A bed of roses

So, 0 appointments for the husband meant 3 days in the office for me, which was surprisingly tiring. Partly that's a whole extra layer of organisation to get food and so on sorted out to take with me, partly it's being with PEOPLE all day (my introvert's soul shudders at the mere thought), and partly it's walking up hill to get home. But I survived and now I have a whole work-free week ahead of me.

We've booked a table for 2 at Yuet Ben tomorrow. It's one of those places I've walked past my entire life but never actually gone into. So, we're giving it a go! Also on the 'local places I've never been into' bucket list is Zorbas. Maybe next month...

I also have a hair appointment on Wednesday because I haven't had it cut since August what with one thing and another. And we're hoping daughter and grandson #2 will be able to visit in the afternoon.

My actual birthday is Monday and the King has generously given me a Bank Holiday all to myself :D That is the day for lounging around and not doing very much at all. But, in general, I find 'doing nothing' isn't as relaxing as you'd expect it to be. It's quite good to do SOMETHING (clean the living room, cook a meal, go for a walk) and then enjoy being able to sit and relax.

Speaking of finding small jobs to do - the garden could really use some attention. My 'garden task' this year is to find some scented plants - I've poked around a bit on plant websites but haven't got much further and it's already May! So, that's another little job :)

I have, however, spent a chunk of money on some new organic cotton underwear, so I have that to look forward to.

I'm probably going to watch the Coronation from the pov of it being an historic event - and who knows if William will actually take up the throne? However, if there was ever a referendum for abolishing the monarchy I'd vote 'yes'. I'm far from being a staunch republican but I really don't see what benefit they bring. Just singing 'God Save the King' made me twitchy.

There's been a semi-joke circulating in Liverpool for a while that we'd like to break off from England and join Scotland, then support Scottish independence. However, speaking to an actual Scot this week I realised that Scousers might think themselves special but to Scottish nationalists we're still English - which was quite a humbling thought. They also pointed out that the SNP contains the word 'national', and a lot of British people that think well of that party recoil from the BNP, which contains the exact same word.

However, the Green Party have had a really good turn out in the local elections. Still don't know who our new councillors are but I had a 50/50 choice between Labour and Green - and went Green, of course. Apparently, most of the non-Labour parties have been trying to form a pact whereby the strongest candidate (whether Green, Liberal or Independent Party) stood and the others dropped out but the Greens didn't agree to it (perhaps on the basis of it being undemocratic...? I mean, two candidates doesn't really give much of a CHOICE does it? And Greens have Principles!). Anyway, I wonder if the other non-Labour candidates just dropped out on their own. I mean, strategically, it makes sense because otherwise the non-Labour vote gets split - just as the non-Conservative vote gets split on the national level.

We also had the first 'photo ID' voting process of my lifetime. It's just... Voter fraud is a myth. Forcing people to apply for photo ID is disenfranchising - particularly since there was very little publicity about it when people had enough time to apply and by the time the information started really coming through people would have been in a rush. It'll be interesting to see what effect it had.

Well, that's about all for this week. See you on the other side!

Had a horrible day on Thursday.  I was supposed to meet up with a friend for coffee but they could only do after 3pm and I pushed it back to 3.30pm because a meeting landed.  So, I went on a coffee fast for the whole day - only for them to not turn up AND forget to tell me because they were exhausted from trying to do too much.  The coffee shop on the ground floor of our building closes at 3.30pm, so I went on a hike across town to one of their other shops - then remembered they have ANOTHER shop much nearer to us.  Doh!  Although I have no idea what time THAT shop closes, so I might still have needed to do the longer walk.  But I don't know if the forgetfulness was caused more by menopause-brain or caffeine-deprivation :D

We also have a contractor working with us who has an extremely monotone voice and talks for hours at a time (it feels like hours) about I don't know what because I can't quite catch the actual words.  I have no idea if they're talking about work but if he's not, we're paying them to inflict anguish on my brain!

Wednesday was a good day, though.  I met up with my favourite colleague for coffee and a total geek-out about Doctor Who <3  We're both suspending our scepticism about the new Doctor.  We don't know Ncuti Gatwa at all but we're worried he might be a bit young.  I found I took a little while to warm to Matt Smith and always put it down to his age.  But then I watched a '7 facts about Ncuti Gatwa' video and he has had quite a life already, so he has that to bring to the role.  So, watch this space because I will have Opinions :D  I am quite reassured by RTD coming back to the show.  I feel so sorry for Jodie Whittaker because she has just had really poor material to work with.  The only thing I really remember about the Easter episode is the cringey scene between her and Yas, which was totally unnecessary.

