So this was the month it finally happened…

Our youngest son, Toby, headed off to university in Loughborough last week. We’ve always known this day was coming but it was still a day of really mixed emotions.

I felt immense pride that Toby has grown up to be such a caring, lovely young man, but also real sadness that it marks the end of another chapter in our journey as a family. The fact he went off so confidently and has got stuck into his new uni life is a real positive thing to take away for us as parents.

But looking back it does feel a bit like the whole month was defined by the lead-up to that experience and then getting used to a very empty house after he went.

Workwise, this was my first month back after my summer break and there’s been a real sense of things accelerating since the first week.

We onboarded new clients and consultants to Mallard which was great to see that venture gradually growing. Lots more to do to turn it into the business I want it to be, but I’m getting better at being patient on that front.

Within my personal client portfolio, I’ve started a new client engagement in a sector that’s new to me, which has been really exciting.

It’s been a steep learning curve on some of the specifics of how that industry works – but as usual it’s also been a reminder that lots of the problems sitting underneath the surface in organisations aren’t unique to any particular sector. Getting to know a new business well enough to see those patterns is one of the parts of this work I enjoy most.

At home we’ve also started to move our house project forward this month. After submitting the planning application back in July, we’ve now got planning permission – which felt like a big milestone. Of course, that milestone just leads to lots of new ones, but for now we’ve fundamentally got permission to build a new house where we want to. There’s been lots of work on that already and plenty more to come. There’s a tight critical path to the start of build next spring, so there’s a lot of project management going on at home as well as work.

It was great to catch up with some former colleagues from TPXimpact in London a couple of weeks ago too. I’m not always very good at keeping in touch socially with people from my previous roles so it was really nice to see them and find out what they’re up to at the moment.

Away from work, a combination of a shoulder injury from last month that hasn’t quite healed – it’s got better and worse and better again through the month – and a week long cold put paid to quite a lot of exercise. I think I’m coming out the other end of that now and I’m looking forward to a 60-ish mile gravel ride on Salisbury Plain this Saturday.

Cycling this month…
121.7 miles – mostly gentle commuting or indoor as shoulder injury kept me off the road bike a bit.

Music this month…
Been rediscovering a lot of old school hardcore and house from the early 90s – I had a lot of these on tape. The Sasha Shelleys ones were a favourite and remain worth listening today. There’s a lot to explore here.