Hello to all
Before I start rambling on, I just wanted to say what a great bunch of friends I've made through this site. I was a little hesitant to get involved at first - I thought "I've got no shortage of friends. Is there really any value in adding more?" But I must say, you have all proved there is. The comments I got back on my last blog illustrate it perfectly - thoughtful, warm, funny, incisive and heartfelt. I really value the comments and messages I get, and just wanted to say thank you. Salut!
I fell asleep on the sofa some time after midnight on Saturday, watching the night stages of the 24 Heures du Mans. I know the drivers train for the long hours, but even so it must be intensely draining. In fact, that was illustrated by one of the Lola Aston Martin cars. In the early stages, one of the drivers had been barred for causing an accident, leaving the remaining two drivers to carry the burden. Some time on Sunday morning, Harold Primat was driving a four hour stint. He obviously had one of those eyelid-drooping moments, because he failed to anticipate the chicane on the Mulsanne straight and went straight through the tyre wall at 200mph. There was hardly anything left of the car, but incredibly he walked away, his race over.
There was drama everywhere. Hideki Noda had battled food poisoning to claim his place in the troubled KSM Lola Mazda, which he then crashed horrendously in practise, the roll hoop above his head sparking off the tarmac as the car flipped and disintegrated. The rebuilt car was a nightmare; in and out of the garage throughout the race as problem after problem occurred. But, with Noda at the wheel, and only 90 minutes to go, it finally gave up the ghost. The car crawled back onto the pit lane, and burst into flames just 200 yards from the garage. An exhausted Noda broke down and wept in front of the cameras.
The Peugeot team director was also weeping, but with joy, as they finally broke the Audi stranglehold on the event, and claimed first and second place. Everyone expected them to win last year, when I was there. They had the faster car, after all. But Audi had been more efficient in the pits, the car could last longer on a tank of fuel and, as rain turned to rubber on the circuit to mush, it clogged the intakes of the Peugeot and overheated their engines. Audi won by less than a lap which, over 24 hours, and over 3000 miles is very close indeed. This year, they got it right and, as 3pm and the chequered flag approached, the three Peugeots lined up in formation to cross the line.
The US Corvette C.6R team won the GT1 class in their last year of racing here. I loved the Corvettes last year. You can hear them coming a mile off, and they sound phenomenal towards the end, when their engines are shot. By this time the cars are filthy, but the Corvette had such a good lead they took it into the garage for a quick valet before crossing the line. And Patrick Dempsey of Gray's Anatomy fame had his first taste of Le Mans, finishing the race for the AE Ferrari team in GT2.
Next year, I'll be back there. The TT will be gleaming, so that at the Saint Saturnin rally before the race, I get to park with the other sports cars and not in the public car park. Okay, it's not a Ferrari, but it's a dream to drive and I still love it!
Rain is pouring down now, and thunder crashing across the sky. I have the door open so I can watch and listen. But in the garden, hailstones are battering the rose blooms, and the most enormous peony you have ever seen. It's so heavy, it just set the car alarm off. The border was full of scent this morning, but may be looking a bit sorry for itself after this. My poor flowers. I keep saving this blog because I expect the electricity to go at any moment.
After weeks of worry work-wise, not least about my team having no direction, no targets, no purpose, I have finally linked up with my old line manager to do some urgent work on an account we have with a major oil company in Africa. I'm a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt....a statement which generally results in a host of blank looks. But it's my job to work with teams and companies, find out where they have problems, understand their impact, and develop solutions. They can be anything from simply reorganising an office layout more efficiently, to complex statistical analysis of process data in IT systems. It is actually quite exciting work when you have something to get your teeth into. But our company doesn't do it very well. It requires the whole company to have a LSS ethos which means everyone is focused on continuous improvement. But we just don't have it, and we tinker round the edges. Which is very frustrating.
Okay, that last burst of thunder felt like it was going to lift the roof off. I am going to drink more coffee, read problem statements from Africa, and try to formulate some sort of plan! Once again, love to all my friends. You're very special people.
