Who turned out the lights?

My company moved to new a new office building last year. I found my new desk was situated in a fantastic position, in fact the best position I have ever found myself sitting, I had a full length window which overlooked the Yarra river and enjoyed that most sought after of commodities in an office, natural sunlight, all through my working day. You may have noticed that that last statement was in the past tense. That’s because my beloved position has moved, yes it’s over and I, along with the rest of my department, have been banished to the dark and foreboding cave that is the centre of the open plan floor, a space with no more than three faltering and asthmatic neon tubes to illuminate the pervading gloom.

I have been sitting at my new desk now for a week, and as expected, it is like working on the night shift. Whilst at my desk last Wednesday, just before drifting off into a short doze brought about by the monotonous work and the low, almost romantic, light levels, I counted all of the desks I have sat at in the past ten and a half years of working for my employer. It was quite surprising, almost twenty in fact, spanning five buildings. You can see how I fell asleep can’t you?

Australia says "Sorry"

So today saw the Prime Minister make a formal apology to the indigenous peoples of Australia. This is something that the former Prime Minister John Howard refused to do for the last ten years as he didn’t seem to think it was needed. It has taken only two and a half months for the new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, to say “Sorry” on behalf of all Australian citizens, something that, according to one pole I saw today, about 70% of Australians supported him in doing.

Two observations on my part about this: A Wednesday morning in the middle of the working week was chosen to make the speech. Granted large TV screens were erected around the place to televise Kevin Rudd’s apology speech, but why wasn’t it done on a weekend when more people would be able to actually take notice and be a part of it, underlining the supposed support for the action? My second observation is that of an average nine to fiver slaving at my desk, an observation which was quite enlightening I thought. There was precisely no reaction at all. In the office there was no mention of the speech that occurred during the morning, no discussion amongst my fellow employees, not even a fleeting comment did I hear. No acknowledgment that anything as politically and historically significant as this apology was occurring whatsoever. This surprised me a little. Consideration reveals two possible reasons, and in reality it was probably due to a combination of these two reasons, one being I am temporarily working amongst a office full of call centre staff (of which I am not one I wish to add here – not that there is anything wrong with call centre staff) with a median (mental) age of about twelve, and my second reason is that there seems to be a overwhelming sense of outward apathy on the ground (as it were) regarding this issue amongst many. I make no conclusion here, perhaps my observations are not particularly worthwhile as a lot of people, I know, prefer to keep their political convictions private, I just wanted to mention my (hopefully unbiased) observations here today.

A new year and some imminent new arrivals...

Well another new year and it is nearly the middle of February by the time I get around to writing in my blog. Nothing new in that I guess, It does make me realise how disciplined you need to be to keep up regular posts though. So I suppose that makes me irresponsible? No I don’t think so, just time challenged.

Things are fairly quiet around here right now, after hosting family and friends since early November the house has returned once more to the quiet peaceful abode it was prior to becoming a temporary hotel for international visitors. Don’t misunderstand me though, it was great to see everyone, but it is nice to chill out a bit after they have gone home. This peaceful state of affairs will I doubt last for long though. We are expecting the arrival of twins in a couple of months and then, well let’s just say it will be different. I haven’t mentioned this here before as it didn’t seem too real for some reason, now though, with a heavily pregnant wife to try and avoid bumping into in the narrow parts of the house, and piles of new baby items accumulating in every spare corner, it is time to blog about it, as I am sure that soon, I will have nothing else to talk about but babies and all the many and varied things that accompany them