P&O Cruisers - What are things like where YOU are?

[zap99]

10 hours ago, Snow Hill said:

Before I retired over 10 years ago I used to work from home 3 days a week, the other 2 days were spent elsewhere sometimes my base office or at the site project was based at, I did a fair bit of travelling. 
 

Working from home isn’t new, it’s just become more prevalent over the last 4 years

 

The steel fixers and brickies would find it a bit of a ...challenge.

[zap99]

16 hours ago, lincslady said:

Not sure how you can work from home if you are a delivery driver, or a bricklayer, or on a till at the supermarket?

There seems to be a new level of Managers. Those that check the WFH lot are actually working.

[Snow Hill]

55 minutes ago, zap99 said:

The steel fixers and brickies would find it a bit of a ...challenge.

Clearly there are many roles where you can’t work from home, but there are many where you can. Four of our children work from home either fully or for 2 or 3 days a week, all in different careers, most people they are in contact with would have no idea they were working from home. 
 

My former employer has reduced the amount of central office space it had in cities and either converted empty space in other buildings it owns or acquired smaller premises from office space so employees who need an office desk for part of the time have one nearer than the 90 min commute to their old office. 

[grapau27]

Nice breakfast at one of the city beaches.

[lincslady]

Like most things in life, it all depends.  I know of someone in charge of a large company whose employees and customers are all over the world; he works from home nearly all the time (including strange hours, of course, when dealing with he USA, Australia etc)., and has to travel occasionally.  He earns a lot of money, and this is really the only way he can work.  Call centre workers, when they have all the knowledge available to them, which does not always happen, can work satisfactorily from home.  Obviously builders, dentists, heaps of jobs cannot be done from home.  The problem  seems to  be that there are (dare I say sometimes civil servants) who 'work' from home but do not put in a full day's work, and their employers are aware of this.  I think in this sort of case employers should be able to insist that people turn up at the office,  at least part of the week.  

[grapau27]

2 minutes ago, lincslady said:

Like most things in life, it all depends.  I know of someone in charge of a large company whose employees and customers are all over the world; he works from home nearly all the time (including strange hours, of course, when dealing with he USA, Australia etc)., and has to travel occasionally.  He earns a lot of money, and this is really the only way he can work.  Call centre workers, when they have all the knowledge available to them, which does not always happen, can work satisfactorily from home.  Obviously builders, dentists, heaps of jobs cannot be done from home.  The problem  seems to  be that there are (dare I say sometimes civil servants) who 'work' from home but do not put in a full day's work, and their employers are aware of this.  I think in this sort of case employers should be able to insist that people turn up at the office,  at least part of the week.  

There is a very well known man who works most of the year using his laptop while cruising on Royal Caribbean ships.

[zap99]

1 hour ago, Snow Hill said:

Clearly there are many roles where you can’t work from home, but there are many where you can. Four of our children work from home either fully or for 2 or 3 days a week, all in different careers, most people they are in contact with would have no idea they were working from home. 
 

My former employer has reduced the amount of central office space it had in cities and either converted empty space in other buildings it owns or acquired smaller premises from office space so employees who need an office desk for part of the time have one nearer than the 90 min commute to their old office. 

So lots of empty offices. No need to build any new ones, or employ as many train drivers, or sandwich bar workers, or bus drivers.....sounds like a win,  win.

[Megabear2]

28 minutes ago, zap99 said:

So lots of empty offices. No need to build any new ones, or employ as many train drivers, or sandwich bar workers, or bus drivers.....sounds like a win,  win.

With the exodus of banks from Canary Wharf back to the City and smaller offices there is currently a move to convert the Isle of Dogs properties to residential.  The Mayor of Tower Hamlets is very keen to reuse the properties.

 

 

[brian1]

Hi all,I've been trying to contact P&O to retrieve our account number from our worldie segment in 2017.On hold for ages so thought sod it I'll book a bogus cruise and pressed option 1.Guess what, answered within 1 minute.Got our details though and the lady was very polite.Just nobody answers the nonproductive calls,lol.

[brian1]

2 hours ago, grapau27 said:

There is a very well known man who works most of the year using his laptop while cruising on Royal Caribbean ships.

Thought that was you Graham😉.

[Snow Hill]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

With the exodus of banks from Canary Wharf back to the City and smaller offices there is currently a move to convert the Isle of Dogs properties to residential.  The Mayor of Tower Hamlets is very keen to reuse the properties.

