Lockdown Team Blog - Series 2: Tristan Wright

3 minutes to read.

Last year, our teams produced a series of blogs written by colleagues across multiple divisions of the company. They provided a small insight into our evolving working practices and values as we all adjusted to our new post-COVID19 world. Now we're back with our second series!

Here is the twelfth in our 2nd series of posts from our Tithebarn Head of Site, Tristan Wright.

"Here we are in the third lockdown and as I write now, a year ago was officially the last “normal” week of 2020.  I never expected to be here 12 months later.  I remember saying to myself last March, I bet this will be 3 weeks then we will back to normal, I totally underestimated that then.   Like many of us, I am sitting in my make shift office, it’s not perfect but I have grown to quite like it.  It keeps me away from the chaos of home schooling and a crazy 2 year old downstairs.  I feel very lucky to have this little space as I know many of us have been working from kitchen tables, nest of tables and sofa’s or anywhere to get that internet connection in their home, it’s been difficult for everyone in different ways.

I am grateful that there are people throughout our business working around the clock to implement the platforms for us to all work from home, which has almost certainly helped to secure our futures.

The last 12 months have been challenging.  The first lockdown I can say I entered naively and no one knew what to expect and for most, the novelty wore off pretty quickly. The second one still seemed like there was light at the end of the tunnel and there was a sense of relief, then the third blew that light out. However, through this time we have managed to navigate ourselves through with hard work from all aspects of the business and have all adapted to working in a new way.

I have been at Carpenters Group for almost 20 years and for those who have had frequent contact with me in the office know that I like to talk to people in person and so communication has been one of the biggest challenges for me.  I have to hold my hands up and admit Teams didn’t come naturally to me but after a few dodgy starts to Teams meetings, I got the hang of things.  I speak with colleagues frequently on the phone but must say that I do miss that face to face interaction.   I am sure there are many of us who feel like this and I am acutely aware that this will have impacted more so on some than others.   However, hopefully we will be able to return in some way in the not too distant future and I can’t wait!

From my little world I miss the gym, or I’ll put it differently, I miss the sauna at the gym. But as I say that I do feel lucky again as I have a fair sized shed in the garden and I have been able to go in there with Alexa busting out the 90s anthems and she motivated me to do some exercise most days.

Whilst difficult at times, I feel fortunate that I have been able to spend additional time with my family.  I have not missed out on bath time or bed time and have even had time to torment the children in the evenings!

I know there are times when we may be feeling frustrated at home for one reason or another.  I think it’s always worth reminding ourselves as to why we are doing this.  For me, there have been challenges but I have adapted more than I ever thought I would.  When or if we go back to “normality” I’ll miss my family, I’ll miss my shed workouts and will pray that half of the North West has forgotten the M6 exists."