I’ve just returned from a week-long residential training course, a kind of ‘Finance 101’ designed to teach me all about the services that my new company sells. It’s also designed as a way to get to know some of my colleagues.

As courses go, it’s one of the best organised, best run courses I’ve ever been on. It was interactive, incorporated plenty of role-play (including quite a few of my colleagues cross-dressing, which is an image that will stick with me for a long, long time). It was tough work, though – quite a few of my colleagues come from an industry background, not a consulting one, and we spent as much time learning the ropes about how to work with one another as we did actually learning about the various service lines.

Somehow, though, someone found out that it was my birthday – and arranged for a cake on the final night of the course. Given the international group on the training course, they sang me happy birthday in twelve different languages, each rendition accompanied by a toast.

It turns out that a hangover transcends translation. We all felt rough the following morning.

At the end of the week I returned home to a lovely birthday dinner and presents from Aude. I was so shattered from the week that I headed straight to bed…

It’s my second week in the job, and everyone at work keeps asking me about how I manage the long commute. My answer is that I love it. I’ve traded a long driving commute and horrendous M25 traffic jams for the relatively serene First Class cabin of Southeastern railways. My commute takes me just over an hour-and-a-half from door to door, and I can sit back and relax all the way.

There’s normally plenty of space to spread out and work, if that’s what I want to do. I’ve got my morning routine down pat – grab a latte and a newspaper at 6:50am, jump on the train at 6:56am, read the paper and struggle with the Sudoku, and maybe do a little work if I’m feeling particularly productive. I’m at my desk by 8:30 with absolutely no stress.

How do I deal with the long commute? Easy – it’s the most relaxing part of my day!

It’s my third day in my new job, and it’s all a little overwhelming. They’re sending me on induction course after induction course, and by the end of the week I should be more highly trained than I’ve ever been. Unhelpfully, they still haven’t told me where the toilets are. I suspect the janitor will be upset when he discovers what I mistakenly did in the cleaning cupboard.

If you’re worried that I’ll be spending all of my time in the office, your fears are probably warranted. There’s no doubt about it – people work much longer hours here than they do at any of my old companies (with perhaps the exception of KPMG, where there was a similar work ethic and culture). But rest assured, while I’m working I’ll have one of the finest views in London. Above is the view from my desk.

Our offices are on the south bank of the Thames, just beside London Bridge and opposite the Tower of London. They’re part of the ‘More London’ development designed by Sir Norman Foster and the offices themselves are stunning. There’s loads of glass (a typical Foster trademark) and nearly every seat in the office has a view of the river.

And yes, they do clean all the windows every day. It’s a full-time job.

It’s been a while since I updated my blog. After leaving my old job in the middle of August, I’ve had a couple of weeks off to catch my breath before starting my new role. The time has mostly been used to catch up on my sleep and tidy bits and pieces of the house (although Aude will tell you that there’s a lot of tidying still to be done!)

I also got the chance to go driving a Formula First car at Silverstone. Aude bought me a track day for Christmas last year and I’ve finally had the time to book it and attend. These are seriously quick little cars – the circuit was 9/10ths of a mile, over which the cars achieved speeds of around 90-95mph in the straights, back down to nearly 20mph in the tightest of the corners. The acceleration and stopping are more like a motorcycle than a car.

In any case, I had a fantastic time and enjoyed some of the best weather we’d had all year – just the right temperature (low 70s) with clear, sunny skies. A great way to spend the day – highly recommended!