Ann Kempster

Holy moly that was a WEEK

I started to write these a series of posts on Bluesky and figured I might as well just do it in a blog format in an attempt to get back to week noting and make a bit of sense of the blur of this week. Sometimes, when you work on

25 books that shaped me

25 books that have had an impact on me. I’ve put together a list of 25 books that have had an impact on me at some point in my life or that I've just really enjoyed. I don’t remember a lot of what I read (another

Episode 1

Despite starting the new year with another illness just 2 weeks after the last one and feeling really grotty I’m super positive about the year ahead. Hopeful, even. [that was my word for the year in that Merriam-Webster Bluesky post that was doing the rounds at New Year]

Sort of weeknotes (again)

It has again, been a while. So what have I been up to since I left my last role you ask? Many things. Broadly in 3 categories. 1. Rebuilding my business 2. Project managing the house renovations 3. Writing a book, talking about the book and talking about the book

Available for work

As you may know, I’ve finished my role at TPXimpact as a Senior Partner, managing a portfolio of clients and projects across Wales. I’ve had some time off, can’t claim it has been particularly relaxing as we’ve been dealing with a major family bereavement. But life

Week 17

Getting back to weeknoting despite being gainfully unemployed for a while. The habit and practice is good. Two small work related things, my laptop was picked up which really made things feels final. And a there was a bit of drama on Linkedin which set my phone on fire. Not

Onwards!

So. Some news. I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting over the last few months about my job. And the decision that I’ve come to is that it’s time for me to say farewell to TPXimpact and hello to the unknown (again). I’m just working through

Week note 8

These week notes come to you from deep under an electric blanket while the rain buckets down and the wind howls. Something in this house makes an eerie whistling noise when the wind blows. The lights are flickering and I’m sure we’ll lose power again today. Probably an

Week note 7

Another strange old week. A day in Cardiff, a multi-day migraine and another week of glacial pace on our renovation. Renovations suffering from “too many people in the room” syndrome. Literally. Decorator, 2 electricians, 2 carpenters. They are tripping over each other, annoying each other and slowing each other

Week note 6

Not an easy week. Cramming a week’s worth of work in 3 days. Dilys and her back and the looming neuro appointment. The US. My phenomenally noisy brain. Work Same old same old really. Nothing of major note. A lot rattling round my head about the technology element of

Week note 5

End of the month! Wish I could say it was a good one, but between the insane pace of work, insomnia, the dog and her endless back problems and the Hokey Cokey cold I’ve had all month, the start of the year really could have been better. But positive

Week 4

Yeesh. The pace of things at the moment, right? The weekend in Paris seems a distant, happy memory. Everyone I know in consultancy land is flat out with ongoing client work and trying to reel in those Q4 numbers. It’s a bit wild. This week has been a lot

Week 3

I’m a week into a spell of insomnia. I’m falling asleep mostly fine. I’m sleeping for a few hours solidly and then BING. I’m awake and I struggle to get back into any form of useful sleep. I have these phases. I don’t know what

Weeks 1 and 2

Weeks 1 and 2 I was off last week, enjoying the last of my 2 week Christmas break. There were a lot of very long dog walks and much sitting around under heated blankets reading books. I managed to put together a blog post on what I read last year.

2024 Reading list

2024 was definitely lighter on reading than 2023, just 18* this year, compared to closer to 50 in my non-working year of 2023. New job/work definitely crimped my reading ability, my brain is just too overloaded at the end of a long day of context switching and my

Week notes 48 49 50

Combining a few weeks into one note. Most of the last 3 week are similar. Wildly busy at work. The cold/chest infection that just will not go away. Ongoing renovations. More winter storms. More wind, less rain. I’m seriously over being ill. It’s making everything so much

Week note 47

This won’t be a long one this week. Writing words to write some words. Off work on holiday. Spent a very cold week in Northumberland. Walking, eating, failing to relax (see next paragraph). It was beautiful, sparkly with frost and did I mention cold? I’m having (another) really

Week 46

Gotta keep this new mojo going even if I’m technically on holiday now. In renovation life this week: * things are motoring along now! * The skylight in the link is in. The doors are all framed. You really get a sense of the space and light that the link will

Week 45

Hi - it’s been a while. Thought I’d give this a try again. May be thin while I get my mojo back. via GIPHY My intention had been to get back to writing these on a Friday, when things were still fresh(er) in my mind. But GovCamp Cymru

