One step forward, two steps back!

The more observant may have noticed that I rarely talk about work on this blog. It’s not because there is nothing to discuss, believe me there is. I have to respect my colleagues, who are working in the most difficult of circumstances, and for me to recount amusing stories at their expense would be unfair. However, worklife trials and tribulations encountered this week cannot go unmentioned….


Monday morning: I set off for work, cycling happily in the direction of my office. I was feeling particularly pleased with myself as, despite a few set-backs on progress last week, I had decided on a strategy that would bring improvements to the normal snail-pace progress. So, there I was on this beautiful morning, feeling good and fully integrated with the many people walking along the roads. (Another great thing about Chipata is the entire community commutes to work on foot or bicycle).     What could possibly go wrong?
 
I was brought to an abrupt halt when, out of nowhere, my colleague Sam called out to me. He wondered where I was going. Since he knew full well that I was on my way to work, I wondered why he wondered where I was going. He casually informed me that today, we were moving to a new office. A new office?!! A new office?!! Nobody told me about a move to a new office!! Considering that we are a small team of five at the most, to say I was surprised is an understatement! After finding out more of the move, I believed the story that the opportunity to move had only come about late on Friday and accepted the office move with relish. It did, after all, mean we were to leave our humble premises and move to a new building that is fifty thousand times better! (No, that’s not an exaggeration!)

The new office is a 12ft x 12ft room on the second floor of a four storey building. It’s a kind of managed office block. There are many and varied other business tenants within, each with a room roughly the same size as ours.
When I arrived at this, our ‘new office’, it was still an empty room. My colleagues assured me they would be moving the furniture over that day and said I should come back tomorrow to begin work afresh. I did manage to squeeze in a meeting with a funding organisation and visit to the internet café before returning home …frustrated that my efforts to actually do some work were thwarted, yet again! Still, onwards and upwards I thought ….tomorrow is another day and with the office move complete, it should be a good day. I had several training activities lined up for Tuesday.    What could possibly go wrong?
Tuesday morning: Up early and ready to leave home when I received a text from my boss advising me to “come at 11.30, we are still shifting”. Grrr, more delays! Still, at least they are “shifting”, that’s a good sign. I arrived at the new office at the designated time only to find the office door locked. Grrr, more delays! Finally, after 1pm my boss turned up to tell me that the vehicle that they had hired to do the shifting had been impounded by the Police for having no insurance.   You couldn’t make it up!!!!

We did manage to get some chairs transported in my boss’s car but the rest of furniture was too big. In desperation, I called upon another local VSO volunteer who has a pick-up but unfortunately, he was busy. The only solution left was for me to lend my boss some money to hire another vehicle to move the furniture. In this context, ‘hire’ means paying somebody with a big enough vehicle to do it. At 4pm, I was sent home and told to await a text message in the morning advising me when to come in…!!

Wednesday morning: I am at home, writing this blog. It is a little after 10:30am and, so far, no text…! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr………!!!!

To be continued……