anyresemblance

Next normal

What am I up to? Looking at people's pets during videoconferences, dressing in comfy clothes but making sure to brush my hair, calling lots of people on the phone to re/assure them, making too many trips to the fridge as a reward for getting through another video conference.

I don't know why people find remote working so hard? I find I power through my to do list at the comfort of my own desk.  My productivity doubled by bringing home my proper desk chair which, while not sleek and designer, is very comfortable.

The weather is beautiful and I have been walking Charlie in the quiet times and breathing in the smells of the woods.  It really helps to not watch or listen to news.  I check the abc and guardian web sites.  I have done a bit of twitter but am trying to focus on tik Tok dances and cheering pictures of animals.

I read an interesting McKinsey report (I know, nerd) but I really liked their view of 5 horizons:

1. resolve - address immediate concerns about health and safety
2. resilience - near term challenges with lay offs and economic down turn
3. return - detailed plans on how we return to work as the knock on effects become clearer
4. reimagination - what's the "next normal"
5. reform - what is going to shift in the political and regulatory environment

I'm looking at those for my work environment but I was struck by the concept of the next normal and what I can control about my future.

Lockdown

Our client has finally cracked the wfh technology solution and we were able to give the team the go ahead this morning to head home.  It will relieve a lot of anxiety - I spent most of yesterday with my soothing and cheering voice.  It's such a truism that people want to be listened to.  We've set up a roster to call all 120 people on the project over the next week so we check in with them as they grapple with being at home, managing a new bit of technology and in many cases, home schooling.

I got notification that Costco was doing an over 60s hour so decided to nip out there this morning.  What a crazy notion - there was a line of 800m across the gigantic parking lot of oldies queuing.  Stuff that, I only wanted the pork butt to make Italian sausage.  I drove home, called the local butcher, went and saw him cut it off the shoulder (confusing that pork butt actually comes from the shoulder?) and also scored a dozen eggs, lamb for curry and a box of tissues.

In between, I have been on video conferences and phone calls and writing emails and frankly, loving being back to the working from home life.  It won't last but I feel so productive.

My daughter in Sydney is dealing with the tensions that come from a share house where 4 people previously passed briefly in the kitchen to a whole set of people working at home with no dedicated space and rubbish internet.  They are all getting on each other's nerves and she will probably come home too.  NSW has not yet shut its borders and since our district sits wholly within NSW it's a struggle to know how they would do it anyway.

I am, of course, watching GBBO as the kind of low stakes television that matters in these trying times, avoiding the news, shutting down twitter and just trying to get on with it.

Charlie, is ecstatic with this new regime.  All his favourite people on hand to keep him company and lots of walks.

Armageddon edition listing

1. Watching: I set up the dvd so I can watch OG box sets.  Burn Notice: "someone needs your help, Michael"
2. Reading: I'm slow, slow on my books.  Need to step away from my phone and get back to books but is everyone else finding it hard to settle?
3. Listening: Riz Ahmed on Table Manners leads me back to Hamilton Mix Tape.  Little Simz on This City makes me think I should have a go at Top Boy. Moons over Soho, the second Rivers of London which is exactly the right tone for these times.
4. Cooking: so much isolation baking: I made a brown sugar cheesecake, an onion quiche, wholemeal bread, aioli.  Heavy focus on carbs which I need to balance out.
5. Sorting: the sitting room out.  I moved the grubby rug out and swapped in another one and then decided it all needed a more cosy vibe for autumn so moved my Tunisian rug in under the table.
6. Sipping: some nice Tomfoolery rose
7. Buying: I am ashamed at how much I have spent on groceries this week but a compulsion around having one in spare seems have to overtaken me.  Things I have not bought: loo roll, meat, tissues.  Things I have bought: batteries, shampoo and conditioner, Nars stick blusher for that healthy glow even when you're not sleeping.
8. Hearing: my neighbour plus one has chickens.  I also know this as there is a battalion of pigeons gathered on her roof looking for free food.  I remember that as a side effect of keeping them myself and it was irritating.  Anyway, the chickens clucking is a nice sound track
9. Liking: that some people down the road have installed a street library.
10. Cleaning: the rug that I suspect the cat sprayed on.  It was so warm and sunny, I laid it on the outdoor table and scrubbed it with soapy water, rinsed it off with the hose and left it to dry in the sun.  It smells deliciously clean now.  I carried this rug home from Turkey a few years ago so good to see its jewel colours again.

