Quite a large TV...

...appeared in the office the other day (it actually coincided with the the start of Wimbledon, funnily enough)... ;)

Welcome to the News Building...

...(or "Return to Southwark!")...tried to get my head around a better journey into town today (now having absolutely no onward journey to worry about from London Bridge), discovered that my later train is an express train (and thus was full and standing - *groan*)...so that is still a work in progress...anyway, had a nice cup of tea in St Thomas Street waiting for my free breakfast time to arrive - as I was quite early -

- when I got there we were already being asked to gather our things ready for our induction(!), so I grabbed a slightly warm (but very tasty) bacon sandwich (and a glug of water), and then we were on our way to reception...

- and up in the lifts after we had been pass upgraded (there are 6 lifts serving the core of the building, all with no buttons inside, so you choose your destination before you get in and the lifts tell you which letter you want to join - same as the last office, actually) -

- as you can see, there isn't a huge amount of choice at the moment, most of the office is still a building site, after all...

Anyway, up on the 13th floor (which is almost finished) - we have lots and lots of hot desks -

- collaborative spaces -

- (of all sorts of shapes and sizes) -

- and beautiful new kitchens (intermittently topped up with fresh fruit and pastries) -

- and a (somehow rather familiar) lighting decoration above one of the newspaper carousels (thank goodness it isn't right in front of any of the desks, or they might be a bit unpopular with migraine sufferers)...!

All in all - Amazing so far!  Guess I'll post some of the views from the windows later on (when the sun comes out)...but the office itself is very swish and everything smells, well, new! ;)

Sun re-branding...

- spotted on the newsagent right opposite the Shard in Bridge Walk... ;)

I'm the Yum Yum criminal!

Never thought I would say such a thing, but I was a little bit naughty, I must admit - I didn't have enough money for a proper lunch, so I ate 4 soft iced Yum Yums in desperation, which has deprived some (obviously equally hungry) team-mates of their afternoon snack...I must pay back this mistake tomorrow (thankfully it's payday)... ;)

Not sure if it's cooler to be the Yum Yum Criminal or the Yum Yum Gangster...still thinking it over... ;)

Ahem - "I am the hip-hop-a-potamus, my lyrics are bottomless... ;0" :)

Watching the Shard being built...

...and then moving there (well into the baby version anyway)! Wow - the Shard was *small* back then!!  Anyway, tomorrow, assuming I can get a train into London from Earlswood early enough for the start of the session at 0745 (just a clue - that's a no - going to have to get a cab into Redhill to catch a different train if I want to make it) -

- I can participate in one of our office's "Shard Event"s (there are so many people involved I think they are going on all week long) but my place is booked for tomorrow morning -

- we assemble for breakfast on the 22nd floor (so same sort of height I used to work at in Canary Wharf) and then get a load of presentations regarding our relocation later in the year (progress/strategy/integration and a background/orientation session from the property group responsible for the London Bridge Quarter structures) -

- and then last but not least a trip up to the viewing platform (hope it's clear weather like today)!

Really looking forward to it, will need to make sure I charge the Canon ready for the morning! ;)

Last day in the office!

Loving the *free* Christmas (either Pork or Turkey) dinner with all the trimmings...if you had the time you could eat it in the canteen on a proper plate with drinks and crackers etc. but I took it back to my desk in a takeaway box (still fantastic) as it's my last day in the office this year (bar a tiny bit of working from home) so I had a few things to finish off... ;)

I feel a bit guilty talking about the *huge* giveaway in reception happening at the same time that I stumbled into...it was like a free black-friday scrum for staff...*astonishing*...Not sure how I'm going to get everything home!

In summary - *This* is how you do the week before Christmas - I've never seen anything even remotely like it anywhere else I have worked in all my long years!  So God Bless you current employer...and here's to many, many more years to come! <:0

Okay, it's Christmas now!

Picked up the Christmas TV guide for Flyingpops (in my bag ready for the trip home)...

...and if you didn't already see on Flickr, I wore a completely over the top Christmas jumper (etc.) for charity on Friday (which went down extremely well) -

- and then *today* the work is picking us all up from the offices in Wapping, loading us all on to coaches (at 11am-ish) to go to our big Carol Concert in Southwark Cathedral (next to the new offices) and then super secret Santa on Thursday (which is my last working day before Christmas day)!  There is absolutely no doubt about it...It's CHRISTMAS! ;)

Will post some pics from the office Carol Concert later on if I get a chance...!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Funny Office Sign

OMG! The "Speed lane" is out of order! How will I cope with the catastrophic delay of...urm....using the barrier right next door to it? ;)

Almost, but not quite, as bad as this one...(WOAH - that was almost 7 years ago)! 

Mini Shard & Maxi Shard

(My new office - well, as of next year, once they fit it all out beautifully)...

Both structures looking *rather* fetching today... ;)  Or perhaps you prefer a portrait shot of the Shard? Does sort of deserve it, I suppose...Gives more of an impression of scale (but *loads* less context)...tough call... ;)

Reynholm Industries...??

Yeah...okay...so I just noticed that I appear to work in the Reynholm Industries building (from the IT Crowd)...bit of a wonder if took me so long to spot that!  I'm sure the guys that work in IT here find that absolutely **hilarious** whenever anyone points it out...I must make sure to pop round there and mention it...

Ho ho ho...! ;)

East End Power Cut...

