Gridlock Day #

23 October 1998

On which, according to statistics and predictions, the roads of Britain would grind to a halt - something to do with the motor show, half-term holidays, and it being the penultimate Friday in October.

Groundhog day, more like. Sure, the roads were busy, and it took me 2 hours 15 minutes to travel 90 miles, but this is pretty average for leaving Birmingham on a Friday evening, I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. Perhaps people had taken note of all the hype and decided not to travel. If so, could we hype up another ‘Gridlock Day’ for next Thursday, as I’m heading up to Scotland? Thanks!

Well, I’ve been on another career development course today. Quite good fun actually, I had to draw a roadmap of my career so far, with roundabouts and junctions representing decisions in my life, the road narrowing or widening as opportunities increased or waned, and pictures to represent the influences and choices. The purpose was to show what has been driving me so far - seems it’s a need for achievement, expertise, and material rewards!

Later, I actually came up with a vision of where I want to be in five years time, along with a set of dated, achievable goals to put me on the right path. As someone who has tended to drift naturally through life, from school to university to work, without thinking too deeply about where I’m headed next, it’s a bit of a shock to suddenly have sharply defined goals once more. I’m in no doubt that it’s going to prove useful, though.

In the evening, I went out for a couple of drinks with Melanie (yes, we finally found a time when we were both in the same vicinity), her friend Carrie, and Mark. Carrie is as tall as Melanie is short, and equally as crazy. They make a funny couple. I was pretty tired after a long week and much driving, so I was pretty quiet. The girls more than made up for this, though, explaining to us how they were forming a society by the name of the Tarty Apples, or relating their stories of going to the pub clad only in copious quantities of Cling Film!

After driving everybody home, I logged on to the net. ICQ told me that Rich was online, waiting for his accountancy exam results to be published on the web in the small hours of the morning, so I stayed up chatting to him about nothing much until eventually the pass list appeared. All of my accountant friends passed, so congratulations to you all! Drinks are on you guys next weekend?!