February 2010
Following the selection of the Elthorne ward candidates in January, the new Elthorne Focus team have spent February writing and delivering our first leaflet of the year.
We have initally split the ward into two parts along geographic lines with separate Focus leaflets for delivery in West Ealing and Hanwell to make stories more relevant to the local people in each area. The West Ealing leaflet focuses on the Green Man Lane estate proposals which the Council is in the process of submitting this month and the botched consultation for the extension to St. John's Primary School. The Hanwell leaflet concentrates on the recent Lidl planning application and a story about the Labour MP's expenses and poor attendence record at Ealing Council. Both leaflets have a common back page which is an introduction to the new team and a story about me cycling to work as a way to beat the bus fare increases introduced by the Mayor of London in January.
This month I spent a week in Miami on business. I work's in Xerox's Developing Markets Organisation based in Uxbridge with responsibility for managing the supply for developing markets in the Eastern hemisphere like Russia, South Africa and India, and there is a separate office in Miami responsible for the developing markets in the Western hemisphere like Brazil and Mexico. However, I was asked to go to Miami to give a presentation to the Office Directors for both East and West regions on the need to improve their forecast accuracy so we are better able to manage their demand while at the same time keeping inventory levels under control.
While it may seem to outsiders as glamorous to be able to go on business trips around the world, unfortunately I spent most of the week in the hotel conference room. Added to that, while it might be seventy degrees outside, it still rained twice during my stay and the air conditioning in the hotel was such that I was freezing in a short sleeve shirt and managed to pick up a cold from my stay in Miami. Nevertheless, one of the main benefits of the trip for me was that I was able to meet many of the people I speak to in the countries every month and to go out for a few meals with colleagues in the evenings to get to know them outside the normal working environment.