So I have been bad about updating again......... also about taking photos of things I have finished, which is still mostly knitting.

Since coming back after Christmas vacation, I have not been very well, it seems to be stress-related, although the doctor has sent me off for cardiac tests as well, which so far have revealed nothing untoward. The project I am on has not been going well at all, and we have had a continuous series of unreasonable deadlines, enforced by managers yelling at us. Since I don't actually work for the company that is implementing the project, I was spared some of the yelling, but with me they adopted the system of progressively giving me more and more work - as soon as I met one deadline, they would follow it up with more and more and more, to the point where it was just imposssible. It all came to a head when, one day before a very large document was due, I was ordered to include new requirements that needed several days work of analysis. This was also on a day where our team manager had a major meltdown in the office and screamed for about three hours straight, the noise was horrific.

After this, I was on sick leave for a week - it wouldn't have been so long, except for the fact that the project manager actually emailed me and told me to come in and ensure that all my deadlines were met! Naturally I practically expired on the spot. I called my boss, who was absolutely enraged and told me to go back to the doctor and get a sick note for the entire week while he dealt with the project manager. It is actually illegal in France, and I think generally in Europe, to tell a sick employee to get back to work. Of course the project manager claims that he didn't know I was sick, that no-one told him....

My week at home was spent mostly in bed, it coincided with a very cold spell, we had temperatures well below zero, even in the afternoons. Actually it was as cold as it would be in Estonia sometimes, I remember thinking about this, and thinking how we would go out in the morning in Estonia and say, "oh great, it is only minus 5 today, that is not too bad at all", whereas minus 5 in Paris is quite unusual and feels much colder.

I have been back at work for three weeks now, and in fact this week will be my last week on this project. My boss told them I was not available any longer when they asked if I could continue, which actually was nice of him, although it is true that I did have holidays scheduled for the last week of March anyway. These have now been extended to two weeks, to allow me to recuperate a bit and get some rest, since I have weeks and weeks of holidays available to me in any case. And when I come back, I may not be on another project immediately, it could take a couple of weeks to sort out administrative matters. There are some other people, from a third company that often works with my company and the company whose managers scream, on this project and they are quite envious that I am escaping - their manager has just agreed to their staying for three months more, and I thought they would cry when they heard the news.

What will I do for my vacation? Well, I am still visiting cardiologists, and I have to do a bit of that still - even though it has been determined that I was having panic attacks, very frightening, some of the symptoms are like cardiac symptoms. But I hope to get away for a a bit and catch some sun, and I will certainly be choosing somewhere extremely quiet, with absolutely no risk of people screaming! More of that (holiday, not screaming( soon, I hope).