OK, DW rant over :D

Today is the Champion's League Final between LFC and Real Madrid.  Expectations are high in our house - just hope the Reds live up to them!  Whatever the outcome, we have the homecoming parade tomorrow.  The bus is expected to reach our end of the route at about 8pm - the boys want to be out of the house at about 10am :D :D  The grandson is coming down today for the final and will stay overnight.  Daughter might join us tomorrow.

And I've decided that if I ever do a PhD it will be on the 'theology of place'.  So much to unpack in that - holy places, being 'called' to a place, thresholds, buildings, etc, etc.  It's kind of grown out of my preparations for a service I'm doing in a couple of weeks on being called to stay in a single place.  Of course, a PhD is supposed to be about something quite narrow and, at the moment, my ideas are VERY broad.  But it's closer to a thing I feel I could research than I've had before!

OK, time to get going.  This morning's plan is exercise, bath, shopping for tomorrow's picnic :D

So my new JD includes a line about regularly reviewing our project processes and documentation.  I wasn't sure whether to do that this year since we're still smoothing out the rough spots in the new process and I don't think we've taken a project fully end-to-end on it yet.  But, at the same time, I want establish this as A Thing We Do.  So I got in touch with one of our staff development people who I already know is a great coach and arranged a conversation with him.  It wasn't billed as a 'coaching session' but it most definitely was one.

The outcome was that I decided to run a series of 'focus groups', mixing up the teams, and having conversations - rather than some big over-ambitious half-day marathon filled with Activities.  It also means I'll be doing less fighting with people's diaries because I'll be trying to get 3 or 4 people together for an hour at a time rather than 12 people together for 3 hours.  I ran the idea past my line manager and they are supportive, so that is now a thing to organise.

I also showed too much interest in something called Coaching Culture, a website with some free resources but mostly geared around a subscription service for some training modules.  In order to access the free trial, I had to listen to the sales pitch.  I don't get to make any kind of decision on whether the uni does go for it, but I can see which other members of the organisation have done the free trial and one of those is someone who could at least influence the decision.  I'm going to do a bit more poking around with it next week and, maybe, have a conversation with that person.  Then let the very nice sales bloke down - or ask him to contact someone else.

I have managed to make a start on improving my emotional intelligence, so it's done me some good :D

Ummm...  Otherwise, I have a short week next week with plans for gaming and gardening.

Bye for now, DW!

Talking to my spiritual director about the different forms of love, they recommended 'The Four Loves' by CS Lewis, and 'The Five Languages of Love' by Gary Chapman.  Feeling inspired, I ordered both from World Books (who don't just sell books but do Good Things, too).  Both duly arrived yesterday and I had a quick look at them.

T5LoL is aimed at couples - there are a number of variants including for teens and kids, and one about God, which MAY have been the one my SD actually meant!  Anyway, when I opened my copy there was an inscription inside - To X & X on the occasion of your wedding(!!!) [date] from X, X, X & X.  So, now I want to know - are the couple so loved up they don't need a book to help them? or is the opposite true? or did something happen to the couple who GAVE the book, and the recipients thought, 'sod THAT!'. 

I imagine the givers to be like, 'Oh, we have this book - it's AMAZING!  It's the secret behind our marriage - you HAVE to have it!'

Anyway, it'll go on my 'to read' list but I'll start with the CS Lewis one.

I'm having lots of Ideas about work and how to improve stuff - but then I came across the D x V x F > R (where D = dissatisfaction, V = vision, F = first steps, and R = resistance) equation.  Am I the only one dissatisfied?  If I am, I'm not going to take anyone with me.  So, I'm going to sound people out and see what they think.

At the very least I want to do some sort of team building exercise because the rest of the team is still quite new.  My gamer colleague is moving to another role so I was going to wait until they've gone to do that but then I thought I'd ask them to facilitate so that I can join in!  I've found a website called Session Labs that has LOADS of team exercises.

It feels really good to have plans.

And the shops are open again, so I'm going to pick up some frillies AND some every day underwear.  One outcome of the pandemic is that I'm never going back to underwires!

So, I had the conversation with the central person who agreed with everything I said - but also pointed out that the attention of all the decision makers is on moving the University into the next academic year as smoothly as possible.  However, I felt better for the rant and I've tasked myself with making a business case for a central PMO, part of which will focus on the greater efficiencies and cost savings to be achieved!

