Thursday 3rd October 2024

The perfect working week continues.

And I woke up home alone, well, apart from four hungry cats.

I had to set my alarm to make sure I was up and about to be in time for work.

The cats were very laid back, so fed them one a time, then was able to put the kettle on and make the first coffee of the day.

Work is going well again, and I hope that message is coming through loud and clear. So, after observing another fine sunrise, I got the laptop out and started work.

I got a message from Jools that Qantas had lost Jen's case. When I say lost, I mean left it in Sydney, so waiting for the last bag on the carousel left her empty handed, and meant they were late heading for home.

They got her just before nine, so I hugged Jen, got some news about her friend, and then she was gone. Jools made her lunch and she was gone too, taking our car.

Outside the frosty morning turned into a bright, warm and sunny day, so went out to sit with Mulder and Scully to see what wildlife could be see.

A single female Specked Wood flew through the garden, settled long enough so I could get a shot before it fluttered off into the afternoon sun.

Three fat Wood pigeons watched me hoping I put some peanuts out, which I did, they are so used to people now they rarely fly off. And after us being away for the duration of the vacation, the Goldfinches have returned now the feeders are topped up every day now, so I get shots of a couple of them in the hedge.

Not much else to report. I finished work, packed up, made a brew and sat back outside with Scully who was demanding attention and/or food.

Dinner was breaded chicken again, with boiled baby potatoes and steamed corn. And beer. Or cider.

Jools was pooped, so went to bed at half seven, while I listened to Man Utd fall apart then rescue a point in Porto, before I went to bed too.

Phew.

Another normal day, no stress.

Envy?

In May 2019, Norwich were made champions of the Football League by winning at Villa Park. Three weeks later Villa were promoted themselves by beating Derby in the play off final. This itself came a year after Villa lost the previous year's final, and looked to be heading into administration.

Villa had, instead of buying, had loaned players and that worked with Tami Abrahams knocking in a handful of goals.

Upon promotion, Villa had to buy players to create a new squad, and they bought well. Season on seaon, Villa spent big and improved.

To the point where in the 2023/24 season, Norwich failed to gain promotion losing to Leeds in the play off semi final. Villa had season on season improved their squad, at oine point in 2020 buying Emi from Norwich, so that while Norwich scraped into the play-offs of the Chamionship, Villa finished 4th n the Premier League and thus qualified for the this season's Champion's League.

This mid-week, Norwich drew with Leeds 0-0, while Villa beat Bayern 1-0 in front of a packed Villa Park.

It didn't always go smoothly, with sacking Dean Smith after a poor start in November 2021 and appointed former Liverpool midfielder, Steven Gerrard in his place.

The next season, after scoring just seven goals in the opening 11 games, Gerrard was sacked in October, and former Arsenal manager, Unai Emery, was appointed. At the end of that season Villa finished 7th, a remarkable turnround from the team's fortunes seen under Gerrard.

The trajectory of the two clubs has been very different since that spring day in May 2019. At times Villa have gambled, and the gamble paid off. Make no mistake that failure to get promoted in that same season might have resulted with the club sufferening points deduction and maybe facing relegation. Then in the Premier League, good recruitment and coaching saw the club survive.

Villa spent heavily, at times they had no choice, but they bought well, and the club's fortunes improved. There is a piece in the EDP tomorrow "As a #NCFC fan enviously watching on, it’s difficult to deny being disappointed that we have gone from a club so far ahead of #AVFC that season to one now so drastically behind them in the space of just five years."

Could Norwich really have taken the same road, taken the same risks, spent the same amounts of money? Emery is a fine coach, as his record at Villa Park shows. He would never be coming to Carrow Road. And after the fallout of the Chase era still effecting Norwich's finances, there was no way would Delia and Micheal risk the club's future in gambling by spending big for promotion. Smith did a fine job in getting Villa promoted, and keeping them up that first season, hope was that he could do the same with Norwich. But the team wasn't good enough, and Smith himself seemed to have little idea of how the team should play.

I don't envy Villa, at times I was shocked at the amounts spent and risks taken, but it worked for them. And they appointed Emery, when his stock in England was low after his time at Arsenal, but drom day 1, he turned Villa round, as players bought were good enough to be coached into change, and the performances and results came.

In time, Norwich can rebuild, recruit, develop and create a new team, with a good coach that is possible. Maybe that's happening already.

Maybe not.

Villa are the largest club (sorry Brum, Wolves and Baggies) in England's second city, and have resources and fans we can only dream of. Yes, smaller clubs from smaller, provincial city can be sucessful. Leicester won the Premier League, having spent £20m, but that was a once in five thousand year chance.

Also, not every team can be sucessful and improve year on year. Its a fact of life, chopping and changing managers and styles of play is not a recipe for sucess. Yes, Villa have done well, seriously well, but certainly in 2019/20 it could have easily gone the other way. I wish Villa well, they took chances, nettles were grabbed and the Holte End roared.

in 1992-94, we cheered on as Norwich overspent and over achieved. The bank statement came in and the hangover hit. Players were sold to keep the banks happy, until there was no one else to sell. We can't take that risk again, even when the prizes are so large. Maybe the new shareholder will invest in the team. Maybe not.

