10%
6 February


What a mixed week as we enter the major leap forward towards spring.

Monday brought an intense meeting at work. I'd worked hard the week before with bits of lobbying and, I think successfully, set a hare running that should bring some advantage. I took refuge afterwards in lunch with Chris and some of the other Library staff.

I explained that I was off to yoga that night. I was quizzed about it. So I outlined what I knew about the balance between body and mind, described the breathing practice and mentioned that most of the positions have names that describe what they represent. I singled out The Plough. When asked, I explained that you enter the position from a shoulder stand known as The Candle. Imagine all of your torso and legs are straight up in the air. Your head is at an angle of 90°. To enter The Plough, you keep your back straight and lower the legs straight until your feet touch the ground and you are looking at your knees. In effect, you form an isosceles triangle with your legs being the hypotenuse.

Having reached the end of this description, there was a pause. "Is this a martial art?" asked Chris. "Only if they want somewhere to park their bicycle," was my response. It was some ten minutes before we stopped laughing. *Smiles*

Yoga was good when it came. Afterwards, there was a Tesco's mercy dash. I broke with tradition and blanched and then froze the organic beans and carrots I had bought. This should mean that I don't end up with moldy vegetables.

Back at work, one of the current major pieces of work has been the commencement of writing up a business plan or year plan for the training section - the nomenclature keeps changing by the hour.

It's something I hate doing. Setting things down and quantifying them. But I have to say that I am a convert. For the first time, it's shown me exactly how crappy my job has become and why. I spend some 50-60% of my time involved in the delivery or management of courses. By the time you add in the various meetings, committees, HelpDesk duties, my time is committed up to 85-90%. It's no wonder I have precious little time for interesting or development work.

On top of that, I've identified clearly how under-resourced I have been despite (and maybe because of) my best efforts. By playing by the rules, I've ended up as the workhorse of the department. My colleague, Rachel, by bucking the rules, has grabbed resource indifferent to how many noses she has put out of joint. So, it's stiffened my resolve to start putting changes in place in my current workplace.

I make a point there of saying current because on Wednesday morning I received an e-mail from a distant colleague, Allyson, sending me a job advert. It was more than a distant hint. She wants me back in Liverpool too.

So, I guess that it was very strange that I spent Wednesday night having a flood of creative ideas about work. I was quite buoyed up when I went into work on the Thursday morning.

Which is why the Project meeting was such a disaster. Having been championing the cause of the user in these meetings for over a year, the whole thing has, with very little consultation, been reorganised to turn the Project into a programme of technical developments. I'm just so angry about it. *Grrrr* *Frown*

At healing that evening, Margaret was careful to remind me to protect myself but she certainly thinks that I shall go through big changes in the next two years. That shouldn't surprise EJ readers. Look at the changes that have happened in the last four years.

Friday brought the final round of interviews for the new IT trainer's post. There were two candidates in the final round and it has come down to a difference in styles. One was well-prepared, very technically assured but projected very little warmth to her audience and was thrown by a technical problem whilst the other completely misinterpreted the brief from a technical point of view and was shown to have massive gaps in her knowledge but communicated brilliantly and demonstrated that she knew her audience inside out and could have done a session in a field and still have imparted useful knowledge.

Or to put it another way - the first candidate was very like my colleague Rachel (and in fact as an internal candidate had been more or less coached by her) whilst the second candidate was very like me. Interestingly enough, and I think to Rachel's chagrin, the majority of the panel preferred the second approach. Problem is that we want someone just to give courses and the second candidate is too good for that. So, do we change the job spec yet again? Well, we re-convene on Tuesday to decide.

I'm pleased with the way that I spoken out this week. I wouldn't have done it up until recent times. I would have gone with the flow and boxed myself in. I still find difficulty in asking for what I need. But I am getting better as these meetings this week show. I'm amazed that, given my sure knowledge that I will leave, I still feel as passionate about all of this as I do.

What a good job I have the weekends full of good things like baths and sex with my Rossi and crocuses flowering and daffodils pressing upwards (especially near Cyril the cat's grave) and clematis sprouting and sun and food (this week I attempted fillet of plaice gratiné with new potatoes and peas) and Shipwrecked on TV (for the young men's bums) and yoga at dawn and this year's first line of washing drying on the line in the back garden and mild weather and doors open to allow fresh air into the house and ironing.

Work has intruded into my thoughts off and on but without totally spoiling the weekend. Ross and I took a trip around on Saturday afternoon. I bought healthy foods and got some information about photo studios for a portrait photograph I want taking for Albert and Grace's.

I bought an audio book of Alex Garland's The Beach. I'd thought we would wait until the film came out on video before watching it. Ross has other ideas. He wants big screen Leonardo. I'm afraid I don't quite worship at the same shrine here but what the heck.

We also got passport applications (mine expires this April and Ross's needs replacement too). If we're going to go abroad this summer, we need to start making plans now. We totally failed to find a photo booth that was working.

And that was it for the weekend really. I've spent Sunday mostly feeling crap and not doing the things I wanted to do. I'm not looking forward to the next week. Still onwards not to slay the wicked witch but maybe to neutralise the influence and effect.

PS:
The 10% of the title refers to the fact that, half way through day seven of February, at 36.5 days, we will be 10% of the way through the year; that's also 1% of the way through the decade; 0.1% of the way through the century and 0.01% of the way through the new millennium.