Me, Me, Me

Why was I so averse to the work I am currently doing with the legal profession that I alluded to in previous blogs? Who knows? I am thoroughly enjoying it. 3 hours per day which frees up valuable thinking time but I am actually enjoying the company of those in ‘the professions’ after several years of working mainly in the not for profit sector. My client is not quite magic circle but just gets into the top ten legal practices in the UK and the top 100 in the world. And today they have asked me about doing other work for them in the future. However the opportunity I am currently working through with Mark Brown may change everything for me and could mean that I will soon have to turn down work. The question is – which would I choose not to do? The lowest paid is often the most rewarding and I do want to see my Kosovo work (see blogs passim) through to completion. Ahtisaari – the UN special envoy to Kosovo - has today suggested that Kosovo will indeed gain independence and as I have been working there for nearly five years I feel that I have been in my own small way helping to make a difference. I have trained a huge number of workers from the both the UN and OSCE there and I like to think I have played a part in the change. The Kosovo work will be the last to go if (and the ‘if’ is looking more like ‘when’) the opportunity flowers. And I will be back there at the end of April for nearly two weeks.

My parents are separating after 41 years of marriage. My mother has found a partner who lives in Yorkshire and it seems she has more or less moved in with him. He is sixty and wealthy and will no doubt look after her. It all seems strange that only a few weeks ago she was chasing Poles (double entendre intended) around Europe. And now she has left my father. My dad turned up in South London last weekend and we went off to watch some rugby. He has a ‘lady friend’ himself – my father’s ability to bounce back is superb – but I feel that his extreme haste in telling me this suggests it is a reaction thing to maintain his own self-esteem. A good thing too I suppose as long as he doesn’t attach too much to it. My sister and I are both fairly cool about the whole thing – there is so little time and it is so sad if we spend too much of that time unhappy. In fact I think we both agree that this should have happened years ago. Never hang on unless there are children involved.

Music of the day: Ein Deutches Requiem – Brahms (Rattle)