L x
Before I start rambling on, I just wanted to say what a great bunch of friends I've made through this site. I was a little hesitant to get involved at first - I thought "I've got no shortage of friends. Is there really any value in adding more?" But I must say, you have all proved there is. The comments I got back on my last blog illustrate it perfectly - thoughtful, warm, funny, incisive and heartfelt. I really value the comments and messages I get, and just wanted to say thank you. Salut!
I fell asleep on the sofa some time after midnight on Saturday, watching the night stages of the 24 Heures du Mans. I know the drivers train for the long hours, but even so it must be intensely draining. In fact, that was illustrated by one of the Lola Aston Martin cars. In the early stages, one of the drivers had been barred for causing an accident, leaving the remaining two drivers to carry the burden. Some time on Sunday morning, Harold Primat was driving a four hour stint. He obviously had one of those eyelid-drooping moments, because he failed to anticipate the chicane on the Mulsanne straight and went straight through the tyre wall at 200mph. There was hardly anything left of the car, but incredibly he walked away, his race over.
There was drama everywhere. Hideki Noda had battled food poisoning to claim his place in the troubled KSM Lola Mazda, which he then crashed horrendously in practise, the roll hoop above his head sparking off the tarmac as the car flipped and disintegrated. The rebuilt car was a nightmare; in and out of the garage throughout the race as problem after problem occurred. But, with Noda at the wheel, and only 90 minutes to go, it finally gave up the ghost. The car crawled back onto the pit lane, and burst into flames just 200 yards from the garage. An exhausted Noda broke down and wept in front of the cameras.
The Peugeot team director was also weeping, but with joy, as they finally broke the Audi stranglehold on the event, and claimed first and second place. Everyone expected them to win last year, when I was there. They had the faster car, after all. But Audi had been more efficient in the pits, the car could last longer on a tank of fuel and, as rain turned to rubber on the circuit to mush, it clogged the intakes of the Peugeot and overheated their engines. Audi won by less than a lap which, over 24 hours, and over 3000 miles is very close indeed. This year, they got it right and, as 3pm and the chequered flag approached, the three Peugeots lined up in formation to cross the line.
The US Corvette C.6R team won the GT1 class in their last year of racing here. I loved the Corvettes last year. You can hear them coming a mile off, and they sound phenomenal towards the end, when their engines are shot. By this time the cars are filthy, but the Corvette had such a good lead they took it into the garage for a quick valet before crossing the line. And Patrick Dempsey of Gray's Anatomy fame had his first taste of Le Mans, finishing the race for the AE Ferrari team in GT2.
Next year, I'll be back there. The TT will be gleaming, so that at the Saint Saturnin rally before the race, I get to park with the other sports cars and not in the public car park. Okay, it's not a Ferrari, but it's a dream to drive and I still love it!
Rain is pouring down now, and thunder crashing across the sky. I have the door open so I can watch and listen. But in the garden, hailstones are battering the rose blooms, and the most enormous peony you have ever seen. It's so heavy, it just set the car alarm off. The border was full of scent this morning, but may be looking a bit sorry for itself after this. My poor flowers. I keep saving this blog because I expect the electricity to go at any moment.
After weeks of worry work-wise, not least about my team having no direction, no targets, no purpose, I have finally linked up with my old line manager to do some urgent work on an account we have with a major oil company in Africa. I'm a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt....a statement which generally results in a host of blank looks. But it's my job to work with teams and companies, find out where they have problems, understand their impact, and develop solutions. They can be anything from simply reorganising an office layout more efficiently, to complex statistical analysis of process data in IT systems. It is actually quite exciting work when you have something to get your teeth into. But our company doesn't do it very well. It requires the whole company to have a LSS ethos which means everyone is focused on continuous improvement. But we just don't have it, and we tinker round the edges. Which is very frustrating.
Okay, that last burst of thunder felt like it was going to lift the roof off. I am going to drink more coffee, read problem statements from Africa, and try to formulate some sort of plan! Once again, love to all my friends. You're very special people.
L x
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Work-wise, the last company that I was employed by (which was part of a large corporation) had a very interesting business model towards the end - they took a hugely successful multi-national profit center with 1,200 employess and proceeded to downsize it (mainly for the tax write-offs they were able to take) all the way down to zero. I was one of the last 3 people out the door. Brilliant.