And so we begin again in our new office in a new location in west London. True to my predictions, I don't miss the old place, and I'm not remotely troubled by the differences between offices old and new. The layout kinda works, the air conditioning works (the leak turned out to be unrelated to the aircon, something on the roof was leaking and, supposedly, has now been fixed), the computers work, the network is there, the internet is there (albeit slower, because IS didn't think we needed the faster connection in the new office), and we continue to function almost seamlessly.
No-one has mentioned missing the old place, so I can only assume that they don't. The 'bistro bar' is actually pretty darned good, with quite a variety of food, so it doesn't seem as important that we can't pop out of the office to the dozens of different restaurants or food shops that Notting Hill had to offer. Transport is easier for some, and more difficult for others... My journey, in terms of travel time, is much the same... But I can get away with being later before I arrive at the office late.
My magazine going to press on Monday could be healthier... The brand new designer somehow got the idea she had till next Friday to finish, so there are ten bits of editorial untouched. Neither she nor the Editor saw fit to voice any concerns to me (y'know, being Production Manager and all), so I had no idea. On Monday, I'll be redistributing the work between team members so we can get it all done. Not the most auspicious of beginnings for a new member of staff.
Worse still, the ads are in a terrible state. In the morning, 23 ads were not properly booked onto the system, and there were 13 pages filled with free ads. Somehow the Sales team had convinced the Commercial Manager that they had record takings, and so were being encouraged to keep the 13 pages to see how well they could really do.
My counterpart's team has been having an interesting time. With one designer on holiday, our Junior has been filling in... and the Editor he worked with prefers him. He's easier to work with, doesn't whine constantly and, contrary to many of my expectations, is a far better designer by most standards. It's a shame he had to flunk a chance at promotion before he raised his game.
In other news, I was planning to go back to Kingston today, to return my TF Movie Strongarm for replacement. On the way home last night, by boss offered to drive me if I could put it off till next weekend... I didn't go today but, depending on how I feel, I may yet brave public transport tomorrow. Of course, the idea of spending about an hour and a half travelling for a transaction that will be completed (assuming Strongarm is still in stock) in seconds seems a little daft even to me...
To occupy myself instead, I've been painting like crazy on my TF Cybertron Sabrewulf. Robot mode is all but complete now - just need to let things dry to avoid mucking up what I've already done, then tidy up a bit. Once I'm completely happy, I'll put him back into wolf mode and complete that (mostly details on the forelegs) and see what gets damaged by the moving parts. I was even able to mix an excellent approximation of the darker metallic brown I came up with last time, so it looks nice and even. This is going to be one cool custom paintjob...
On the subject of custom painting of TransFormers, it seems that the UK market for customs isn't quite as big as the US market. On eBay today, I found a bunch of movie customs going for only a couple of quid more than one could buy the plain, box-fresh version in the shops. Compare and contrast to the results of similar auctions on the US site, where certain customs sold for several hundred dollars.
In my slack moments, I watched more of New Captain Scarlet season 2... and I'm mightily impressed. Not only has Ron Thornton's team outdone themselves in terms of the CG work (way beyond even the best of Babylon 5), but the stories are - by and large - grittier and more interesting, with fewer condescensions to the 'kiddie' audience. The opening episode has some moments that are not for the squeamish. There are a couple of episodes that - for no obvious reason - lacked the 'back-and-forth scene cuts with dramatic percussion', which I'm guessing was an oversight at the editing stage. I quite liked season one, but this new season is bloody amazing. Roll on season 3... and more CG re-imaginings of Gerry Anderson's puppet shows.
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