what was last Friday? should I write as if it was then or as if it’s now?
the people who write weeknotes during the Christmas holidays are my people. well done everyone.
went to see my mum and dad pre-Christmas, then from there to Italy to see C’s dad. Christmas day was 9 Italian adults and 4 Italian children and me. I tried my hardest to keep up, but I was glad to be sent to the sofa for a little post-lunch nap. immersion is exhausting!
every time I go there I feel like I’ve not made any progress with Italian because there is still so much I don’t understand. but of course I have, and the words I find myself noticing are more advanced every time (this time: essere (to be) and volere (to want) in the present conditional tense!). seriously though, I just want to be fluent!
I’m never going to northern Italy without walking boots again.
Italian food is, on a day to day basis, far better than English food. even supermarket fruit and veg aisles are an inspiration. but I did find myself missing roast potatoes on Christmas Day.
more food: while there, we made pasta (some pappardelle, and C made casoncelli), ragù, veal with fennel and shallots. Christmas Day was polenta and rabbit. so. Italian food is better than English food.
everyone on the internet seems to be talking about their years and the last decade and all I’ve managed is to work out who I was going out with in 2009 and that I was three months into my second year of university. so. yes, a lot has changed in 10 years.
haven’t decided when to go back to work yet. I have to go back to work?
we had a very gentle design team meeting this morning, not least because it was the design team Christmas party last night. passing a panettone around in a circle the morning after the night before felt like about the right level for me today.
finished Girl, Woman, Other and it was brilliant. best thing I’ve read all year. it’s out in paperback in March so bags yourself a copy then. did I mention I got it from the library? all the copies were out when I wanted to borrow it, so I paid a whopping 50p to reserve it, then got an email when it came back in stock. 50p! and I don’t have to find bookshelf space to store it when I’m finished!
next up is How To Do Nothing by Jenny Odell. another 50p to Lambeth libraries, another book not out in paperback until next year. honestly. libraries are so great.
speaking of that 50p: I’ve been thinking about how it feels like a joy / pleasure to pay it, rather than annoying or “books from the library should all be free” (let’s be clear, it’s a 50p reservation fee, not 50p to borrow the book: if the book was in stock, it’d still be free to borrow it). that’s partly because of how the payment system works. it’s not ‘pay 50p and then you can have the book’; you can pay that 50p whenever. no chasing, no judgement. pay 20p when you get the book out if you like, and another 30p another day three weeks later. it feels non-transactional. when I first thought about this I had examples of two other services that had a similar payment feeling, and now I’ve forgotten them. I think there’s something in this though: the way, place, time, reasons that payments are taken change the way that a service feels. payment at the point of use and free at the point of use are not the only models.
going to Paris for work for a day next week and I’m reasonably sure there won’t be time to visit Du Pain et Des Idées for pastries, which begs the question, why go to Paris?
a new DM started on the team this week. everything is a bit easier already. thank you Rich!
got wound up by seeing a totally inaccurate use of a reflexive pronoun in some work comms because it just did not need to be there. look at this sharp increase since the 1960s! I don’t know why this bothers me, except I kind of do: pretending to be formal and getting it wrong feels quite closely related to the kind of inauthentic lack of substance that riles me right up. I should be more forgiving, I know.
New Zealand are passing a new Public Service Act, which reads a bit like service communities getting codified by law: it “will lead to the establishment of interdepartmental boards, or “joint ventures”, comprised of chief executives from relevant government agencies. The boards will report to a single minister, and will have the power to collaboratively deal with high priority issues. They will have the ability to employ staff, enter into contracts, and administer appropriations, and public servants from across departments and agencies will be deployed when needed”. read alongside this from the Centre for Public Impact. well done New Zealand: please continue your progressive thinking on what governments should be, rather than only on what governments should do.
Jack tweeted earlier in the week about feeling at a bit of a dead end, and how do you find a mentor etc etc. I’ve definitely felt similarly in recent months: something about getting to a certain level of seniority has meant fewer people looking out for me, and I’ve found myself feeling a bit jealous of the people I line manage or mentor. I want an hour to talk about my work and where I’m going! so I’m accepting offers from people of a service/systems design and product flavour. I’m also still accepting breakfast meetings near the office at 9am!
had dinner at Emile on Tuesday with some Gail’s pals. it was delicious, especially the pink fir potatoes with anchovy. and the Lancashire poacher croquettes with a brown sauce vibe going on too (cuts through the cheese, innit). I am definitely richer now that I don’t work in food and don’t go out for dinner all the time. but I also definitely eat less delicious food.
on Monday I went to a thing about systemic design at the Design Council. it was good, though some examples I was maybe a bit sceptical about. or maybe it’s language. some things can be products or campaigns rather than examples of systems change and that is OK. or maybe everything is systems change when you look at it through a certain lens.
when I start on this theoretical stuff, I very quickly get to a place of “I’m tired”. no idea how people can spend their lives so earnestly engaging with it to be honest - I really admire it, but almost immediately get to a place of “what if we all just went to the pub and had a chat?”. I’d like to be one of the earnest engagers, but…well, I’m not / I can’t right now. maybe it’s to do with the work I’ve been doing rather than me. one to consider more in 2020.
started reading Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo before bed last night and holy crap it’s good. resented going to work this morning because how DARE work take me from my novel? can’t wait to get on the tube to read more of it and will be devastated when it’s over. I read fiction really fast so it will probably be over by the time I get home :(
I know of at least two people at GDS who used to work in publishing and sometimes I’m like, why used to? what was wrong with reading novels all the time? can I have a go?
worked from home yesterday. I’m often not very good at working from home, because I don’t take breaks and then my brain burns out a bit. but yesterday was good, I got a whole bunch done. maybe this is because I didn’t want to turn the heating on, so I got a yoga mat out and did a bunch of jumping around for 5 mins every time I got cold. after lunch I went for a 12 minute run before a meeting. get buff, save money, work from home!