Brain Ache.

Food theft notes saga

It might sound a tad ridiculous that I’ve been in my first placement only 5 days and I’m already knackered but…I am! Maybe this weeks post should have been titled ‘Information Overload’ because since Monday it has been none stop and I’ve had to be at the top of my game to keep up and make it all fit together. Add to this the fact that this week I’ve had to play Miss Marple in the ‘Mystery of the Missing Food’ and it’s not surprising the weekend was very welcome!

Other than Tuesday, this week I’ve been in the office for the first time. My first placement is with London Underground in the IM Project Management Office. I’m part of a small team which includes my manager, two others guys and myself. No messing about, first thing on Monday morning I’m given something I’ll be responsible for every week which involves liaising with the project managers and portfolio managers to find out what progress they’re making and making sure they stay on track and will meet milestones and finish on target. I’ve also been given responsibility for producing our teams part of a high level report each period and been asked to develop a new system for bi-weekly reporting…..

PANIC!

...my first response was one of mild panic, manic note taking and some Googling!

We’ll see, I’m sure by this time next week I’ll be right in the swing of things and be able to understand 90% of what’s going on and what I’m doing… that’s the aim anyway… the other 10% I will always put down to people who generally speak in riddles.

Tuesday was a bit different; I was over at Pier Walk (the TfL office next to the O2 arena) for a training day with the other IM grads and apprentices. Most of it was related to TfL and service management (rather than LU and project management) but it’ll definitely be helpful when I rotate there. The other great thing about Pier Walk is that other grads are based over there. It was just really nice to be able to walk around the building and bump into familiar faces. But I’m enjoying being based at St. James Park very much, sunny lunches 2mins from the park are brilliant!!

Had an excellent lazy weekend (hence not bothering to write this until now) and all too soon it’s Monday again!... Today I found out that last week I had actually understood more than I thought and got into the office and cracked on with what I had to do. Tomorrow should be good too; all the IM grads have a meeting with Steve Townsend the newly(ish) appointed TfL ChiefInformation Officer – a chance to ask a few questions to the top dog!

Next blog should be Sunday but I can’t make any promises… It’s the BFF’s leaving drinks 4pm Friday and there is already a plan afoot to stay up for the England v Scotland match Saturday morning… messy.

Until next time…whenever that may be,

Bren x

Ps, I really must make these more interesting – apologies

Pps, In an attempt to do just that… check this video out – It’s my new fave.

Information Overload

Things I’ve learnt this week:

1 – Everyone I’ve met this week has been great!

2 – TfL is a bigger organisation than I ever could have imagined.

3 – Stratford Westfield needs better air conditioning...

Oyster

 Monday started at the London Transport Museum at CoventGarden, with the issuing of the FREE Oyster Cards and name tags. We were put into groups and played TfL related games which involved us running (/walking quickly) around the museum to find things. It was fun and obviously was a great way to get to know one group of people straight away. Including all the grads, 12 month ‘year in industry’ placement students, apprentices and 12 month Olympic grads there is about 70 of us and even after 5 days I think I’ve probably only spoken to half of that number – not because I haven’t bothered to say hello – but because everyone is so great that you get talking and just don’t stop!

Tuesday, Thursday and Friday we were based at St. James Parkin 55 Broadway, an amazing building built in 1929 where days were broken down into 1 hour chunks and various people presented to us on subject such as Equality and Inclusion, Trade Unions and Employee Relations, SAP (a system TfL uses throughout the organisation), the GLA and our Government Relations office, TfL and the Olympics, etc etc…. There were so many!

It was really good that such senior people in the organisation took time out of their schedules to come say hello and tell us a bit about what they do.

Assembly Chamber

Wednesday was a bit different; we started the day at CityHall with a briefing from the external relations manager for the GLA. At 10am we moved into the Assembly Chamber for Mayors Question Time with Boris Johnson and 24 assembly members. This was the first MQT since the riots in August so there were a lot of questions around that topic but eventually they did move onto some transport related questions which was good for us to hear. There was a booklet filled with the hundreds of questions that were submitted for this MQT, my personal favourite:

‘What is the highest selling item in the Covent Garden Transport Museum?’

Towards City Hall

I have no idea why that question was asked or where the assembly member was going with that but according to one of the presenters later in the week, it costs £75 for each question to be answered – so I hope for the good of public money that one ended up in the bin or mysteriously disappeared. Wednesday evening was a chance to meet graduate alumni and hear from Peter Hendy the TfL Commissioner. It was great!...Peter Hendy was in the building for all of 12 minutes but what he said was interesting and really everyone just fancied heading to the pub as it was 8pm by then. Speaking to the ex-grads meant we had a chance to get some real answers and advice about different placements – where to go and maybe where to try and avoid…

Friday ended with presentations on how TfL could set a ‘world class benchmark during the 2012 Games’ – We came second out of eight! Celebratory drinks in a bar around the corner and home quite late meant dealing with dull head pain pretty much all day Saturday and suddenly it’s Sunday and I start work for real tomorrow in the LU IM PMO... basically all IT related projects for London Underground are based in one office an I’ll be based there doing…something. Until tomorrow it’s all still pretty vague.

Westfield Stratford City

Today I visited Stratford Westfield (East London equivalent of the Trafford Centre). Now, for those of you that no me at all will probably know my feelings towards anything shopping related so visiting on opening weekend may look like a strange decision… but it was ok! Apparently it’s supposed to be the biggest shopping complex in Europe but it didn’t feel as big as the Trafford Centre and I actually managed to get a few things that I needed AND the NatWest is shiny and new and friendly and open on a Sunday – so that’s nice.

