Grinding on

It has been a good, a varied, and a productive day. Staff appraisal "summary sheets" - due two days ago - were completed in readiness for the bun fights next week. Most were straight forward, but one was difficulty as the team member hasn't really kept up with his admin and has made it difficult to create a balanced assessment. One day he'll learn!

There was also some reviewing to do for the Scottish Project. With the background of the staff moves, this has taken on an additional importance so GF tried to ensure he gave as much guidance as possible in his response.

Smoke is yet to emerge from the chimney regarding the new project - and that will probably mean GF will work from home at the beginning of next week. It didn't stop him preparing some of the templates that he will require once things get under way.

He has had to cede the driving seat on the work for the new consortium that he had been nurturing during the  late summer. They have finally burst into life - just at a time when GF is too busy to get involved. He spent some time during the afternoon briefing the guy that will now run with it. Shame really, GF really fancied that.

He noticed in a Starfleet publication today a big write up on the success of a project for a Government Agency. He's glad to see this - the whole idea for the system, the roadmap, the choice of tool, and the design sprung directly from GF's addled mind. Delivered in a number phases it has now become the backbone of all the Agency does... and was recently commended by the National Audit Office.

Crisp

Crisp hard frost covers the ground. The sky is blue and clear, except for a few con-trails. The sun is up and it looks like it will be a nice, though cold, day.

Continuum

As politics rattle the egos of those who who worry about such things, the Gorse Fox spent much of the day in a workshop which was designed to elicit the details of the first few weeks of work on the new project and confirm the organisational structure. The latter, you might have assumed would already be fixed, but no. The assumed structure was a mish-mash of roles put together into a structure that respected the divisional boundaries within Starfleet and their relative position within the contract. By the end of the workshop we had developed a structure that actually made sense and left us with an organisation that actually had a chance of working... and the Gorse Fox moving from the technical lead in one small area to the chief architect for the lot.

Talking of poison chalices, the personnel changes on the Scottish Project are now open knowledge. This has caused further ripples with one of the other long-term resources throwing his toys out of the pram and demanding to be moved (and come and work on GF's new project). As this is one of the largest single opportunities of the year, it has a magnetism for the high-flyers and he would certainly fit in well. We'll have to see how his management chain react.

Press

Good morning world.

Today the Leveson Report on the freedom of the Press is published. The Gorse Fox has no idea what it will say, but hopes sincerely that it does not end up with Government Regulation. That would be the slippery slope towards totalitarianism - as the press would (potentially) no longer be in the position to hold the Government Machine to account.

Appraisals

The early meeting was interesting and at first it was hard to understand why Starfleet would want to play in that particular playground. As the meeting went on it became clearer that Starfleet had some real skills and experience that could actually make a difference.

Back at the laptop the Gorse Fox had to complete the staff appraisal spreadsheet. This is by no means an easy job and is one that he worries about every year. Has he been fair? Has he done the best that he could for his team? Is he furthering their careers? Will he meet the deadlines?

It's all done now. He still has do some write-ups to provide context and collateral when defending their assessments during the annual moderation meetings. That will have to wait until tomorrow or Friday.

Up and Ready

Gorse Fox is up and ready for the early train. Expect a busy day lies ahead with a meeting about Government services to start with and then the next stage of the staff appraisals.

Another one down

That's another day done. It was a good day, but varied and could have been stressful. In practice Gorse Fox has successfully created the dynamic questionnaire that will be automatically generated for each of the applications that we will have to migrate in the programme. Then he had to deal with and issue with a Starship trooper who needs to be moved for his own sanity. He is suffering from a communications breakdown with those above him, and though it is not his fault he needs to be moved on.

Early start tomorrow as Gorse Fox has to be in a meeting in London first thing.

In Town

This week looks as if it will be spent commuting. At least it means Gorse Fox will have five hours a day to keep up with his reading.

Meanwhile, the client has (as expected) failed to make a decision, and so we wait another week to see if they can come to a sensible conclusion.

Pork Belly

Well, the Gorse Fox doesn't usually answer to a name like that.

The plan had been to get some pork ribs, but GF was thwarted by the butcher's inability to conjure up a couple of racks from his cold store. Standing at the counter, GF had to extemporise. In the end a slab of pork belly was chosen, and currently sits marinating in soy sauce, lemon juice, lime juice, crushed garlic, and wholegrain mustard.

Not sure what the next step will be, but GF suspects he will slow roast it on a bed of root vegetables for about three hours. (Though he may change his mind - strip the skin for crackling, and simmer the belly and the vegetables in stock).

Sunday is not a day that lends itself to such momentous decisions.

Clumsiness

The Gorse Fox abhors clumsiness - and his own occasional clumsiness is one of the few things that will make him really angry. Having enjoyed this evening's curry, the Gorse Fox decided that a glass of lassis would be nice, and would ensure his digestive transit was at peace when he went to bed.

Yoghurt was put into the glass, then milk, a banana and some honey. The hand held blender was lowered into the glass. It was at this point the Gorse Fox realised this could be messy. He removed the blender and poured the mixture into the blending jar which was much taller and less susceptible to ejecting its contents when the blender was switched.

That was a close run thing.

The Gorse Fox turned to grab the honey - in doing so he caught the blender, and tipped the jar over. The concoction went everywhere. A thick syrupy sludge dripped from the work surface. The phrase "Oh for goodness sake" (or something similar) burst from his lips and along with the Silver Vixen, the next ten minutes was spent clearing up.

