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The highlight of the month was that I ordered and bought a new kitchen. It will be a little while before it is installed, but I've waited 18 years so what's a month or two? I also had my first singing lessone for a long time and was mortified to discover that I lift my shoulders when breathing in - something to concentrate hard on not doing! I completed the EQA and had trips to London and Brussels to talk to auditors, with more online audit training too. To provide some balance, I delivered two fraud workshops and one session on approving local government accounts.
February mostly concentrated on audit and audit committees, both virtually and in Brussels. I began another audit committee review (I learn so much from these to inform my training), provided audit committee training and also worked with internal auditors. For light relief, I did some fraud training. In between all of that, my kitchen was ripped out (the dust! the noise!) and I finished making the wedding dress and jacket for the bride. Now onto the groom's tie and a matching dress for the tiny bridesmaid (granddaughter)
This was a relatively quiet month as far as work went, which was probably a good thing as I got all the sewing done for the wedding at the end of the month, supported my kitchen fitter with many cups of coffee, acting as builder's mate and design consultant alongside and did a fair bit of singing too, including being part of the wedding choir. I had a few days in Luxembourg, talking fraud and risk and continued working on the audit committee review
With Easter in the middle of the month, there was, of course, a lot of singing - St John Passion in English (most peculiar) on one scary rehearsal, plus the usual Good Friday requiem (Rutter this year) and Easter eucharist. I finished the audit committee review and did some more audit and audit committee training, finishing the month with a flying trip to Brussels for the sampling course and then delivering a new-to-me course on auditors and governance, risk and internal control. The kitchen work continued throughout the month, but the end is in sight and major works began on a garden restructure, another idea that has been in my head for many years.
I was delighted to escape the kitchen and garden chaos by starting the month with a trip to Brussels for internal audit training. Back to do some fraud training, admire progress and then flee back to Brussels for risk and then accounts training. I rounded the month off with ethics training and finalising my accounts. All is on track for possible retirement .... we shall see. There was, of course, some singing, a trip to the opera (Peter Grimes - not exactly fun, but definitely a fabulous production from WNO) and some sewing and knitting. By the end of the month, most works had been completed and I was able to get back to normal and put everything back in the right place again. Hooray!
As seems to be the case every year, June was frantically busy with a mix of ethics, fraud, audit committee, risk, auditor and other training. I had a trip to Luxembourg and virtual trips all over the UK. I managed to squeeze in some music, attending Voces 8 20th anniversary concert at the Barbican (what a night!) and evensong at the end of the month. I did a little gardening but I had very little time for anything else.
I had hoped for a quieter July, but lots of things that should have happened in June were pushed into July and the first two weeks were almost as busy, with a mix of audit committee activities and fraud work. I celebrated the end (almost) of work by dying my hair purple. It was fun while it lasted but faded fast alas. Pink next year maybe? The month ended with Evensong and then the usual Voces 8 course at Milton Abbey, culminated in a world premiere of Taylor Scott Davis's Requiem, which was a fabulous sing. I also picked a bumper crop of gooseberries and blackcurrants. Was it my new fruit cage or just a very good year for these things?
A month of minimal work and lots of catching up, with visitors, dog sitting and general house and garden stuff. I had a week in Helsinki around some internal audit training. It's a lovely city and I would definitely recommend it. I tripped over lots of incidental music making and was surprised at how good the veggie food was. A tip: the Lutheran cathedral is free to enter after 18:00. On the sewing front, I did my first ever work using denim and made myself a jacket. The top stitching was painful but worth it. A skirt to do next. I rounded off the month singing eucharist at Milton Abbey.
Back to normal with a bang: the month started musically with rehearsals and a eucharist and then a mix of ethics, fraud and planning. I had a week in Luxembourg (ethics, risk, fraud, audit) and then a one day trip the following week for more fraud training. As I have now handed in my notice for this sort of work (heading to retirement), this was probably my last ever visit. I continued the ethics and fraud theme for the rest of the month, with ethics training for internal auditors and a short diversion back into risk at the end. I've had almost no time to sew this month, but have been knitting socks instead as that's easier to pick up and put down. Also I planted up some of my 'new' garden areas.
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