Ghost office...

There were so few people in my office today that I swear we could have set up a make-shift bowling alley in the finance corridor and nobody would know the difference. Seriously, the ENTIRE department is gone...most of them for a couple of weeks.

Now don't get me wrong...I don't begrudge anyone their vacation time. And I have certainly come to understand why *summer* vacation is particuarly important to Swedes. But why everyone is allowed to take it at the exact same time is a serious mystery to me. This is my 4th summer in Sweden but I'm not sure I'll ever get used to the idea that in many areas of business/commerce, it's okay for a lot of work to just stop.

I, on the other hand, find this time of the year very productive for catching up on all the housekeeping and organisation tasks that I rarely have time for when the usual band of colleagues is in the office constantly coming up with assorted projects for me that are invariably due yesterday. It's also a great time for writing tasks (a big chunk of my job) because the phone doesn't ring and other interruptions are minimal.

Which why I'm really glad that I won't be taking any time off until late August. Everybody else will be back by then...re-energized and full of ideas that are bound to create lots of work for me.

Now THAT's the time to take a vacation!

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