EASTER WEEKEND [AKA FOUR DAYS STAYING HOME]

A very different Easter break this year, usually we all look forward to four days off work and for many they'll have been going away. All cancelled now under the current lock down and stay home guidance of course, but we will still have a little look at what we could have been doing and use that as an incentive to plan something fun for when all this might finally be over (whenever that might be). 

Plans were in place to get away to the Isle of Wight over Easter, visiting amongst other places their Heritage Steam Railway based at Haven Street (above) and all being well meeting with my friend Steffi, but that's all put back for another day now sadly. There would also have been plenty of sport on over Easter normally with the All Weather Championship finals at Lingfield Park on Good Friday a feature that I would have enjoyed together with football action for AFC Wimbledon. There doesn't appear much chance of either happening again soon, though horse racing 'might' continue behind closed doors though no date is set for a resumption only that nothing will change until May 1st at the earliest. 

So what might I be able to do other than stay indoors for four days 😞. Guess after a bit of a clean and tidy up (which is long overdue) we'll have some of the model trains out for a clean, test and lubrication. Shall also take the opportunity to record them into a spreadsheet for each scale I have and take some pictures and notes to update other sites in time.
Next update is likely to feature one of these;

 

AN UPDATE FOR APRIL 2020 ... STILL ISOLATED AT HOME

Welcome, yes it's been a bit strange and difficult for the last few weeks so wanted to just write about where we are today, how things might look in the weeks and months ahead. Here we are it's April, spring is sprung and the clocks have moved on an hour. The biggest change for us is that I'm now working at home, as are most of us outside of shop staff and the NHS who are all doing an outstanding job keeping us all going during this time. 

The Football season is in limbo so unable to see AFC Wimbledon play or whether we will survive this season in League One as we'd been fighting relegation for a while once again although when everything was suspended we were at least just above the drop zone. The new stadium development on Plough Lane though is still progressing and we will update that later in a separate post. Easter will be next week and usually a four day weekend of sporting action, including the All Weather Championship finale at Lingfield which is of course off, as is all horse racing till end of April at the earliest. This will also mean that my annual birthday meeting at Ascot will not take place and with that the focal point of my week off at the end of April for my 51st birthday. I personally don't expect horse racing to return for sometime, the same can be said of any sport really so my plans will have to change. While we continue on lock down though for the foreseeable future we are expecting Royal Ascot to soon be the next high profile casualty especially with the LTA cancelling Wimbledon Tennis too which would have been due to be held shortly afterwards.

Please remain calm, don't panic, we can see this out if we act responsibly, and then we'll see if we have anything left to enjoy this year or not.

GOOD LUCK IN THE FUTURE CATHY, IT WILL NOT BE THE SAME WITHOUT YOU.

On Friday I had to say goodbye to two wonderful colleagues, in fact my boss Cathy and the IT Director Ken. Been three years, but a lot has happened in that time and I will miss them both in many ways. Was very sad when I found out they were going, but also very happy for them as I understand the reasons for the decision and of course wish them both the best for the future. 

Cathy (left) and Jenny (right) doing the honours.

Our final stand-up meeting featured cake, which was delicious, and lots of humour. There are a lot of people leaving but I will miss these people more than most. It was also lovely to see Jenny back in with her new born baby Alexander who can only be two months old and William too who keeps me sane. What the future holds for the rest of us only time will tell. I really hope I can see these guys again sometime, they are excellent to work with and for, it will be very quiet without them. Good luck Cathy and Ken  ... Bon Voyage !! 

Oh and as a complete surprise although Cathy leaves, I somehow end up with a gift, and it's perfect, I was looking for some cuff-links for some new shirts and this fits my model trains image too. thank you again boss xXx

FAREWELL WOLTERS KLUWER ... WELCOME CRONER-i LIMITED

On 1st October 2017 I will cease working for Wolters Kluwer after just over two years and will be moving over to a new company who will be known as Croner-i Limited. Will be based in the same office in Kingston upon Thames for the time being, but a move to our own offices in the near future is definitely on the cards. The "takeover" or divestment has been carried out by a company known as Peninsula but they seem to be an umbrella company who pick up other parts of businesses and make them more profitable. Something that they have already done this with another part of Wolters Kluwer - CGL (Croner Group Limited) in Hinckley and turned that around from a loss into a profit making concern in about a year. Initially I was worried this would put us in a bad position and possibly redundant but so far all I know about them is they want to grow the business and why not. If that's true then there's plenty of work to do, and I don't want to move again so fingers crossed it doesn't end up with loads of people leaving and life falling apart.

At some point we will move offices, but I don't expect that to happen this year, maybe in the coming year perhaps and we will cross that bridge when we know the details. For the time being we will be simply relocating to another floor within the same building so for the coming few months we will have to see how things go and also how the atmosphere is "under new management" so to speak. I have other issues to deal with so keeping fingers crossed that we are ok here now. 

I loved my last job as QA with Saadian Technologies and miss the working environment plus of course the people I met there. Am in no state to move on again at this time so please Lord let this work out for the better and I am going to work at it in return.

Farewell WK

Welcome Croner-i Limited