Wednesday 2nd October 2024

And for Wednesday, I was home alone for 36 hours, as Jools was going to Heathrow straight from work so to be in place to pick up Jen upon her return from Australia.

Meaning it was just me and the cats.

So, we have 15 minutes in the morning before she leaves at half six, the cats were fed and gone to sleep, so there was just me and work and the cats.

That being said, I have a new enthusiasm for work, and so start to knuckle down and get things back under control.

And book travel for two weeks for a work trip to Ireland, where I have four days in the Emerald Isle, visiting various sites and staying in hotels in the middle of nowhere each night.

A month later I am off back to France for work too, so some travel and chances to meet old colleagues and friends.

The day progresses very quickly as work gets done, documents reviewed and so on, so that come three I am happy to play hooky and go train chasing.

News reached me that Britannia was going round Kent, and ideally I would like to have gone to Minster, but in the end I just went down the hill to Martin Mill, where there were two other snappers.

Thankfully, it was a bright evening, the tour was half an hour late leaving Canterbury, so would not reach us until five, but we had the app telling us of her progress.

By the time she reached Deal, we could hear the locomotive working, pistons pushing out steam to propel the train forward.

Louder and louder she sounded, the noise echoing round the buildings surrounding the station, and still no sign.

A too on the whilst told us she was approaching the crossing at Cold Blow Lane, and would be with us within two minutes.

And still louder she got, until I saw smoke above the trees where the line curved to the left, and she roared into view.

For a change I was at the far end of the platform, so had the whole length of the platforms to get shots as the climbed Guston Bank.

The loco filled the viewfinder, and I stopped taking shots, instead waved to the freman who was leaning out, and was rewarded by two toots on the whistle.

And she was gone, into the misty gloaming of an early autumnal evening, up Guston Bank to the tunnel, her hard working pistons now fading too.

I walked back along the platform, taking the subway back to the other side of the line, then to the car and drive back up the hill to home.

Dinner was defrosted ragu with added guanciale which I also liberated from the fridge.

A bottle of XV washed it down well, and helped the evening slip by. By then the cats had been fed and entertained, and they seemed happy enough. Except Mulder who was looking for Jools.

I listened to Villa v Bayern on the radio as the bottle was emptied, with Villa scoring in the last minute to win.

Tuesday 1st October 2024

Every day from today will have the annotation "AS" to mark it from the day my previous manger left.

Jools had been concerned, as I have not had an issue with a manager in the twenty years we have known each other, but this has been on another level.

I guess things began to fall apart when we had the team event in Denmark in April, when it was left to us to make arrangements, even me to arrange places to eat in the evening. Difficult when its a party of ten, and six of them are vegetarians.

Things became personal in May, and I was in a bad place prior to my vacation at the end of the month, so the pressure and stressed eased.

But upon my return it ramped up once again. Was it one thing?

No, but a culmination of things and events meant I had an event in August and needed to take a week off.

The first priority as a manager should be your team, and when they are experienced, listen to them.

That never happened, it was like talking to a brick wall, like they heard the words but didn't listen, or it sink in.

I seemed to be singled out, so it came that I felt I had to request a transfer due to mental health issues.

Now, I know this might not be the highest priority, that no action was taken for two weeks left me with no other choice than to call for a meeting.

In the meeting I was accused of being insubordinate, which is a joke, because, and you'll have to believe me here, that if I were to be insubordinate, there would be no doubt.

The result of this was that I intended to resign this week, and for some reason I chose Wednesday for the resignation day.

The entire department was on the verge of resigning, and all looking for new roles. As was I. I came close, but was let down, and my colleague Henrik was offered a new role on Monday.

But by then, things had changed.

A mail came out from our manager's manager that changes were happening, and when I looked at the mail I found that our manager was to finish work on the next Monday afternoon.

Coming on the last day of vacation, on our first day back home, it all seems too perfect.

And yet it happened.

So, Tuesday, it was time to get back on top of the job, and get things under control.

I spent most of the day scouring my inbox for mails and documents, uploading them where needed.

I fielded calls, and made then to explain changes in circumstances and such.

It was like I was high on something, free of the weight on my shoulders, and back in control without my decisions being questioned.

More rain, but also sunshine later in the afternoon. So I went out and found two small Scarlet Pimpernel plants just about to open. Another new native plant species for our garden. And a win.

So, a day with sunshine, no evil boss and Jools was going to be late as she is off in the morning for 24 hours to collect Jen from Heathrow on Thursday morning.

So, home alone for 24 hours.

We had Caprese for dinner, and the last of the halloumi and chipotle bread and wine.

Whatever, it hit the spot. And with Jools not getting home until half six, by the time we were packed away and ready for the evening, Norwich were to kick off against Dirty Leeds on the tellybox.

