Well, another week has passed and no sign of a brown envelope! It has been fairly relaxed with training events spaced a little more comfortably. This has given me time to catch up with course development work. Tomorrow and Friday will be full days, so back to normal for a while.

Feelings are running a little high in the office with some personal clashes between line managers. The department manager is having her work cut out to keep the team on an even keel. The storm will die down but I think the underlying turbulence will continue for a while.

How do you feel about equality and diversity? I have no problem with the principle but when carried to extremes I believe the silent majority start to be excluded and this is as unfair as excluding minorities. There must be some balance - we must find a middle way.

Alex is doing really well at college, he achieved a B in a recent written submission. This has pleased him as well as us - it's great to see him enjoying the course and this is so encouraging for him.

Julie's new job is going well. She is organising her new place of employment in her usual inimitable fashion! Well done Ju!

Never trust an HR person carrying a brown envelope on Friday, or so they say. Today our HR manager presented her own department with 'at risk' letters, warning of the possibility or redundancy. Not a good thing to have to do - not a good thing to have done to you. I am not included, luckily, but it doesn't make you feel terribly secure to know this is happening in your own department.

Things didn't improve when a conversation with a colleague went 'a little off colour', our office already has a feeling of lack of team spirit, I think I might have identified a source. All in all a not too pleasant end to what was a reasonable week. (not including car salesmen!)

An evening out with friends at a quiz night lightened the tone and things are back on course for a good weekend.

IllustratorsUK, Yahoo group is getting busy and seem quite a friendly lot - must ask 'em for some advice on getting a good likeness with people ...

The First Step ...

Well that's it - I've moved into cyber space and started bloggin'!

I s'pose today's event promted starting a blog. I've developed a healthy disregard for car salesmen over the years and I thought that I had found one who was different. He seemed pleasant and down to earth when we were buying the car (see image above) and nothing was too much trouble, but today, less than 3 months after the purchase, and within the warranty period we are less than helpful when we want a minor problem with the heater fixed.

So any car salesmen, or women, out there - your reputation is rock bottom again!