Catching Up

Hmmm ... It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that the past few days have been quite busy and, as is usual when work is intense, I do my best to avoid a keyboard when I can. As a result I find myself sat in front of the TV on Sunday evening trying to remember what I have been up to since last Monday's entry.

Tuesday: How not to do it
Tuesday was another day of frustration as information failed to flow in. Late in the day our first set of responses arrived and I realised that one of the main reasons why I was feeling somewhat out of control was that my method of tracking progress was not the most the most efficient. I am sure I have mentioned that I have never carried out this type of task before and the short timescales have not allowed much time for planning, mentoring or reflection. As a result our "tracker" is a combination of document and spreadsheet. This is most definitely not the way to do it and I now know that the only way to do this efficiently is to spend time up front building a decent spreadsheet to detail all of the information that needs to be collated. Owners, responses and therefore progress can then be easily managed ...

... Oh well, I'll know how to do it properly next time.

Wednesday: T&M Get A Haircut
There is nothing much to say about work on Wednesday, "more of the same" sums it up quite neatly. The Idiot Manager showed himself to be a lazy sod by asking both Tigger and me for a copy of the same document and steadfastly refusing to actually contact the person that actually owns the document. The reticence on his part puzzles me but it is apparent that whatever the reason he sees no issue with taking up the time of busy people rather than going direct to the source. He could be shy but I think it more likely that he is just trying to flex his managerial muscle ... In his case this is an atrophied appendage much like your or my appendix.

Away from work T&M receive their first professional clip of the year and arrived home in the early afternoon looking very smart indeed.

Thursday: An Early Start
Today I was out of the door at quarter to six as I needed to be at a hotel near Basingstoke for a Briefing Session with our prospective client at nine o'clock. I was somewhat apprehensive as this is new territory for me but it went well, my questions were well received and my input to the follow up sessions at our nearby Circle of Hell seemed to hit the right spot too. It was a long day and I was very glad of the G&T when I finally walked through the door at half past seven.

Friday: Another Day in the Office
Again I had to climb in to the Defender but today I only had to trundle in to the Nearest Circle of Hell. The Sales Exec had finally got around to making his mind up on how he wanted to provide the client with sample pricing. I had been pushing for guidance on this for several days and I think it fair to say that I am not best impressed with having a fucking huge amount of work dumped on me and also being set up to present my "findings" to a Sales Director next Wednesday... For Fucks Sake - this is so bloody complicated it will take me a week to get my head around it let alone make up some numbers. It looks like Tigger and me will be back in the office next Monday.

In the evening we went over to see Paul Merton's Out of My Head show at Warwick Arts Centre. This was not your normal Stand Up routine and it saw Paul and a company of three other actors perform a Review type show based around the start of his career and a brief spell in a psychiatric hospital after suffering an extreme adverse ration to anti malarial pills. It was not crammed with belly laughs but it was funny and innovative when compared to most "comedy acts". There were several special effects performed where the cast were dressed in black and performed against a carefully lit black background to make them invisible; the squadron of white rabbits re-inserting Paul's brain to the Dam Busters theme tune was quite surreal.

Saturday: A Change of Pace
After a manic week at work I decided to try to forget about it for a while. This morning TP and I popped out to pick up a few vital items for his Duke of Edinburggh Award overnight hike that he will be undertaking on Sunday and Monday. He now has all his camping odds and sods and we also managed to buy a new pair of school shoes without argument too. This is amazing occurrence as he usually seems to have problems grasping why I am reluctant to buy him a pair of £100 high fashion items so that he can play football in them and have the toes scuffed by the end of the second day of ownership. ...

 ...needless to say the shoes were a lot less than £100 but I am not sure that my threats will prevent the playing of playground soccer.

The afternoon saw a trip over to Alcester to visit the food fair. It was a great afternoon out as the High Street had been closed to traffice and about a hundred stalls had been erected selling a wide variety of tasty treats. There were a lot of variants on the theme of chilli sauce but amongst the chaff there was wheat and a fine pork pie and some amazing sausages came home with us along with some fab nibbles to go with a gin and tonic...

... Olives anyone?

The evening saw TP's rucksack packed in preparation for tomorrow's hike.

Sunday: A Change of Plan
Today started early as TP and a couple of his mates needed to be dropped off at school by eight thirty for the start of their two day hike. Back home I breakfasted and then took T&M for a walk around the Three Miler.

On my return the plan was to deliver a large and surplus glass fronted cabinet to a friend but it was a case of "hangover* stopped play" so 30% and I lunched and then popped in to town for a few necessities before I retired to the sofa for a much needed kip.

I then spent a couple of hours with a laptop on my lap trying to get a headstart on next week, followed by another hour with the iPad typing this drivel...

... way too much typing and thinking for a Sunday if you ask me.

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* the friend's, not mine