Nagging

In my last parish we had a little mantra at the end of staff meetings where we used to ask each other awkward questions. 'Have you booked any work appointments for your day off?' That was what one of my clergy colleagues wanted to hear so he had to confess if he had. Mine was, 'Have you done your filing?'

What is it with flipping filing? A long time ago I dispensed with a filing tray or basket because then you throw things in that rather than putting them away properly. It's OK if you have a filing clerk (for eight years of my working life I did) but not otherwise. The best solution to the problem is to put each finished-with piece of paper away in the right place immediately you have finished with it. I know this. By and large I do it.

Then, just before Christmas, I was busy and left a piece of paper on top of the filing cabinet before rushing off to some crucial parish business such as a drinks party, instead of putting it away. Next time I had a piece of paper to put away I put it on top of the other one, rather than away, and a pile commenced which, yesterday took me two hours to file. So annoying. I'm the annoyed one and the person I'm annoyed with is me.

Now, there's an associated admin problem you can help me with. The side bars, links and archives of this blog are out of date. I need to spend some time fixing them. If you leave a comment over the next few weeks do give me a bit of a nag. Many thanks.