Sick and Tell…A Harsher Side to Life in London

Work has been a bit hectic for the last few weeks…our company requires that everyone use or lose their holiday leave by end of year. So, folks have been taking LOTS of time off…to the tune of weeks, not days, because the average vacation package here is 5 weeks. On top of that, colds and flu travel fast in London. The close quarters on the Tube don’t really allow anyone to keep a safe distance to avoid sharing germs.
Through this barage of illness and holiday leave, everyone on my team has had to pick-up the slack in rotation. It’s a constant cycle of getting up to speed on projects during the handover, juggling while people are away (or multiple people in the case of my team) and then preparing the handover notes for when they return.
When we returned from Krakow, the two guys sitting directly beside me (on either side) had come down with nasty colds. But with no one to cover (because so many were out), they were in the office anyway. I knew it was only a matter of time before my turn would come. Despite massive doses of Vitamin C, Zinc and Vitamins, it struck. I came down with it hard on Wednesday. I worked from home…hoping that I would be able to make it to a show with my friend that night if I stored up my energy. They had bought tickets for G&I as a holiday gift…needless to say, I couldn’t make it.
But, to put the icing on the cake—Daniel Radcliffe (the Harry Potter star) would have sat DIRECTLY BEHIND ME if I had gone. What luck!
In the end, I’ve had to nurse both a cold and disappointment 🙂