Sooo Corporate Bunny...

I'm also playing with the idea of developing the BAs, PMs and me as a 'sub-group'.  We have 'Project Delivery Team' meetings that involve 12 people about half of whom never speak - how was that a productive hour for any of them? - and at least one person who quietly gets on with work whilst the meeting is in progress (a pet hate of mine but at least they come away feeling they've DONE something) - and the odd comment from 2 or 3 others - but are mostly me and the person who wants to be in charge of the whole thing politely butting heads (the only advantage they have over the person who used to be our team leader - you know, when we were an actual team - because that person wasn't as polite).  Anyway, back to the sub-group (remember them?) - there are 5 of us, 3 of whom are new to the department.  Our roles actually interlink with each other and support each other, so there is a lot of benefit to building an actual team there.  It will also help with creating a bit of cohesion when we're all back in the office.  My gamer colleague is much better at relationship-building than I am, so they and the newbies all did a lot of bonding before lockdown - and I don't just WANT to be part of the gang, I NEED to be for my role to work.  So, I'm going to sound out gamer colleague next week, then sound the others out individually, then call a get together - and nothing formal, even, just a chance for us all to get to know each other a bit.  Maybe some ice-breakers like '2 facts and 1 lie'?  Anyway, it's just a thought.

And talking of gamer colleague, it still feels weird to have a sounding board.  I've had that role for so many people over the years!  But it's nice to be able to think, 'that's a thing I could do - is it at good idea?' and to ask them about it - and, usually, get a, 'yes! go for it!' response.  I still miss Best Line Manager Ever - but I've grown more since they left.

I read an article yesterday about Lululemon - it sounded like a cult...  Just sayin'...

I made the tweaks to Mannerley and ordered ANOTHER proof copy.  But that should be it, now.  Next week, I tackle the e-book version!  Then I can start pushing it.

I'm toying, very gently, with the idea of joining the ranks of YouTubers.  I think my age and status as a grandmother will give me a niche.

A colleague of mine has just got a new job (I'm not jealous at all!) and when I had a chat with her she mentioned that there's an enhanced redundancy package available at the moment of up to a year's salary.  For about 5 seconds, I thought about applying.  Imagine spending a year really pushing the writing AND playing around on YouTube!  What could go wrong?!  Then sanity kicked in.  Until I'm earning money from either (or both) of these things, I really need my job.  And with the regrade definitely a Thing (although a very slow Thing that is still being over-taken by other people's promotions...), now doesn't feel like the time to jump ship.

Although I am looking seriously at jobs in the Civil Service.  They recruit based on what your potential is rather than 'are you already doing this job' AND have a great programme for developing staff to enable them to move on.  I mean, what a concept!

And I had a little look at the revised JD my line manager and I developed last year but that got kicked into the long grass when shit happened at the top of the organisation.  I had put some notes against each of the lines to help me with putting evidence against them for the actual regrade application - and I was able to add further evidence based on the work I've done in the last year, which was very encouraging.  I mean, I felt I'd 'grown' but it was nice to be able to prove it to myself.  And my objectives for next year are very stretching, which is also good.

I just hope the University can keep itself on an even keel long enough for the thing to go through, this time!

Anyway, the plan at the moment is to get the regrade, get myself a proper phone, and get myself on YouTube.  Who knows where it might lead?

Confession - I was so bored in work yesterday that I actually fell asleep.  It was only for a few minutes, but still...  I decided to call it a 'power nap', though, because I did feel better afterwards!

I read an article about a pair of blokes who travelled across America (one of them was moving from Portland, Maine to Portland, Somewhereelse) and every night they set up an art installation.  I'm trying to work out how I could do a 'virtual road trip' via Google Street Maps.  Where would I 'go'?  What would I create to mark the journey?  Can you learn stuff about yourself through sitting still?  We shall see...

Writing-wise, I've been very disciplined about my morning edit time and have even managed to squeeze in some half-hours in the evening.  I've found that half an hour is a good chunk of time for me to spend solidly working.  At this point, it feels like I'm still creating rather than editing because there is so much missing from the original MS - 50k isn't enough to tell the WHOLE story.  My MC is human but lives amongst different species and has a job (Chief of Security) that requires her to be impartial - but she has her own prejudices.  I've made a subtle reference that I'm worried is too subtle - I need a way to bring it home to the reader, if not to her.  Her own blindness has to be a character flaw.  I'm not very good at writing flawed characters - I want everyone to be the best that they can be, but weaknesses make characters more human and more believable.

