Paul Davy

This week, things started to get real regarding Coronavirus. I had been organising an Area Speech contest for Toastmasters. An announcement came out that all face to face speech contests and conferences are to be cancelled. A decision then has to be made as to whether to just cancel altogether or rearrange an online version of the meeting. I work at a University. All face to face lectures have been cancelled and the lectures will be going online. Contingency plans are being in place so staff and students can work from home. People are making sure they can access systems and they are geared up to communicate through Skype or Teams or some other software. The government has closed schools. The schools are sending students home with timetables, homework packs and online resources to access. They kids are expected to keep the normal school routine but from home. Apart from the downsides of there being no toilet roll, antibacterial hand wash or soap and dry pasta in the supermarkets. Are th

Part of the self-development course I am studying is to look at your strengths, talents and personality traits. There are many online tests you can do that will help you. They give insight into yourself. It’s about noticing your own traits. Becoming self-aware.  If you do enough different tests, you start noticing trends. You start noticing the tests keep saying the same thing about you. If the same thing is said enough times, then perhaps you should sit up and take notice. For me, there were a few things that came up repeatedly: Prefers to work alone. Pursues knowledge and learning  Logical Looks to the future Problem solver  Then one test in particular stood out. It told me that my superpower was analysis. Then it proceeded to ask me for some money to find out more. Being a tight northerner, I declined. It did, however, get me thinking. What if I had a superpower and that superpower was analysis? Definition First of all, let’s define ’analysis’. ”Analysis is the process of breaking a

When you move house, you think the big task is move day. That single day when all your boxed up belongings are picked up and then deposited in your new home. The mad scramble to find homes for your belonging. The time spent trying to figure out how things work. Online shopping to find the perfect furniture in your new rooms. Where do you put the ironing board? How does the alarm system work? Which dining table and chairs would suit your new dining room?  By moving into a new house, you have just signed up to a list of jobs. Jobs that will take you days, weeks, months and probably years. A list of never-ending jobs.   This weekend I ticked off a couple of those jobs.  But last night and this morning, I didn’t feel happy and full of pride.   Why would I not be proud and happy for ticking off these jobs?  One problem is replaced by another   Last weekend three pieces of flat-pack furniture were delivered. The two wardrobes went up fine. The bookcase, however, was a problem. Normally the t