25.05.2006 Latest adventures of Stony
Pearl - one month in or thereabouts. Well, whilst I am exploring the possibilities of setting up a blogg or two (gaining good advice from Rufus, my eldest daughter on this matter) I thought I would keep you up to date with the "Latest adventures of Stony" (good name for a Blogg?) and assure you that I am still alive and kicking.Actually only just about.
With the work-place relocation from the Strand (Central London) to Greenford(West suburb of London) has come the daily joy of serious commuting. I can either go by car (under my own expense) and spend a good hour on the M25 (otherwise known as the "biggest parking lot in Europe") going into work (meaning then that I would arrive around seven in the morning well ahead of most others, as is my usual habit), or I can enjoy the services of the British Railway system and London Underground. But this means catching the 06:10 from Sevenoaks, and arriving in the office around seven thirty, or 7:45 (depending on the Underground) with up to 4 train line changes. But then again, you get to see other human beings, and have the chance to catch up on that book or two you always wanted to read (The Da Vinci Code second time round currently, having finished the two Lance Armstorng books). And coming home, well if I leave the office around four thirty/forty-five I get home by six thirty/forty-five, just in time to see David (my little son, who will be two not till August) get ready to go to bed. What a father... not?
Coming to my well known eating habits, they are definitely being dramatically curtailed right now, with only the odd sandwich place or sleezy pub along the high street, I have reverted to bringing in my own, homemade sandwiches, in the hope that when I do get home I will be able to get something of the left-overs from supper ;-)
But workwise, I am (still) enjoying it. Knew faces, and contacts on a regular basis. For example, I am in an office that sits 4 people. Yesterday the 5th new face (to me) has appeared here. And whilst you may think that the openplan floor in Stasco was not conducive for confidential telephone calls, this is even worse. So apologese to those who do venture to give me a call, if I am a bit 'short' in communicating. To show you, and not breach any confidentiality agreements, of how things are changing for me, whilst in Scope (upon reviewing) I was always firefighting in having to deliver Crude Indifference values, monthly Plans or monthly reviews, fly to this LP Review meeting or that PPC, with no real chance to sit back and ponder "is this the right way of doing this job" and of course it did also mean doing work from home in the evenings and at weekends (yes I did, shame on me). But now, although I bring my laptop home every evening, so far I have only really used it once and that was to transfer my pst files from the Scope laptop to this one. Ok, so occasionally I do check on the emails but even that has dropped dramatically from 80-100 per day to maybe 15 !!!
And then there are some 'nice' perks. Like today for example, being thursday is "cakes day". This means that aroundabout now the team secretary (yep we have one of these, although I am not sure on the efficiency as I now need to do any travel booking through her, am NOT allowed to move my desktop or phone connections) has organised the delivery of cakes for the whole team, and fresh coffee - free of charge, privately, but I guess it must come out of a budget somewhere ... ... So off for my cake, keep on plugging and watch this space.
With the work-place relocation from the Strand (Central London) to Greenford(West suburb of London) has come the daily joy of serious commuting. I can either go by car (under my own expense) and spend a good hour on the M25 (otherwise known as the "biggest parking lot in Europe") going into work (meaning then that I would arrive around seven in the morning well ahead of most others, as is my usual habit), or I can enjoy the services of the British Railway system and London Underground. But this means catching the 06:10 from Sevenoaks, and arriving in the office around seven thirty, or 7:45 (depending on the Underground) with up to 4 train line changes. But then again, you get to see other human beings, and have the chance to catch up on that book or two you always wanted to read (The Da Vinci Code second time round currently, having finished the two Lance Armstorng books). And coming home, well if I leave the office around four thirty/forty-five I get home by six thirty/forty-five, just in time to see David (my little son, who will be two not till August) get ready to go to bed. What a father... not?
Coming to my well known eating habits, they are definitely being dramatically curtailed right now, with only the odd sandwich place or sleezy pub along the high street, I have reverted to bringing in my own, homemade sandwiches, in the hope that when I do get home I will be able to get something of the left-overs from supper ;-)
But workwise, I am (still) enjoying it. Knew faces, and contacts on a regular basis. For example, I am in an office that sits 4 people. Yesterday the 5th new face (to me) has appeared here. And whilst you may think that the openplan floor in Stasco was not conducive for confidential telephone calls, this is even worse. So apologese to those who do venture to give me a call, if I am a bit 'short' in communicating. To show you, and not breach any confidentiality agreements, of how things are changing for me, whilst in Scope (upon reviewing) I was always firefighting in having to deliver Crude Indifference values, monthly Plans or monthly reviews, fly to this LP Review meeting or that PPC, with no real chance to sit back and ponder "is this the right way of doing this job" and of course it did also mean doing work from home in the evenings and at weekends (yes I did, shame on me). But now, although I bring my laptop home every evening, so far I have only really used it once and that was to transfer my pst files from the Scope laptop to this one. Ok, so occasionally I do check on the emails but even that has dropped dramatically from 80-100 per day to maybe 15 !!!
And then there are some 'nice' perks. Like today for example, being thursday is "cakes day". This means that aroundabout now the team secretary (yep we have one of these, although I am not sure on the efficiency as I now need to do any travel booking through her, am NOT allowed to move my desktop or phone connections) has organised the delivery of cakes for the whole team, and fresh coffee - free of charge, privately, but I guess it must come out of a budget somewhere ... ... So off for my cake, keep on plugging and watch this space.
posted by Daddy_Stony at 13:54
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