here is also in order, given EcoSend is an email marketing platform and I’m talking about teeth?
Also, how I unexpectedly ended up visiting the Barbican on the day I was meant to be having wisdom tooth surgery?
Well, stay tuned reader and grab yourself a nice hot beverage as I take you on a tour of one of London's most popular tourist attractions. ☕ 🇬🇧
Trust me, it will all make sense!
The Squiggle
Before we got to my surgery, let alone the Barbican, we reached Squiggle, which is a 3D sculpture.
Let's start with bit of context. I (hello, it's Rachael!) write all the content around here. But, I was due to take a week off from writing the blog and the EcoSend Weekly so that I could have my remaining impacted wisdom teeth removed.
This was round two of surgery as they only allow you to get one side of your wisdom teeth removed at once.
During round one, I had found out at the most inopportune time (after a pair of pliers had kicked things off) that anaesthetic doesn’t work very well on me. Oh, and that at my age (some 10 years after the optimum age range) it’s a two week recovery from wisdom teeth surgery, making my ‘one day off work’ ever so slightly underestimating things. Erm, I didn’t realise they remove bits of bone as well as the tooth. That woke you up didn't it?
So with round two, it had been the plan to get everything over and done with by midday and then relax by watching the Olympics on TV back at my hotel. Given wisdom teeth surgery renders you sounding like a bad Sean Connery impression yet looking like Rocky later on when he doesn't hit back as well, I can assure you staying away from other humans for a bit really is for the best.
However, on the morning of my surgery, I get a call from the dentist saying they are going to have to delay my procedure until the afternoon.
Coffeeless due to caffeine being an antidote to the sedative they give you (another huge round one lesson), I decided to see what local attractions in London I could visit to pass the time.
Some weeks earlier, Chris who oversees customer success here at EcoSend and creates all of our YouTube content had mentioned the Barbican. It was a 20 minute walk from my hotel which was perfect, as it's a well known fact that being surrounded by nature has benefits for both your mental and physical health. Exposure to nature can also be calming, especially when you happen to be very nervous about upcoming surgery.
On my walk to the Barbican, I came across Squiggle. Installed in 2024 by Neon, Squiggle is an interactive structure that is designed to represent how people often make plans to get from A to B, yet the reality is that the line to get there is often irregular.
Already, Squiggle was proving very apt indeed!
Urban London Transformed With Greenery
This was my first time visiting the Barbican Centre which is located on the Barbican Estate.
The Barbican is famous for its Brutalist architecture as well as its lush greenery. The site is also home to the Barbican Conservatory, which is the second largest conservatory in London after Kew Gardens.
In total, the site is home to over 1,500 species of plants.
Originally, the Barbican was described as ‘London’s ugliest building’ and so planting began in 1980 to change that. The results speak for themselves!
Walking around the site in 2024, everything seemed very calm. That’s definitely not a word you associate with the centre of London, showing just how powerful plants can be.
As mentioned in another post about Sheffield Winter Garden, adding plants to urban environments can have endless benefits. This includes reducing crime and antisocial behaviour, while also encouraging more people to use the space.
Admiring The Floating Walkways
Whenever you are feeling stressed or nervous about something, nothing shakes that energy like a walk in nature.
While I could quote endless scientific studies here, I can tell you from personal experience that looking at other people’s creativity in any form instantly changes your mindset. For me it does anyway, especially if you are lucky enough to go to a great gallery or simply see the world a bit.
As mentioned above, I’m not local to London (though somehow my bank balance is depleted at Selfridges Beauty Hall rather regularly!) so this was my first time seeing the Barbican Estate in person.
The more you looked around, the more you noticed and ultimately, the more you ended up forgetting about what was on your mind.
These floating walkways were a particular highlight, as they experimented with different shapes and levels.
How Plants Can Enhance Any Space
What’s especially lovely about the Barbican Estate is that all of the residents have gotten on board with the whole ‘green theme’. Almost all balconies are strewn with a colourful array of foliage, almost like the plant version of tinsel.
It might be a little touch from one balcony, but collectively it adds up to something really innovative.
In many ways, that’s just like email marketing, as it’s something lots of us do daily without realising how we can use email as a force for good.
FYI, when I’m not getting surgical procedures done, I’m normally carving out content for EcoSend about the carbon footprint of email.
For example, few people know that every email emits up to 26g of CO2 depending on its size including whether the email has any attachments.
With over 300 billion emails sent each day, that soon adds up. So what EcoSend is all about is working collectively to reduce the carbon footprint of email, one message at a time.
