And I tell you what: tick followed tock followed tick followed tock followed tick...

The first week of February in our office is like being on a whaling ship hunting for Moby Dick, it's the time for doing all those jobs you've spent the previous 51 weeks saying, "We'll do that when it's quiet."

This is the week when I spend far too much time on the Internet. The only reason I don't feel too guilty about it is because of all the extra hours unpaid that I put in during the year, that's the great British disease isn't it - manager's working extra for nothing but prestige.

It's not all about titles and company cars though. Well actually it is because I've got to spend some time thinking about what car I want to replace my existing one. I have to be honest here and say that in a perfect world I'd rather not have a company car or any car for that matter but I'd never get to work if I had to rely on public transport. So what shall I choose to replace the Peugeot 406 that has been my trusty steed for so long now? I'm not a petrolhead so I don't have a long list of models I have been quietly appraising for the moment when I'm asked what I'd like.

It's been a pretty shitty week at work this week to be honest, the QA visit on Monday and Tuesday only served to illustrate how little progress we have made during the past five years with regards to planning the work we do. The work we actually carry out is fine but you have to be seen to know the question as well as the answer these days and we are coming up short. I got quite down about it on Thursday afternoon. Looking at the Inspectors report, from his viewpoint as an outsider, you would have to say that a culture exists within the firm that doesn't accept or at the very least seems to accept that we must record more of what we know. Clients like smaller firms because they get a more personal service and people stay with smaller firms longer, that's the upside, staff continuity. The downside is that so much business knowledge is in your head, because you look after the clients year after year. Unfortunately that isn't acceptable anymore. we live in a world where difference can be celebrated as long as everybody is the same.
The Inspector who visited us was pleasant enough, it was funny being inspected by somebody who wasn't even born when I went on my first audit, but there is no grey area with officialdom, only black and white - the black and white of lawyers not people who have to implement the procedures on a daily basis.

Next week things start to roll again, March is going to be packed tighter than something that's packed very tight and has a special reason to be packed tight. We also have another member of staff joining, a lady who shares her name with a famous novelist - I can hear a certain member of staff lining up the puns as we speak.

Still, at least the sun is shining, I've still got a job and there's a new car to think about.