Time passing
2024–06–07
It’s coming up to 5 years since I joined Citizens Advice. This week I realised that pretty much everybody who was in the leadership team I joined has left. Sure, that team doesn’t exist in the same way any more, there have been several iterations and moves and minor reorganisations but still, it made me think.
Often I feel like I’m standing still while everything else is moving around me. And that’s not to say there’s anything wrong with standing still. Not at all. It doesn’t mean there isn’t progress in that stillness, or that stillness can’t be a strength.
I don’t like to rush.
At the same time if there’s a great deal of heat and light being made around you it can be nice to be a part of it if it’s the good kind of energy. Purpose not panic. I’m not averse to that. Hey I can be versatile.
That 5 years isn’t really 5 years in a conventional sense anyway because of the pandemic. Maybe it’s more like 2 and a half years. Or 10 years.
I am trying to get into the new London office at least once a week now. It is actually nice. It’s also productive, as long as I can ensure I’ve got a day with few video calls. Even if the office is say 20% full there’s only just enough private space for people to sit on calls. Back when I started at Citizens Advice in the old London office it was impossible to get a meeting room. It was impossible to get a desk too if you came in after 09:30 on most days, which I had to do due to childcare.
I remember in my first week when I didn’t understand the room booking rules because nobody had explained them to me I had not been able to get a desk and I had settled in one of the phone booth cubicle things. I went to get a drink and when I came back the person who had booked the phone booth cubicle thing had taken all of my stuff and put it on the floor in a pile about 5 metres away from the door. Neither of us said anything. That was a strange day.
But that was then, in an office that wasn’t fit for purpose and then became redundant overnight when the first lockdown happened, and as things started opening up it continued to be largely redundant because it was too big and people weren’t coming into the office and lots of new people had joined the organisation and they didn’t live anywhere near London. That last bit, shifting the centre of gravity away from London not really intentionally but as a result of a period of time when ‘place’ meant less, that was a good outcome I think. Particularly as an organisation that serves clients across England and Wales*
I get uncomfortable referring to things coming out of the pandemic as being ‘good’ but hopefully you get my drift.
And so I also thought there would be this great hollowing out of the centre of London itself and that that would at the very least be interesting to see. But when I’m out and about nowadays it doesn’t seem that different to me. Seems very full. Lots of people look very smart still. Nobody in pyjamas in Clerkenwell. I find myself thinking about what to wear just a little bit. No dude pants. Also I need a haircut, I haven’t had one since January. Unlike during the pandemic when I gradually turned into a courtier from the Stuart era I don’t have the excuse of the barbers being closed.
We had a really nice holiday in Pembrokeshire. We were trying out having our summer holiday in the summer half term so my eldest child who is now a teenager gets more time with friends in the summer holiday itself. It worked well. Each year is an iteration on the previous one, we’re learning. An overnight stay in a city on the way is definitely the way to go. Glasgow last year was great. Cardiff this year was great too.
Going back to where I started I am aware that before too long we won’t be going on holidays with the kids. I guess there’s something about making the absolute most of it, in the moment. Perhaps that’s what’s on my mind in general. Am I making the most of it? I mean, I could be standing still and making the most of it — several moments in South Wales benefited from standing still and taking it in after all.
30 minutes is up. Thanks for reading.
* Note that the national organisation Citizens Advice that I work for has offices in Birmingham, Leeds, and Cardiff as well as London. And that’s in addition to the Network of ~240 Local Citizens Advice across England and Wales.
Originally published at https://danbarrett.posthaven.com.
