Thanks for asking: A few people have emailed to ask and rather than send a boring email I'm writing a boring blog instead. Some bloggers are obsessed with gaining hits by pretending to be interesting. I come clean and tell you upfront that the following is as ditch as dullwater.

I'm into my third week.

The firm is quite small but has been growing steadily since it's establishment in 1996. It started with 3 people who used to work for a much larger company saw a niche market for a data management service and started the business in one of their bedrooms (possibly apocryphal) and now have about 160 employees.

One of the directors appears to be at least semi-retired whilst the other 2 are well visible around the place. They know everyone personally. One of them has a lovely bottom.

The workplace is slightly cramped, at least compared to what I'm used to. There's only one tiny meeting room, a tiny tea room, and if I broke wind at my desk then approximately 12 people would die a painful death. It is, however, handy for the shops and a leisurely 0.9 mile walk from home. There is a plan to relocate just out of town but I suspect that idea might be on hold in the current economic climate.

Not that business is at all struggling. I'm told that they directors have never done any marketing - the company grew anyway. Business is good.

My boss is a really nice bloke. Not an ounce of nastiness in him. He's German and others in my department are Chinese and Lithuanian and English. I do like a bit of cosmopolitanity. They seem nice. Even the English ones.

Those of you who work in this business will be aware of the importance of training records and this company seem especially sensitive. Hence after 12 working days, I have yet to do anything I could justifiably call work. This makes me feel slightly uncomfortable. I was uncomfortable on Friday evening when a certain job that was due to go out that day hadn't been completed and some of my colleagues had to stay back till after 8pm to finish it. Being 'untrained' I could be of no assistance so I went home at a sensible hour.

I was also uncomfortable yesterday when the same thing happened; another early evening panic. If this is to become the norm they will have to understand that I applied for this job to improve my work-life balance and I'm not going to swap hours on the motorway with hours in the office. I don't mind the occasional late un but it can't become a habit. On the plus side, all the hours are recorded so they can be taken off later.

So in a nutshell: The answer to the question "how's the new job" is "dunno yet, so far so good.... but I'm here for the long haul".

Once again, thanks for asking.