• 18 things for 2018
  • 2015 Challenge – 52 in 52
  • 2016 challenge – 52 new things
  • 2017 Challenge – 17 things
  • Bucket List – Done and dusted
  • Bucket List – Still to do
  • This is Me – May 2015
  • This was Me – August 2014

RuthsArc

~ Looking forward, looking back & enjoying now.

RuthsArc

Monthly Archives: August 2016

Last day of winter

31 Wednesday Aug 2016

Posted by RuthsArc in one with nature

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

seasons

I should have waiting until the end of today to post my “changing seasons” post for the month.

August and winter has gone out in style. Heavy rain, a double rainbow and then a stunning sunset.

IMG_1618IMG_1623

Changing Seasons – August – Winter with hints of Spring

31 Wednesday Aug 2016

Posted by RuthsArc in one with nature

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

flowers, seasons

The days are getting longer.

Blossom is in the trees.IMG_1489IMG_1537

There was snow on the mountain early in the month.IMG_1026

A wood fire was a welcome sight.IMG_1365

More and more flowers and colours are beginning to bloom.IMG_1181

IMG_1187
IMG_1130
IMG_1131
IMG_1193
IMG_1149
IMG_1053

Looking forward to the first day of spring tomorrow.

Colour for a rainy day

30 Tuesday Aug 2016

Posted by RuthsArc in creativity

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

photos

IMG_1158

My “photo a day” prompt today is umbrella. This brightens up the greyest sky.

The office environment – then and now

29 Monday Aug 2016

Posted by RuthsArc in all about me, remembering / musing

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

me

Following on from yesterday’s post about the daily commute, my working environment is also very different now, compared to two years ago.

I was used to a huge office with hundreds of people on each floor, thousands in the building. I was used to a multinational organisation, with a coffee shop on the premises, a café or restaurant to get subsidised lunch.

I was used to a “managed” office space, requiring a security badge to get into the building, and onto the floors. I was used to “someone” fixing the dodgy light, “someone” cleaning each evening, “someone” filling up the snack vending machines.

The lights and heating were automatic. On the extremely rare occasions when I was the first person to arrive on my floor, the lights would come on as I walked down the corridor, all movement sensitive.

Now, I am working in a small office with a maximum of fourteen people. Most staff have front door keys. The first person in, puts on the lights and heating. Last one out, turns it all off. We sign in each day, time in and out and if we leave the building at lunch time.

One of my colleagues has the assumed role of DIY man, walking around with a step ladder to replace a light bulb, or getting a drill out to fix a new white board to the wall.

There is a kitchen / lunch room to make our own drinks, with fridge freezer, toaster, microwave. Tea, coffee, milo and milk are provided, with a colleague buying supplies out of “petty cash”. A coffee van does visit our office four days a week. The only snack and chocolate supply is a fundraiser box from a local school.

IMG_7508

I’m in a shared office at the back of the building with no natural light. I know when it’s raining because I hear it on the tin roof.

I was used to fire wardens on each floor, regular fire alarm tests and evacuations that took almost an hour, walking down five or more flights of stairs. They take workplace health and safety seriously here, but their fire sign made me smile.

IMG_6898

One colleague takes shredding home – for her chooks in her chicken coop.

Although I’m living in a city, it is a very different life to London, a small scale city with everything we want, but verging on rural life, beach life.

For now, I know I’m in the right place.

 

 

The daily commute – then and now

28 Sunday Aug 2016

Posted by RuthsArc in all about me, remembering / musing

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

Hobart, London, me

On this day, two years ago, it was my last day at work in London. My last day of train commuting into the city. The last day of walking past The Shard, over London Bridge, past The Monument. The last day of a lunchtime stroll past St Paul’s Cathedral, over the wobbly bridge, or past the Gherkin or the Globe Theatre, or Tower of London and Tower Bridge.

transport

100_3976
IMG_0909
IMG_0364
IMG_0008
IMG_0864A
IMG_0365
IMG_1286

I don’t feel old enough for this statistic…. but I’d worked in international banking in London during five decades! I caught the end of the 70’s, starting work straight from school. Apart from a gap year in the mid 80’s, two short breaks for maternity leave in the 90’s, I had worked full time.