Weeknote 36

This will be a short set of notes. It’s not been a good week and there's a lot I can't talk about. Back to work this week. And for the first time in a long time, looking forward to it and what I had planned

Weeknote 35

Contains ZERO work as I’ve had a week off. Well, we’ve had a week off together. Long overdue. via GIPHY Probably not as much sitting around relaxing (outside) as had been planned, but the weather didn’t entirely cooperate on that front. ADHD brain is bad at the

Weeknote 34

It’s time for an 11 day break from work. A much needed break. I need some headspace to re-energise and some physical space to try to catch up on some sleep and some reading. We’re not going anywhere really. An overnight trip up to Machynlleth to go

Weeknote 33

Leaving the writing of these to Sunday isn’t maybe the best but I was dead on my feet at the end of my week on Thursday and then got distracted by weekending. I’m still not doing wonderfully in the sleep department. The hyperactive element of my ADHD means

Weeknote 32

Difficult week in terms of the amount of stamina needed. Very slow progress on the renovations. Mostly just rebuilding the back wall as the carpenter was on holiday. Really pleased we’ve been able to recycle a lot of stone that we had onsite for this. Should be back at

Weeknote 31

Hello again. Things are still definitely on the up at work. House progress continues, as ever though, slower than I’d like. This week: interior walls are going up in the studio, the back/exterior wall of the studio is half down, half rebuilt, the roof is coming off and

Weeknote 30

Missed last week. That’s okay. I feel like I’m coming out of the horrific post-diagnosis pit I fell into. I’ve had a few therapy sessions now. I’m focusing on the positive stuff I’m enjoying at work. The sun has actually been out. It’s

Weeknote 28

I don’t really want to be writing these this week. I started them on Friday and I’m finishing them on Sunday. via GIPHY I’m not feeling positive about most things. Definitely hitting a bump post-diagnosis. It’s to be expected, but not easy to manage that

Weeknote 27

Weeknote 27 Still impressed that I managed to pull an all nighter for the election. What a night! Now I’m looking forward to some really boring, stable, quiet government. via GIPHY Renovations were quiet this week. Work paused as we needed to make a number of decisions at our

Weeknote 26

It’s been a week. Again. Can it just stop being a week at some point please? Progress on the studio continues. It’s now 3/4 insulated - walls and floor done. And the floor is now down as well. Next up: the roof, both insulating and re-tying into

Weeknote 25

Quite frankly, the first half of 2024 can get itself in the dumpster, pour petrol on itself and set light to itself. Just as I start to get back into a place at work where I’m getting out of the admin hellhole and finding a way to get back

Weeknote 24

The week ‘started’ with a busy weekend - friends visiting, much activity. A lovely long walk through the forests across the road from us. A trip to Big Pit. Meals out. It was lovely, but I was peopled by Monday and I started the week in an absolutely rancid mood. Things

Weeknote 23

First “full” week back. Start of my 4 day working week. It’s been a pretty good week I think. A mixture of easing back in to the client facing team, community stuff and not working. The big but is, I’ve still done too much. The squirrels in my

Weeknote 22

Something clicked in my head last week. In a good way. I think maybe knowing that I’d booked the right assessment and getting that changed and starting to accept that is what did it. And something about the election being called last week settled my head. The long weekend

Weeknotes 21

Another week of ups and downs. And a week of dealing with the realities of rural living. What’s going on I’ve still been off work. Work continues to be lovely and supportive. My flexible working request has gone in and from June I’ll be on 4 day

Weeknote 20

Fixed the discrepancy in my numbering system. Somehow I’d skipped ahead 2 weeks. Here we are then at issue 20. Another week of not being sure if I’m going to write anything. But forcing myself to say SOMETHING. What’s going on via GIPHY I was off for

Weeknote 19

Last week saw my head going to a bad place. That continued through my 4 day weekend. I was close to a panic attack several times over the weekend at the thought of work. Tuesday arrived and I just...couldn’t. Couldn’t anything. It’s not the work. It’

Weeknote 18

I’m really not sure I have it in me this week to write much here. I swear I only just wrote issue 19. Not work things this week We spent an afternoon with our interior designer and architect making material selections for the interior finishes of the house. It

