I made myself a coffee and wrote some of the blog. It was lovely and cosy in the kitchen, and I just turned on the tree lights, which never fail to cheer me up. Sophie was astonished to see me when she woke up at 5.30am, and she made me another coffee.
I showered and dressed and left at 7.20am, taking Sophie's car. I took my old route, passing by the building where I used to work and then picked the Wellingborough Road to get into town. I was glad to see it was a beautiful day with clear skies.
I turned into the hospital car park, but on the advice of Sara yesterday, found a space in a small area a short walk away from our building. I was parked behind Sheila, so I knew she was in already! I found my way to the entrance and was able to walk straight in and up the stairs to the office. There is a barrier as you go in, which should be accessible by card only, but it was open. We should all have barrier cards to get in for security reasons. Previously, our office was locked, and there should really be some kind of restriction in place to stop people wandering in!
I chatted with Sheila, and although she would never admit it, I knew she wasn't happy either. Her old desk had built-in drawers, and she also had another filing cabinet, but now all of her work belongings were in bags and boxes. It was definitely not ideal. She gave me another tour, and I noticed the large boardroom standing empty. This would have been a more suitable space for us all, with perhaps a partition for Nicola.
Kathy came in at 9am and said she'd found a space nearby, and Nicola came in looking stressed. Our MD will now be in the same building as us, and is temporarily in an office next door, so that stressed Nicola out even more! She didn't look very happy today, even though she was finishing for Christmas at 12pm.
Even more worrying, when Sharon arrived for her 10am start, she looked furious as she hadn't been able to find a space at all in the hospital car parks and had been forced to find somewhere on a nearby road, meaning she had a fair walk to get to the office. Not nice when the weather's horrible. I hate to say it, but I can see several of my colleagues leaving if they can't find somewhere to park! I am going to ask if I can work from home a couple of days a week, as two of my colleagues already do, and one is leaving after Christmas.
The phones were very quiet today, and because we don't have carpet (it's fun to whizz about on our wheeled chairs!), the normal noises seemed amplified. I was acutely aware of the typing on keyboards, the sound of Sheila's mouse moving over the desk and the voices of Kathy and Sharon when they were on the phone. I never normally hear Kathy as she is very quietly spoken, but I heard every word of her conversations today!
We left at 4pm, and Kathy and I went down to pay for the parking. It's only 60p, but we have to make a mental note to remember! Keith had found some change for me, which I'll use for the time being. We said goodbye and wished each other Merry Christmas, as the next time we'd be working together would be on the 2nd of January. It took me a while to actually get out of the car park, and then I was stuck in traffic on the hectically busy A45. I arrived home at 4.45pm, so about twenty minutes later than normal.
Sophie was enjoying her Christmas office celebrations and was finishing lunch at The Lamplighter in town. As I had had such an early start, I dozed on the sofa, and Keith and I watched an episode of series 8 of Shetland before we had an easy supper of roast chicken, salad and crusty bread.
We watched another episode of Shetland, and Sophie texted me to ask us to pick her up at 10pm in Abington Square. We left home at 9.30pm, and she was waiting outside for us with her work colleagues, Becky and Grace. She told us all about her day on the way home, saying that the present "fight" she'd organised with the wrapped gifts had been hilarious as her colleagues were fighting over kitchen cloths and washing up liquid, thinking they were good presents, and had been fooled by the items disguised in cat food boxes!
Before bed, we watched half an hour of Graham Norton, but all of us were a little weary so we didn't make it to the end of the show. Thank goodness it's the weekend!
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