Under pressure
19 Aug 08
GB's athletes are feeling the heat in Beijing, and so am I in the office...
Wow, what a weekend. Everything went swimmingly (and cyclingly) for Team GB in Beijing, stomping all over the competition in the velodrome and on the water. A superb effort by all involved. It seems to lift the whole country when our sporting stars deliver the goods and hopefully we will see a few more gold medals in the coming days.
In complete contrast, a leaving do for one of my fellow qualifying colleagues as he headed off to the continent to pursue his career, left Saturday morning an impossibility and yours truly a bit worse for wear. I then had to lift myself (though with the aid of coffee rather than partaking in any kind of sporting activity) for a friends birthday bash on Saturday evening and spent Sunday afternoon recovering while watching the Magpies take an under-strength Manchester United team to task on the Premier League’s opening weekend.
A tiring weekend was followed by a difficult day at work, management deciding that the rest of my team were quite entitled to take the next two weeks off work, as I would be there to cover. An interesting principle given the number of hours there are in the day. The biggest step up for me since the promotion is the level of responsibility I now enjoy. It does bring with it a higher workload and some additional demands. However, it also brings with it additional levels of responsibility and freedom. Being encouraged to develop the role and the relationships required to make it work is a tremendous feeling having spent three years as “the graduate trainee”. Whether I will still be relishing the challenge in a fortnight’s time, when the rest of my team return from their relaxing, refreshing breaks with families and friends, we shall have to see!
Until next time