Networks

I'm still here. To those good people who still return even though there is so seldom something new here, I haven't forgotten you. Promise. Life is just so full of things to do that, despite my desire to the contrary, I cannot sit still long enough to jot down all the things here that I would like to. Here are the latest figures on who's doing the most reading:

Switzerland: Well over 400

USA: Just over 100

Denmark: 26

South Africa: 18

Indonesia: 11

The rest (all at ten or less readers) are led by the UK at 10.

I see that the English Forum in Switzerland is responsible for the high readership here in Cheese-Land. Thank you, chaps. I read your forum often too. It's fun, interesting, helpful and entertaining.

To the Ami's (Swiss and German for Americans, pronounced "Ummies"), good for you. It's hard to keep a good nation down. Thanks for helping all us colonials whack the Krauts back then.

To the Danes, how many of you are expats? Viva the Vikings!

To the South Africans, shame on you!

To the Indonesians...uh...you just have to be expats???

Had a good Friday night a short while ago. My ex-apprentice phoned up and insisted that I join him for a "session" in the magazine. Sounds funny huh? I can't help but use the direct translation for the German word "Magazin" (pronounced mug-a-tsin), which is the term for the workshop/stores of a company.

In the bad old days, when I was a bricklayer and later foreman in the firm where he still works, we would have an informal, once-a-month bash after work on a Friday. This was something that I imported from South Africa. It's a great team-building exercise, and fun to boot. Nearly every job I've ever been in in SA was distinguished by an impromptu get-together after work from time to time, and I was horrified to find that the concept seemed unknown over here. The first time I suggested such a thing, typical questions and worries were "who's going to pay for everything?", "how much will I have to pay?", "what happens to the left-overs?", "what's your motive?", "what do you want in return?", etc.

Suffice it to say that after many years my colleagues came to understand my point, and there were many Friday evenings on the company premises where the fire burned merrily while beers were consumed happily and the smell of roasting meat and the sounds of cheerful camaraderie filled the air. When I left that company two years ago, the will to continue the parties seemed to fade. My ex-apprentice has now taken it upon himself to revive the tradition.

This time around was such a hoot. It's great to catch up on old stories and keep contact with people. Life has become so international these days, eh?! At our impromptu little party were: two Poles, a German, three Swiss, an Albanian, a South African (yours truly), a Macedonian, a Portugues and an Italian.

What's interesting here is that out of this group almost all have been able to help one or more of the others in a significant way that is not related to work. Here one must bear in mind that not everyone still works for the same company. This made me think of the network that I have been trying to build among these and other guys over the last few years. They have certainly grasped the concept, and it's gratifying to see how it all comes together for us when we need help. I hope to enlarge on this topic in a later post, because there is a rather funny tale about how we all helped one of the guys to move house, but as you readers know, there's no telling when that will be...

On a different note, with the run-up to Christmas and year-end I have been swamped with end-of-year inventory checks, wrapping up of last-minute, minor construction sites that of course all must be finished "by Christmas" (even though the quotes only went out in December), and of course that dreaded task of billing. Naturally the brass want all sites (especially if they're big, lucrative ones) financially wrapped up and the billing up to date by the end of the year, but this year every single site had to completely current as far as the financials go. This is because here in the land of fondue and chocolate we have a new VAT percentage as of the 1st of January, so there must be no bills for work done this year sent out next year or the customer will start kicking and screaming about the fact that he has to pay more tax to the government.

I knew this was going to be a big job, but the carrot at the end of the stick is of course the break between Christmas and New Year. I have been editing my book and had planned to use this week of rest to finish that and start sending out query letters to prospective agents. Also planned was a launching online so prospective customers could order the book via Amazon, Noble & Barnes,etc. or download the e-version on their Kindles. Something else planned was an aggressive "attack" on the blog, with more Police and Army tales (I see that they are by far the most popular of the stories). Altogether, a veritable feast of writing was in the cards. Was...

Alas, after two years of being flu-free I have been floored by the flu, and boy, do I mean floored! Hit me the day before Christmas and only now am I returning from my zombie-like state. In the few lucid moments I've enjoyed over the last few days, I have joined Facebook. I've always put this off with the reasoning that I don't have enough time yet, and I was right. From the minute I registered yesterday, every waking moment has been used to catch up on where all the good ole boys (and girls) are and what they've been up to. Not too hard when you're stuck in bed anyway and propping the laptop on your lap between dozing is so easy. However, now that I have made the graduation from bed to desk, I shall be attacking the stories again. Hope to have something good up for you all this week.

For now, even though I missed Christmas, I would like to wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Regards,
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