I have a new boss, he's called David

So when I'm no longer on an organisational chart, am not a name on a box, have no job title, am not running a team... who the hell am I? Stripped of rank and function, a diary of up 12 meetings a day and everything scheduled from the moment I get up to the moment I run out of steam about 12-14 hours later, how will I cope? (by the way was I the only one who'd occasionally put fake holiday days in the diary just to get some work done?)

Well the answer to all of that became abundantly clear this morning when discussing how we were going to heat the farmhouse in France. I naturally had romantic notions of wood burning stoves fueled by our home grown wood, smelling all lovely and enticing. That's probably as far as my thinking had progressed. Big picture, low on detail. David ipadding the current temperature there and discovering it makes snow clad Britain look tropical, pointed out all the inefficiencies of wood stoves as a sole heating source. Within ten minutes he'd discovered all sorts of French government grants and discounts for those who are building wood fuelled central heating systems (up to 40%) Wood incidentally is a really low carbon way to generate heat. He'd found a way to supplement my wood vision and turn it into something practical whilst I'd already "progressed" on to wondering how many goats we needed.

So it's official. I now work for him. I rather like the idea. It did make me realise that for too many years I have been coming up with big ideas that others have then had the difficult task of making work behind the scenes as I reach for the next Starbucks and mad idea. Can I apologise to wonderful people like Iain Lumsden, El Portis, Andrew Robins, Sunny Harrar and many others who've in effect been sorting out my "wood" issue in corporate world for years. Incidentally they've worked miracles....and I am massively grateful.

Euro is hovering at the 1.2 mark...not bad... Apparently though old Iron Girdle is off to China on a visit? Is that allowed? Can she leave the beleaguered continent just as Greece is about to get all it's credit cards chopped up? If it slips to 1.25 I can buy a rotavator... that will need lessons too as I doubt it comes with parking sensors and automatic gearbox. A cup holder would be nice though....