Working at the Home Office

Lockdown 3. 

A few lessons learned from getting through the experiences of Lockdowns 1 and 2 although we shouldn't really be in this situation as a Nation, but there you go. 

This Lockdown is different as we are in the deepest, gloomiest time of the year. There are many other issues to be coped with that a bright spring day and balmy summer evening served to distract our attentions from all of those months ago. There is still a persistence of Mental and physical health concerns, a fractured education of a whole generation, abject loneliness and isolation, the precarious livelihoods of many families and the exposing of very real rifts and failures in social justice and equality. 

I'm just awaiting guidance for my own working sector and find myself, once again, setting up a Home Office in preparation for the weeks ahead. 

An acquisition from December 2020 was a desk. 

Such an item was certainly hard to come by for much of last year. I had relinquished my study and a large adjustable Draughtsman's Table for use by my wife as her home working required more space and privacy for on-line meetings and confidential briefings. 

My new perch was the dining room table which was evidently one of the most popular settings amongst those in the same situation. It was perfectly adequate with plenty of space to spread out and in my daydreaming moments an aspect on to our glorious massive Eucalyptus from the back window and over a public park to the front. 

It suited me well in allowing the necessary short, sharp concentrated efforts of my work and yet not being cut off from the functions of the family house and my fellow Stay at Homers. However, a dining table is just that and not a desk. 

The search for a replacement desk was pretty futile as suppliers ran out of stock rapidly in the unprecedented demand. A back order would be possible in most cases but with an open ended timescale for delivery which was no good to anyone. 

In the warmer weather of late spring and early summer 2020 I did relocate into the garage as it is integral and south facing. Two old Joiner's trestles and a square off cut of wooden boarding formed a perfectly practical desk. Some care was necessary so as not to cause the whole thing to collapse under a poorly placed pile of papers or where, unnoticed, the trestles had shifted to the very edge of the board and fell over. 

I continued my search for a proper desk resorting to second hand and antique stock. 

A problem was that such bulky pieces of furniture were always sold with the proviso for "buyer to collect in person" and were located in far distant parts of the country. By that time of the search Lockdown 2 was less restrictive in travel regulations and so it would have been permissible to make a journey. My trusty estate car already showed the scars of having been used for transporting all and sundry from fridge freezers to sideboards, shelf racking and sofas but it was at the end of a business lease and my new vehicle was a smaller, compact booted saloon. My bulk shifting days were sadly over. 

That was not necessarily a hindrance given the number of companies, mostly one man operations who advertised use of a van for removals, collections and deliveries. 

A couple of years ago I had come across Vlad who, for a £10 flat rate, had picked up and dropped off a large settee over a short distance in my home city. It was a no frills, no nonsense and largely hand-signed conducted piece of business. I recommended Vlad to friends and colleagues and they still, to this day, thank me for the referral as he has proven to be most useful on many subsequent occasions. 

It was not until a week before Christmas that I found my new desk. 

I was browsing under the search criteria of "metal", "large desk", "antique" and "reproduction" when up popped a sub category of "military". 

Of course, the Ministry of Defence would have a lot of office equipment and surplus furniture. Why had I not thought of that?  

There was a good choice but my attention was drawn to the depiction of a desk drawer with a stainless steel badge bearing the name Vickers and date stamped 1968. That was the one for sure. 

A few others were watching the item on the selling portal but I jumped in and managed to whisk it away from them. 

The whole process of purchase and arranging delivery by van, not Vlad unfortunately, was concluded within three days. It is a beauty of a desk. Low and expansive with stout metal frame, the work top overlaid in a black linoleum with only minor signs of wear and tear, lockable drawers and a wonderful authenticity. 

It could have been from a busy and influential War Department or a secret establishment, a back room of an operations centre, used by Generals or spies. I wasn't that bothered. 

Let's face it, it was more likely to have been from one of those anonymous but strategically important military offices that ensured that requisitions of toilet roll and tea bags are assured  for the  brave lads and lassies in the armed forces.