My main customer works to an annual budgeting cycle, which means that the same activities seem to happen at roughly the same time every year. Two years ago I was working on a major bid, at the same time as Christopher was dying in the hospice. I would go into work in the morning, sort out some of the previous day’s issues, then dash to the hospice in the afternoon to spend some time with him.
This time last year I was bidding for a follow on to the same project, with the same people. That was tough, although it did at least give me something to concentrate on and throw my energies into around the anniversary of his death.
Guess what is going on this year? That’s right, another major bid. It’s not quite a follow-on to last year, but is with many of the same people. At least the key team members know that this is a difficult time of the year for me, and they are all rallying round to support me and help me through it. My colleagues in the office are also being very tolerant of the fact that I have a short fuse at the moment. I normally try to watch my language when I’m in an open plan office, but I’m so stressed at the moment that it’s difficult. My computer has been very flaky recently and it hasn’t taken much provocation from Bill Gates to get me to break out in fluent Anglo-Saxon! I’ll be glad when this week is over, the bid is under control, and the anniversary is past for another year.
{ 2 } Comments
Hi Gillian. We are on holiday in (apparently) neolithic Scotland and don’ t have proper internet connection. But I am thinking of you. And when we’re back, we must make another assault on the garden… with plans for growing some things from seed for next year.
Thinking of you at this time of year.
I had a strange reminder yesterday – you might remember the article “The median is not the message” (http://cancerguide.org/median_not_msg.html) by Stephen Jay Gould that I sent to Chris.
I sat down yesterday with some books I’d been meaning to read; the first had a reference to “The medium is the message” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_medium_is_the_message); in my ignorance I didn’t realize Gould’s title was a pun before now. Chris was more well-read than me, so perhaps he appreciated the wordplay!
And the second book in my pile was by Stephen Jay Gould.
Hope the bid isn’t too aggravating…