Sleep and I have never been the best of friends. As far down the labyrinths of memories that I can navigate I find that I have always been an early sleeper, prone to be awakened by the lightest of commotions. Perhaps it is me clutching at omens - seeking to find solace in unrelated events - but days when I have awakened early with full control of my senses something momentous has happened. ...
If clocking in at 9am is the final act that seals my very own Faustian exchange, 3.00pm heralds the first faint sniffs of a coming salvation. Each day, a Bloke must lay the gifts of his time and skill on the altar of Mammon slaving away to earn his sustenance. Cups of coffee, endless trips to the loo, inane spreadsheets, chats with the intern and the occasional hard shift are all tools in the Bloke’s arsenal as he strives to make time pass quickly to justify the day’s pay. If the Bloke is lucky, make that uncommonly lucky, he finds his daily grind slightly more than remotely interesting. If he is like the rest of us, sometimes work is a long drawn out struggle with boredom. ...
The discontent is almost palpable. There is that sense of wanting more that seems to leave those it has infected disaffected with the status quo. Rumour has it that a number of senior company people are lining up moves elsewhere for themselves. It hasn’t helped that there is some uncertainty over what the long term company strategy is. A number of key company cash cows projects appear to be slipping and just what will happen to the personnel currently servicing them is unclear. People huddle in twos and three talking in hushed tones - tones that suddenly fade to an uncomfortable silence when someone outside the huddle approaches within hearing distance. ...
One of my essential life principles is never allowing myself to exercise regret. Time and time again, when decisions appear in hindsight to have been poorly thought out, I try to prevent myself from slipping into regret mode.. I am of the opinion that time spent in regret analysing the what-might-have-beens would be better served breaking the problem into smaller bits and devising a means of resolving its constituents. Recently though, I have allowed that tightly held principle to slip from my grasp. ...
I have been busy. I have spent the last couple of weeks up to my ears in work. No fault of mine - mind you - but yet another unusual turn of events has meant that I have been thrust into the eye of the storm at a new project. Needless to say, it is keeping with the over arching theme of my life - getting lucky breaks when i least expect them, or even deserve them. Two blokes overseeing proceedings on behalf of my firm at a prized client between them contrived to move on - one to pastures new, and the other to the ignominy of summary dismissal. I, the only available bloke, has thus been thrust in, in a moment, at the deep end. Truth be told, the tasks at hand are quotidian at best - ordinary run of the mill things that I in my field should be able to handle without batting an eyelid. The only dark cloud on the bright blue skies however is the sheer amount of paper work that yours truly has to sift through. There are mitigating circumstances - for the first time in seven years of slaving for various employers in three jobs and three continents, I am the only male member of a predominantly female work group. Truth be told, the ladies are fabulous to work with - friendly, a wee bit too chatty, but great company all the same. Throw in occasional gifts of a home made sandwich, and free lunch on the company and it is an excellent situation for my bachelor instincts. All in all, it looks like it is shaping up to be a grand few weeks… and then we roll out the champagne..
The cold March weather is back, and that with a vengeance. I spoke too soon when I declared summer was here. Temperatures dipped to as low as 3 degrees centigrade today. Taking into account the high winds that accompanied the weather change, it must have felt like it was sub zero at some stage. My friend O and I practically shivered as we tried to grab lunch today. I hear snow even fell in the outskirts of town! More cold weather is forecast for the rest of the week into the weekend.. God help us o.. I’m sooo over the weather! ...