Going Back and Getting Packed

It's been a strange old week this week.  Work has been intense and very busy for the most part, and completely exhausting, but enjoyable nevertheless.

On Thursday, I managed my usual class at the gym before heading off to a meeting at my old CS. It was lovely to see everyone again and interesting to see how things were going there. I did get into a slightly heated interaction with one quite forthright volunteer, who launched into some fairly serious criticisms of the previous manager.  I wasn't impressed and felt someone had to step up and defend her in her absence.

Besides not being very appropriate, seeing as many of the people present hadn't even worked with her, it was unnecessary and irrelevant in many ways to talk about her at all. Obviously, some people still have an axe to grind, and I'm not really interested in having to listen to their views in that particular situation. Sometimes, you've just got to let things go and move on. I think people probably found me a bit more forthright than when I'd been there last, but I don't really care all that much.

I have to admit that this left me with mixed feelings about going back to the shop when I finish this job. Sometimes, in my experience, going back can be a mistake, but I do feel a degree of loyalty to the new manager, who put me forward for the opportunity of a paid job. I'm just playing it by ear at the moment and will decide one way or the other nearer the time.

It also made me notice how different the energy and the dynamics are in the previous shop, and at the moment, I'm finding the atmosphere at the new shop much more positive, despite it's difficulties on occasion. This may be the fact that it is too busy to engage in petty politics and I do realise that this could change over time or that I might just be oblivious for the moment.

Sometimes, when you go back into a situation as an outsider, you can see the reasons you were happy to leave in the first place and things that you did notice, but chose to ignore, can seem amplified and less tolerable. I don't want to seem ungrateful or give the impression that I feel superior or anything, because I don't, but I just felt a lot less comfortable in some respects going back.

Anyway,  I was back at the new shop on Friday and managed to get a few things done.  I've now got my objectives from the manager and I was largely working towards achieving the with the help of a little delegation, which he is encouraging me to do more, although I can't say it comes naturally to me. (I do like to be a hands-on manager.)

I've had a day off today (Saturday), before I begin a solid three day stint of working tomorrow, prior to us going on holiday to France early on Wednesday. I've been trying to pack, iron, do laundry, shop for food for the next few days, catch up on financial/admin tasks, read and write blog posts, harvest at the allotment, pickle excess produce, etc. 

I decided to put the cleaning on hold completely for this week, as there's just too much else to do. I'll pick up where I left off when we get back from France. I'm definitely not giving up on the Flylady system, as it's been working well for me, I've just got a bit too busy between holidays.

In September, I should be able to get back to normal, especially once LB is back at school and by which time the allotment will be making fewer demands on my time. I'm hoping to get back into a regular routine quite quickly, without too many interruptions and I'm almost looking forward to getting back before we even go away. (Well, not entirely.)

I hope you've all had a good week.