11 posts tagged “work”

Some companies are trying out a new four day work week. Is this something you would like to see your company try out?

I work for a weekly magazine and we go to press on a Thursday night which leaves Friday redundant for some departments although not mine. For my particular job, four days a week would be quite tricky as we work on rolling deadlines but I could certainly work a 9-day fortnight, which I believe is what journalists do at The Guardian newspaper.

Having every other Friday off is extremely appealing. The number of extra hours I do each week wouldn't have to increase that much, if at all, in order to earn alternate Fridays in lieu.

I guess that in introducing such a practice, the company would have to officially recognise the real amount of extra, unpaid work a lot of employees routinely do.

Have just discovered that the company I work for has blocked all the BBC's live music players on the web so I can no longer listen to BBC 6 music while I work. (Or Radio 4 news programmes which is kind of important as a journalist.)

Classic FM isn't blocked though, what are they trying to say?  

And what is next banning iPod's at your desk?

(As demonstrated by Dan recently on the Cam)

Lets all go and have a close look at the trees and shrubbery on the riverside...

Ok, so we've looked at the trees and the shrubbery now, in fact the trees and shrubbery are a little close, no really they are getting close enough to get into the punt now...

In pictures, sort of:

(I had my lap top in a ruck sack which is why my shadow looks a bit like a Ninja Turtle
Views along my walk (I'm so lucky to live close enough to enjoy this walk to work)
It's refreshing to know that I have such an innocent reputation around the office. Several people asked Nadia if the card was a little too rude for me. In fact it made me snort with laughter, it was perfect. And I spent most of the day eating the cake, after all a chocolate high is a good state to  be working in...
Decided to have a picnic at lunch time (Nadia actually got a tan mark).
Or two with Mosh and my friend Kate followed by delicious chinese at my favourite restaurant in China Town: Fung Shing (soft shell crab followed by honey roasted eel, delicious)
And back home to open my pressies which were particularly fab this year, most notable being a new digital camera which is a much better version of the one I've already got from Mosh and some headphones to replace the ones I lost in Cuba and a beautiful silver bangle from my friend Chris with a quote from my favourite Shakespearean play on it.
Also got a massive haul of my favourite brand of plain chocolate which should probably last me weeks but probably won't...

What's making you say "TGIF" today?

A week at work normally does the trick. If it's been particularly bad then it's TFIF. Today is a TFIF. Why? 89 pages under my responsibility going into one issue and I work on a weekly.

This week has got to be over soon. Work has just become an exercise in juggling elephants as we hit production for the biggest issue of the year, around 80 pages of which are under my remit. I feel stressed and incredibly tired because my brain won't shut off at night and I'm sleeping bad, even for me (see previous post).
Then there's my boiler which has been playing up since I got back from my holiday and which cost me £485 to get fixed yesterday.
And now, just as we are facing what is probably going to be the coldest night of the winter so far and freezing winds forecast for London tomorrow, my heating decides to pack up completely.
So rather than getting into the office early tomorrow so I can complete a couple of pieces of writing I promised the production desk but couldn't do this afternoon because my tunnel into the work server from home was playing up, I'm going to have to sit huddled over a tiny fan heater I begged off my neighbours, waiting for the heating engineer who is calling between 9 and 12 but probably won't arrive until 11.55am only to find that it is a completely different fault to the one that was fixed, resulting in having pay out all over again. Oh and he won't have the right part and the only place which has one in stock will be on the other side of London, so adding to the cost.
(Who has the one appliance that the repairman carries the spare parts for in his van?)
I'm off to bed with my hot water bottle. At least I'll be snug as I toss and turn.

A bloated, dead mouse was found in the kitchen at work today. Poison had been put down because there's a bit of a problem with them in the building.
I got chatting to our facilities manager who told me that the pest control company we use has UB40's Rat in Mi Kitchen as its telephone hold music. Genius.
For those unfamiliar with the song by the 80's Brummie band here's a live version complete with original extended intro.

There are times I'm so glad I do what I do for a living. Last week I spent a couple of days visiting far flung corners of England to brain storm ideas for a forthcoming series of features.
The weather helped of course but the the train journey from Exeter to Plymouth is amazing. The train track hugs the coast for a while before heading inland through beautiful Devon countryside.

Plymouth itself is a mish-mash of beautiful old cobbled streets and buildings that have survived through it's long naval-city history and awful mid-20th Century architecture owing to the fact that it was bombed to buggery during the second world war.
My first meeting was over looking Sutton Harbour and with views like this you can't complain.
After a swin and dinner in a fab little Japanese restaurant I decided to take a stroll around the city's waterfront (including Sutton above). The sun was starting to go down. There was a small fun fair on the top of the Hoe and this would have been a fab shot if only I'd caught the word 'buzin' fully lit up.
The next day I caught the train up to Bristol and was treated to a boat trip around the city's centre so I could get a feel for the development going on. The weather was gorgeous, the views stunning, the trip informative and it beat being sat back in the office staring at a computer screen. Didn't take any pictures - well I was technically in a meeting.
And to top it all I've got a bag of feature ideas to take back to the office on Monday morning.

More pics at flickr

Not quite. But almost. I'm going to a wedding reception tomorrow and I've met neither the bride or groom before.
Mosh plays fives with the groom and led me to believe that is was some sort of casual do as the actual wedding was a while ago. So I was thinking jeans, free drink, scran, slightly tipsy and doesn't matter too much if you make a bit of a tit of yourself by dancing stupidly at the disco.
Tonight he shows me the invite which looks quite posh and the dress code is suits for the blokes and frocks for the girls. Bloody frocks and it actually said frocks. They have got to be kidding. I don't do frocks.
So it looks like its going to be dressing smart ie like I have to dress for meetings at work, be well-behaved and make polite chit chat with complete strangers.
Hmmm reminds me of something I'd have to attend one evening mid-week :0(