I am now in my third week of working for an unnamed local authority and so far, it is fair to say that the grass is most definitely greener. Like some kind of iridescent fluro lime compared to the barren wastelands of an abandoned landfill being slowly reclaimed by the desert. That is not to say I don’t like TfL – in fact, it is a shame I had to leave (no exaggeration) as it is an exciting time there with the massive investment in the Cycle Superhighways and other big schemes being built – but I didn't feel a part of that excitement, adding precisely nothing to the cause. I think that boredom can be just as stressful as pressure and I was very bored indeed, that, coupled with a feeling that anything I did had no tangible benefit meant I was very keen to take a new job, and after much searching, one surfaced very close to home.
Keeping with my ethic of not ‘talking shop’, I won’t go into a, suffice to sayworkany more detail, save to say that I think I can have an impact here and am enjoying a certain amount of freedom to do things how I think they should be done. The work / life balance is the real boon though – running a much shorter distance than I cycled, plus flexi-time means I am getting home at about 1645hrs each day – the extra hour and a half with the family are really great. I keep sitting down, having a cup of tea, giving Willow dinner, having a play and then I look at my watch and realise I wasn’t even home yet at the old job! I am also working from home one day a week, which is very nice too.
Working here does bring its worries – an ever-shrinking organisation might not yield a lifelong career, and it’s going to be very hard going back to a long commute. And I am going to need to do something to compensate for the lack of exercise I now get. Generally though, so far, so great…
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