body and soul October 2013
Dear Stephen
Phew! Body and Soul! Thank you so much for helping me in the week to get to my life group. I am going to be very frank with you which is just between you and Claire and me. I am not sure about this.
I am still reading my bible emails. We are on Ruth this week.
The first week at work was OK. I went through feelings of ‘this is amazing!’ = mainly the diversity of age, ethnicity, sexual preference etc and ‘goodness! Can I do this anymore?’ = a bit like you can feel in teaching when you stand in front of a class again after a long time. One of my estates is out in Hillingdon near Slough stuck between 2 motorways and there is nothing there. I will be starting from scratch as I did in Marsh Farm.
I really like my boss Philip. I reckon he is early 40s ……… he has a lovely way, both with the residents and his staff. There is humility there without always being humble if you can understand that. He knows his stuff and has been with Peabody 15 years. It’s a place people stay and move around which is another good sign. One of my team members is moving to another job in the organisation which may be good for me. The team are young, articulate and a bit bolshy – all extroverts – but very friendly to me. My boss refers to me as his ‘very experienced worker’. I haven’t been treated so well in a long time.
It also looks like I can claim for all my travel around London and mileage when I drive out to Hillingdon so travel may not be so expensive after all.
On Tuesday I was sent on some customer first training. This was a different approach to how I had been taught before – more about how you shift yourself and the customer into a better psychological place so you are working from a ‘plus’ state rather than a ‘minus’ state where possible. The customer asks themselves 3 questions (and this is also a brilliant marker for relationships). Can I trust this person? Are they committed? Does he/she care about the relationship, i.e. investing time? Do you care about me i.e. do you care about outcomes for me?
I went on my second Christian mingle date yesterday. I have heard nothing since from the guy whose CV and job application I wrote who had dodgy sexual fantasies and was poverty stricken body and soul I guess. This guy did not even pretend to be a committed Christian. His brothers’ children had suggested he went on the site to meet a ‘better/kinder’ type of woman! He was kind. East End builder, built his 2 loves palaces by the sound of it who then dumped him. Gambled and spent money when he had it, now diagnosed with prostrate cancer. He doesn’t know quite how serious it is yet, but when I kissed him good night his skin was burning up (not a good sign). It wasn’t a ‘wow’, but there was something very likeable about him. He also makes me laugh and when that happens I realise I haven’t laughed a lot for a long time which is quite sad. I haven’t heard anything from Kevin though he last texted that he would get in touch after he got back from holiday on 3rd.
I saw A* on Thursday. We rapidly polished a bottle of wine. She looked well. I am going to try and see her every week until she goes to Australia after Christmas.
So life is looking up. The commute and just working a full week is tiring, but it’s good because I have very little time to stress about the things I can’t control and my brain is occupied. Since I was in London 4 years ago people dress so much more casually for work and there has been loads and loads of regeneration that is awesome. I was in Bermondsey by the shard last night which is mega hip and trendy and the area around Kings Cross looks great.
I heard you say how tired you are Stephen. You need to have a little review. Hazel x