London EC1 where the City Workers run

After months of nagging, whining and 'mughhh, I'm boredddd, get me a joorrrrb' emails, an employment agency got me a couple of weeks PA work in the Square Mile. At least, they think it's a couple of weeks. Could be less, could be more. As with most of the temporary jobs I'm sent out on recently, the HR departments are verrrrry vague when it comes to end dates. The employees are all too ready to tell me why: it's down to companies spazzing out and making redundancies, before swiftly realising that they don't have enough people to do all the work. So in come the contractors and temps - aka, the employees they got rid of in the first place - because they can't advertise for permanent staff yet. They pay the agencies on top of temp's hourly rate, so most of the time there's a strict usage policy. They pay a big price for employing someone they can let go at the drop of a hat.

This property firm has been hard hit by redundancies, so much so that I arrived on Thursday in the midst of a complete floor reshuffle; they're reorganising the seating plan so that the empty desks are less obvious. In all honesty, I'm not sure why I'm there. There doesn't seem to be any pressing need for admin support in my team, recently cut down to four people. I've seen the director I work for once for about half an hour. In fact, one employee, having been introduced to me, wondered aloud how the director managed to "swing that one". Dunno mate, but it works for me. This girl ain't complaining.

To keep the day moving I am given tasks that are all - without exception - preceded by the words "This is a really really dull / boring / monotonous job, but err, could you..." To be honest, I wish they'd cut the preamble. I'm not sure what they think this sort of role usually entails, but administrative jobs are never anything but dull, boring and monotonous. That's exactly why I do it on a temporary basis, charged by the hour and paid by the week. It's easy, regular money. Besides, since when has telling someone a task is the admin equivalent of filing toenails ever made it more bearable?

The respite comes when I'm out and about, in the morning and at the end of the day. That's then I walk to and from Aldgate tube, right past the suitably massive, glass fronted phallus that has come to represent this part of the City. Ha. Touché, London, touché.



Ahh, the city. With its breast-ogling bankers, fold up bikes, suits, boots and B.O scented tubes.

It's good to be back in your sweaty little clutches.