It was the last day of work and I had expected to be able to chill out with my team in the afternoon and celebrate the last few months. This wasn't to be the case. In a dramatic turn of events, I was required to head over to Heathrow airport to try to sort out a hardware problem. After receiving some brief training in how to sort it out from a colleague, in the other office I've been frequenting over the last few weeks, I zoomed over to the car rental station in Heathrow with the problems.

I spent a long time on the problem and actually managed to both diagnose it and also determine that it wouldn't be easily solved. I was stil there at 7pm. As it happens, though, I was not alone. The programme manager of the project I'm working on came along to provide a bit of company/moral support/attempts to remove problems. It was an act of solidarity which was appreciated and timely.

In the end we did our best to make the kit work and I think things will have been just about good enough for the major rush they'll be having over Christmas.

I ended the year doing the sort of job that was quite different to how I started the year. It wasn't all pondering and doing little. It was taking on a direct challenge and doing my best. That's sort of good.