A change is as good as a rest?
07/02/09 10:38
Emotions are strange things and as a man I am happy to accept a popular theory that I am incapable of understanding them. Take this week for example. My chicks have all left the nest for the big bad world and a lot of my previous seasons chicks are no longer part of the flock. I have had moments where crying seemed like a good option but of course I have controlled it. So, why have I been walking around the nest this week with a smile spreading from ear to ear? (no mean feat in my case, I can tell you).
God giveth and God taketh away and in this case God giveth good. You see, I am lucky to be a fully paid up member of the ENFP club and as a part of the 5% of the TI’s management population that share this gift/curse, a change is better than a rest. I had this small club described to me as filled with Journalists. A group of people who need to have lots of plates spinning but sometimes lose focus so spectacularly that they don’t notice the piles of broken crockery building up around their feet.
As a child/younger person, I would change the layout of my bedroom at least once a year. The ABBA poster would come down from over the bed and be replaced by a Porsche. My desk would move from under one window to along the side wall. The wiring for the sockets and lights would be changed for different coloured cable. Actually that’s not true. But what is that my feet do get itchy from time to time and now is one of those times.
So what have been the highlights of the last six years?
1) Drinking so much vodka in Moscow that I called my sister on the phone and forgot I had done it the next day.
2) Drinking so much vodka in St.Petrersburg and not knowing how I cut my arm somewhere between the bar and my bedroom.
3) Seeing the pyramids from a speeding Egyptian car and thinking, mm, they’re big.
4) The view over old Prague from the Castle.
5) The drive from Istanbul to Ankara after midnight including a customer meeting with no shoes.
6) Goose Liver in Budapest.
7) Going to Siberia in a heat wave.
8) Finally having some free time in Istanbul and wandering around the Spice Market and Grand Bazaar.
9) Learning that Warsaw and Wroclaw are two different places but Wroclaw and Breslau are the same.
10) The worlds cheapest taxi ride complete with free, loud Gypsy folk music in Bucharest.
11) Dinner with EBV in Wroclaw. Beer, wine, Vodka....
12) Helping to open the EECSC in Prague. A truly great bunch.
13) Never having a bad meal in Turkey.
14) Landing safely in a Tupolov at St Petersburg and joining in the chorus of cheers at our bumpy arrival in one piece.
15) Late night tea in Kiev, a city with no litter.
16) Spending a couple of days in Israel and bobbing up and down in the Dead Sea.
17) Seeing Romania change for the better over four years.
18) Using Euro’s in Slovenia and Slovak Republic.
19) Playing football in Hungary and being a not too bad goalie.
20) Building the best goddamn team in the whole of East Europe!
And the regrets? Well, they are mainly the countries I did not manage to visit. Dubai, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan to name a few but hey, there’s plenty of time for that and maybe in a few years when the ENFP kicks back in, a change will be as good a rest and I will tick off the final few countries with a smile spreading from ear to ear (no mean feat in my case, I can tell you!).
God giveth and God taketh away and in this case God giveth good. You see, I am lucky to be a fully paid up member of the ENFP club and as a part of the 5% of the TI’s management population that share this gift/curse, a change is better than a rest. I had this small club described to me as filled with Journalists. A group of people who need to have lots of plates spinning but sometimes lose focus so spectacularly that they don’t notice the piles of broken crockery building up around their feet.
As a child/younger person, I would change the layout of my bedroom at least once a year. The ABBA poster would come down from over the bed and be replaced by a Porsche. My desk would move from under one window to along the side wall. The wiring for the sockets and lights would be changed for different coloured cable. Actually that’s not true. But what is that my feet do get itchy from time to time and now is one of those times.
So what have been the highlights of the last six years?
1) Drinking so much vodka in Moscow that I called my sister on the phone and forgot I had done it the next day.
2) Drinking so much vodka in St.Petrersburg and not knowing how I cut my arm somewhere between the bar and my bedroom.
3) Seeing the pyramids from a speeding Egyptian car and thinking, mm, they’re big.
4) The view over old Prague from the Castle.
5) The drive from Istanbul to Ankara after midnight including a customer meeting with no shoes.
6) Goose Liver in Budapest.
7) Going to Siberia in a heat wave.
8) Finally having some free time in Istanbul and wandering around the Spice Market and Grand Bazaar.
9) Learning that Warsaw and Wroclaw are two different places but Wroclaw and Breslau are the same.
10) The worlds cheapest taxi ride complete with free, loud Gypsy folk music in Bucharest.
11) Dinner with EBV in Wroclaw. Beer, wine, Vodka....
12) Helping to open the EECSC in Prague. A truly great bunch.
13) Never having a bad meal in Turkey.
14) Landing safely in a Tupolov at St Petersburg and joining in the chorus of cheers at our bumpy arrival in one piece.
15) Late night tea in Kiev, a city with no litter.
16) Spending a couple of days in Israel and bobbing up and down in the Dead Sea.
17) Seeing Romania change for the better over four years.
18) Using Euro’s in Slovenia and Slovak Republic.
19) Playing football in Hungary and being a not too bad goalie.
20) Building the best goddamn team in the whole of East Europe!
And the regrets? Well, they are mainly the countries I did not manage to visit. Dubai, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan to name a few but hey, there’s plenty of time for that and maybe in a few years when the ENFP kicks back in, a change will be as good a rest and I will tick off the final few countries with a smile spreading from ear to ear (no mean feat in my case, I can tell you!).
