Hello Woggy!

Hello Ant  :-) , just decided to log on for the first time in a long time, took me a few seconds to remember the url 

With the sign making do you offer any sort of proof reading for the client, or would you make a sign verbatim no matter the spelling/grammar they present you with?

Eyup Woggy. Brew?

We usually contact the customer if we spot something, but stuff does slip through. Also customer insist on having things a certain way, even when it's incorrect, so we're usually always second guessing ourselves

Alreet Steve, don't mind if I go

Evening all. Glad to hear everyone is safe and well for the most part, and I've really enjoyed reading where everyone is these days.

I currently find myself as a Development Manager and Head of Solution Architecture at a Newcastle-based gambling platform company with over 40 poor sods relying on me to keep them busy and look after their welfare. We've unexpectedly won a bid to take over the 4th largest lottery in the world, which goes live in August. So things are a bit... hectic. Before this I've been pretty lucky to be honest while working as a Developer and then as an Architect which allowed me to see some bits of the world I'd never have expected to see.

I still haven't got a fucking clue how to get a printer to work mind.

I lecture med students relentlessly, think long and hard about things, and occasionally talk about these things to people.

Are you still living in Reichenburg? 

Apparently yes. As is one of my colleagues, thanks to some of our students.

Wow cracking thread - a few names in here I often wonder about. Lovely to see Xen still alive. Oddly enough Facebook seems to be coming full circle with more and more people dropping off - I wonder if we'll see some return to traditional forums.

I actually logged in because I think none other than the Luke Redpath liked post I made on Facebook

Like all of us, at some point I became massively fucking old and I'm now in my sixth year as a freelance contractor focusing on Citrix, with the usual dabbling of Microsoft and virtual stuff.

How are you sports/gambling people doing now we have SPORT back in our lives?

just insanely busy and stressed. Hate it.

How many of the 20 PL grounds are you involved with?

Mrs WmA bought me a Switch for my 64th so I've been playing insane amounts of Mario Odyssey. Does that count? Also there's snooker on the telly again.

Depends on what level you mean, but we work with all of them to at least some degree. Directly as in our company spends time inside them on the reg, I'd say about 7, maybe another 3 that we're quite close with. Plus Wembley.

LOL the cricket and rugby will start soon too, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Animal Crossing seems to be the in thing now.

I guess everyone wants everything NOW. More games in a shorter space of time?
3 months of not working then back into the deep end.

Working from home is getting to me again, but both do and don't want to return to the office.
Do because I need the interaction.
Don't because there's still a pandemic.

Our CEO was bold enough to say a while ago that he doesn't see a full office return across the group until there's a vaccine. Still expecting there to be some push in the coming month or so though.

Venue teams want everything earlier than normal. Commercial teams want to brief it in later than normal. The rock and the hard place have me in the middle. Some of them are just arseholes with no consideration of what they're asking I think emails at 5pm saying "here is a brief, can we see it today please" and things like that. Or asking for LED systems to be on and running at 6am the next morning (again at about 5pm for the request) and then chasing it for an answer within minutes. Cunts!

Can you maybe visit the office once or twice? I have found that a bit of interaction goes a long way - and also reinforces the realisation of how much affected we've been under the isolation.

We aren't renewing our London office lease when it comes up in September. I think at some point we'll get another one, smaller and nicer, but we'll never go back to having everyone in every day.
 

I feel exactly the same way. 

While working from home is convenient, and I'm actually more productive (cos of less distractions), I'm missing people and though we have meetings over Teams every day, you don't get the same experience as being in a room with other people. It's difficult to gauge reactions, whether people are actually listening etc... 

I didn't think I ever would, but I'm missing the commute into work. A 10 minute walk to the station, 20min journey and another 15min walk to get to the office offers a bit of mental space, some thinking and contemplation time, while also being able to zone out and just listen to some music. 

Sounds like you CEO is cut from the same mould as ours. He's said that though the offices are open, only come back when you're ready to, we're still formulating a plan on seating and the number of people that can be safely accommodated on each floor. 

I've got asthma, so am trying to leave this as long as possible to mitigate any chance of infection, but also don't want to become a hermit. It's scary though how quickly I've got used to hardly moving all day. I've got my work stuff set up on a desk in the room I use as a drawing room and it's entirely possible I could stay in here all day. :C