Bunny Corcoran

Thanks to Hen I have now moved to an infinitely more reliable paid-for self hosting site. I bought a paid-for package sometime last year and never used it. Today I bought the domain bunnycorcoran.com.

Since this current blog has been running I’ve been using a freebie web hosting service and that old adage certainly proved true; there is no such thing as a free lunch. Whilst the site has been up most of the time, it’s been painfully slow, especially for anyone wishing to comment.

The new blog IS HERE. If you use RSS to stay up to date on this blog you shouldn’t need to change anything as my RSS feeds are via feedburner which I have updated. If you’re an old-school type that doesn’t use RSS but instead likes to vist the blog address, start using this address from now on: http://bunnycorcoran.com/

PS You will be automatically redirected to the new blog in 10 seconds …

Upcoming photo exhibition at Tate Modern, London, beginning next week:
Street & Studio: An Urban History of Photography

I had a think about what films I’ve seen recently and whether I liked them or would recommend them or not. Anyway, the ones I can think of include:

Sleuth (2007)

A real disappointment. Michael Caine and Jude Law (a good line-up you might think) but not a patch on the original. The original film is one of A’s all-time favourites which is why we ended up watching this new version the other day. There are only 2 actors in the entire film - these two - which you would think might make it deeply intense and powerful (there were gay undertones I hadn’t detected in the original, that did pique my interest) - but overall it just didn’t compel. Avoid (but do watch the original 1972 version - also starring Caine, but in the opposite role - which was very good).

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

I quite enjoyed this. I had the feeling it would be over-hyped but I didn’t let it stop me. I had no idea that most of the dialogue is ’sung’. I thought Helena Bonham-Carter had a lyrical and quite moving voice. I have to say - and I’m not actually the squeamish type - that this had too much blood in for me. So many graphic scenes of throats being cut. I frequently had to turn away. Worth watching (though not if you can’t stomach seeing blood).

No Country for Old Men

This won the Oscar for Best Picture, right??? I didn’t get this at all. Really, it was on the long-side and it was dreary, depressing and not believable. Was it meant to be believable? Probably not. What was it about? The violent depravity of modern day America? At its most basic it was saying: yes, the bad guy can come out on top. Anyway, that’s a crappy review on my part but unless you have time to kill I can’t recommend this.

Miss Austen Regrets

A had recorded this off the television and we watched it last night. It was based on Jane Austen herself and how she never found her own Mr Darcy. It talked of love and of the search for ‘Mr Right’. Importantly it raised the question of ‘does Mr Right exist? Probably not’ which I thought quite poignant and worth considering. Recommended viewing and the acting was top-notch.

Seen anything good recently that you’d recommend?

I’ve now found out that they’ve offered me the job.

Was in quite a state of shock when she called me to tell me. The basic salary they’re offering is more than I’m on, the bonus (the whole scheme is different) is less. But their pension scheme is better and some of their other staff perks are MUCH better. Plus, they’re going to do a salary review at the end of the 3 month probation period which is actually pretty decent of them as that’s not always too common.

I’ve told them I’m ‘very positive’ and they want my final answer tomorrow morning.

I’m going to accept.

Still hasn’t quite sunk in. I’ve been here 5.5 years. I’ve been through so much here (a large portion of which has been negative, we’ve had horrendous staff turnover, failed to make profit, etc, etc) that we’ve all shared a ‘Dunkirk spirit’ and I feel a sense of loyalty - more so to the people than the company - that has arisen as a result.

There is so much that is exciting about the firm I’m moving to. Of course, I’ll be pretty nervous also and there’s a lot that I won’t really know about (in terms of what to expect) until I’m in situ. But it’s invariably that way.

What is without doubt is that it was time to leave this place and this firm that have offered tick almost every box I could look to tick in terms of: their profile, nature of job, salary, staff perks, how it will look on my CV, opportunity to be mentored, etc, etc. It’s in the City (rather than the West End) and after so many years of working in the Piccadilly and Mayfair area it will be most odd moving to the City. But will do me good. London is a big place and it’s not a bad thing to experience new areas.

Most of all I’m looking forward to leaving my tiny 35 or so London office and moving to a 700 person office (huge I know) meaning I will finally be exposed to, and meet, lots of new people - which I really need and want.

Exciting times! Thanks all for your support.

