A whole week sneaks by

Goodness, looks like Sunday night is becoming blog night. Woohoo. Not.

The week started with my righthandperson saying that she has accepted another job within the organisation. As advertised, the role is easy and boring for her but in a different area of work which would open up new avenues more suited to her skills and studies. I agree she should move but the prospect of the whole recruitment process to find her replacement fills me with dread. I have spent all week faffing about updating her job description, even though a chat through it with my boss didn't seem to leave me with much to do. But then when I sat down and went through it all very carefully, I had that "This is all bollocks" feeling flood over me. For example, why is "Attend team meetings" in a JD? I must, and will, get it sorted tomorrow, and get all the paperwork to HR. It's a crap time of year to try to recruit, of course, but the upside is that she'll be only a few yards away and her new boss (who's now done a total of two days in the organisation!) seems very nice and amenable. In turn, I've agreed that righthandperson can attend some team meetings and an away day with the new bunch while she's still with me. We've worked together for over three years, so it's going to be traumatic finding a new person. We joke that there's no point asking one of us a question you've already asked the other person as you'll get exactly the same answer!

Bright and cheery temp didn't get the job she had an interview for, mostly because the job description turned out not to accurately reflect the job (see above!). However, she's since had a skype interview for a job in the US. Unenthusiastic temp also has an interview this week and we've been trying to say in all sorts of ways that she really must think about first impressions. The uncle of one of my volunteers died, as expected (he was in a hospice), but quiet volunteer just doesn't talk about things and we only found out when righthandperson asked after him. Quiet volunteer has really come on in the time he's been with us and tomorrow he starts paid temp work with our Finance colleagues. We're really hoping the extra experience will add enough to his CV to finally get him into permanent paid work. He really deserves it, he's been through a lot and some good luck is well overdue.

So, yes, work is tricky/interesting/challenging/whatever at the moment. So is life. I really feel on the edge so much of the time. I have to get the paperwork sorted for my compensation case for my elbow but it completely stresses me out even thinking about getting all the bits of paper together. I feel pathetic. A friend on another blog is discussing whether to get some anti-depressants. She has been to hell and back this past 6 months. I have this nasty feeling I'm simply being hormonal. My Mum was very 'tearful' during her menopause and I wonder if it's the same here. The not able to cope sensation is very close to the surface. I've taken a/ds in the past and I know they help.

We went for a lovely walk this afternoon, along the river past Ham House, up to Kew Bridge, cup of coffee, then straight line return home (9.7 miles). The river was really low but flowing inland quite fast. We saw lots of herons in trees up near Kew but the weirdest thing seemed to be a much smaller black bird attacking and chasing a heron! On the return, we joked about finding out how the tide was doing and discovered that the river had already been and visited the footpaths we'd been on only 2-3 hours earlier. This seemed impossible as the paths were passable again. Our route was below Teddington Locks and so my theory goes that Richmond was flooded to save those further up! It was only middling flooding though, the pubs weren't cut off.

In Richmond, depression/hormones left me with a sense of bewilderment. I found myself looking at all the Christmas stuff in the shops not knowing what I was supposed to do. The answer is usually 'nothing' (well - buy present for Mike and take children out at some point and buy whatever they point at) but it felt like the shops were having a go at me. I think part of it is an inner corner shaking its head at all the commercialism especially in the current climate. I'm not saying we don't need to enjoy ourselves occasionally, but it's all too much.

I've spent a lot of time sitting on coaches this week. Two away football matches - first to Scunthorpe and then to Burton Albion. One win, one loss. Another coach trip next Saturday to Bradford for FA Cup round 2. Great but I've already been there once this season! They do affect the AFD score though (arrive in foreign land ~2 hours before match what are you supposed to do but find a pub?) but I managed to keep it to four AFDs this week, so back in the lead again.