My darling wife slipped into bed about four this morning, back from her shift. Slipped is one way of putting it, tripping over the dog and diving head first at me is another! So while she blissfully sleeps I have plenty of time to start my utterings.
I am getting very used to working from home now and if truth be told, now I have stopped playing at it I am very productive. Not so much at the selling part of my role, but that will come as people’s confidence grows and we begin to see light at the end of this lock-down tunnel.
So I am plenty busy enough today, I have data to cleanse and reassign, clients to call and email. We even have an update from our CEO to look forward to, plenty to keep me out of mischief.
I have been pondering, after all this is over if we should explore working from home as an option. In the great scheme of things most of us have access to a laptop and a phone. Internet speeds are good, why couldn’t we? Obviously there are plenty of roles where it couldn’t work, with a role like mine I really need to be there to meet my public. That being said, it could be equally beneficial to have say one day a week where I work from home and keep up with my admin?
That and most importantly, I don’t like wearing trousers, or socks for that matter! I have got very used to knocking about in my shorts, and yes I know we are heading towards winter. But I come from the UK, you don’t know what cold is. I could be quite happy in my shorts and flip flops (jandals for my Kiwi friends). I suppose there could be a Health and Safety aspect for the flip flops, but I have other shoe options. Although the steel toe capped Toms® I fear is a little way off. But shorts, that fits in nicely with the holiday atmosphere we are trying to sell. I think it could be a winner. So while I am at home I will continue with my no trouser/sock ethos. I mean no one ever sees anymore of me than from the waist up on a Skype call, what I have on below the table is up to me.
Last though on Spain before we have a change of county. From Montserrat we head towards Barcelona. It’s not far away and after the start of the day we have had, we don’t want to travel far. What I had not considered is that tonight is Euro 2008 finial. Spain vs Germany at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna, Austria. Despite the fact that the final was being played in Austria it appears the best part of the population of Spain is heading to Barcelona to watch the game. This is a problem for us, pitching up on the side of the road will be too dangerous and the police will most likely move us on anyway. The little cheapy campsites I normally favour will be full, so we do something I hate to do and head for one of the larger more commercial sites. The chances of getting a pitch are much greater. I am not the sort of guy that books ahead, I like to travel in the morning till I see something of interest and stop there. Sometimes it’s only half an hour sometimes it’s half a day, but the rule is simple. You see something and stop. I have learnt from my own mistakes, there is nothing better around the corner and invariably you can’t turn around for miles.
This time it’s different, we have a destination to head for. It’s everything I thought it would be, full of kids charging around the place and much more expensive than it needed to be. But it has a space for us and the facilities are good.
After we get settled we do take full advantage of the facilities and do some washing. It’s all go go go this travelling lark. Then I have a new plan, the bar looks promising, I like football and yes it is called football. It’s not been Americanised. They have a sport called American Football that has very little to do with kicking a ball, they can call their sport soccer if they like. Anyway I head for the bar, my girlfriend has already had enough of today and the idea of standing is a bar watching football does not appeal one bit.
Here is another top travel tip, look for the Dutch. Invariably they can speak most languages and are always in my experience great company. This is exactly what I do, I meet up with a splendid Dutch guy and are joined by a German chap. He is keeping is head down as he is clearly in the minority in this bar, but like all of us keen to see the game. Between us all we can have a joint conversation, mostly edited by our new Dutch friend but who cares. We are men drinking beer and watching football. It’s a good game too, Spain win after a tremendous Fernando Torres goal. My German friend right to keep his head down, skulks away as the Spanish singing reaches crescendo. One of the most memorable games of football I have witnessed, not because of the game but the company and the surroundings. Proving sport really does overcome all differences.
Oh and I have got the windows into my VW.
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