Loving the work

So there I was getting all mad and sad and stressed about the fact the Julie Burchill blog would get interrupted by a new job....
Then I started. Had pretty low expectations really, a job, good salary, head down do it.
In many ways it's a mare, my predecessor is being a right stroppy cow, won't give me a handover. The most senior guy I manage is competing with me for the role as I have to go through a formal process. I'm being given someone else's most chunky bits of work - on a 'you should bid for that' basis by my manager. It should be horrid. It's not. I love it. The policy is easy, stuff I was doing in Sydney, only with the clout to actually put it into practice. Loads of funding, albeit not for my team, but thousands of fabulous people around to get support from and build alliances with to make stuff happen. My manager whilst being too nice by far to be tough, is as you would expect, lovely. And all bowled over by me turning up and caring and working hard and not saying 'gotta go' at 4pm.
The agenda is fantastic, the exposure ditto, the chance to create a name in double quick time, very very real. All great.
Work life balance? No chance
I do however have the weekend to catch up on the mountain of reading on my desk and get a bit of the Julie Blog built. All much better than great.

xxxxx