Day 106 - Friday 3rd July



My first day working from home in my new job. I’m online by 8.30, making sure I can connect remotely to the VPN and that everything works. At first I can’t get on but then I realise that my user name is still incorrect and that gets me connected. My email sender ID still doesn’t match my name, as I suspected. We have our team call at 9.30 and then I get on with my day.  I’m pretty focused and plough through the reading I need to do to get up to speed with client projects. Over lunch I catch up on a few pieces of work for the climate change partnership and the charity, then it’s back to the day job. I’ve messaged the IT service about finally getting everything corrected to show my real name but they’ve not responded. I have a meeting in the veranda at 3.30 and was hoping that they would fix my laptop during that; unfortunately they haven’t responded by then.

After the meeting I go back to my laptop and find that the internet has dropped. I reconnect and find that they messaged me two minutes into my meeting asking if it was convenient to take control. I let them know that I lost the connection but that I was already away from the laptop by then, and ask if they are ready now. No reply. I make up the hour I spent in the meeting and work until 6.30. I still haven’t head from them when I log off. The MD has emailed to ask whether he needs to escalate the issue; I tell him about the internet outage and suggest we give them until Monday. I have some work to do on a cloud-based app what I can connect to from my own PC, so they can have control without disrupting my workflow. I still haven’t watched the webinar, because I haven’t been sent to the link to the recorded, so that can wait until Monday too.

Tonight my son and his girlfriend are cooking me dinner. Hubby is doing his own thing. I have a long what’s app call with my friend, who wants to know all about my first week at work. It’s ironic that I now work in her home town but we haven’t managed to see each other all week. She was thinking of coming over one evening but hasn’t made it; she won’t come inside as she’s really paranoid about getting covid again and it has been too cold to be outside in the evenings. She adds loads of things to my online shop and arranged to pick them up on Sunday afternoon. We’re talking so long my phone goes completely flat.

Dinner is delicious – potato, chickpea and halloumi curry with the perfect level of spice – but I’m disappointed to find that I’m expected to clear up. I realise that in our house the rule is that the chef doesn’t wash up but I really want a night off. I empty the dishwasher, put in as many of the items as will fit and leave the rest for tomorrow. Hubby and I settle down to watch TV but the recorder is full of sport now and there’s really very little that appeals. We settle for a programme about Iranian art and culture.

Tonight I am grateful for a delicious dinner.

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