Reverse Psychology?

Posters have sprung up at work, as these things are wont to do on occasion, sporting slogans such as:

It's OK...
...To Leave Work On Time To Catch Your Train

It's OK...
...To Keep Personal Commitments

It's OK...
...To Meet A Friend For Lunch


I think the point of these are to convince us that we're working for a caring employer who actually knows what "Work-life balance" means, rather than just having heard of it. My problem is that I always thought it was ok to leave on time for your train, or to avoid working at weekends, or whatever. Now I'm thinking that maybe I'm the only one who was keeping such standards, and that everyone else is letting their trains go by below their windows, or sitting at their desks for 10 hour stretches. Maybe I should be giving up more of my life for my employer. Maybe that's precisely what they want us to think.

Best get on - 3.30 and if I'm not careful I'll miss my train.

Elspeth singing

This weekend is a weekend of singing for Elspeth, which is nice as I think she'd rather sing more than she does. Today she sang a duet with Margaret for Eileen and Alan's wedding at church. They sang 'Love Changes Everything' - maybe not my favourite piece, but it was very nice to hear Elspeth's lovely voice clearly again after many choral concerts where she's just one of a crowd. Tomorrow she has her choir christmas concert, where she will be one of said crowd. She hasn't lost her voice yet (which has sidelined her from each of the previous two years) so all should be well.

I'd just like to share with you a scene from today's wedding. We were sat at the back of one of the rooms in the church watching a (Powerpoint, no less) presentation of photos from Eileen and Alan's wedding. Sat next to us were two old ladies. Let's call them Old Lady 1 and Old Lady 2:



Old Lady 1 (sat 2 seats down from Elspeth): Do you know who that Elspeth was who did the singing?
Old Lady 2: No, I don't.

[pause]

Old Lady 1: Do you know her?
Old Lady 2: No.

[pause]

Old Lady 2: I think she comes to church, but I'm not sure.
Old Lady 1: Do you know who she is?
Old Lady 2: No, I don't think so.

[pause]

Old Lady 1: Shall we get that cup of tea?

Back to work

After 2 weeks away from the office I have been back in Southwark Towers this week. Admittedly the first 2 days of those 2 weeks I had a training course at a hotel in Victoria (London, not British Columbia), and for the fourth day I was ill with food poisoning from said course, and for the rest of the time I was studying, but 2 weeks away is still pleasant.

To quickly tie up loose ends: the exam went well. More guesswork than I would like, but not too much stabbing in the dark. No idea how I performed relative to a pass/fail decision, as we don't get told what the pass mark is, so we'll just have to wait until some time at the end of January (precisely when? We don't get told).

Anyway, it's been a tough week back. Monday was the team away day, a trip to Oxford for an overpriced treasure hunt. It was fairly fun though - deciphering clues, finding landmarks, harrassing tourists etc. The twist being that we had an 8 foot length of rope which we all (10 of use) had to keep hold of all the time. Yes. Quite. We then had some proper bonding in the minibus on the way home (i.e. drinking games, drinking from the bottle of gin or malibu) and a nice meal in a kosher restaurant. All in, a good day if rather alcohol-fuelled.

The other difficult day of work was yesterday, the combined team annual meeting/christmas lunch. Last year the traditional cambridge jolly was rather spoiled by my impending viva the next day, so I made the most of it this year. Plenty of drink all round, which led to some interesting moments and a true building of team spirit. Or rather more than team spirit in the case of two particular people. Hehehe. Gossip is fun. Discretion is overrated.

Can't work out how to finish this post. So I'll just stop.

A little bit of history

A photo of the latest addition to our dining room - a little bit of Crocker family history. The plaque on the front states that this clock was 'presented to Mr. H.G. Brazier on the occasion of his retirement from the Naval Ordinance Inspection Department on 20th February 1931'. H.G. Brazier was my Nan's father - my great-grandfather.

This clock hung in the hallway of my grandparents' house and I have always remembered its beautiful chime. After my grandparents had died, my sister and I both chose something to remember them by, and this was my choice. Since then it's been sitting in my parents attic waiting for me to own a house to put it in. Mum and Dad kindly took it to a local clock restorer and we brought it back last weekend, cleaned and oiled. Finally it's hanging on a wall again - I'm glad to have such a beautiful link to my past.

Exams

I wonder how long ago I took my first exam. It may well be measurable in decades rather than years now, but I'm still ploughing through them, the latest courtesy of the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) pofessional qualification that I am pursuing.

Tomorrow morning I need to be in East London at 8.00 for 6 hours of CFA level I exam, including such subjects as financial statement analysis, portfolio management, asset valuation, economics, and, um, well there are others which I have temporarily forgotten. Ooops. Revising again has been an interesting experience - the last time I did it in earnest being for my finals 4+ years ago. I've remembered why I dislike it so much, and have also realised the importance of practical use of the things in the syllabus and familiarity with the concepts. It may be an obvious statement, but the areas that I've struggled with are such as economics which I have never had cause to use in real life, rather than the quantitative analysis section (never really going to trouble me) or the bits on futures and options contracts and the debt investments, which I have experienced in the course of my work.

All in, I'm feeling confident (there's no point in approaching it any other way) but am aware that a lot of the material is on the edge of my consciousness if in my head at all, and I'd ideally be going in with stronger understanding of quite a large proportion of it. At least I feel pretty secure in the knowledge that having faced my third year cambridge maths exams and my PhD viva, exam experiences can't be any more daunting.

Well, I'd best go and limber up my brain. Wish me good memory for tomorrow.