- Written by Robert McCaffrey, Editorial Director, Global Cement Magazine
As we inexorably come out of the pandemic, we are learning to live in a new world. Many things have changed in the last two years or so, probably permanently. Working-from-home is something that many employers now find themselves offering. Transport systems are still experiencing lower user numbers (for the better, say the users), while the theory of the ‘Great Resignation’ suggests many workers simply took themselves out of the jobs market during the pandemic, and have not come back yet, leaving many countries with a lack of workers.
- Written by Peter Edwards Editor, Global Cement Magazine
I recently drove around 120km to a meet-up with some friends. It was great to catch up properly for the first time in two years, but aside from the partying, I also had an unrelated revelation. On the way there, I was running late. I’m no speed demon, but let’s say I ‘maximised my opportunities’ to go as fast as legally possible. Around 90% of my time was spent at 112km/hr (the UK limit), including on the M25 past Heathrow Airport. Not hitting traffic here during day light hours is like winning the lottery.
- Written by Robert McCaffrey Editorial Director, Global Cement Magazine
While listening to my younger daughter Jemima singing in Winchester Cathedral with her university choir, I idly picked up the Book of Common Prayer and leafed through it. I came across a section that gives the methodology for calculating the date of Easter, all the way up to the year 2300. I thought that this was optimistic on the part of the bookbinders, that this particular book might last that long, but then again, some books are hundreds of years old, and a few of them are more than a thousand years old.
- Written by Peter Edwards Editor, Global Cement Magazine
Every six months most of Europe and North America, as well as a selection of countries elsewhere in the world, change their clocks: forward in the spring, back in the autumn. Nearly 1.3 billion people who live in the 55+ countries do this, to ‘benefit’ from Daylight Saving Time (DST). As ‘DST-natives’ we learn to see it as part of the natural order of things. But it is nothing of the sort, and it is starting to wear thin.
- Written by Robert McCaffrey Editorial Director, Global Cement Magazine
Back in the middle of one of the lockdowns (I forget which - it’s all becoming a bit hazy now as it recedes into the past), my brother-in-law Richard Crane gifted me a copy of a book called ‘The courage to be disliked,’ by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga1. I wonder, was he sending me a message? Anyway, Richard told me that it was a challenging book. The blurb on the front cover said “How to free yourself, change your life and achieve real happiness.” Although I didn’t feel the need to do any of those things, I read the book and it was indeed both challenging and interesting. I wonder if the main points of the book could help you in your own life, both at work and at play?