Not a lot of news today. The agency called and said they’d had (positive) feedback from N, who I’d met yesterday. But AFAIC (as far as I’m concerned) that doesn’t mean all that much as he’s not the decision maker, just an influencer. He’s meeting the Director (of the corporate function I perform) tomorrow and that should lead to a decision being made as to a) whether they’ll offer and b) what the package might be.

So tomorrow should see an end to all this (or the beginning of the end, depending on your viewpoint!).

One of my long-established contacts on one of the big newspapers is taking me out for breakfast tomorrow which will be good. We go out every couple of months. I give him enough business on the advertising front so he takes me out fairly regularly to keep the relationship well oiled. I like him which helps and over the last 3 years we’ve become quite chummy. Which is agreeable.

Not much other news. This evening’s residents’ meeting was long, as usual, at almost 1.5 hours. We all foresee trouble ahead as our freeholder is a right royal pain in the backside. Ah well. I want to move, at some point. But with the current economic downturn it doesn’t appear to be great timing. We’ll see.

Need to finish this G&T and head to bed.

Yet another update.

There’s not a great deal to say unfort. I met the guy at lunchtime and we went for a sandwich. Turns out he’s only been there 2 months and is himself on contract. The role would involve working closely with him. I got on pretty well with him (he’s middle aged, married with children).

He was extremely complimentary which caught me off guard. Said the way I answered the questions during the interview last week was “technically perfect” (!?!) and that it was apparent I really knew my stuff and had done a lot of research etc, etc. This all sounds great.

But. Still no talk of salary and package. He kept saying he wasn’t privy to the final budgets influencing this role. Also, and this is where I’m unused to large organisations - the whole decision-making process is longer and more complicated than I at first thought. He doesn’t know how much is “in the budget” to offer this role. He also said that, whilst I’d talked of wanting to expand and grow over time, etc, that this role had its own glass ceiling as the roles above it were firm-wide heads of functional roles which were already full. To be honest this doesn’t bother me in the least. The role would easily last a few years and anything can happen in that time. So we’ll see.

I left feeling mildly perturbed by it all as it wasn’t quite the result I’d expected. He still has to confer with 2x directors back at HQ, also the 2 partners I saw. Seems they all have slightly different expectations etc, which I spose is as you’d expect.

Having had a chance to reflect since lunchtime - I am still keen. I want them to get an offer on the table (assuming they want me!) and then take it from there.

So, not a great deal to report.

Oh, it wasn’t great on the subtlety front. As noted on twitter, my mob rang at 8.45am and I took the call but sequestered myself in the server room (off the main open plan area). That in itself looked extremely unsubtle as is highly unusual behaviour for me. CEO and HR weren’t in, which was something.

Then, CEO had wanted a meeting with me ‘late morning’ and I of course had to skip that to go to my meeting (I was out of the office best part of 2 hours due to the 2 tubes required going from Mayfair to City). Then the FD said “you’re awfully smartly dressed today, do you have something important on?”. I was like WTF?!!? Pardon my language, but that really caught me off-guard. I blagged my way out of it but I felt like a real rat.

So we’ll see. I am still positive. These things are invariably quite slow processes. As usual - will keep y’all posted!

Have just made smoked mackerel pate (forgetting the horseradish sauce, duh), though I did put 2x small cloves of garlic in (which are raw). Good thing there’s no one around to kiss! Actually, it’s a bad thing there’s no one around to kiss - but that’s beyond the scope of this particular post!!

Drinking a rather divine G&T. This weather entirely lends itself to G&T and I cracked open the duty-free Bombay Sapphire I brought back from Africa in March.

I remain totally in love with this song. While We Were Hunting Rabbits by Matthew Good. Love it so much!

I got the feedback from the agency today. Was horrendous. There’s me, sitting at my desk with my personal mobile on the desk, knowing it just may ring, with feedback following my interview last week. I have it set to ‘meeting’ mode so it won’t alert people to the fact I’m taking calls. I spend much of the day on the fone - the work fone - and personal calls on that are fine (not that I do, the novelty of such things wore off a long, long time ago, plus we sit completely open plan) - so people are always slightly suspicious to know who is calling you if a personal mobile rings.

So it suddenly started flashing. Both the HR person and (far more importantly) the CEO sit behind me so I knew there was no way I could take the call. Had I answered it and tried to walk subtly out (which I’ve done on prior occasions) it would have looked horrendously conspicuous.

The ‘you have a new voicemail’ message popped up. I swiped my notepad and phone and fled to a meeting room at the far end of the corridor. I was sure the news would be bad. I just had this foreboding that it would be a ‘no - you don’t have the sector expertise’. My pulse was racing and I felt quite emotional - not good.

