Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

I found a document today that says the typical noise level for a quiet office or library is 40 dBA.  I tested this figure against the actual value in my office.  The mean value in the office was 36.4 dBA which gives you an idea of what it’s like on a daily basis, this absence of noise leaves me alone with the thoughts that rattle around in my head.  I’m sure that those of you that know me are thinking they are cynical, overly critical ones and ones about the geeks I’m surrounded by that make me laugh.  In truth it’s probably best that conversation isn’t common here; I referred to myself as a retard yesterday which resulted in a few shocked expressions, the only person I can speak to normally here is the ex-Garrison Engineer that has just turned up on the project management team.

Anyway the thoughts that I’m left with have been fairly neutral as I watch me excel spreadsheet countdown the days until a return to normality.  Fine ladies and gentlemen of the Royal Engineers are not designed to sit in an office environment like this but those of us on Phase 3 are doing our best to conform.  For me this has involved writing 2 reports longer than TMRs, doing design and cat 2 checks.  I usually have a number of things hanging around that need picking up and dropping at random whilst waiting for someone else to do something with it.  What I have found is that things hang around for a really long time and then suddenly reach the top of someone else’s to do list before the deadline, kind of like trotting along with the fat blokes on a PFA only to realise you’ve got 15 seconds to cover the final 100 metres, or a reverse hurry up and wait arrangement.  This REALLY doesn’t suit me, throughout our time in industry it’s natural to consider whether you would want this job, or someone else’s job, and could spend the remainder of your working life doing it, often my answer has been no.  I found myself getting a little bored of site although the human capacity for stupidity kept that fresh but now I’m bored beyond belief (even more bored than TELIC when we’d eat huge amounts of sweaty cheese just before bed just to make our dreams interesting).  There is a variety of project work to do but it all goes so slowly I find it hard to be stimulated after the initial reading in and then reaching the first obstacle where I’m completely reliant on other depts to move it along.  Continually reviewing the same thing over and over with different partial factors is purgatory.

Why is this?

Has a career characterised by office firefighting, exercise planning where I was mostly solely responsible for output and the BGHQ 24 hour planning cycles of CAST and BATUS left me permanently scarred and unable to concentrate on anything longer than a few days?  Have I been condemned to trying to find the employment equivalent of University Challenge where I get asked no more than 3 questions per subject?  Do I have Army induced ADD?  The answer must be no, I’m still writing AERs and TMRs far better than I thought I would manage, I’ve done other things that have had long lead ins so what is it?  I can only think that working in an office quieter than the average library is part of the problem.  But I think the biggest problem is a lack of complexity or at least the right type of complexity, Nick Fielding will laugh at the concept of ‘enjoying the complexity’ but genuinely I think this is the problem. 

So that was an insight to what I have to listen to on a daily basis, if I make it to Jul without screaming it will be an achievement.