...and two of our buildings have been evacuated due to reports of loud banging noises (probably the people stuck in lifts whacking the walls) and a smell of smoke (probably from the diesel generator kicking in for essential kit)...from the sounds of things most of the East End of London is power-free at the moment due to an underground cable being accidentally cut...the current estimated time for fix is half past four according to UK Power networks twitter feed...it's getting rather hot in here now...sure could use some of that free ice cream now... ;)

Free ice cream!

...on the hottest day of the year so far (33.5 at Heathrow!)...thank you, office!!! :)

Fortress Wapping - Taxi sign

...a little bit of vanishing history spotted on the corner of the old Wapping Print Works site (now a construction site), a sign that illuminated (in bright red) the message "Taxi Wanted" over The Highway to summon black cabs to reception...I'm guessing from the days before one could simply call and book one...?

Goodbye Thomas More Square...

...as of next year we (my office and I) are moving to "The Place"...or as it is better known - "The Mini Shard" from Thomas More Square (pictured)...so a few things to look forward to -

A zero minute commute from London Bridge station to the office (rumours of a secret, private entrance direct from the station into work's private underground shopping complex, even though that would hardly be necessary considering how close it is anyway, would just be a very welcome cherry on the top!)...so, thank you free shuttle bus, but I won't be needing you quite so much from now on (amazingly cool as you have, and will continue to be in the meantime!)...A large private roof plaza (in fact, you can already see all the huge plants up there if you peer up from ground level), amazing views from most sections of the office over central London (including the Thames, Tower, Tower Bridge, London Eye, St Pauls etc. etc.), air conditioned comfort...excellent proximity to Borough Market and Bankside...and a blank canvas inside as we are the first tenants...so everything will be laid out exactly as is required!

Things just keep on getting better!  Roll on next year! :)

Caught in the act...

Office Lights update...

Well...isn't this nice?

They have multiplied (and by multiplied I mean more than tripled in number)...I'm starting to get a serious headache now...and I thought it was bad beforehand! People walk sadly and aimlessly round and around the office pleading (to anyone that will listen) for alternative places to sit and have their meetings rather than brave the neon nightmare... >;P

Still, it will be *perfect* at Christmas time... ;)

Urm...really office?

I go away for a few days and *this* happens *right* in front of my desk?

So now I don't work in Little Chef, I seem to now work in a fair ground...or maybe anti-grav Lightsaber storage...or how about 2001 Odyssey...?

I even went and asked the guys who (so far) have taken 6 hours installing the 8 lights if there was going to be a bit of frosted glass or anything put up to moderate the display, the answer - shrugs and apologies... :S

Hurray... :(

Double take and Office decor...

Got to the Wharf this morning, enjoying the bright sunshine (although not the wind-chill, my ears almost frozen off twice on the way in), beep my RFID enabled ID card at the tiny perspex security barriers in reception at One Canada Square, waited patiently for one of the lifts to come and get me, crowded in with a bunch of other skyscrape-o-naughts and prepared for takeoff (16 floors of Express Zone - a literally ear-popping journey)...when the doors opened I took one step outside and decided I must have (daftly) got off on completely the wrong floor (and *almost* got straight back in again, until I confusedly noted the number 22 on the wall - basically when I left on Friday night, this hall was completely devoid of subtle squares), the second thing my brain did is decide that all the pillar-box red I could see through the doors (at each end) was some variation on that plastic netting you see erected around roadside excavations and there had been some sort of construction incident I was being protected from (it used to be an elegant clear glass curved wall beyond the doors)...

As it turned out, our area (as it had been since the move) was not complete after all and the decorators had been busy over the weekend finishing everything off...I'm not sure I'm terribly fond of it (not that I'm pretending to be any sort of Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen figure, it's just that) when it comes to decorating choices at *home* (at any least) I tend to shy away from massive blocks of primary colours, preferring a simple white (or off white)...anyway, that was not all, we now have a functioning hot desk next to us (only used so far for cake storage) -

- complete with chairs and giant plasma screens (which show Sky Sports/News all day long), and also a tiny little meeting area with banks of brightly coloured chairs and glass tables, which I haven't seen anyone use yet, but I'm sure will be very useful when important visitors are being kept waiting by people... ;)

I guess you could say we've gone sort of "Popham Little Chef"-themed... ;)

Very Important Milk update...

Well, it looks like the 22nd floor isn't full of milk robbers! Although it could be something to do with the fact that the fridge up here (yes, just one fridge, rather than two in our last little kitchen) instead of being filled with a higgledy-piggledy avalanche of half empty milk bottles and hundreds of ready meals/floppy sandwiches, just contains about five half-drunk bottles of wine, several interesting looking pork pies and a packet of Tesco finest nectarines...So I know what the existing residents of this floor drink (the important bit being -not my milk-), I wonder what they eat? ;)

Anyway, for now at least, it seems my hot beverages are safe from plunder... ;)

Bye bye 20th Floor...

That's it, all packed up, threw away about 40000000 bits of paper (things like holiday booking sheets dating back to 2008), and now only my PC (pretty much) is left sat on my desk -

- next stop, floor 22 (well, after the weekend anyway)! Things I won't miss? The stupid sun blinding me reflecting off the Bank of America in the morning, my super wobbly chair and the noisy binding machine that sits right behind my head...

Who wants to bet I hit the wrong button in the lift on Monday...? ;)