test please delete

[WTFH]

cost more to post those than anyone'll pay

Ah, the new rules of the bay, you select postage before you list the product. They tell you it is starting at 99p, and then there's another £1.20 for postage, and £1 for "buyer protection", which is the term they use for eBay's cut of the sale.

[NickFitz]

Lunch: leftover pork cutlet in a wholemeal bap with apple sauce

The visit to the dentist was OK; I didn't have to wait long, and he was nice and quick about it and didn't find anything requiring attention

Today's other exciting news is that ClientGov and I may soon be parting company!

There's been rumblings around "return to the office" policies for a couple of years now, but not a lot happened and certainly nothing that affected contractors. But the hammer has come down from on high (aka the Cabinet Office), and suddenly people are supposed to spend 40% of their working time in the office, which in my case is the Admiralty down in That London. Nice as the building is from a historical and architectural perspective, I have no desire to go there on a regular basis

As it's all happening in a rush, various details are still being worked out, including how this applies to contractors. The general notion is that it does apply unless their contract specifies otherwise. Mine, having originated back when even the senior people hardly ever went in, is singularly unclear on this point, making it hard to work out whether the decision falls in favour of "It doesn't say we can make him, thus he doesn't have to" or "It doesn't say we can't make him, thus he does have to". I've had a long chat with my lovely contract manager about it, who is herself not happy but is a Civil Servant so has to suck it up, and she's going to do her best to get an interpretation in my favour; the words "No defined pattern of working" that appear somewhere in there might help, apparently

But I've told her that if it turns out they're going to require it of me, then I'll probably be giving notice

Some uncertainty also revolves around the question of what 40% of a four day week is; she also works one, so she's already asked for clarification on that

It'll be a bit of a shame, but then again, I fancy a break. And I have no rent or mortgage to worry about and plenty in the warchest, so I'm sure it'll all turn out fine whatever happens

[NickFitz]

Tea has been homemade pork chow mein

And to go with it, the next part of Murder 24/7 on iPlayer, concluding the domestic murder from the previous episode which I realised was in Worcester, not Gloucester. They then moved on to a one-punch killing outside a pub in Malvern, which isn't really a place one associates with such things. And the last few minutes before the "to be continued" bit involved a chap killing his mother and attempting to kill his father

I noticed that a couple of members of the production team have the surnames "Stabb" and "Clews" which seems appropriate

[NickFitz]

Apparently yesterday was this year's Day of Latest Sunset here, so today is the first day I can talk about how early it gets dark now

[eek]

Lunch: leftover pork cutlet in a wholemeal bap with apple sauce

The visit to the dentist was OK; I didn't have to wait long, and he was nice and quick about it and didn't find anything requiring attention

Today's other exciting news is that ClientGov and I may soon be parting company!

There's been rumblings around "return to the office" policies for a couple of years now, but not a lot happened and certainly nothing that affected contractors. But the hammer has come down from on high (aka the Cabinet Office), and suddenly people are supposed to spend 40% of their working time in the office, which in my case is the Admiralty down in That London. Nice as the building is from a historical and architectural perspective, I have no desire to go there on a regular basis

As it's all happening in a rush, various details are still being worked out, including how this applies to contractors. The general notion is that it does apply unless their contract specifies otherwise. Mine, having originated back when even the senior people hardly ever went in, is singularly unclear on this point, making it hard to work out whether the decision falls in favour of "It doesn't say we can make him, thus he doesn't have to" or "It doesn't say we can't make him, thus he does have to". I've had a long chat with my lovely contract manager about it, who is herself not happy but is a Civil Servant so has to suck it up, and she's going to do her best to get an interpretation in my favour; the words "No defined pattern of working" that appear somewhere in there might help, apparently

But I've told her that if it turns out they're going to require it of me, then I'll probably be giving notice

Some uncertainty also revolves around the question of what 40% of a four day week is; she also works one, so she's already asked for clarification on that

It'll be a bit of a shame, but then again, I fancy a break. And I have no rent or mortgage to worry about and plenty in the warchest, so I'm sure it'll all turn out fine whatever happens

40% of 4 days a week means a mixture of 1 or 2 days to meet that 40% requirement when you look at it over a period of time (I know because Mrs Eek is in theory subject to it but avoids it by / as site visits are included in the limit).

Edit 2 - if you are subjected to it I know a decent hotel right by Romford station (Lizzie line) to stay in if required - I use it whenever I'm down - and it's where I'm posting this from.

[NickFitz]

40% of 4 days a week means a mixture of 1 or 2 days to meet that 40% requirement when you look at it over a period of time (I know because Mrs Eek is in theory subject to it but avoids it by / as site visits are included in the limit).

Edit 2 - if you are subjected to it I know a decent hotel right by Romford station (Lizzie line) to stay in if required - I use it whenever I'm down - and it's where I'm posting this from.

I found more info on the Intranet and it appears it has to be 40% per calendar month. That still doesn't tend to fit for a four day week, but would generally work out by doing one day one week then two days the next.

Cheers for the hotel suggestion! I've been looking at things like train timetables, and reminding myself how much I hated the week (fourteen years ago now) when I tried driving down to park at Stanmore tube station then driving home again, before giving up and going back to the Premier Inn at Edgware. But TBH I'm quite tempted by the idea of just leaving, and taking a few months to relax after which I'll see if anything comes up. There's no urgency, thanks to the inheritance

[NickFitz]

I finished reading One Girl's War, in which she rather fell out with M and moved on to various secretive things happening at Bush House, while her personal life also continued to be rather odd

Thursday tomorrow!

Goodnight all

[WTFH]

TFBSZ

[NickFitz]

Morning denizens

Cloudy start out, after overnight rain which may even resume shortly, if lightly. Still warm though: 17°C now and 23° due later, along with the wind getting up again. The barometers are down a bit at 996/1004mB. And another heatwave is predicted for the weekend, making me glad I have nothing much to do

The last couple of nights, and some last week, were in that temperature range where the equinoctial duvet is too warm at bedtime but just about right by morning. But as the warm weather is coming back, I'm going to change the bed and switch to the thin summer one

[WTFH]

Morning all
Drizzling out, and I slept in.