Must dash, off to Euston to watch the United match with the BFF.

Until next time.

Bren x

End of Summer

Week 1 – done! Admittedly, I haven’t actually started work yet but I’ve still had a very busy week. And now it’s Sunday and I start work TOMORROW……….aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

After two days of unpacking and putting things away and figuring out how the hell one uses a dishwasher(!) and lots of others things about the house, I ventured out of Canning Town, all the way to Canary Wharf. I met Matt (who is also starting on the TfL IM Graduate Scheme tomorrow) for a few drinks at The Ledger Building which was by far a more productive use of my time than watching the England game.

The Thames

On the meridian

Pa Brennan turned up with his overnight bag on Wednesday morning; two coffees and a burnt slice of toast later and we were out the door – me with my Oyster and dad with his day travel card. First Stop, North Greenwich to show him where I’ll be working and have a walk by the river. Despite the obscene amount of choice in the O2, we finally chose somewhere to refuel before moving on to have a wander around Canary Wharf, Greenwich and the Cutty Sark, and finally up to Stratford (mainly because dad wanted to ride in the front seat of the DLR so he felt like he was driving!!) to have a look at the Olympic park and get some stuff in for dinner. After a long day and lots of walking around, we were both suffering with what the Brennan’s call ‘Dome Feet’ – named after a particularly long day in 2000 where we all visited the Millennium Dome for the first time. So we headed back to Canning Town and avoided crap TV by watching Takers – a very good Idris Elba film – Recommended.

Once Mr B departed on Thursday morning I headed up to Grange Park to see the BFF and family and drink lots of cups of tea and have a good ol’ natter – lovely. And all of a sudden, it was Friday!

I was supposed to do a test run to where we’ll be based for the induction week – The London Transport Museum at Covent Garden – but y’know… I’m on my holidays aren’t I and slept in :) When I did  eventually get up, I headed to Oxford Street for a bit of office appropriate clothes shopping.  A couple of hours later, knackered and skint I headed to Euston to meet the LAD that is James Brook!..We went to meet up with other ex-Course Enquiries colleagues, Devy and Nav for a bevvy and a catch up.

Saturday was FABULOUS!

Southwark Bridge

James in The Clink

Lunch!

Borough Market, The Clink, Thames Festival, sunshine, smiley faces, cocktails by the river, Shoreditch, Light Bar, Hoxton Square, night bus – JOB DONE. Safe to say I woke up with a right hangover this morning, although nothing that couldn’t be cured with a bit of rugby and F1 (which I can watch in peace these days! – yes Jen, this is aimed at you!).

Party on the bridge

September 11th, or 9/11... 10 years ago today and hasn't time flown. 10 years ago I had just started year 9 at high school and now I'm about to start my career - mental. And the coverage of the memorial services today are still as moving as they were all that time ago.

Anyhoooo… As the last extended summer holidays i'll ever have come to an end, I have hung up my clothes and am ready (although still petrified) for tomorrow! So I must dash, I’m missing X Factor!!

Until next time,

Bren x

This Really Happened?!...

I had this really weird dream last night that I’d moved my entire life 200+ miles down the M6 to live in London!...oh wait, hang on a second – that actually happened!

Here I am, all moved in and I only forgot about 14 things – not too bad Brennan! Although one of those things is my webcam which I’m a bit gutted about. Even after being totally convinced I had packed it – idiot – therefore Skyping will just have to wait. When I do get round to sorting that out and if you do want to Skype me you’ll find me at ‘brenla88’. [Ed - FOUND IT...I'd put it in one of those 'safe places' that you can never remember!]

AXM Planking

After a simply amazing leaving weekend in Manchester (see pic - love you lot) I said my teary goodbyes and OB and I headed to Westhoughton to pack up the car and set of on the long journey Down South. A packed lunch of cold pizza, an A-Z of London and several mixed CDs was all we needed to get us there – right?... Wrong. Turns out we needed the SatNav on my phone which I totally forgot about until we were headed in the totally wrong direction somewhere near Loughton – my bad. After several hours, 4 slices of pizza, two toilet stops, one bottle of Lucozade and simply extortionate petrol prices at a service station, we arrived in Canning Town.

Canning Town

If truth be told I couldn’t really remember the house all that well – I came for the viewing weeks ago and was probably only here for around 12 minutes max.! But all is well, the house is great and the housemates I’ve met so far are great too. Not a massive fan of all the unpacking business and another of the 14 things I forgot was hangers so I’ve rearranged the room and made my bed – that’ll have to do for now. I’ve got a week before the new job starts so it’ll get done…eventually.

You can read about how my being in London came to be here at the blog I wrote as part of my final year at uni [Ed - actually you can read about how I didn't get onto several other schemes - I got this job offer in March]. But basically, I’m starting as an Information Management Graduate at Transport for London. I’m not 100% sure what that actually entails – hopefully messing about with computer systems and databases and whatnot… Thought I’d keep this blog up for as long as I can and keep everyone up to date with what I’m getting up to and the new job and…stuff. Probably general ramblings and observations…

Now I’ve survived my first night I’m going to do a proper shop. Yesterday I managed 6 beers, tea, milk, sugar, bread, eggs, and strawberry jam – I was tired.

Until next time,

Bren x