Orderly fashion

This week has lasted at least a hundred years but I have had a beautiful Saturday.  The weather is perfect, warm with blue skies.  I got up early and pulled everything out of the pantry.  I wrote everything down.  I ditched stuff past the sell by date.  I put all the extras back on the top shelf.  You know what, we have everything we need.

I walked Charlie to the shop.  No one was in the coffee shop but everyone was sitting cheek by jowl outside.  I am not sure that is the current 4sq metres but since the advice changes every hour, who knows.

The replacement dishwasher got delivered and installed.  The guy told me that had 45 freezers arrive on Monday and they were all sold by Wednesday.  Baffling.

My neighbour cut my grass and then subjected me to another 20 minutes of conspiracy theory.  He grew up under communist rule and is old and anxious.  I was gentle and not angry.  Just asked me what we could do for each other's families. 

We're doing isolation baking. 

Good things

An early evening walk in the woods with Charlie.  I was relieved to see a kangaroo and her young one hiding from us (Charlie oblivious as he held on to his stick) as I was bit worried they were absent since they started clearing the old non-natives.

A short video of a corgi puppy my niece posted on instagram.  What magical world is this? I asked. "I walked through a wardrobe onto platform 9 3/4 and kept straight on til morning. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t Kansas", she replied.

My youngest kid came home last night.  She's going back to Sydney on Saturday but nice to have all my loved ones under the same roof.

A fun atmosphere with the 6 of us in the office, metres apart from each other (We are still working as the government departments who we serve are all still working)

The ledger 15 March

1. Watching: I bought a new tv yesterday.  Long story but the tv was just too small for the room and so I traded up a size and moved the smaller one to the back sitting room so the kid can watch endless episodes of Criminal Minds while not doing my head in.  We went to Costco to purchase it but a) the price had gone up $50 and b) there were queues out the door of people panic buying so I gave that up and went to a big box retailer where I got the guy to price match Costco.  Anyway, the interface is slightly different and it require moving some art around but it is a more enjoyable viewing experience.  Finally, I started watching Hunters on Amazon Prime which I loved so glad to have something to look forward to.
2. Reading: I'm reading Blood & Sugar.  I feel I should love it (historical setting, crime solving aristo) but I find the lead character very one dimensional and dull.  I'll plow through.  I'm also reading Big Girl, Small Town - these young Irish writers are on fire.  Also, can someone explain to me how Australia gets trade paperback versions of titles that are elsewhere only available as hardback at the moment? viz, Hilary Mantel's latest?
3. Listening: I listened to the Slate Slow Burn series on the Clinton impeachment but didn't like it as much as the Tupac one.  It was interesting to be reminded of the time line.  I am also listening to Ben Aaronovitch Rivers of London which I very much enjoy.  It's read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith who is a terrific narrator.
4. Cooking: Peach Pie.  I bought some cheap peaches in Aldi but they are not really sweet enough for eating so I am adapting a Sister Pie recipe and making a pie.
5. Eating: I had a terrific dinner at Bar Rochford on Friday night.  I was nearly an hour late due to the plane sitting on the tarmac in Melbourne but my friend patiently waited for me.  We had a wonderful burrata with a green olive relish, beef tartare and some amazing pork thing with peaches.  She chose the wine, she knows her shit and it was all terrific.  Probably my last dinner out for a while so glad it was a good one with lovely company.
6. Sipping: water and tea from a cheerful mug with hares on. 
7. Buying: see aforementioned tv.  This was because the kid paid me back some money.
8. Hearing: the creaky sound of gang gang cockatoos.  I saw this PhD mentioned on twitter and really want to know more
9. Liking: that some people down the road have installed a street library.
10. Avoiding: anxiety.  The kid is anxious if she has to work at home (and she has no remote connectivity) that her not very progressive employer will find a way to not pay her.  I am trying to keep her calm.  I fully expect my employer to instruct us to work from home next week which is super irritating as I have three business meetings which will get canned and unlikely to be replaced by teleconference.  But, it is outside my influence and I would rather that the stupid herd immunity the UK is relying on.

