It has now been a year since I left the corporate world – my last employment being at Barclays Commercial Bank.
Seems like an age away now, but only 13 months ago, I was doing a 9-5 job (well 9.15 – 6 was more like it conducting supplier reviews, contract negotiations which were a lot of fun, whinging about a poor bonus after having saved Barclays £1.2m the previous year, joining the rafts of people waiting on the ground floor for a lift to take them up to one of the 31 floors of Barclays HQ in Canary Wharf, and writing what must be one of the most boring and dull documents ever thought up – DRACA’s (or Detailed Risk Assessment and something or other).
So what do I miss? Well there were some interesting people at Barclays who were fun to work with including my like-minded boss who recruited me into the role – maybe Sudbury Estates will open an account with Leading Route Cars for their airport runs to the vinyards of France. There were also the random trips to Nero or Costa for a coffee with Sud and talking about business ideas. The type of work I was doing was also very challenging as well (when you cut out the regulatory stuff and internal red-tape) and did keep my interest.
For the most part – and at this point most of you will think I’m barmy – I also miss the daily commute into and out of work. I was pretty much guaranteed a seat on the way into work, no changes as I took the jubilee line all the way, and I love reading so got through many books including my favourite of them all – Shantaram.
That was my work life. At home was very different – we were excitedly expecting our first baby! My wife Cruti was seven months pregnant and was well into the sleepless nights routine. Our lil boy did a good job of ensuring his mummy made frequent night trips to the loo. He used to sleep when we woke up and wake up when we went to bed, poke his little knee out randomly and it often seemed like he was having a party in there with all his kicking.
I was also nearing the end of a period in which I had travelled a lot, mainly for stags and weddings. I had just returned from a wedding in India and was soon off to another in Dubai. Both were for very close friends so could not be missed.
As I said at the beginning, that all seems a lifetime ago now and life couldn’t be more different. Arav is almost 11 months old now and together with his grandparents and our siblings, we’re loving watching him grow up, learn new things and develop his own little personality.
Work is very different too. A short drive on the A406 has replaced the 1 hour, 10 minutes commute on the jubilee line, there is LBC 97.3 instead of books and the Metro, instant coffee where there were cafe late’s, search engine optimisation, regular accounting and new business development instead of weekly team meetings and multi-million pound contract negotiations.
Now that’s what I call a year of change. There are things I miss but there is so much more that has been gained, both at home and at work. Do I regret any of it? Hell no.
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