Thursday 9 August 2007

Reporting the interval

Where has the time gone?

Monday 30 July: Apart from racing round like an idiot following phone call from the hospital as reported in my last post finding someone to take me in, collect me afterwards (Mr E does not drive) I managed to:
  • sort the mail (the snail variety);
  • set up a means for both ADSET and The Accounting Bureau (I was supposedly "minding the shop" for a colleague while she was on holiday) at least had their phones answered;
  • deal with URGENT email; and
  • mark up press releases, newspaper reports and other sundry items for Dawn to deal with to get them into the July Members' Update.
Tuesday 31 July: Cleared the office ready to start in a new place tomorrow -- but that can't happen! At least all the furniture got moved at the weekend thanks to Ken and the boys so I then went to the "new" office and got one of our computers set up and connected to the Internet. Into hospital to prepare for minor op the following day -- only to discover that I could have had another day at home as I'm on the afternoon list!

Wednesday 1 August: Newspapers seem to be full of "don't get ill today" because it is the day that all the new junior doctors start. My arm still knows about the oh-so-young woman who tried to find a vein!! To theatre at 3pm back at 4:20 and had to lie still, on my back, for four hours. Fortunately for me, if not for the three others in the small ward, I slept for most of it (and, apparently, snored VERY loudly).

Thursday 2 August: Home for lunch feeling a bit wobbly but otherwise OK.

Friday / Saturday / Sunday: Compile Members' Update from the files sent by Dawn and those I've gathered for myself. This task usually takes me two days however, with appropriate breaks, I still hadn't finished by Monday morning. This could, of course, have been something to do with the fact that two desks needed to be re-assembled which took Mr E rather longer than he said (it's a man) and I was required to drive him there and back!

Monday: A whole week gone by; Update not finished to go to the proof-reader and I have to go to the new office (which is much nicer than the old one) because this is the first time that Leonora (her of The Accounting Bureau) has seen it. Got lots of work done BUT we didn't finish until well after 7pm.

Tuesday: Persuaded a friend to drive at-long-last-finished Update to the proof-reader as I travelled to London to care for house and cats for my daughter.

Wednesday: Morning working through my Google Reader (more than 3,000 to at least glance at and mark the actions -- star to go back and read, email to myself if it's for the next Update or for the business news I do for Leonora, share with this blog (through shared items) those things that I don't want to comment on but do want you to see, copy link to here for those things I want to comment on in some way (save a draft and then write up properly later in the day -- which day? -- track record on this is not good).
Afternoon at the DWP library at the Adelphi -- it's great being there as it's the last bastion of information about former colleagues in what became the DfES and then disappeared. I did also do a lot of serious reading.

Thursday: That's today and I'm sitting in my daughter's house in London writing this and then I'm going to spend the rest of the day at the British Library before setting off for home on the 10pm train. There's little chance that I'll finish the ACEG Conference feedback before tomorrow afternoon -- and I am determined to do that before tackling any of the "saved as draft" links I've got.

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