Pandemonium

I failed again to photograph the Ferrari team in full Italianate red glory so you'll have to settle for Charlie glowing.

I had a mediocre dinner in an overpriced casino restaurant with lacklustre service.  My day is full of compiling Covid-19 response plans but I am having dinner with a friend tonight back in Canberra so it's not all woe.

Dino Ferrari

I am shamelessly stealing this photo my daughter sent of the dinosaur balloon this morning.

I shared the hotel lift this morning with a fellow in top to toe Ferrari red including matching Ferrari luggage.  I told him he was very on brand and wished him good luck in the Grand Prix this weekend.  We will need it, he told me gloomily.

Ferrari

I'm back in Melbourne which is gearing up for F1 this weekend.  It seems a bit odd that they are going ahead with an event of over 100,000 people in current times and I hear some of the teams are self quarateining in their hotels.  I hope it is not my hotel where I observed a crowd of gorgeous young F1 things in close proximity in the lobby.

In much worse news I have mislaid my favourite headphones.  I had them this morning when I walked Charlie but have no recollection of them since and now can not find them anywhere.  So flipping irritating when I only just bought the adaptor to make them fit the iPhone 8.

What else? I ate a Toblerone and an airplane sandwich for dinner.  The girl next to me wiped everything with dettol wipes and I did not judge her at all.

What's the story

I have been busy.  I had three interviews for a job which already had me constructing a new imaginary life in Seattle or London but then the recruiter decided I wasn't quite the fit for something which had not been laid out in the job description.  "I think you dodged a bullet" my friend said.  "If they can't even put the most important thing in the job description, I think you'd find them chaotic" She's right but it is frustrating to have invested the effort just the same.  There is another role I have been asked to apply for at work but I suspect I am there to make up the numbers.

My trip to Europe got canned due to coronavirus which is governing just about everything at the moment.  My colleague and I were patiently explaining that if our 100+ team are forced to work from home then there will not be an opportunity to go to the office to pick up your lap top and having a lap top sort of infers mobility and the need to take it home at night.  

I am trying to resist the prepper madness.  I'd already been to Costco a couple of weeks ago and definitely have enough tinned tomatoes to last a while as well as laundry detergent.  The supermarkets are denuded of loo roll but that is the least of my worries - I mean I still have running water and a washing machine. 

I have been to Sydney Melbourne and am doing Melbourne Sydney in the next couple of weeks.  I had two fantastic dinners in Sydney with colleagues from my travelling days and it was delightful and fun to hang out with smart women.

I was whining to my PA that my phone (iPhone 6) had a battery that no longer lasted more than 2 hours and she magically produced an iPhone 8 from her cupboard to give me.  So much better than spending more than $1000 on a stupid phone.  I am delighted to inch my way into the future at no cost to me.  

At home, I have repurposed my Christmas tree to an easter tree and enjoyed making poms poms in gelato colours last night despite the onset of autumn.

They've chopped down part of the woods where I walk Charlie.  Ostensibly this is because they are old non native pines which are in poor health.  It's true, you have to be careful in high winds as they are precariously attached to the soil but they are also where a local mob of kangaroos hang out so I hope they have safely relocated.

The balloon festival is on and it is delightful to see them from my bedroom window.