When the going gets tough, then the tough get going (if not now, then soon)
Almost two years ago, I was appointed the independent Chair of the Customer Challenge Group at South East Water which supplies drinking water to 2.1 million customers in Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire. Our prime role is to challenge the construction and composition of the Business Plan for 2015-2020 which the company will be submitting to the regulator Ofwat on 2 December. The deadline for the CCG report is the same.
Unlike most CCG Chairs, I have chosen to draft the report myself. The drafting itself is not a problem – I’ve written many submissions to regulators and Government Departments and even wrote a book once. But most of the subject matter is relatively new to me and complex, there are many pieces of customer research to consult, and there are repeated drafts of the company’s Business Plan of around 250 pages to study and reference.
I am currently working on Draft 6 of the report and at the moment it runs to 80 pages.
So this has been the most intense three-month period of work since I technically took early retirement almost 12 years ago. In such circumstances, I wanted to have a holiday to which to look forward – and regular readers of NightHawk will know that I love to travel to foreign countries.
Therefore I have just booked a three-week holiday for Vee and me which will involve a guided tour of five countries in Central America: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. This will be early in 2014.
If you’ve been to any of these countries and have some tips or you live there and have some advice, do post a comment or e-mail me.
November 18th, 2013 at 11:23 am
Hi Roger
We did a tour from Panama to Guatemala in 2010. The general ambience is very similar to a tour of South America that we did the year before – pretty much the same tour that you also did. Honduras was the poorest of the ones we visited (we didn’t get to El Salvador); Costa Rica was probably the one with the highest standard of living but Nicaragua, even with it’s dreadful 20th century history was the one that we enjoyed most. Make sure you see Managua, Granada and Leon in Nicaragua; Copan in Honduras; Antigua and Tikal in Guatemala and San Jose in Costa Rica. I’m fairly sure they will all be on your agenda and that you will find it an exciting and rewarding trip.
Regards to you and Vee
David
November 18th, 2013 at 11:29 am
Many thanks for the tips, David – looking forward to taking your advice.
November 18th, 2013 at 11:29 am
Many thanks for the tips, David – looking forward to taking your advice.