I binged on 'The Good Place' last weekend and I love it!  I am Chidi - so indecisive, so traumatised by choices!  It's hard to know what to say that wouldn't be a spoiler.  Just go and watch it!

I played Abzu, which is supposed to be really short but which I didn't finish - but I must be near the end.  It's beautiful to look at - all the sea creatures! - and easy to play.  There are no battles (yay!) and no choices (double yay!), so it's been the perfect 'come down' after Primal and Life is Strange.  I am still going to have some time to fill before NNK2 arrives (two weeks tomorrow!!!) and I still haven't decided how to fill it.  But there's no rush.

I have a week off work coming up - 'house jobs' include washing the windows and (finally!) painting the kitchen.  The boys have shown zero interest in picking colours, so they're going to have to live with what I choose.  This may involve some purchases like a kettle, toaster, bread bin and curtains, which are all currently red.  But it's a LONG time since we spent money on the house, so I'm just going to bite the bullet.  'Non-house jobs' include getting my hair cut (I'm playing with the idea of going shorter) and spending the Friday immersed in NNK2.  I might even update DW daily.

And in other news - it has snowed again.  That's the third time in two weeks.  That NEVER happens.  So, a fun walk to work for me, today!

 Spent a lot of time last night getting beaten up by the Gil Snapper.  I'll have to come back when I'm stronger.  The REALLY frustrating thing was that I almost defeated it.  I did get the Feather of the Flock and the Ring of the Toad, though.  Will use those when I come back to Giza in the Dry.  I am really enjoying finding out just how much I remember from previous playthroughs.  I'm going to press on with the story for now, though.  Three characters are at Level 28 and the others are at Level 27.  By the time I get back to the Stilshrine, they'll all be at least 28.

It looks as though the plan is for the new PM to sort out the website.  The poor sucker will be buried in that particular black hole for at least 18 months.  To me, that suggests that there will still be stuff for me to pick up, perhaps even some odds and ends to do with the website.  Having someone in this post will also create pressure to employ a developer, tester and BA - at least this is the plan.

After today, I'm off work until 14 August.  The usual plan of 'gaming + cleaning + DS9' will be in operation - with three days in Cardiff thrown in for good measure.  Just hope the weather's a bit brighter down there!

OK, I'm really struggling to find stuff to say so I'm going to stop.  Bye, DW!

 So, I woke up at the usual time, despite going to bed a little later than usual, but I have done some meditation and read through a chapter of DOAIS - so that has been a good use of my time.

I'm beginning to think about my talk for 2 July on 'my favourite Bible passage'.  One of the problems I have, and I'm going to say it, is that I get really annoyed by people taking verses out of context.  To my mind, the Bible has to be seen as a whole - you can't just take the bits you like or that 'prove' your pet theory. Of course, trying to read and understand the whole thing is more than a little daunting, which is why I hardly ever open the thing at all!  But my favourite passage is one of those that feels like a summary of the whole.  I want to try to get four people to read it - a line each.

I think I'll do a Lectio Divina with that passage sometime this week.  That would be another good use of time.

Today, my plans are to wash the bedding, cut the grass, pop into town, and play some more Blood & Wine.  I've looked at the main quest and it looks as though I'm about half way through - finishing it this week seems VERY possible.  I will definitely do some sidequesting.  Or maybe do some 'work' towards 100% on FFX-2...  It certainly isn't worth starting anything new, although my gaming colleague has offered to lend me KH3 - but the idea of fighting with Disney characters has never appealed to me...

Oh, but I do know what I want for Christmas - Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom.  I love NNK:WOTWW sooo much.  I had a conversation with J about waiting for the price to come down, and in general that's what I do.  DAI, for example, is ridiculously cheap, now, but I don't have the time, or enough inclination, to get it.  I am certainly taking that approach with Horizon: Zero Dawn - it looks like a great game but not enough to make me want it NOW.  I do want it - but not enough to pay £50 (although I did spot it for £30 the other day, so the process has started - but £30 still sounds like a LOT of money).  The new AC game is set in Ancient Egypt, which sets all sorts of reactions off for me - but I'm not even going to consider that at full price.

But there are some games - FFXV (even though it is slightly disappointing - but it was so long since I'd had a new FF game!), FFXII:ZA (*bounces around excitedly*), and NNK2:RK that I know will be worth the outlay, because I'll get my money's worth and then some!

OK, time for a bit of fb nonsense, then I need to get this day started.