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My time continued to be dominated by my broken wrist. How can damage to the end of a limb do such wierd things to your brain? I'm quite sure that I promised to do all sorts of unrealistic things that will come back to haunt me. But work carried on anyhow, juggling a review of an audit committee with ethics training, a risk review at a school, setting up my EQAs for the next few months and lots of choir buiness. I was delighted to be told that my splint could come off at the end of the month (now the real healing work starts) and I also discovered the delights of the £2 bus fare and rural bus services (alright if you don't need to be anywhere late, on a Sunday or in a hurry). I sang in a lovely late Ephiphany evensong and also got a cancellation for hand therapy (main message is you aren't doing it right if it doesn't hurt! and playing the piano, typing and knitting are excellent physio).
The month started with risk training at a school, continued with online audit committee training and then slipped into the first of three EQAs in six weeks (what was I thinking?). In between reviewing audit teams, I carried out ethics and fraud training, continued with my physio, sang a bit more and started driving again (scary stuff).
I wrapped up EQA one, nearly finished EQA two and started EQA three. They just about stayed separate in my head but there were some near misses. Half way through the month, I had a grand adventure, going abroad for the first time in exactly three years. I was so excited and so nervous to do something that I used to do without a thought pre pandemic. So, I had three days in Luxembourg training in audit communication and fraud. I braved trams, speaking French, traffic coming from the wrong direction and airport queues the like of which I have only seen at peak holiday time. Now I know how post-Brexit travel works (slowly) and that my metal work doesn't set off the scanners (hooray). And I reminded myself how wonderful it is to train face-to-face. Roll on the next trip. The month ended with a risk review for a school, internal audit training (online for the last time) and coaching non-first language English speaking auditors on writing punchier audit reports - always fun. We also sang Faure (passably well) and Poulenc (we didn't collapse) at our Easter concert.
The month opened with more risk management, a performance of Stainer's Crucifixion (a first for me) and a lovely break over Easter. I continued working on audit committee reviews, providing training on fraud, ethics, internal audit, internal contols and risk and carrying out more school risk reviews. Musically it was a good month, going to see The Magic Flute (thanks sister for organising that) and singing evensong three times!
Ethics and fraud training was the theme of the month, interspersed with risk work, starting the review of another audit committee and training yet other committees. We escaped the coronation with a delightful long weekend in Nice (how had I never been to the south of France before?), exploring far and wide and eating lots of ice cream and I sang a Eucharist and and Evensong. I also supported internal auditors to write sharper reports, in coaching sessions and a delightfully nerdy two-day course on writing in English for non-English speakers.
This was a busy month with more travel, although still nowhere near pre-pandemic levels and plenty of in-person and remote training. Having got to the end of it in one piece, I am breathing a huge sigh of relief. I trained on something or other (ethics, fraud, internal audit, audit committee effectiveness) almost every day, taking a trip to the north for some of this and to Luxembourg for some other work. I finished one audit committee review and worked on another, finished (more-or-less) two school risk management reviews and ended the month making sure that I was all set up for next month. I also sang a eucharist, an evensong and a concert of Italian music and watched my garden grow in the sunshine, enjoying the last of my asparagus, endless rhubarb and the first raspberries of the season.
My usual summer break started later than normal and July remained pretty active. I travelled to talk to audit committees, interviewed audit committee members on the effectiveness of their committees, trained on fraud and ethics and began discussions for other courses in the autumn. In between, I sang in yet more churches, including puffing my way up the steepest hills to get to more than one church accessible only on foot and I enjoyed more of the fruits of my garden, when the caterpillars didn't get to them first (all my kale).
The month started with my annual highlight: the Voces 8 course at Milton Abbey. This year was a big sing, tackling all those choruses in Israel in Egypt accompanied by the Academy of Ancient Music. Add to that concerts every night and excellent company and it was, as always, a joy. I then spent a couple of weeks tackling my work and life to do lists, slowly ticking things off. I also took my courage in hand and got back to sewing, finishing the dress that I had been making before my unfortunate accident, mending another dress to make it wearable (I hope) and doing my first Sewing Bee type challenge, taking a man's shirt and turnng it into a blouse. The garden carried on giving and I carried on finding clever things to do with beans and courgettes. Thank goodness for urban friends happy to take some surplus off me.
It was back to normal with a bang this month with ethics and fraud training online, audit committee training in person and my first trip back to Brussels since the before times to talk about internal audit. I also made a trip to North Wales to observe an audit committee and to find out if all that Welsh Duolingo had made a difference (it had - I was delighted to be able to pick out words and phrases but I failed to say anything in Welsh myself). I also sang a couple of services and started singing with a new choir.
There was the usual mix of training and coaching in October, thinking about ethics, fraud, risk and audit communication. I talked to a few audit committees and developed a new course on written communication for auditors. As has become the new normal, I delivered a mix of online and in-person courses. You can't beat face-to-face training for effectiveness, but online make so much better economic sense. It's a tough balance. There was less singing this month as I wasn't in the right place at the right time, but more sewing. Also, I have paid my first visit to a gym in more than 15 years and now have a programme of bone strengthening exercises - I wonder what difference that will make?
This was a month of travel, with two trips to Luxembourg, a trip to a spa for birthday celebrations and a trip up north to observe another audit committee. Alas, all the travel reduced my singing and sewing opportuities, but it was lovely to work with people in person again. Most of the month was spent on written audit communication, delivering a new course and then providing coaching for most of a team. I had a great time, although my brain was totally mangled by the end of the sessions, and I hope that they found it useful. As light relief between this coaching, I delivered fraud and ethics training. I even had a (very cold) weekend in Luxembourg so I had a chance to explore and do my best to avoid the Christmas markets.
My big win of this month was to make it through without breaking any bones - this made for a much more active and enjoyable Christmas than last year. However, before that, there was plenty of singing, supporting my mini-me through CIPFA exams, and delivering a variety of courses, in person and online. It was the usual mix of fraud, ethics and internal audit with the interesting addition of some board governance training. And then time to collapse and gather myself ready to tackle 2024!
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