September doesn't bring the end of summer where I live. Instead, it's often the month when temperatures are the highest. Summer will continue thru to the end of October
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September doesn't bring the end of summer where I live. Instead, it's often the month when temperatures are the highest. Summer will continue thru to the end of October
Not in our corner of north west Europe.
Now, granted, sometimes, one will experience the wonderful time referred to as "an Indian summer", but, more usually, once mid September arrives, summer has been left far behind.
Evenings are cooler, days getting shorter, and we are rapidly approaching the autumnal equinox.......
I think those days are gone. The warm dry part of the year seems to be getting earlier. But by September the rain and cooler weather arrives. The climate has changed dramatically in our lifetime. It will (most likely) continue to do so.
Alas, all too true.
Today, I am attired in a warm, woollen sweater, whereas a mere fortnight ago I was able to wander around and about clad in a t-shirt.
The problem is, once the woollens come out, they rarely return to storage until - at the earliest - the following Easter.
True.
This spring was exceptionally dry.
Alas, yes.
Usually by mid-September; early September (what was classic "back-to-school weather" when we were kids) can often bring a lovely (late) spell of mellow sunshine.
Too true.
Stick with the red tape and security in this day and age. And wait for something better.
I’ve seen some older folk who never come into the office, any excuse at all. It is just so frustrating.
I also agree that commute time is a pain, that’s time that you can spend doing better things. Folks could spend that on fitness (better for their mental health too, which also better for their work) or other things.
Regarding remote vs. office work, I think a few things:
- It depends on if you actually work in an office. My mom does, but it is her personal office (i.e., not an "open office plan"). She loves her job, and open offices don't exist at her job either.
- It depends on where you live. If a big, big city (think LA, London, New York, etc.), of course it's going to be hard and inconvenient to commute. My dad has a 20-minute commute by car (30 minutes on his bike, which he does regularly). Mom takes 35 minutes to get to and from work. Neither of them have ever complained about it. But we're also in a mid-size city that's reasonable.
- It depends on who you work with. If you work with people you like, then you have a reason to go into the office. Both my parents' work colleagues are also their very good friends.
The main "reason" for working in the office is to be with your team. When (as I have to next week) change your office day for whatever reason, they still expect you to go in on another day. So, on Tuesday I'm in the office on my own. I'll sit on my own (which I don't mind), but why? It just makes my day more difficult. I have to get up earlier at 6, have a 45 minute drive to and then from the office, so a longer day, and for what? No common sense at all. Drives me nuts.
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Yup that's the one. You commute so you can sit in an office where you talk to your team via Teams in another part of the world. Pointless.
1. Only the 2 owners have their own office where I work. I used to have my own office years ago (before WFH was an option for anyone), but that's long gone.
2. Even a 30 minute commute is 5 hours a week if you go in everyday. That's a lot of wasted time (and fuel!)
3. I don't really TBH with a few exceptions. They don't come in at all.
All of the above applied when I was an academic, in that I had my own office for most of the time I was a university teacher, - (for a few years, I shared a two room office suite with three others, - who were very considerate colleagues), I loved my work, and it took me half an hour - on foot - to get to (or from) the university from where I lived, and the nature of my work - I researched and taught my own courses, and also taught on some of the mainstream undergrad history courses - all of which meant that I had considerable professional autonomy; this was ideal.
However, these conditions are not usually met in the current work world or environment.
Australia has decided to upgrade the internet speed for those who have an optic fibre connection to their home.
Those with 100Mb/s get upgraded to 500Mb/s and those with 200Mb/s up to 750Mb/s. I am one of the latter, and it happened last night. I just downloaded a large file, and it peaked at 1000Mb/s, averaging 500.
Happy, happy, joy, joy😊😊😊😊😊👍👍👍👍👍
Those with 100Mb/s get upgraded to 500Mb/s and those with 200Mb/s up to 750Mb/s. I am one of the latter, and it happened last night. I just downloaded a large file, and it peaked at 1000Mb/s, averaging 500.
Happy, happy, joy, joy😊😊😊😊😊👍👍👍👍👍
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It is a multi-level national thing. The NBN (National Broadband Network) is owned by Australia. Then, private companies then market and distribute the service to customers.
So, NBN owns the optic fibre to a connector on the side of the house. My provider then cabled that in to a distribution box which then connects to my Modem/Router (in this case supplied by them, but not necessarily by them). I then cable the rest of the house.
There are various levels of service, from 25Mb/s up to 2000. You pay for the level you want, from the provider you want. Some providers are cheaper than others for the same level of service. The challenge is finding a level of service from a provider you trust at a price you are happy with.
At home we have 500mbps download, 50mbps upload. Fibre-optic is available but hasn't made it to our neighborhood yet. Now that I'm back in college in Wisconsin, 1000mbps download, 1000mbps upload. Fiber is universal, 100% coverage by TDS Telecom. Crazy for a city this small.
Although those speeds sound insane for those of us who remember dial up, as web sites and file sizes grow they are just the norm.
Unfortunately for those of us that live somewhat further afield it does mean things will get tricky at some point.
I read an article yesterday about the amount of roadworks in the UK is at a record high, and was surprised to learn that this was largely due to internet speeds being upgraded.
