Thursday 11th January

Wild and windy here, too. Kept us awake half the night. This is when loft extensions aren't a good thing - not a lot between us and the elements.

I had a great time in Scotland. How refreshing to be up there and relaxed, not stressed to the eyeballs like I used to be! I drove up Tuesday morning, arrived at 11.30 and went into the office to do 2 annual review meetings. Went to the hotel, got changed and met my 2 colleagues (supposed to be 3 but one couldn't get up there as his girlf had a car accident) and we drove to Edinburgh. Had a curry and beer, and a great laugh just talking rubbish about all manner of things (work and non-work related). Ended up having a nightcap in the hotel with my colleague and good pal David. He's worked with me since 2000 and I'm really fond of him. Late last year he left his wife and 2 kids, whisch was a massive decision for him. He's going through a tough time and I know the Christmas/New Year period was difficult for him. So we had a good chat till about 1am.

Weds morning, got up late and met Dave for breakfast at 8.30, then sauntered into the office at 9.30. So different from this time last year when I'd be in the office by 7.30 without having eaten. I met a close colleague who I worked with on our marketing for a long time. She resigned last week, so we had a coffee and good natter. Then I took my old telesales team for lunch.

There were 12 of us in total and we had a lovely time. It was nice to see everyone and I didn't tell them this, but it's probably the last time I'll see them before I leave the company in March. I didn't want any big goodbye scenes so I just said it was a "well done and thanks" lunch... they hit their sales targets last year.

Every single one of us in the team I built is moving on to new and different challenges this year (because of the restructure). So whilst I'm the only one leaving the business, all of the others have seen changes to their role. They're all taking it really well but I know we all felt we had a great team and would have liked to have more time as a unit. Hey ho. Life moves on.

Drove back yesterday afternoon and felt a bit sad leaving the office. Now I'm just working on the paperwork for reviews, and I just need my Director to approve the ratings so I can finalise them and get them issued. Then I'm done here.

Sometimes I despair at the prospect of doing even one more day's work for this sodding stupid awful company. That felt good! They've mucked one of my team about and it has really angered me. Told her on 6 Dec she was redundant. Told her before Christmas they'd found her a permanent role. Told her this week that it's only a 3 month temporary secondment. She's lost all that time when she could have been looking for another job. I'm fuming. No one else cares.