Let's Plant More Trees
The Barbican Estate is also home to a spectacle of mature trees.
Trees have an important job of storing carbon in their leaves making our air cleaner to breathe. They also provide shelter for wildlife, making trees essential for biodiversity as a whole.
I’m telling you about my wild detour before wisdom teeth surgery on the EcoSend blog, so it’s only fitting to mention that EcoSend is also the only email marketing platform to plant trees on behalf of its users!
At the time of writing, we have planted over 10,000 trees on behalf of our customers.
So whether you happen to be admiring the trees at the Barbican, or anywhere else in the world, trees improve our planet and we should definitely be planting more of them.
The ones you see above are located in a private residential area of the Barbican Estate, where residents can take some quiet time under the majestic green canopies.
Wait, What Are You Doing Here?!
So there I am, taking photos around the Barbican to use for a future blog post.
I didn’t have my laptop on me and my phone (deliberately) doesn’t have any work emails on it. As in, nobody knew I was there and I didn’t know where any of the EcoSend team would be that day either.
I was also supposed to be in surgery at that exact time.
So who did I spot in the crowd in a city which has nearly 9 million residents? James who is the founder of EcoSend! He was even joined by a fellow northerner.
I did also ask everyone present if this was real or if I was actually under sedation yet. Apparently it really happened!
All of us (James, Chris and my mum) were so bemused by the whole thing that we took a selfie. I was the only one not ready for said selfie and also under a ‘do not wear makeup’ order. So you’ll have to imagine my face under my own attempt at a squiggle there.
I have no idea what the chances were of that happening. But something I do believe in is that such a random chance meeting is a sign of something good.
It's The Final Countdown
Urgh, and with a final tour of a sprightly cafe area adorned with bright colours, it was time for me to head back for my surgery.
Unfortunately we now leave the tranquility of the Barbican for the dentist chair.
A slight lie, as I also ensured I had enough time to visit the Hotel Chocolat Cafe in Moorgate first. As an email platform, we adore their email signup form as much as their products.
But to sum up the experience of the Barbican, it really is an incredible place to visit. Ideally, you would, you know, plan to make it the sole focus of your day like a normal tourist rather than cram complex dental surgery in as well.
That said, whatever you need to escape from for a while in London, the Barbican couldn’t be a better spot to do just that.
Back To The Program: My Dentist Does A Great Job Of Email Marketing
From pulling teeth to pulling up a shred of relevance, seeing as this blog is for an email marketing platform!
So, if you are wondering why I travelled some 160 miles from Grimsby to London to get my wisdom teeth out, some stellar email marketing has something to do with it.
Oh, and the current NHS dentistry crisis I’m sure many of you are familiar with in the UK.
My own local dentist told me that there is nobody on the NHS or privately that is doing complex wisdom teeth extractions in the area. The best they could do is a year’s wait for a first scan in a hospital 30 miles away. Unfortunately, my case was urgent.
Akin to my Sonicare toothbrush, some email marketing from Smilepod was gently pulsing away in the background.
Crucially, they never bombard you with constant emails. Apart from letting you know when your next cleaning is due, they probably send about 4-6 email campaigns a year. Therefore, they have always stayed in the back of my mind and I always find myself opening their messages.
With the situation I was facing, they popped into my head. I called them and just like that, they were able to arrange my surgery for me.
Had it not been for such impactful email campaigns which often explain their other services, I may have never thought to ask.
P.S. Man, that is a subject line I hope to never see again.
But back to the topic of email, and email marketing offers a fantastic ROI, generating an average of $42 for every $1 spent.
Regardless of whether you’re a dentist or a DIY store (in my case, I’m not sure they felt much different?) email holds incredible potential for your business.
So now is the time to invest in your email strategy by building your list and sending quality content that matches user expectations.
Hey, if you send your email campaigns through EcoSend then you can also lower the carbon footprint of your campaigns as well!
EcoSend—Is It Time You Made Your Emails Eco-Friendly?
We sincerely hope you didn’t reach this page in search of 'dentists in London that remove wisdom teeth'. The algorithm failed you on this occasion. Best of luck though if that’s you!
However, if you own or work on behalf of a business that does any kind of email marketing, we’d like to introduce you to EcoSend if you’re new here.
EcoSend is powered by renewable energy sources and we plant trees based on how many emails you send. As a result, you can lower your carbon emissions while still getting all the features you need to succeed at email!
We’d like to welcome you aboard with a free trial of EcoSend.
If you have any questions about switching your email marketing to EcoSend, please get in touch and we’ll be right with you.
