WFH Diary: Gabriella Michalski
I genuinely cannot believe that this has been what we have all been doing for three months now – bonkers!
However, this has now become the norm and I have a routine that I have settled into. The day usually starts with letting Pickle (our puppy) out into the garden and then breakfast. If you have been on any calls with me in the last three months you will know I can shoehorn her into any conversation or video. I have even shamelessly used her to my advantage at work! Then a walk to Tooting Bec Common which is a really nice way to start the day.
9:30am rolls round and my commute of a walk to the kitchen to sort a coffee and start dealing with morning emails – I am sure this is not too different to how everyone commutes now. My team and I have a daily morning huddle at 9:45am. We catch-up on everything that needs to get sorted and then basically discuss everyone’s dinner from the night before and, of course, I give them an update on Pickle…
As I’m sure everyone has a morning filled with Teams and calls, when my partner (Ed) and I bought our flat didn’t think the lack of reception would be an issue. As a result, some calls are done in the garden, and when raining, under a tree hopping from one foot to the other because I didn’t put a jacket on.
I am the chatterbox of the house (shocker) so have been banished to the spare room, now my office – very grateful for this space and at lunchtime I always discuss the re-decorating I plan to do in the evening for the 100th time while I dance around and Ed rolls his eyes.
Work. Amazon delivery. Work. Puppy cuddle. Work.
The end of the day rolls around remarkably quickly. We decided early on that putting all the work stuff away is key to getting our home space back for the evening. Being able to switch-off is the hardest part since working from home, as you feel an obligation to always be available. Pickle gets an evening walk which we usually do together… Some really nice catch up time.
Dinner, as mentioned above, is key, and one of my favourite things to do is cook. It’s the best way to de-stress and switch off from the day (plus it means I am not on clean up duty) and then continue to binge on This is Us on Amazon.
Now that we have a bit more freedom, we catch-up with friends in the evenings and on a Friday have pizza and wine club with a few friends that live locally to us. The gazebo from Argos at £25 is a game changer, allowing us to still hang out outside in the garden when it is miserable.
Please don’t judge me for the obvious lack of exercise or home workouts here – it’s on the to-do list. God help me when we need to start properly wearing jeans everyday… Anyways, for now, pass the wine.
P.S. If you are wondering, Pickle is a Miniature Dachshund and yes, she is available for any video calls!
Gabriella Michalski, Investment Director, AV