A Curo Day

My (Annie's) company gives you an extra day per year out of the office on your anniversary of joining to reflect on the year past, and think about the year upcoming. Do something you wouldn't normally do (special or otherwise), and write it up after with a photo. Today was that day for me - and writing it up is easy (here)! Chris took the day off also, and we planned a day together.

I joined Curo Talent a year ago, and that year has been great fun. I've got back to being more hands on with technology, and in a small company you have to turn your hand to many things. That's great.

The bit I've struggled with is working from home full-time. It can be quite isolating, and I've ended up not exercising enough and putting on weight. 

It's also hard to switch off from technology. As Head of Technology at Curo I'm immersed in online things all day. The problem comes when I also spend quite a bit of free time doing Blip support and technical requirements (as voluntary Technical Director of Blipfoto). Add to that the modern compulsion to check email, Facebook, etc. and it is a head full of stuff with no space to think.

So the main rule today was to switch off from the Internet. At midnight yesterday we switched our phone data off, so no updates could come to us. After only 24 hours without the constant background babble of the Internet we both feel refreshed and calmer. This post had to be back-blipped, of course!

We took our test drive e-Golf back first thing - a brilliant car and we were reluctant to return the keys to it. Then Chris and I made a mug of tea and sat at the dining table, reviewing our past year. We've made 5 objectives each, just like a performance review, that we feel will help correct something in our day to day lives. Most of mine are about getting out of the house and fitter. A key one we both committed to was to use annual leave to have three more "un-plug" days, to make this a quarterly habit. Quiet days where we have space to reflect.

Then the more special part of the day was planned. We picked up Chris' two daughters, and headed into Oxford to play an escape room. It was Alice in Wonderland themed, and you have to solve puzzles to get out of the room in an hour. We enjoy the fun of them, and work well as a family team to collaborate. This time we worked just well enough - we escaped in 59 minutes, 58.89 seconds. Can't get much closer than that! A lovely lunch with the girls, catching up on Uni tales from Immy and thinking ahead to Uni for Rosie. 

Time with family is so important to us, and so special because we just don't get enough of it. Step-families are hard for all involved, with never enough time to be with everyone. Thank you, Curo, for this extra slice of precious time.

In the evening Chris and I went out to a local pub (the Pointer, in the Blip) which had excellent food reviews. It meant going out to eat for both lunch and dinner, but hey - why not! The food was exquisite, and a very pretty pub. We spent the time over dinner thinking about the year ahead, and some of the things we have planned (and dreaming up new things).

A day to unplug has helped us have the headspace to think. In this modern life, it's easy to drift along. Time to unplug that router, switch that data off, and get out there.