Hmmmm

Well, that was definitely an *interesting* week. Not one that I would wish to repeat if I was totally honest, but one which has pushed the learning curve, both at work and at home, and which I hope has given me enough experience to be able to cope next time!

Essentially, I got my tender launched. The one that was the first job given to me after I was hired, and which has taken me two months to get sorted out (not helped by the fact that crucial paperwork appeared to be missing) and put together. I got it released into the wild on Thursday evening. The first criticisms appeared Friday morning. Including from people who had QA checked it and signed it off! It didn't help that this week also saw a number of other procurement projects getting to vital stages, all of which needed advice or assistance. So I spent all Friday bouncing from meeting to meeting or trying to get messes untangled. Unfortunately, there was still a lot left to do when I finally gave up and decided that as I'd done my hours for the week, I was calling it a day.

Sadly, the stress sat with me most of the weekend - it came and went in waves (I didn't sleep Friday, spent all night at work in my dreams, and then woke up on Saturday knowing how I was going to fix things. That led to a good Saturday until I was dropping off to sleep and remembered about one problem which I hadn't sorted out! That then knocked me out on Sunday...), which didn't do my general mood much good. Being beaten 7-1 at hockey certainly didn't help, either, especially as only one of those was a "deserved" goal - I just wasn't on top form (to be honest, neither was the rest of the team!).

The frustrating thing was that when I got in to work this morning, it took me about half an hour to get everything to a point where I was happy (not completely sorted out yet as I'm still waiting for one response from a colleague), and was even able to tackle a couple of other big projects. So I needn't have put my blood pressure through the roof at all! Hopefully next time this happens (and I'm certainly not naive enough to think that this is going to be the only source of stress for me even in the next couple of months, let alone the rest of my career), I'll know that I can handle it, and not try and work out how quickly I could get a job at the local supermarket!

It also did help getting a phone call from the head of the national contracts unit who spent a little bit of time reassuring me and also pointing out that one of the first criticisms I'd received, although possibly justified, (regarding information in the properties of the tender documents, which, as I don't use properties at all, I didn't even think to check!) did come from someone who doesn't seem to spend much time doing anything else other than criticise (he even knew who it had been without me telling him), so I could therefore not take it too much to heart!

In an attempt to cheer myself up over the weekend, I went looking for Noel Coward songs on YouTube (they'd been mentioned in a Counterpoint quiz that we'd listened to on the I-player). I then found these, which I'd either completely missed when they were first broadcast, or had completely forgotten about (I hadn't even known he could sing!). Whilst "London Pride" did induce a small bout of homesickness (I don't even *like* London, but I adore the song), the rest of the songs definitely helped my mood.







A more positive new experience we had this week was finally getting to see in the market a Feijoa. We have drunk Feijoa juice, but not actually seen the fruit in the flesh. So, of course, I had to buy one to try.

The fruit doesn't look all that amazing from the outside:


however, when it is cut open, it has a small surprise:


The taste is completely new - John didn't particularly take to it - sort of a cross between a smooth Kiwi and bubble gum! Definitely one that I'd like to repeat, but at $7.99 / kilo, I think I'll wait for my tree to start fruiting...

I did find this rather fun website which tells you how to eat a feijoa (very useful for an ignoramus like me who did try to eat the skin first up - not pleasant!