So, Jools went to bed early, and I watched football, with the game ending in a fair 1-1 draw.

Sunday 29th September 2024

After the sun and light winds of Saturday, Sunday turned out to be a return to autumn.

The sunny intervals promised us did not materialise. Instead it was cloudy, breezy and cool.

We slept in until nearly eight, thus giving us just over an hour to wake up and have coffee before going to Folkestone so I could get a haircut.

I was last shorn on the day before my birthday in that London as we dodged showers, and after five weeks it feels like I have a woolly hat on, so time to visit the guys.

The port in Dover was quiet, little on the roads, and turning off at Capel , once again no traffic.

I drop Jools at the harbour so she can go for a walk, while I go to Raynor's Upper Park to leave the car and walk to the barbers.

I had ten minutes to wait for it opened, so watched those up an about early on a Sunday morning: the hungover and dog-walkers, it seemed.

Once shorn again, I walk back to the car where Jools waiting, so with nothing else to do, we drive back home for breakfast, and then me mix and prepare the second Christmas cake.

And after an hour's work, the cake was in the oven for its four and a half hour baking, we washed up, and despite only just having had breakfast, I cook lunch.

That was all done, cooked and washed up by two, so I could watch the first of the games on TV: Ipswich v Villa. And a good game, ended 2-2, and a fair result.

That was followed by Man Utd v Spurs, and ended up 0-3 to Spurs. United were awful, and were lucky only to lose by three. Pundits and fans react like its a disaster, whereas it was a poor team playing poorly.

So it goes.

Cheese and bread and wine for supper.

And so 17days off have come and gone. Work in the morning, but also, a new world.

Monday 30th September 2024

20th August 2024

It is 15 days now since I formally asked for a transfer, I have received no feedback on that. Planning on audits into Q4 with me as lead auditor are continuing.

I returned to work on Monday after a week off through stress. I don’t know what I was expecting, but hoping for a meeting as to how I felt and how my stress levels were and what could be done to minimize them. Instead it was business as usual, send mails out, reports out, etc, etc. A message on Teams, I don’t think was enough.

Everything in work is now a battle: with my manager, with auditees, with functions, and to be honest, I’m worn out with fighting. I just want to see out my time delivering improvement and making Vestas the best it can be. In light of the fight and stress as part of the Baltic Power audit with Global Sales, I don’t believe it is wise for me to participate in the following audit.

My report writing and now decision making on how to report on audits, as a lead auditor of some 12 years is now being questioned. I know my reporting wasn’t good enough, point taken and I believe I have improved. The decision to report on a series of audits within a product and sub-module (6 audit sessions) and to report them via 6 separate reports, and a seventh for systematic findings was agreed with the Single Point of Contact and my manager CC on the mail. I say now, as I said in my last 1:1, the department needs an auditor it can trust, and that certainly isn’t me. We all suffer from imposter syndrome to come extent, and the past four months has not helped.

6th September 2024

I was accused of insubordination, when as Lead Auditor for the recent audit, I did not obey Suneeti’s request that I don’t have findings (NCRs, Observations, Improvements) in the conclusion. I ignored her as I believed, correctly, as Lead Auditor, it is my responsibility on how to report on the audit.

There is no issue with Suneeti, she does not need to change, it is all my inability to accept constructive criticism when given.

Apparently.

She has multiple examples of my poor work and negative comments.

Refused to accept that there is a wider issue within the department.

Monday: a new dawn.

Actual rain falling from the sky, though from what we hear there was plenty when we were away.

But rain before we got up, and rain through most of the day, meaning the cats did not want to go outside.

For me, it is the start of a new era, my manager was let go suddenly, and so there isn't that war front to deal with now. Although there was to be a department meeting after lunch to explain things.

Or not, as it turned out.

I wish no one to lose their jobs, and I am really quite sad that events turned the way they have. Our manager came to us with huge experience, and we hoped with ideas to improve the department and company.

It took a year for her to be found, so it is possible that for the last 11 months of my working life I will have no manager as such.

So it goes.

So, I could log on at seven, and not fear meetings or calls. There was the matter for pretty much two months mails to read and file, to make sure I missed nothing, and to get my job back under control.

Before then there was talks with colleagues as we reflected on the events of the past few days, and the fact none of us were going to have to look for new jobs or resign.

Meanwhile the rain hammered down and turned morning back into night.

Oh yes, I got up at quarter to six as normal, and before the trip it was daylight then, On Monday it was dark. Dark and raining, and took half an hour for dawn to begin to show.

Winter is coming.

Autumn is here.

I have to find documents, which means reviewing e mails going back to the beginning of October last year, so that will take several hours.

And so with cats sleeping, and the radio burbling quietly, the day passes into afternoon and the rain eases, clouds thin, though there is no sunshine.

With Jools splashing in the evening, I made some halloumi and chipotle spiced bread with supper, made with some of the new spice sourced online.

Turns out that packed a punch, but once Jools was back from the pool, we cracked open some wine/cider, cut the now cool bread and ate well.