I couldn’t really hear the voicemail (my phone is on its last legs (sorry Hen, your old brick is now basically dead!!)). So I called the agency and got put through to L, the lady at the agency. She said “They liked you and said that you interviewed really well! They want you to come in one final time tomorrow. N is going to take you out for a coffee and a bite to eat - it’s the final step”. I was over the moon. It’s not just because things are looking reasonably positive or that I think this employer/role are a good fit - it’s that I held my own in a boardroom of a top City firm being quizzed by 4 people, 2 of whom were Partners and one of whom was a Director. This kind of thing is intimidating and I honestly believe I’ve crossed a personal milestone being able to do this kind of thing. It’s boosted my confidence enormously as I used to find the interview process back-breakingly scary.

So there we go. I was really pleased when she told me. I called dear old R in (my closest colleague at work) and she gave me a hug and said “well done, it’s looking positive!”.

As I said, I don’t want anyone jumping the gun as I do not have an offer yet and I still have to complete stage 3. What if I pass stage 3 and then the offer isn’t acceptable? I’d be appalled if they tried to offer less than I was on - assuming we get to offer stage. They’ve also been extremely vague about the bonus (whereas my current bonus arrangements are crystal clear). But we’ll see.

Small steps and all that. But I have this feeling of being inexorably pulled towards one of life’s crossroads and it’s a very positive feeling. My long, long overdue departure just feels tantalisingly close and it’s now just a case of keeping fingers crossed. There is so much about this prospective firm that excites me - it’s just so the opposite of my current place which feels so tired and staid. This other firm is hugely profitable, very innovative, comparatively ‘young’ compared with its competitors, extremely ambitious, stunning offices, masses of staff perks, etc, etc. All of it excites me.

Anyway, thanks to you all for your support so far. Will keep you posted! With any luck by this time tomorrow I should finally know one way or the other…

So today was perhaps the hottest day of the year so far. Crazy weather. It reached 28c in the shade in ‘A’s garden.

I woke about 7.45am and was at the gym by 9.25am. There was a tramp on the train, in my carriage. I pitied him (he was drunk and didn’t smell very nice). Must have been in his 50s. Had he spent his whole life like that? What turns normal people into tramps and societal dropouts? Alcohol plays a large part, I know.

Gym was fine, did 55 minutes including running 6km.

Was at ‘A’s by lunchtime. Am already forgetting what we had for lunch. I think I had a late breakfast instead, as I’d skipped it earlier. Ah yes, 4 (small) pieces of peanut butter on toast.

Then I went outside to sunbathe. The weather has been incredible this weekend. Yesterday was quite hazy but today was a blinder. Really hot and totally sunny all day. I had factor 12 on and have really caught the sun. I was on one of those comfy chairs that you can lean back in (with a foot stool) but you can’t lie flat on it. So when I wanted some sun on my back I climbed 3 floors to his bedroom which is a conversion of what was once the attic (it also has an en-suite and is v.nice). It has its own south-facing balcony (narrow, about 10″ x 4″). Anyway, up there he has a sun lounger so I laid out on that. Being 3 floors up (on a Victorian street) meant all and sundry could see me (stripped down to my underwear) in gardens that backed on to his. Very few people around so not too much to worry about.

Really soaked up the sun. We did a BBQ mid-afternoon with lamb steaks. Not a great success as it took so long to get hot and we hadn’t really put enough charcoal on, so we ended up transferring it to the grill - as you do! Was nice though. I’d also bought asparagus and corn on the cob (one of which I had from the BBQ). Wasn’t a bad late lunch.

Came home just before 6pm this evening. Laundry and ironing now done. Watched TV. Mad Men is on soon which is my must watch of a Sunday evening. Alas, series 1 is amost over.

As mentioned, this weather is a shocker. It’s May and yet it rarely gets this hot in July/August. Let’s just hope it’s not a portent of things to come (or a recurrence of last year, when we had a very hot few weeks in April and then NO summer at all!)

Oh, another reason why I need a companion (ugh, how PC does that sound!) as I could do with someone to rub after-sun into my back!!

Front page of today’s Telegraph Weekend section was an article about mothers who blog. Was fascinating. I was at ‘A’s and as soon as I opened the paper and saw the article I said “OMG I bet Hen is in this!!!”. Her blog wasn’t listed (probably much to her relief) but it was a very interesting read.

You can make good money from it, among other things!!

Have a read on the Telegraph website.