12th March

Back to the grind. I'm feeling quite unsettled for some reason today. Bad dream, got out on the wrong side of the bed, things getting me down. I can't put my finger on it. The feeling of disquiet lasts throughout the day. Most unusual for me and I don't like it.

In the office I check with the IT guys on how the power down and their work went. It wasn't plain sailing for them but they got through what needed to be done and did it all on the Saturday. Cherie is winding them up by recounting a story of the duty officer phoning round various people and not getting through to any of them on Saturday night /Sunday morning. Its all a red herring as the building is still standing and there is obviously no problem. I tell her that he must have been worrying about nothing - turns out to be true, he overreacted and phoned too many people. She compounds it today by doing even more unnecessary follow-up.

I'm told that the rogue data cablers have wired up one of our rooms to their cabinet. I'll have to get them to undo this work.

Meet with Steve for our regular Monday meeting. The window guys are being their normal unresponsive, uncommunicative selves. The only time we can get through to them is when they are owed money. I need them to have their work done by Easter but we have no confidence in them meeting these dates. I make a note to write to them.

I'm still awaiting some information on quotes for replacing the doors throughout the building. Steve will chase.

The vents in the roof are progressing OK now. I can't wait. The architect has been in and measured up for the proposed platforms in the roof void. His diagrams turn up and we now have to get the costs sorted out.

Over lunch I write to the Audi dealer and one of the local garages to get a quote for the work we need done. I call Richard (Pete's dad-in-law) to chat to him about getting a small runaround hatchback for us to supplement the Audi. We need a fallback in case we have problems getting it fixed and in any event we need to get a small car for us to use for our short journeys. I also write again to Audi to find out what they will do about helping to resolve the problem. Not expecting much joy there though.

I discuss a few managerial bits with Cherie. Also cover off plans for a series of project management courses with Matt. He and I devised these a couple of years ago based on one I had developed in a previous existence. Its 5 bite-sized sessions which we run over 2 weeks. I do the opening and closing bits and he runs the middle sessions. We're thinking about doing a set of these in May.