1st Day at work

Blimey, only arrived yesterday and now I'm off to work. The Hotel Manager has told me it is only a 10 minute walk to Southgate. Which is where IBM are and where I need to go.



I leave Kerry and the girls fast asleep in the room. It is 8.30 I am suited and booted. New shoes and they are really hurting my feet. I walk the way we went yesterday and I find it quite quickly after 15 minutes. I realise that I could have taken a quicker way by the river but I'll remember that for the way home.



I am standing outside "IBM Tower" as they call it. My feet are really hurting so I remove a shoe only to find my foot has been bleeding quite badly. I purchase some plasters from a conveniently located chemist in the Southgate complex and put them on the burst blisters. My hands are now covered in blood. This is not a good impression to be giving, a cut over my eye and my hands covered in blood and this is only my first day!!!



I manage to find some public toilets clean myself up and head back to the reception at IBM Tower. Security is not too friendly and they summon someone down to collect me after grilling me about whether I will be working here or somewhere else.



Adrian, who is originally from Ireland comes down to collect me. He is very casually attired to say the least and I am taken up in the express lift to the 17th floor. The lifts in the building are split into 3 sections, on the left for floors 10 through to 19. in the middle for floors 20 through to 29 and on the right for floors 1 to 9.



The lift makes me smile as it enters the so called Express Zone it shows on the display EZ and trust me you need to be.



I am feeling really tired and my feet are killing me but I try not to let it show. I am told I don't have a desk yet, or a laptop or any access, reminded me of NU. Then I met Bevan who is the Manager of the Storage area. Angus' equivilent but I soon realised he was nothing like Angus when he said to me, "Just chill for this week mate, you won't be able to do anything so take it easy...."



I just sat there thinking, what can I do so I tried to sit over Vasantha's (a chap from Sri Lana) to get an idea of the setup. Without a PC though there is very little you can do. Debrorah the Team Leader comes over to me at 4pm and says, you look so jet lagged, go home and get some sleep.



I walked back home not quite sure what they thought of me. I decided to try and see if the walk by the river was quicker...it was and so much nicer. A great view of the city and a really nice walk back past the shops and cafe's which lined the riveside. The sun was shining, it was really warm and there was not a cloud to be seen. I got back to the hotel to find Kerry and the girls had been trying desperately to get in touch with me regarding house to rent...tomorrow we must get some phones. I find out they all slept till gone 10, I wished I had, I felt bloody awful. We look at a few houses for rent but I am so tired I just have a quick bite to eat and go to bed...