My Anywhere Working Tips

This week is "Anywhere Working Week", so I thought I'd have a little think about this - how do I do "anywhere working" and what are my tips to make it work?

In my job, you may think that the opportunities for flexible working patterns would be a bit limited (I'm a Paediatrician, and this can make it hard to work from home - after all, patients tend to be in the hospital!)
Nevertheless, as a lot of my work is based in the community, there are things that I can do to enable at least some flexible working (there are benefits for myself, my patients, and the environment!)

Firstly, some of my work is regional - based over the whole of North Yorkshire, so I could easily travel from Scarborough to Skipton, Northallerton to Selby within the cousre of a day if I didn't think ahead!
So my first tip is: plan your meetings wisely - try to arrange meetings to avoid excessive travel if possible. I try to arrange meetings in Northallerton straight after meetings in Thirsk, for example, as I'm heading north anyway.

Secondly: If your patients (or clients) are all in the same area but a distance from you - travel to meet them, rather than have them all travel independently to meet you - better for them, better for the environment - so for example, I do a clinic in a school where I happen to have lots of patients, rather than make them all come to the hospital to see me.

My third tip: Not all administrative work needs to be done in your work place - working from home can be efficient both from a time point of view (that half an hour spent travelling can be spent working) and an environmental point of view. Obviously for me this is harder than for many people, as clinical notes need to stay within the hospital, but I can do some of my journal reading and training from home.

Fourthly: Flexible working can be good for your work/life balance. I've got two smallish / medium sized children, and the more time I can spend with them, the happier we all are. I'm lucky that I've been able to arrange a flexible working pattern where I can work more hours in term time when they're at school, and less time in the school holidays. I also choose to work until 3pm on two of my working days, rather than one full day and a half day - so I can collect them from school on both of these days.

Fifthly: If feasible, travel by train so you can work whilst travelling - I occasionally have to go to London, and then I'll always take the train - I can get busy with my laptop and instead of 4 hours of missed opportunity, I can do some online training, write up my audits, read up on some literature....
I really need a 3G dongle to make full use of the internet, and this is something I'm planning to get, but I can still use wifi hotspots.

So even if it seems your job isn't suited to "Anywhere working", most people will find that with a little thought and planning, it can be done!

Skiing in Austria

So it's half term, and we're skiing in Austria.
Everyone in our family loves skiing - the kids ahve been doing it since they were three years old, so now, at 9 and 7, they're better skiiers than me - the eternal intermediate!
I was a teenager when I learnt to ski, and my husband didn't start until he was an adult, so learning early is definitely an advantage.

We chose Austria at half term, though we love France for a few reasons:

1) It's so much cheaper, accommodation is at least half the price of France on this week, as the price rises for half term don't seem to happen in Austria. The price of food etc on the slopes is a lot cheaper too - we've been paying about 45 euros for drinks, main meals, and a couple of puddings and/or coffees - for a family of 4. In France it would be 60 - 80 euros, depending on the resort.

2) The slopes are practically empty this week - we've had a few runs where we have literally been the only ones on the slope - not something that's going to happen in France! The reason for this is that very few British seem to come to Austria ( at least here to Schladming - and it was the same last year in Nassfeld), though I guest the more "British" resorts like St Anton and Kitzbuhl may be busier. Also the main visitors seem to be Austrian, German or Dutch, and apparently it's not half term week for them this week. We're certainly not complaining!

Anyway, we're in Ramsau, just outside Schladming ( but with local slopes too) and the chalet/hotel is lovely, we're in a 2 bedroomed appartment attached to the chalet but enjoy all the food and facilities of the chalet, and have plenty of space to spread out. It's called Pension Hoffelner if you fancy googling it....
The weather was gorgeous when we arrived, very cold but sunny, but is now very snowy - well over 30 cm fell yesterday, and the powder today should be immense! Looking forward to getting out there, though we'll have to dig the car out first!

You really need a car here to make the most of the many slkiing areas covered on the one lift pass, so we drove over, taking the overnight ferry from Hull, which was fun for the kids, and "interesting" for us. We're glad we've got a 4 wheel drive car, as we've had so much snow here, and despite the snow chains it's been challenging driving
Must go, time to get skiing!

Another Thomas Cook competition...!

This one's about travel photography - they're looking for the most inspiring travel photo!

I love this photo:

Taken by me last year, at Sunset, on the beautiful island of St Vincent in the Carribean.
So peaceful and unspoilt!
The island was beautiful, the people so welcoming, but there was a real contrast between the rich and the poor - enormous mansions sitting alongside concrete huts with corrugated iron roofs...
The relaxed atmosphere and enthusiasm was contagious, and the experience of swimming with dolphins, walking in the rain forest and lazing on the beach was incredible.

I entered the Flythomascook Photography Competition: