Blog Week 16: Coming and going in weird times.

Sunday 12 March 22.36

Cold and sunny - lovely day for a walk around the Woluwe lakes. Little sign of spring, but must be just round the corner.

On Friday an email was sent round saying Lisa is leaving soon. She is going to another law office in Brussels.

Probably others have known for a while and as usual I am the last to know in the office.

It seems to me in Brussels that so many lawyers come and go. It is like a merry-go-round. Only the partners seem to stay put.

Monday 13 March 20.27

Bill is away the next few days and so I ended up helping out Goldilocks today.

Since I was last her secretary (the end of Year 1) nothing has changed - her office is still a complete mess.

At least I had secretarial stuff to help her with today - not just the usual "find this piece of paper - it is urgent."

The office relocation is rearing its ugly head again. I heard Goldilocks discussing it with Cherie in the Ladies toilets. Not that I was eavesdropping or anything. I had no choice but to hear the last options: Rue de la Loi/Kunst-Wet or Avenue Louise/Louiselaan.

I can start to feel the office suffering with PMT: Pre-Move Tension. Probably it is the idea of moving - that than the move itself - which is causing the tension.

Tuesday 14 March 22.59

Not sure what to make of tonight's TV shows: the Apprentice on BBC 2 was interesting; I was hooked from start to finish - even when the applicants did the most unbelievable things. Alan Sugar was amusing and (a tiny bit) terrifying. By contrast DeTopManager on VT4 is starting to get a little boring. The boss - who looks like a Jean-Claude Van Damme wannabe - behaves like an imitation of Donald Trump and Alan Sugar. The VT4 show applicants mostly lack any real business experience and already are starting to get really annoying - particularly their constant lack of organisation and poor decision-making. Still I'll watch next week and see what happens. By contrast, I cannot wait to see what happens on the Apprentice.

Meanwhile, back to reality ...

With the usual faboulous office pre-planning and communication, I found myself temporarily in a new office today - with the Weirdo!

An IT guy from another European office is sharing "my" office with Mockney for the rest of the week. They have "Office compatibility" issues or something to go over.

I mentioned before I have not had much to do with Weirdo. Well today I too much to do with her.

She has these annoying habits - like constantly muttering to herself. I won't go through the others. It is really difficult to get anything done with a conversation going on in the same room. She reminds me of Gollum in Lord of the Rings going on about his "precious". In this case "her" precious office.

I realise now why she has had her own office for such a long time now.

Wednesday 15 March 20.06

Today was a really trying day.

Weirdo spent the morning behaving like she had escaped from a horror film: quietly talking to herself, staring out of the window and then suddenly laughing out loud.

Mockney says she is "Radio Rental" - apparently Cockney rhyming slang for "Mental" (or crazy). I just wonder if she is intentionally trying to get herself fired.

Anyway at lunchtime I told Pierre I need another place to work. At first he told me to stop overreacting. The look of fury and frustration across my face meant he quickly changed his mind. He could see how angry I was and so decided to find somewhere else for me to work.

I spent the afternoon working in Bill's office. He is away till Monday and at least I no longer felt like the victim in a bad Hollywood film.

Friday 17 March 01.36

Just got home - was at Lisa's farewell drink.

Lisa's formal (ie in the office) farewell drink is this evening. I got to speak with her tonight. I did not realise how relieved she is to be going.

I suppose I walk around with my eyes closed and so do not notice the competition going on between the associates.

I assume they all get on - and mostly they do. But there is a tension under the surface. Always.