Rome

Rome is a lovely place for a business trip, if you can succeed in ignoring the business side of the experience. As i have noted in several previous posting, getting business done in italy can be execeptionally stressful, the bureaucracy makes Russia look efficient and the decision making process is absurdly convoluted. However, despite a national phobia of taking decisions, the people are extremely pleasant. Whilst in Milan, people constantly apologise for the their grimy and cold city, in Rome they are very proud of the city and its traditions and anxious to put on a good show. After a day of meetings, clients frequently insist on taking us for tours all over Rome, which invariably involve plenty of good wine and food.

One of my last trips for the company i have been working for this past year takes me for three days to Rome, where i have to do a handover to the person who will be replacing me. i stay one last time at my regular Rome hotel, La Griffe on Via Nazionale, in my usual room 201. I eat dinner one last time at my favourite La Taverna Trastevere on Via del Politearna with a favourite client. I dont know yet what i will be doing and where i will be going in my new job, but i will certainly miss these trips to Rome.

Gardening Leave (I am bored)

i have been on gardening leave for nearly a month, stuck in limbo as my current company assigns me no new work, but i am not allowed to start a new job elsewhere. so, i am essentially given permission to sit in the office and do nothing. i have read several books, gone for 2 hour lunches, arrived late, chatted on the phone to friends, watched movies, poured over the last Monocle magazine in detail, and played on the internet. in general, it has been quite fun and a nice change from the normal pressure, but i have to confess that after a month i have now got bored. i actually need to be busy sometimes to feel useful i fear. of course if i had known i was going to be changing jobs more in advance, i would have made plans to go somewhere, especially given all the state holidays we have been having lately, but naturally i did not know that out of the blue i would be made an offer i couldnt refuse, and thus made no plans until it was too late. thus, i have waited out my notice in the office, eyes wide shut. tomorrow, however, it is all coming to an end, and soon i will have to get myself back in gear and remember how to work.

wish me luck.