I always knew this week was going to be full on and it certainly has been. The first thing I had to do was try and sort out my diary which had been filled from dawn to dusk by my predecessor with meetings. I decided to set out as I mean to go on and immediately took out those that started before 9am. While I can get into the office for 8am , it's a pain and requires me to be on the 6:30am train which is just a bit much every day (stating the obvious). I then made it clear that we don't need to be joined at the hip for the next 4 weeks which is a sensitive process - even though he is retiring it's hard to let go and he is understandably keen that the team are looked after. By Wednesday we'd got the measure of each other and actually it's got easier on that front already - I think he's actually starting to look forward to the end now. It is fab to be back on the corporate side of the fence even if G4S is at the other end of the scale to BP in terms of process... We have processes but there are many of them and everyone does something different. The people have been great and very welcoming and I think I'm going to enjoy it once I've settled in. I'm trying to remain cautious. At BP I thought it was amazing to start with then went through the inevitable bumps and so this time I have my eyes open. What I have had is an enormous amount of support from my fab network which gives me loads of confidence.
It's been a transition week for all of us - Glenn has had to get used to me being out of the house again, and the girls don't have as much time as before. I felt a bit guilty on Monday when I went straight from work to yoga, but if I give up that then it's definitely all work and no play. I need my yoga more than ever to keep me sane right now. I was quite proud of myself - I walked the dogs every morning before getting the train (it's still dark at 5:15am - ugh but not for long), I made it to yoga and I managed to squeeze in 2 runs. Not bad for week one - just need to maintain that!
So the week ahead looks slightly less mental meeting wise, before heading to Portugal for a 3 day Leadership Conference the week afterwards. Hopefully by then I will have met a few more people and made some friends otherwise I will be a bit billy no mates. Funnily enough when I started at BP there was something similar a few weeks after I started and I did OK there so I'm not too worried.
The final big excitement has been Glenn finishing Abi's shed and she LOVES it! I should have taken a photo of her snuggled up on her day bed in there, with her little rug and chair, happy as anything. We sent a few ours on Friday getting some bits and pieces for it and I was so proud of Izzy - she pushed the trolley around the shop, picking out things she knew Abi would like, not expecting anything for herself. She has such generosity of spirit which makes me more proud than acing any school test. Abi of course slept down there on Friday without a single thought of being on her own in the garden all night, and would have done again I think on Saturday had she not been at Mia's. She got home today and headed straight back down there to curl up under her duvet with her Kindle. It's amazingly peaceful down there, you can just hear the birds in the wood and nothing more. If she doesn't use it I'm next in line without a doubt! The only bit we need to train her on is to take what she needs instead of ringing me ( e.g.today to ask for a cup of tea). Luckily I can stand in my study with a direct line of sight to her shed-bed - means I can gesticulate my response to such requests without having to put them into words. I can see how this is going to go in future years!
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