"I may bring in a heavyweight" - the past week at work

Monday

Incredibly quiet, although some of the clients show signs of becoming active. I worked with Andrea on the Summit report, and at last there is the possibility of getting the project finished. Also various items of copywriting needed doing (as the only person who can write copy I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the amount of writing I have to do, but also reassured by the fact that my skills can't be replaced by anyone else and so my position is fairly secure - I will be one of the last to go I hope).

I left at midday to go to the doctor for an ECG test on my heart. I had to lay down on a bed while two nurses stuck various wires to my chest. Then the "test" which only took a few minutes.

Tuesday

The Summit proposals have finally been sent off, and it is as if a huge stone has been lifted from my chest. Right up to the moment the report went off (by courier) we were adding things, but eventually I stopped doing this and told Louise to send it off. We'll see what the reaction is before we add any more details.

Terry (our MD) came to my room and told me there was going to be a Board meeting of the Group at which Paul de Lion will be present as he is a likely candidate to take over the reins when Terry retires. I wondered why he was telling me this, as I am not a member of the Board. Possibly he wants me to tell Andrea (who is a Board member) as he is too wary of her to tell her directly.

Otherwise there was nothing much to do. Many of my clients have taken the week off. Most of the afternoon I read yesterday's newspapers (the jobs section of the Media Guardian very thin).

Wednesday

Nigel Celeste, one of the Account Directors upstairs, came to our floor and I heard him complaining to Andrea that he had been left out of the Board meeting. He is equal to Paul de Lion, so must feel his omission as a slight. "I'm not putting up with it" he said to Andrea (but he will have to - there are no other jobs he can go to).

Then Nigel Celeste came into my room and said how difficult it was to get to see new potential clients: "Last year I was snubbed by a much better class of companies".

Duncan has been on holiday all week and no-one seems to have mentioned him once.

A leak in the loo which Terry mopped up himself (everyone seemed to think this was hilarious).

Thursday

One of our clients was complaining about mistakes made with their ad in a national campaign (the typeface hadn;t reproduced all that well - it was really the fault of the designer but Andrea managed to get the newspaper to admit responsibility). Personally I thought the discount the client was offered was more than they deserved, but I couldn't say this. In the current climate clients have suddenly become very powerful.

I had five lots of copy to finish before the end of the day so I was rushing through my work.

Just as I was contemplating packing away my things and leaving for the long weekend Terry came to my room and talked about his disappointment at the way the agency was barely covering its costs. "I may bring in a heavyweight from another agency" he said. I decided against repeating this to Andrea.