Back to work

I have been feeling decidedly unwell most of the day. I am hardly ever ill. I haven’t had a day off sick from work for almost five years, so when I feel unwell, I don’t really know quite what to do with myself. When I was at work I was thinking 'Should I go home? Is the journey home going to make me feel worse?' I just feel really sick and can’t quite stand up straight as that makes me feel more ill. I also feel really, really cold and my hands keep shaking. These are probably not good symptoms.

I wanted one of my colleagues to wheel me to the station on my office chair and then deposit me on a tube train seat so that I didn’t have to move myself. However, you probably aren’t meant to remove items of furniture from the office, so perhaps that isn’t the best idea.

When I got home I had some soup and a bit of toast. It was wonton soup because it was all I had in the cupboard but I guess if Chinese medicine can make you better then maybe Chinese soup can. Right?

Beyond feeling ill, it has also been a frustrating day in that there was an e-mail from the people whose house I am living in at the moment saying that they need the house back at the end of January. Although not entirely unexpected, it is still somewhat unwelcome news. I have only just settled in and now I have to pack everything up again. Not that I have anywhere to go as yet. I sent a friend an e-mail this morning to ask if a possibility they had mentioned to me a few weeks ago might still be available. I have now got a phone number and will phone the woman in a bit to find out if it might be an option. I really do need to sort out somewhere permanent to live because moving house a lot is not a life I am suited to.

Apart from that work was fine. Very few of us were in, but I spent a while talking to one of my team about his concerns about the high turn over of staff that we have at the moment. The main reason for people wanting to leave is that they have had enough of our Head of Unit being so rude to them. Our staff survey results are starting to be published now and I am hoping that at last some action might be taken about the way people are treated. In the interim we need to hang on to staff though, as they are good people and deserve to be treated better. A few months ago I even approached HR about my concerns because I thought it totally unacceptable that people were spoken to in the way that they are. HR agreed but said there was little that could be done.

I also found out today that one of my team got an honour in the New Year’s List, for something non-work related though. I am, however, taking personal credit for it. One of my team was given an honour in June. I had been his manager for about two weeks when it was announced. I had been the manager of the person who has just been awarded an honour for about 3 or 4 weeks before it was announced. Coincidence? I think not. [Actually in case you don’t know anything about the awards process, you are nominated for it months and sometimes a year in advance of it being announced, so it has nothing to do with me being their manager at all, but I obviously have delusions of grandeur].

Anyway, it has been a mixed return to work, some good stuff, and some bad. Now I need to put my thinking cap on and find somewhere new to live.