The onset of autumn has been heralded by some of the sunniest weather we've had in a long time.
In fact, I ended up watering the garden - something that I had hardly done throughout July and August.
The garden is bearing its winter fodder. The honeysuckle is covered in red berries as is the cotoneaster. There are fruits on the fuchsia in the front garden and on the passionflower in the back. The nasturtiums are producing seeds like its going out of fashion.
The week at work has been an exhausting one but has gone well.
The majority of the time was taken up with interviews for new members of the training team. Interviewing is always a drain. You have to sit alert through sets of answers to predetermined questions; you have to watch body language; you have to listen for what is not being said.
In the event, we ended up with two posts filled by candidates who I am happy to have on my team. But it was not without a struggle.
We had one person who everyone else on the panel (and that comprised CEO, Deputy CEO and Project Manager) was really impressed by and to whom I took an immediate dislike. To me he wasn't a trainer. He was a comunicator par excellence, a salesman, a wooer, a manipulator, a hussler but not, never in a million years, a trainer. And I had to convince my colleagues that he would be a complete disaster within the training team.
For most of the week, it really felt like I was not being listened to. But, unusually for me, however, I stuck to my guns and simply kept saying no, that I did not want this person on my team as I felt he would be disruptive; would cost me time and energy that I did not possess to contain let alone manage; would not do the job required; would be more trouble than he is worth.
Anyhow, I prevailed. We did employ him but in another unit where his brand of dynamism is actually needed. All in all, I think it was a win, win solution.
And, most of all, it was a win for me on a personal level. Throughout my life, I have often given in under pressure and not listened to my inner voices. On this occasion, I remained true to my instincts and risked displeasure and disapproval by remaining true to what I believed was right.
It was by no means easy and I cannot say that I will always behave with such conviction. And yet it was a righteous triumph which shows how far I have progressed over the past few months.