Weeknote 17

That was a WEEK. And it ended well yesterday. And then the wallop of a migraine today. One of the worst I’ve ever had. <= this was yesterday. I am not feeling much better. It's taken me 3 days to write these rather thin notes. via GIPHY

Weeknote 16

Well that was a WEEK. A week of really good - work. And a week of absolute shitness - Dilys has slipped a disc and has been in extreme pain and deteriorating symptoms. More in the pupdate below. I’ve been to Newport more times than is possibly healthy. And another trip

Weeknote 15

How did we end up at Friday, I’m sure yesterday was only Tuesday. It’s been a rather intense week. Dai has been away for the week on a business trip. So it’s just been me and the dog for the most part. Hugely grateful to my in-

Weeknote 14

Back from a nice (not long enough) Easter weekend. Instantly booked a couple of holidays. That’s how it works right? Taking mom to West Wales in early May for the bank holiday weekend. And then up to North Wales in June for our 7th (!!) anniversary. Dog is being left

Weeknote 13

There’s me saying last week how easy these have been and I’m only getting to it this week at nearly 10pm on Sunday having forgotten to do these about 100 times since Thursday afternoon. Easter weekend has meant a hair appointment, endless errands, quite a lot of gardening,

Weeknotes 12

Wow. Three months of actually doing this every week. Only one week has felt like a chore, rather than something I wanted to do. It’s felt really natural to write. And it’s been lovely to be part of a revived community of weeknoters and bloggers. Main challenge now

Weeknote 11

Sitting down to write this note in my old office in the house. The one I occupied for most of my time at the Centre for Digital Public Services. It’s weird to be back in here. And I noticed the date, it’s a year to the day since

Weeknote 10

¡Hola! Early weeknotes coming at you from Spain, where I am sat outside, drinking a cortado. It’s been a week of travel, a week of perimenopause hell, and several in person workshops. Not the best combination in the world. I seem to have unlocked a new level of perimenopause,

Weeknotes 09

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 It’s been an okay week, if bitty and full of days of 30 minute meetings. I’m not sleeping wonderfully. I’ve had a 2 day migraine. And I’m just back from a physio appointment for my shoulder. I’ve sprained it. She was

Weeknote 08

Feel like I hit another gear in work this week. Things coming together. No panics to manage. Weather has been AWFUL, good for the garden, bad for walks. My shoulder is not healing well so I decided this week to book myself in to a physio to get it seen

Weeknote 07

Distinct feel of spring in the air this week. Which is weird, because it’s February. But never forget this handy guide to the seasons: False spring it may be, but my head has now turned to outside. I’ve not done any garden planning to date and am now

Weeknote 06

Here endeth my first month at TPXimpact. It feels both longer and shorter than that. My score for the first month: solid 9/10 The people have been lovely and welcoming. Everyone is SUPER smart. I have interesting client facing work, it’s also challenging. The onboarding has been exceptional.

Weeknote 05

Grumpier week notes than I’d like this week. Unhelpfully, I took a tumble on our icy deck yesterday morning and smashed my shoulder which has been making typing and Muralling difficult the last 2 days. Just about able to dress myself, so I guess that’s something. It’s

Weeknote 04

Second week of new job (I’ll stop counting soon). Last week was fluffy pink clouds. This week was more of a rollercoaster veering between questioning all my life decisions and feeling like I’ve totally got this. The truth is somewhere in the middle of course. via GIPHY What

Weeknote 03

Bare with me this week as I attempt to form coherent thoughts. The week started with the big news that I’ve joined TPXimpact as a Senior Partner - Major Projects. I’ll be focussed on leading client work on some of our largest pieces of work. I’ll talk below

New year, new job

After 10 months of much needed rest, I’m back at work today. I’m really excited to be joining TPXimpact as a Senior Partner for Major Projects. I’ve watched from a distance as TXPimpact grew from it’s original separate companies into what it is now. It’s

Weeknote 02

Last week of freedom. It’s been pretty quiet really. My energy levels post-Christmas cold have been dreadful and the weather doesn’t help. Last bits of admin for the new job. I’m waiting for my laptop to arrive today and hopefully I’ll be able to get

Weeknote 01

Trying something. No idea if this will stick. 2023 was a dumpster fire and I’m incredibly glad to see the back of it. Here’s to a much better 2024. It’ll be off to a better start already with a new job on the horizon. Start date 15