| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:FORUM AWARDS 2014.. | |
| Posted by: | Chris Calvi-Freeman | |
| Date/Time: | 31/12/14 22:49:00 |
Michael I loved my job at LBH – I loved the work – the variety, the high degree of autonomy to pursue the projects I thought most worthwhile (within reason of course) the opportunity to change things for the better, the sense of achievement when something went right, the pleasure of working with some clever and dedicated people etc – but the workload was crushing as the resources were so limited and expectations so high. When you work at a senior level in a council you answer to thousands of people – the CEO and directors, cabinet member and 60 councillors, pressure groups and local residents, plus in my case that unaccountable monster TfL as primary funder and policy influencer. Balancing their wants and needs was a never-ending challenge. I wouldn’t go so far as to say the job was killing me but the long hours and pressure to achieve the near-impossible were certainly detrimental to my health. Cancer and a heart attack were wake up calls. I’m currently having a much easier life and feeling better for it, but I do miss many of the creative challenges I faced in London. I miss my London friends, colleagues and acquaintances but I’m loving getting closer again to my old New Zealand friends. Right now I’m typing this from my house on a very steep hill (almost a clifftop) overlooking Wellington harbour. The view from my study is just brilliant and the sunshine is glinting off the water. 66 steps take me down to the road and there’s a pebbly beach on the other side. I can cycle, bus or drive into Wellington city centre in about 5 minutes or walk around the bays in 25, and have access in the CBD to just about anything I want or need it terms of entertainment and amenities. We have a great swimming pool just 5 minutes by car in the opposite direction – it’s clean and uncrowded and puts Brentford leisure centre to shame. Ditto the hospital – modern, clean, close by and better than West Midd. It takes me an hour to drive to our beach house in Waikanae and the beach there extends for miles and is clean, safe and completely uncrowded. I loved living in Chiswick but I don’t miss the crowds, the litter, the pollution and the congestion, nor London's long grey winters. We don’t worry here about boys-on-bikes, public transport strikes or terrorist attacks (although those things aren’t impossible here) but I can’t take a tube into the centre of one of the world’s greatest cities or wander into one of the world’s best museums – although our national museum Te Papa is pretty damn good. Nor can I contemplate a weekend in Paris or Bruges, although Sydney and Melbourne are only 3 ˝ hours away by plane if you care to splash the cash. The air is clear and clean but the wind in Wellington often blows 40 bastards and it’s occasionally the same at the beach. I guess you just can’t have everything you want in any one place at any one time, but on balance I’m glad that circumstances prompted me to resign from LBH and come home to Wellington, which was always the long-term plan. Well, you did ask. CCF |