This week felt very intense. I have a bit of a break from work coming up, which is either particularly well-timed or the very fact that it’s on the horizon means that I’ve started to feel a bit worn out.
It was a week of late nights, not helped by problems with the trains. I haven’t missed the drama that happens when the service fails. A broken rail near Berkhamsted meant that the only route home was via the Met Line to Chesham and then going via taxi, for a total commuting cost of £55 for the day.
Monday was the first day of us working from a temporary space while our office undergoes some essential maintenance. The team had prepared brilliantly, with network connections, desk moves, meeting room fit-outs, etc., but you never quite know how things are going to go until day one hits. Judging by the first week, it’s been a huge success.
Friday was a public holiday in South Africa — Women’s Day. South African holidays always seem to have such understated names for such important historical events. In this case, the holiday “commemorates the 1956 march of approximately 20,000 women to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to petition against the country’s pass laws that required South Africans defined as ‘black’ under The Population Registration Act to carry an internal passport, known as a passbook, that served to maintain population segregation, control urbanisation, and manage migrant labour during the apartheid era.” Lots of people were out so I decided to take the afternoon off to wind down and get the pre-holiday ironing done.
This was a week in which I:
- Had the regular programme and project meetings.
- Resolved a couple of small issues with the fit-out of a new office. Phone calls always work better than emails for keeping things from blowing out of proportion.
- Met with colleagues from a partner firm to review the latest external cost estimates for one of our main projects. We also reviewed the standard JCT Minor Works contract and agreed next steps to get it into a working draft.
- Started to hand over a project for some additional office improvement works to a member of my team.
- Met with colleagues from a sister company to review our proposed financial operating model for a shared facility in one of our offices.
- Attended a meeting to agree our approach to signage and artwork at the entrance to a new office. Everyone is in agreement on the direction we should go in.
- Reviewed a draft of our annual operational risk self assessment submission.
- Joined a drinks reception in one of our new temporary meeting rooms for a colleague who is getting married. It feels like ages since there was a personal celebratory event at work.
Media
Articles
- Musk is off the rails. What is he trying to do?
Video
- Linford is a brilliant documentary. Back when he was at his peak, I was a schoolboy delivering newspapers that were regularly filled with his achievements on the back pages. It was difficult to watch how much the mockery and ‘humour’ affected him, as well as the devastating — but weird — drug test failure after he had retired.
Books
- Continued reading The McCartney Legacy Volume 1: 1969–73. I’m almost at the point where his first solo album is released in 1970. Loving it so far.
Next week: A big change of scenery.
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