Turbo month: December

Hi, y'all!

For me (on a Saturday), I've had an early start, and am getting organized today for the holidays. And it's sunny here, after a week of dark, DARK weather. I'll never get used to leaving home at 08:00 in the semi-dark. It's so depressing. Yesterday in Amsterdam (South), it was completely misted in, spitting rain all day, windy, but not really cold. Boring, yes, but the weather here is a daily topic of conversation.

Monday through Friday, the consuming routine seems to dull my senses to my environs. Sitting on the 22nd floor of a glassed-in sky-scraper, the vista could be nearly anywhere in the world. It's impossible to see that one's in one of the world's most beautiful and vibrant cities. I'm on the south side of our floor, so just above the eight-lane ring road, whose snaking lines never disappear, but do move right along, until about 3:30 in the afternoon. Then, car lights go on and it becomes a nearly motionless long set of four queues of traffic. To their credit, the Dutch do NOT tailgate. I asked about this, and it's strictly forbidden. As one learns to do from driver education classes, the Dutch really do leave several car-lengths between them and the other cars. And unlike Washington, D.C., there don't seem to be traffic helicopters all over the skyline. This might be due to the proximity of Schiphol (Europe's 4th largest airport), or maybe the Dutch don't permit traffic/weather helicopter reporting. I'll find out.

Office politics: in a law firm, people are so busy most of the time, that there's just no time for the rubbish that a lot of offices seem to need. However! Ours is such a rapidly growing office, that there are stresses associated with who does what and when, and personalities do clash. I've worked for so long that I have a longer fuse about such stuff, but also no time for it. If someone gets in my way for long enough (there's a bimbo who sits near me), he/she will be zapped. In this case, the bimbo is marginally competent to work in any law firm, and is the opposite of pro-active (a term I hate, but it is descriptive). She talks all day long, mentions when she needs a cup of tea and when she needs a WC visit. She does this every day, all day. She also (while about 5 months pregnant) wears *very* short skirts, wildly inappropriate other things (sprayed-on clothes, in general), and because she has received two warnings not to appear at work so attired, is convinced that I have turned her in to the powers that oversee 'professionalism', and is so rude and stupid that she mentions her suspicions in lengthy phone calls to friends and family. She really is the most clueless person I've never seen in an office, and that includes quite a list. Most of the time it's easy to ignore her, and I do. I tend to sit and plough through things, since we've been until very recently horribly busy. Partly my nature and partly due to how much work there's been, I don't chat unless in the kitchen or elsewhere. She is the opposite. The urge to bellow, 'Would you PLEASE shut up?' has been stifled and will continue to be (if for no other reason than to succeed in ignoring her and not let her know what a massive pain in the ass she is), but it's hard. I'm determined not to engage in any sort of dialogue with her.

I told my very genteel partner (immediate boss) that there was a bimbo in too-close proximity to me and he was very amused, initially. Perhaps somewhat similar to being in a combat situation, in a law firm, one (at least, I do) always susses out (as soon as possible) who the smart, reliable and efficient people are, and cultivates them. In the process, the lightweights also surface. In my case, there are fortunately only two idiots (actually, 3.5) in the office, but one is in my radar daily. Enough said!!

It's already 3pm here, so I must sign off and get back to organising Christmas gifts to get in the mail.

Stay warm and comfy, everyone!

Pamela