I thought I’d introduce the newest member to our team!
Modern office life has changed a lot in recent years, and it’s no exception here at the “Friend”. These days we only “go” to work a couple of days a week, and the rest of the time we do our jobs from home.
It was really the pandemic that forced this change on us. Back then, in the early days of 2020, we had no choice. When the first lockdown was announced, we initially thought, “how on earth do we produce our magazines?”, but we found a way and a lot of the emergency processes we put in place to cope with that period, which really changed all our lives, have remained today.
What it means is the office is not as busy as it once was. There are other differences, too. My favourite of these changes is on a Wednesday, which has become an unofficial “bring your dog to work day”.
This week, I was in early one day for a meeting and the office was very quiet. I was sipping my coffee and reading emails, when all of a sudden, the door opened and in burst what I can only described as a furball of fun! Angus, pictured here, is our Circulation Manager Iain’s pup and what a little bundle of joy he is. Full of energy, and certainly more curious than a room full of journalists, Angus instantly became the star of the show. If I’m honest, I suspect Angus is the star of the show wherever he goes, and it’s not hard to see why.
It’s not very often you find yourself running around the office playing chase before cracking on with work, but that is indeed how we started our day. I’m not sure if it’s something you would see in many training manuals, but I can highly recommend it if you need a bit of a wake-up call in the morning. It’s a very easy way of getting your exercise in – even if keeping up with Angus is a fairly exhausting endeavour.
So we had fun, chasing and playing in the office, but then I had to get my head into work mode for my meeting. It’s not a switch I have to make every day, but I wasn’t complaining.
And what did Angus do while Iain, myself and a few others were deep in presentations and documents? Went for a drink and a snooze in the corner. It really is a dog’s life!
Read Editor’s Diary: Sunny Stonehaven
