* SPARE TIME
Im a teenager and still have a lot of spare time unlike my parents. So after school I usually hang out with my friends in the streets or in the park. My mum and dad say they used to knock around together for years and it was OK in their days. If they have free time today, they say they love whiling away their days going round the shops or just chatting to one of their old friends. Sometimes our family goes away for a weekend and mucks about at our old cottage in the countryside, enjoying nice weather or riding bikes together. Mum adores it because its out of the city and there is no one who can reach us. The few neighbours are very friendly and welcoming and we always get together for barbecue or a cup of tea in the evenings.
* A COMPANY EVENT
We were informed the sales conference would be coming around soon. So we had to hurry our sales reports along. To tell the truth, I couldnt believe that the conference was coming up again already. Before I knew it, the last year had slipped away! Theres an awful lot of paper work to do leading up to the conference, given that its going to be held in our foreign branch. I hope itll break things up and make life a bit more interesting there. The excessive hype about our new products and the new marketing campaign completely passed me by. I was busy working out a new distribution channel in Brazil from scratch.
* EXAMINATION TIME
Im happy we hit it off, folks, so Im not going to dragout my speech. Only two weeks left before the exams start and were going to have to pullour socksup, if we want to pass. Were going to set aside the next fortnight just for revision and have a cramming session on the eve of the exam. In other words, were going to free up some time by cancelling all non-exam lessons like PE and Arts. Are you up for it? All school sports matches will be held over until the exams are finished. We think it would be better than trying to fit revision in around sport commitments. The sports staff agreed that putting back those matches wouldnt cause any serious problems. We wont set schedules back too much so that we wont be able to fit in all the matches before the end of the term. So now, put everything else out of your mind and concentrate on your revision. No more frittering time away get down to some serious work.
* PREPARING FOR EXAMS
Sports staff said they had to bring the game forward to this Tuesday as school would be closed the next week. We started discussing how to prepare for the exams and Jim was dragging his speech out for an hour as if he were a headteacher. I thought I had ages to prepare for my exams but they have crept up on me in no time at all. We got together for a cramming session at Pauls house and used his printer. Soon he asked us to try to eke out the paper since he had no more at home and it was late to pop out to buy some more.
* JOURNEY INTO THE PAST
I wish I could go on a journey into the past long before I was born. There is no time machine that could take me back to my childhood. I can only try to think back to what everyday life was like 50, 60, 100 years ago, before TV, before computers, before fridges and washing machines. It turns out that many of our devices date back to the early 20th century. I couldnt imagine that old vacuum cleaner in our attic is just a leftover from a bygone era.
* A SINGLE MOTHER
Im sorry to hold you up but you must sign these forms before you go in tomorrow. Im happy the meeting is over. It dragged on and I got irritable too. It took me back to the times I worked as a secretary in the court. OK, thanks a lot! See you tomorrow!
Now I have to go home. Ill have to drive ten miles at rush hour. Yesterday there was an accident and a pile-up of ten cars caused a long tailback. If there are no hold-ups today, I wont get stuck in a traffic jam. So I must arrive by about seven oclock. I have to call my kids and hurry them up. Their French lesson ran on longer than expected, so they wont leave school till 4.30 p.m. and Ill have to wait for them in the car. Then theyll be complaining they cant keep up with me on the way to the gym.
OK, I am having some time to sort out the post now Three weeks passed by before I got a reply to my letter of complaint. Here it is. They got around to sending the reply. How can I plan anything with such hold-ups? Nobody knows what lies ahead. All I can do is just take it one day at a time.
7. MEMORY
* WHO DARES WINS
When I first appeared in Cherry GmbHs office I thought I might be promoted to the position of Senior Regional Sales Manager but I was a long way out thinking that. Sales Director Mr. Suesmilch, in all innocence, sincerely told me there were enough taxi drivers in Germany and they didnt need one more. The best offer was to come back to Russia and try to succeed in climbing the ladder over there. I spent ten years in vain. So when I was offered another position in a successful multinational corporation, I jumped at the chance. One of the main reasons for my immediate acceptance was the opportunity for a large amount of foreign travel. One day I was sitting relaxing in a cafe by the Seine after a hard days business, before jetting off to an important meeting the next morning in Rome. How romantic it all was. It took me five years to start recognizing that my emotions changed. I cant say I understood that a life spent on planes and in hotels is lonely, dull and exhausting not at all. I didnt long to be back at home and didnt dream of the simple pleasures of having someone to watch television with, of being asked how my day was. I had a nice family and three kids.
However, one day, my mindset changed. As I lay on the bed in my luxurious hotel room, I could see no benefit other than a high salary. Whats the point being a hunting dog in an expensive suit with an indulging, patronizing smile, doing the same job day after day, year after year? I asked myself. I talk to the same people, I tell them the same things and every company in every city in the world is the same.
It was at a Chinese exhibition when I first thought the unthinkable. I warmed to my computer-related topic with a Chinese colleague and we found a lot in common. He offered me the chance to set up a common business and I thought to myself, Why the hell do I have to go on like this? To tell the truth, I was scared, but for the first time in my life I was truly content. It took us two years and a number of false starts with the wrong products, but finally we succeeded in getting it right. Who dares wins!