Up North

Well, the Gorse Fox observes that it has been raining since he got up this morning. It is dark enough to have the lights on in the house. In a minute he will check the GPS position and ascertain that the house hasn't moved to North overnight. After all, this sort of weather is not meant to happen on the Sussex Coast... where we are meant to bask in the eternal sunshine of genteel living.

Chichester

And so it came to pass that we met up with Betty and Barney Rubble.

We had looked for a suitable meeting place, and discovered that there was a Tapas restaurant mentioned in the travel guides, and it featured in the top few establishments in Chichester. "El Castizo" is in the cellars under an accounting firm on the way in to Chichester from the east. A little difficult to find, it was well worth the effort.

As well as the usual range of tapas, there was a "specials" board featuring a number of extra dishes. It was a lovely place, and the food was excellent - it would have been too easy to settle back with a bottle of wine and spend the whole afternoon enjoying the friendly service and the quirky ambience of the whole place.

Emerging from the cellar we made our way into the town centre and strolled through the afternoon shoppers to the Cathedral.

St Richard's Cathedral dominates the town, yet is actually quite small as Cathedrals go. The Gorse Fox remembers being told, as a cub, that it was the only Cathedral that could be seen from the sea, and was used as a landmark by sailors coming through the Channel. He has no idea whether this is true, but it seems feasible.

Embracing technology, the Silver Vixen noted that flat-screen TVs stood by each of the massive internal columns, relaying the service to those whose view was impaired by the structure, or the lady with the big hat in the next row. Perhaps some technology should have been applied with more exactitude when the Cathedral was built. It was quite clear that the two towers surrounding the west door we out of kilter. Neither was quite square with the Cathedral front, and from the inside it was clear to the naked eye that the towers twist slightly and are out of square.

Leaving the Cathedral, we strolled through the cloisters and out into South Street where we took a table at Maison Blanc for a cup of tea and some patisserie.

A nice day.

Blown out

The gales of last night seem to have blown themselves out. The rain has stopped. The Gorse Fox can feel a trip to Chichester coming on.

Slip-sliding Away

The evening's entertainment continued with excellent tickets for the Brighton Centre. The "Holiday on Ice" troupe were here for 3 days, performing their show "Speed".

This was a really good show with plenty of exciting skating, acrobatics, leaps, spins, even motorbikes filling the ice. In fact that, if anything was the only drawback - it filled the ice. The rink was really quite small (GF assumes it has to be to be able to break it down and transport it from venue to venue), and somehow you felt that with a bit more space it would have made it more spectacular.

Now, this doesn't diminish what we saw. It was really very good and very exciting, with pounding music keeping the tempo and skilled ice dancers showing just how easy it is to skate and to be graceful (when you have practised every day since you were 6 years old).

The show was split into two halves of about 50 minutes each, with a 20 minute intermission... giving the Zamboni time to resurface the rink.

The second half of the show was even more frenetic. It was the second half that saw the motor bikes pulling the skaters, the acrobatics, the jumps over and through various obstacles, and at one point the race between two of their troupe.

It certainly was "all action" and the Gorse Fox must admit to having thoroughly enjoyed it.

By the time we left the weather had deteriorated further, and the Brighton Centre insisted everyone left through the back of the building for their own safety. Fortunately this deposited us right by the car park, so we we away and heading home in no time.

Themed eating

As the weather collapsed during the afternoon, and gales swept the Channel, the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen headed across to Brighton. Leaving the car nestled in a cosy parking structure we fought our way against the winds to the sea-front.

Having picked up our tickets for the evening's entertainment, we carried on towards the pier, and stopped JB's American Diner. Somehow, being Thanksgiving, it seemed an appropriate choice of eatery.

As 1950s and early 60s rock and roll tunes played in the background, our theme was slightly blemished by our Ukrainian waitress. Charming, but slightly anachronistic.

The menu, as you would expect, was varied and met the expectations of steaks, burgers, hot dogs and goodness knows what else. The portions were predictably "hearty" and the coffee was excellent. A good start to the evening.

Moving

Lovely long chat with Beloved Aunt at lunchtime. It seems she too is planning on moving. Difference being she already has an agreement on a new place and will move as soon as he wants.

Bright

It is a bright, but windy start. The rain and gales hammering the west country are forecast to hit later, but for now it's not too bad.

We plan to head for Brighton later.

Celebrations

Today is Silver Vixen's birthday. It is a significant, but not too significant, number of years since she first graced this planet with her beauty, her wit, her charm, her warmth, and her addiction to tea. The world is a better place because of her. She is the Gorse Fox's inspiration, his muse, and his soul-mate.

Happy Birthday

Workshop

The day went well. The Gorse Fox met with colleagues to discuss a bid for a Government Agency. Much of the day was spent trying to understand from our specialists how the Agency operated and what the intended "system" would do. It was also interesting to hear that this agency despite out-sourcing much of their back-office operation, still have an IT Department with 400 people in it. No wonder our taxes are so high. It makes you ask what that number is across the whole of Government.

Though the meeting had started mid-morning, it was well-gone six before we broke up, so GF wasn't home until nearly nine, but at least he is on vacation for the rest of the week.

The Big City

GF is up and ready for a day in the big city.... and then the rest of the week on vacation