Unfortunately for those of us that live somewhat further afield it does mean things will get tricky at some point.
I read an article yesterday about the amount of roadworks in the UK is at a record high, and was surprised to learn that this was largely due to internet speeds being upgraded.
Without being snarky, that's a nice correlation, but what's the causation?
I wish they'd do that that here. There seems to be an inverse correlation between road speeds and internet speeds where I live...
OTOH, I have lived through the full gamut of internet speeds, starting at 1500 baud, up to 2400, then up to superfast 9600. Then when DSL came in, starting at 1.5k, on up to I can't remember where. Then broadband (what was called here FTTN*), starting at 25Mb/s, then up to 50Mb/s (the limit of the copper wire). Now we have optic fibre to the house (FTTP - Fibre to the Premises), and theoretically go up to about 2000Mb/s.
However, it seems that at least here, the sweet spot might be 500Mb/s, as very few international websites can supply files at faster than 25 ~ 50 MBytes/s. Wolfram can, but Apple, Ubuntu and the few others I've tried today can't.
In perspective, my Internet has gone from 1.5Kb/s up to 750Mb/s, my computers have gone from 4Mhz up to 4Ghz, but I still can only type at about 40Wpm. I need a finger upgrade...
* FTTN - Fibre to the Node. Optic fibre to a box in the street 500 metres away, then normal telephone cable to the house
Happy Sunday, been busy, new educational programs my employer is developing, a part time course on video and Wordpress, slowly saying goodbye to summer. I had a minor accident early August on my manual bike (I also have an electric bike which is heavier and much thicker tires) when a clumsy maneuver caused me to slip, arm and leg scrapes and my right arm in a sling for a few weeks. I could still type slowly. Pretty much recovered now. Also it seems on the last few years an invasive weed, ragweed, has spread in parts of Europe including the Geneve lake region. Pollenation occurs late summer/early fall, and is pretty strong. I mean for me, great way to end the last of the warm weather. Thought I escaped that coming here from Canada but nope. Maybe a treatment later in winter for desensitization after updating with a test what affects me.
I also see again a debate on the WFH/work in office thing. It seems to me this heavily depends on the type of work as well as where you live. I have a nice apartment but besides the fact I prefer to keep my work/personal life separate I have no desire to keep lots of bills and bank records in my flat, part of my job is tracking program costs in an accounting database and here we need to keep paper receipts if they exist as well as scan them - they are then reviewed by proper accountants. Of course lectures, site visits with students etc. are done face to face. Lots of jobs in entertainment, service and retail require presence. Working just with information is different. Also, I am fortunate to live in a country with excellent public transport though again if I had a nice chalet in the Alps and had the type of work (not tending cows or vineyards) I could do remotely I would prefer that.
I also see again a debate on the WFH/work in office thing. It seems to me this heavily depends on the type of work as well as where you live. I have a nice apartment but besides the fact I prefer to keep my work/personal life separate I have no desire to keep lots of bills and bank records in my flat, part of my job is tracking program costs in an accounting database and here we need to keep paper receipts if they exist as well as scan them - they are then reviewed by proper accountants. Of course lectures, site visits with students etc. are done face to face. Lots of jobs in entertainment, service and retail require presence. Working just with information is different. Also, I am fortunate to live in a country with excellent public transport though again if I had a nice chalet in the Alps and had the type of work (not tending cows or vineyards) I could do remotely I would prefer that.
Just been to my wife's grave to put some flowers down. I can't believe it's been 20 years today since she died....Where does the time go as they say....?
Condolences. I’d be lost without Mrs AFB.
Time does indeed fly. It goes by quicker the older I get.
Oh, dear.
Bitter-sweet, and sometimes sad stuff, isn't it?
Having lost my dad 20 years ago this year, I can sympathise on the subject of "tempus fugit".
As long as you can remember her warmly, she will live on in your mind, memory, and heart.
For, I still find myself thinking of my dad, with fond affection, and wry amusement, and that bitter-sweet mix of love and sorrow; above all, I still miss him.
Paperless offices these days (in many industries) helps an awful lot with the WFH.
Also having a separate home office helps a lot. I know some colleagues prefer being in the office otherwise they have to work on a kitchen table or even on the end of their bed. That would not be acceptable for me. But my home office is better equipped than my office one.
FTTN is what we have here. But the distance you live from the green BT box makes a big difference to your internet experience.
For WFH, an actual physical workstation of some sort makes a huge difference. It doesn't have to be a separate room (although mine is) but it's a problem if there isn't a dedicated desk that's out of the way of any other people who might be home too.
Yes, I have my own office, my study, which - even though these days, I live alone - still makes an enormous difference to being able to work from home with some degree of comfort, and was invaluable when others (such as my mother and the carer) were still with us.
In any case, I wouldn't much care to have to take (and make) calls from the kitchen table.
The way we’ve set up our house that’s not possible, at least for my parents. My brother and I have our own bedrooms AND separate studio/office rooms. But that means that my parents just have their bedroom. But I think they wanted that for us. With them working in person it doesn’t matter to them. Our house is super small as it is so I think it’s amazing that worked out.
Plus with me gone 9 months out of the year now, the rest of my folks have an extra room.