What I’ve been doing
I’ve been back at work just over a week now since my wonderful familymoon. It was a fortnight of adventure and cultural experiences. We all had a fantastic time and feel incredibly lucky to have been able to have such a holiday. We may or may not have already been looking at options for another cruise …
Mainly this time has been catching up on internal messages, emails and the regular tasks that I pushed to my return. That’s all done and I’m now back in the usual stride of things. There’s been a bit of invoicing to do (sending for payment) and I published our most recent e-newsletter.
We’ve got a bid in this week for a next step in some work we’re interested in and are hoping for an announcement soon on a bid for some support for PAIRS 2026 (amongst other activities).
I came across this LinkedIn post which talks about parental leave approaches. I enjoyed reading it, and the resources to which it refers. I’ve long been interested in the focus of policies and how to make them as flexible as possible (it’s one of the joys of working for Connected by Data, the worker focused policies).
What I need to take care of
Jeni is on holiday for a fortnight, and Adam and Tim are off to international work events so there’s not a lot of responsive work to be done. I’m planning to focus on some bits I’m been pushing down my TODO list.
What I’ve been inspired or challenged or moved by
I attended a ‘Content Club’ on the topic “Against Allyship” this week. It gave me lots to think about that I’ve captured on my personal blog. In summary - allyship is only allyship if you’re actually doing something (deeds not words and all that).
What I’ve been reading
I read a book on holiday! This felt blissful and I hope has nudged me back into some form of reading pattern. I chose Susie Dent’s “Guilty by Definition”. It was quite wordy, but within an appropriate context (rather than feeling like it was just using words for words sake). I enjoyed it, thought about the characters when I’d finished and added the sequel to my TBR list for when it is released next year.
When I got home I decided to go for a comfort read to keep up the momentum and went for an Enid Blyton, “The Children of Cherry Tree Farm”. I do so love this series.
I then had time to pop to my local library and in doing so found a new book by Philip Reeve written in his Mortal Engines universe (set well in advance of the original quartet). I didn’t even know this was coming and I loved the first three of the originals (I’ve got the fourth on my bookshelf but have not read it yet…it intimidates me at over 500 pages!). I grabbed “Thunder City” from the library and am already enjoying it.