Today I went to my new job and arrived before 9am. I left the office at 6.30pm. I had, in the interim, spent all of my time working, though lunch was provided as something of a working lunch. The environment I work in is very friendly, yet people are also quite stressed. Today we were looking at ways of reducing the stress, though it's fair to say that there are some cultural reasons why people will be expected to work long days and take on more than perhaps can be achieved in those days.

In some ways this is a bad thing. In other ways this environment could be what I need. I like being busy. I also know some of the tried and tested means of reducing the levels of expectation while simultaneously making it easier to deliver what's truly valuable in the long-term. The question, I suppose, is whether the improvement programme will move at a rate fast enough to avert my own personal burn out.

I guess time will tell.

I've eaten, and I now face a night at home. I'm quite tired and I don't know what to do with myself. I could take on some DIY, or I could try and do something else. I feel like some exercise might be nice.

My head is all fuzzy.

Indeed, my head has been fuzzy for a lot of the day.

I had some moments of clarity, suggesting some potentially quite useful things over lunch and reaching agreement with my new colleagues over things I care about.. and the seem to too. That's good.

How I would love to crawl into a corner right now and have a massive hug!