Tuesday, October 30, 2007

The New Office

Well not only am I now at 'big school' but I have also been placed in a new office to boot. It is in a different area to my last office, a rather more, shall we say deprived area sadly very much in need of some investment.

On my first visit to my new office I had a slight problem finding the place. I had been given directions on where to go, but at first sight I thought the place was derelict. No sign on the door, but then I suppose they don't particularly want to advertise their existence. I entered the building with the feeling that I should be wearing a hard hat just in case! The foyer reeked of damp and mould. The paper was peeling from the walls and the lift door was open displaying its grimey rubbish strewn interior for all the world to see. So I decided to take the stairs, dimly lit and only slightly more enticing than the lift I headed for the second floor. A small laminated sign stuck to the door told me that I was in the right place.

The surly grunt of the receptionist acknowledged my presence and I was buzzed through to the reception. As I stood for a moment trying to take in my new surroundings I became aware of two 'bodies' bedded down on the comfy chairs, a faint sound of snoring and an aroma of stale beer and farts added to the homely feel of the area. Another surly grunt and I was buzzed through to the office, leaving the two morally challenged bods to their morning nap.

I was greeted by a rather ebullient looking chap who welcomed me to the office and proceeded to show me the 'sights'. I was also introduced to the team, their names briefly making an appearance in my memory only to fly off to pastures new as the next one came along. They seemed somewhat bemused by me, some of them had no experience of my role and were intrigued as to what I was doing there, others, possibly the more jaded among them greeted me with a knowing smile and carried on with their work. I for my part smiled until my face ached and made the usual small talk required on such occasions. Then I was shown to my desk. Devoid of any clutter or indeed a PC I noted, I sat down and settled myself to the arduous task of thumb twiddling for the next few hours.

Several cups of tea later and having fended off an attempted coup on my desk I decided that I had put in enough effort for one day and headed off to the local cafe for another much needed cuppa and a toasted teacake. It's hard work being the 'newbie'!

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Eating Elephants.


What happended to the weekend? Did I blink?

Week 1.
Well I now consider myself to be well and truly inducted, I've been inducted into university, well actually not one but two... I don't do things by half my dears. I've also been inducted into my new team, my sub group, my super group (no not as in Bee Gees or ABBA type super group), my district. In fact I am so well inducted I feel like I have been turned inside out and back again and I'm not sure if at some point someone didn't tattoo the company logo on my rump, well ok if they didn't do, then it certainly felt like it was going to be done at some point.

My fellow 'cohortees' are an amiable bunch. The usual mixture of the shrinking violets who at some point will come out of their shells and let their hair down, probably after a babycham or two... bless them. The peirced, tattooed wild child, only with a few years under her belt looking slightly jaded and a little the worse for wear. Sadly at two of the offices we've attended so far she has been mistaken for one of the clients! The ebullient and ever so chatty ones who really don't understand the concept of putting a sock in it, but hey ho they give the rest of us some snooze/thinking time and keep the tutors off our backs. Then of course there are the fresh faced post grads who haven't a clue what they want to do when they grow up so when they saw the advert for the trainee ship they rubbed their hands together with glee and whoopeed at the prospect of another couple of years as an undergraduate again. (Are you mad children?) Oh and of course then there is little old me, the saintly Jude who never could say no to a lost cause... and believe me at the end of the first week I feel like the biggest lost cause going!!

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Blimey!

I'm half way through my first week of 'big' school. They've thrown so much information at me that my brain feels like it's in a blender. I'm preparing a post to let you know all about it this weekend, but right now I'm heading off to... oh bugger, I'll need to check my calender. What day is it?

Friday, October 12, 2007

St Jude is Back....

Well I can't believe my dears how long it is since I was last here. How rude! I apologise profusely.

Just a brief update for now. I am still working with the morally challenged, no they haven't done for me yet. Remember I mentioned that I had applied to do my degree... there were 35 places available and over 2000 people applied. So I have to say the odds were not good.

I DID IT, they actually liked me and I got through the assessment centres and months of trials. Today was the last day at my previous office. It was so sad to say goodbye to all of my colleagues and especially my boss, who is also a very good friend. From Monday I start my course and I join a new team, I'll be working in a drugs intervention team, yummee, yum!

Once again I'm sorry that I haven't been 'around', but I will hopefully now be 'online' a lot more.

I've really missed you all and thought about you often.
 
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