Car Jinks

I've just realised with great embarassment that it's been nearly a month since I last updated this thing. Unforgiveable. Cutting through all the excuses it's been a combination of not being terribly motivated and having a pretty boring live with nothing much to write home about. The motivation thing is all in my head and I continue to work through it as best as I can. I hit a pretty low point about 3 or 4 weeks ago, the worst I have felt in a long time. I've felt sad before, but never to the point where it affected my physical health. That was a pretty scarey time and not somewhere I want to revisit. I've always been a big fan of "mind over matter" but I also know that it's very rarely that straight forward. Sometimes too many things hit at once and it becomes a matter of self preservation. Why it happens ? Buggered if I know. I guess if I had a proper handle on the "Why" then the "When" probably would never happen. Anyway, that's where things were/are. Now it's full steam forward again.

 

I spent 2 days up in Kiruna last week. A bit of a pointless exercise as I was supposed to be sitting in the Kiruna office holding hands with our lone employee up there. Fortunately I hadn't realised that was the plan, and had arranged meetings with clients and other consultants whom I had been working with. So I think that I spent a total of about 15 minutes in the Kiruna office. I can understand management wanting to support the guy sitting in Kiruna, but does it really require the cost of one staff member from Luleå travelling up there and staying in a hotel every week ? Personally I don't think so. But I guess that's why I'm not the manager. I could have a bit more sympathy if everything was new, but this guy has lived in Kiruna all of his life and has been self employed for a number of years. So sitting alone in the town isn't probably something new for him. Seems a pleasant enough person though.

 

It was nice to drive up to Kiruna again, I really enjoy the scenery and the quiet back roads. I haven't been up for a few months now and I had usually been taking the train. As I needed to be mobile this time, I thought I should have some wheels. When I rent a car for work, I rent from our local Volvo dealership in Boden. My wife also often rents from the same dealer when she has to travel for work. Company cars are not the norm in Sweden. Anyway, our rental experiences are becoming quite comical. Everytime I book and rent, I always arrive to find that they have reserved the biggest and most powerful car they have. Typically the largest Volvo Cross Country model. A bit of luxury. However, when my wife books, she always gets the bottom end of the rental market, with the smallest and least powerful car that they have. It's obviously a "Guy Thing" although I'm sure that they don't realise they are doing it. I'm waiting for them to ask her which colour she wants next time that she rings to book.