I was happy to take redundancy. I felt I was due a break, time to consider where we wanted the next phase of life to take us.

My daily commute is now a drive to work, twelve kilometers from one side of Hobart to the other. The office is in a residential verging on industrial area, with a freight transport company as our immediate neighbor. Lots of big trucks drive past.

IMG_0852
IMG_7664

I park the car on a side road and this week I noticed a new neighbour at number 44.

IMG_1518

There are no historic buildings near the office but there are views of Mount Wellington and occasional rainbows.

IMG_0834
IMG_9815

 

Weekly photo challenge – Framed

27 Saturday Aug 2016

Posted by RuthsArc in weekly photo challenge

≈ 19 Comments

Tags

beach, photos, Tasmania

The ruins of Port Arthur Church.

IMG_1765

The view of the beach, framed by the penguin viewing platform.

IMG_3086IMG_3085

The coastline framed by an arch in the rocks.

IMG_3985IMG_3983

The botanical gardens, framed by the arch in the wall.

IMG_5506IMG_5511

And the dilemma of framing a photo in the rear view mirror. Do you straighten the image to the horizon in the mirror or the horizon ahead?

IMG_1064

Frame

Thursday Doors.

25 Thursday Aug 2016

Posted by RuthsArc in one with nature

≈ 18 Comments

Tags

doors

IMG_1493

This door has seen better days.

I admired it’s tenacity to remain standing against the odds. This is my contribution to Claudette’s Emotography Series.

100% electric – in 100 words

24 Wednesday Aug 2016

Posted by RuthsArc in 100 word challenge, creativity

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Cars

The community transport organisation I work for is leasing an electric car.

100% electric, not a hybrid.

There’s an official launch day next month, but today staff had a preview.

I didn’t actually drive it but the Nissan Leaf is very comfortable in the back, very spacious. The dashboard is straight forward. The accessories of radio, media, GPS, seemed more complicated than the actual car controls. The silence does seem odd.

There is a charge point at work. One of about twenty in Tasmania.

Promoting an electric car here, is quite an innovative step.

IMG_1497

IMG_1505
IMG_1498
IMG_1504

Tassie Time

23 Tuesday Aug 2016

Posted by RuthsArc in more to life

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

Tasmania, work

Although the weather shows signs of spring, it is still winter trading hours for some shops and pubs.

The work / life equation seems to be well balanced here in Tasmania.

t 1

t6
t 2

t 5

Springtime

23 Tuesday Aug 2016

Posted by RuthsArc in one with nature

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

flowers, seasons

Signs of spring on my way to work this morning.

IMG_1468

← Older posts

Archives

  • January 2023
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
award-free-blog-2

Categories

  • 100 word challenge
  • 52 challenge
  • all about me
  • back in 1985
  • creativity
  • days out
  • fifty something
  • making changes
  • midlife
  • more to life
  • my place
  • one with nature
  • Past Squares
  • photography
  • remembering / musing
  • Uncategorized
  • weekly photo challenge

Tags

5 minutes 52 Things 100 words A2Z Challenge Amsterdam animals architecture art astronomy Australia beach bench series birds boats books Cadiz Cambridge Cars challenge curiosity day out doors Ely emotography family flowers Giant's Causeway Gibraltar gratitude Greenwich happiness Hastings history Hobart holiday home in 1985 India insomnia Ireland Life with Covid-19 London Maastricht macro Margate me Melbourne music Netherlands New Zealand our garden people photos Pull up a Seat quotes Rediscover Tasmania Scotland seasons Seville sky Spain squareodds still life Sydney Tasmania time Titanic trees walks Whitstable work WW Remembrance
Follow RuthsArc on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 657 other subscribers

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • RuthsArc
    • Join 657 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • RuthsArc
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.