Monday
On the drive to work, the road a straight line across the flat empty rural plain, I saw high in the air two swans flying and the sight filled me with an anxious hope that they would be alright.
A hurried cup of coffee when I arrived in the office and I spent twenty minutes tidying up the communications report, most of which I had written at the weekend. Then into the monthly campaigns meeting. I gave my report which was (if I say so myself) interesting and compelling and completely masked the fact that I have not done very much over the last month.
Everyone else who gave a report came under attack from Director Vijay Singh.
The meeting lasted four hours, and afterwards Vijay Singh, Abi Reed and myself had another of the secret huddle meetings to discuss the Institute's AGM planned for April.
A late lunch mostly consisting of collecting dry cleaning.
In the afternoon I prepared for the Competition meeting tomorrow, sending out by e-mail an impressive agenda.
Tuesday
Unexpectedly there was no Vijay Singh in the office today, which made the Competition meeting rather flat. In the absence of our Director I chaired the meeting myself. We spent two hours working our way through the agenda.
Most of the day I found it difficult to get anything done, mostly because e-mails kept arriving with issues that needed to be settled quickly. The Exhibitions programme soaks up a huge amount of my time. Also I wrote up the minutes from this morning's meeting.
Wednesday
Most of the morning I spent on writing literature for a training course the Institute is to offer volunteers. I read through the modules (which had been put together by Deputy Director Marcia Walsh) and translated the dry prose into something reasonably attractive. The course is to be offered free, as a way of identifying possible supporters for the Institute.
In the afternoon I reviewed my To Do list. Each week I seem to make a tiny amount of progress in each of a wide range of projects. Cumulatively the work is significant, but if you look at any one project in isolation nothing seems to be getting done.
Thursday
I kept my desk completely clear, wanting to just concentrate on one thing at a time ("that'll never work" said Librarian Stan D helpfully).
Lunchtime it was far too cold to go out, so I just worked through.
Friday
Generally the office was busy, with lots of meetings taking place. I took the first steps in producing a new supplement (we update key publications as new research becomes available). I rang Maria B at Head Office - she is supposedly a firebrand but seemed quite meek when I spoke to her, quite unlike her ferocious e-mails.
I went for a walk at lunchtime, which was a mistake as it was still below freezing.
In the afternoon the proof copies of the Training Course Guide arrived - at last I have something tangible to show people.
On the drive to work, the road a straight line across the flat empty rural plain, I saw high in the air two swans flying and the sight filled me with an anxious hope that they would be alright.
A hurried cup of coffee when I arrived in the office and I spent twenty minutes tidying up the communications report, most of which I had written at the weekend. Then into the monthly campaigns meeting. I gave my report which was (if I say so myself) interesting and compelling and completely masked the fact that I have not done very much over the last month.
Everyone else who gave a report came under attack from Director Vijay Singh.
The meeting lasted four hours, and afterwards Vijay Singh, Abi Reed and myself had another of the secret huddle meetings to discuss the Institute's AGM planned for April.
A late lunch mostly consisting of collecting dry cleaning.
In the afternoon I prepared for the Competition meeting tomorrow, sending out by e-mail an impressive agenda.
Tuesday
Unexpectedly there was no Vijay Singh in the office today, which made the Competition meeting rather flat. In the absence of our Director I chaired the meeting myself. We spent two hours working our way through the agenda.
Most of the day I found it difficult to get anything done, mostly because e-mails kept arriving with issues that needed to be settled quickly. The Exhibitions programme soaks up a huge amount of my time. Also I wrote up the minutes from this morning's meeting.
Wednesday
Most of the morning I spent on writing literature for a training course the Institute is to offer volunteers. I read through the modules (which had been put together by Deputy Director Marcia Walsh) and translated the dry prose into something reasonably attractive. The course is to be offered free, as a way of identifying possible supporters for the Institute.
In the afternoon I reviewed my To Do list. Each week I seem to make a tiny amount of progress in each of a wide range of projects. Cumulatively the work is significant, but if you look at any one project in isolation nothing seems to be getting done.
Thursday
I kept my desk completely clear, wanting to just concentrate on one thing at a time ("that'll never work" said Librarian Stan D helpfully).
Lunchtime it was far too cold to go out, so I just worked through.
Friday
Generally the office was busy, with lots of meetings taking place. I took the first steps in producing a new supplement (we update key publications as new research becomes available). I rang Maria B at Head Office - she is supposedly a firebrand but seemed quite meek when I spoke to her, quite unlike her ferocious e-mails.
I went for a walk at lunchtime, which was a mistake as it was still below freezing.
In the afternoon the proof copies of the Training Course Guide arrived - at last I have something tangible to show people.
No comments:
Post a Comment