Yay - no more work for me. I left The ABC on Wednesday. Quite an experience there. I was working on improving the processes in a few areas, and was designing diggy Excel spreadsheets to do lots of cool things. (Remember that this is accountancy so "cool" is a relative term.) I borrowed a book from Andrew and Shae on Excel programming and have now taught myself macros and VBA to a reasonable level. After I'd designed a sheet, full of whizzy macros for the petty cash officer I went through it with her and taught her how to use it. It was clear to me that this spreadsheet would save her a lot of time and make her record keeping better. I'd made it idiot proof so she couldn't corrupt it - only the cells she needed to type in were unprotected, and there were double checks and validations everywhere. Anyway, I didn't want to scare her off as she's quite a nervous person, so I took it slow and walked her through the process. After the first day, it was clear that this would cut her work by a huge amount, so I was surprised when she said, "Yes it's good, but I don't think I'll be able to use it." Oh dear. I asked what was wrong and said that I'd change it to her specifications. She said that she was worried that if she used this spreadsheet she'd have nothing to do for much of the day. And that attitude pretty much summed up the culture there, and, I've heard, at many public services. So long as you fill your day it doesn't matter how inefficient you are. Grrrr! I didn't tell her that her boss was looking to throw more work her way, but I was pleased that by the time I left the cashier's office was running smoothly with my program, and she seemed happy.
I was also working on another department, where I was hindered at every step by the guy I was trying to help. He was such an arse, and seemed to think I was there to make his life more difficult. If he'd given me the time and support I needed I could have cut his workload and made his life easier, but as it is I had to leave that to my replacement (whom I advised to go over this guy's head and not to rely on him).
So having finished work, I am now unemployed - hurrah! We have a few days to sort things out, and then we start our trek up the coast to Brisbane, where we'll meet up with my mum.
Today and yesterday I've been sorting out accommodation and coach trips between Sydney and Brisbane - we leave for Newcastle (about three hours north) on Monday, after our flat's been inspected.
After a nice meal in a Spanish restaurant, we went to our final quiz at our local bar last night. Richard came too, so of course we won (we need him for the music and sport questions!) I was touched when the quizmaster gave us a big pack of Tim ams as a leaving gift (if you've read my praise for these Aussie biscuits you'll know why I was so happy). We stayed afterwards and chatted with him and the quiz regulars after. I'll miss the routine of our regular Thursday quiz. In the three months we've been here we've not missed one Thursday, and have won all but two times. Creatures of habit, us.
So now our routines are gone. Travelling is, by its nature, a haphazard and disorganised affair. It's apt then that we have our two week journey to Brisbane planned with military precision, and have accommodation booked for most of our stops. Ahem. One step at a time I say. Maybe by next February I'll have relaxed, and will wander round singing "Hakuna Matata" (sp?) all day. (It means "no worries".)
(When I say we have the journey planned with military precision, I'm saying it's planned well. Looking at the number of "friendly fire" incidents and other PR disasters in the recent Gulf War you may think the term an oxymoron.)