 

 

Many office blocks have been converted or have plans to convert to hotels. 

[zap99]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

With the exodus of banks from Canary Wharf back to the City and smaller offices there is currently a move to convert the Isle of Dogs properties to residential.  The Mayor of Tower Hamlets is very keen to reuse the properties.

 

 

If there are no staff in Canary Wharf, they won't need houses as there will be no people. I remember docklands in the late 60's. Semi derelict.

[zap99]

12 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

Many office blocks have been converted or have plans to convert to hotels. 

If the town centred are empty, folk may not want to stay in hotels in Bradford, or Woking.

[Megabear2]

32 minutes ago, zap99 said:

If there are no staff in Canary Wharf, they won't need houses as there will be no people. I remember docklands in the late 60's. Semi derelict.

I doubt many staff who worked in Canary Wharf lived there even at the height of the bank "goldrush".  Most of the people paying the multi millions to live on the Island appeared to be American bankers living in corporate leasehold properties. Judging by my last few trips there it won't be long before it's derelict again as they've all disappeared. Most of the towers are pretty empty since the banks left so a repurpose might be the only way.

 

For my sins I was involved with the building of the original No. 1 Tower (my firm organised the bank financing and partnership).  

 

Re Woking what are the plans for the previous Council's ill advised property developments?  Any chance you council tax paying residents will see any returns soon?  

 

 

[brian1]

44 minutes ago, zap99 said:

If the town centred are empty, folk may not want to stay in hotels in Bradford, or Woking.

Pizza Express will always be there Zap.Has it got one of those blue plaques yet.

[kalos]

3 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Nice breakfast at one of the city beaches.

 

Mrs K used to love queueing at Sue's for our breakfast too 😀 Happy days 👍

 

[brian1]

50 minutes ago, zap99 said:

If there are no staff in Canary Wharf, they won't need houses as there will be no people. I remember docklands in the late 60's. Semi derelict.

That was my area when I started my apprenticeship in 1968.Definately not posh but plenty of industry and grime.West Ferry rd was famous for the red pigeons that flew over the lead factory.Those were the days.

[zap99]

4 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

I doubt many staff who worked in Canary Wharf lived there even at the height of the bank "goldrush".  Most of the people paying the multi millions to live on the Island appeared to be American bankers living in corporate leasehold properties. Judging by my last few trips there it won't be long before it's derelict again as they've all disappeared. Most of the towers are pretty empty since the banks left so a repurpose might be the only way.

 

For my sins I was involved with the building of the original No. 1 Tower (my firm organised the bank financing and partnership).  

 

Re Woking what are the plans for the previous Council's ill advised property developments?  Any chance you council tax paying residents will see any returns soon?  

 

 

I too was involved in the construction of Canary Wharf from 1st to last. Before that started I was based at the Highway, Stepney for 8 years. Anything we wanted to ' dispose of ' went to the Royal docks. The Council did a deal with the government last year. I doubt it will be honoured. You are the expert, not me but I thought if a company went bust, the lenders and shareholders lost out. The lender in this case being the government.

[zap99]

8 minutes ago, brian1 said:

Pizza Express will always be there Zap.Has it got one of those blue plaques yet.

Not yet, but it has tributes to Paul Weller.

[brian1]

21 minutes ago, zap99 said:

I too was involved in the construction of Canary Wharf from 1st to last. Before that started I was based at the Highway, Stepney for 8 years. Anything we wanted to ' dispose of ' went to the Royal docks. The Council did a deal with the government last year. I doubt it will be honoured. You are the expert, not me but I thought if a company went bust, the lenders and shareholders lost out. The lender in this case being the government.

I used to drink with a bloke that owned a ready mixed concrete company pouring loads in Canary Wharf 24/7.He earned a fortune,especially from the nonexistant loads.I heard a story that the owners were Canadian Orthodox Jews and when a load got mistakenly poured on the Sabbeth it had to be dug out.Whether that was true or an urban myth,I don't know.

[Megabear2]

35 minutes ago, zap99 said:

I too was involved in the construction of Canary Wharf from 1st to last. Before that started I was based at the Highway, Stepney for 8 years. Anything we wanted to ' dispose of ' went to the Royal docks. The Council did a deal with the government last year. I doubt it will be honoured. You are the expert, not me but I thought if a company went bust, the lenders and shareholders lost out. The lender in this case being the government.

I know nothing of the construction or current contracts I'm afraid.  We dealt with the original blank canvas and once the LDDC was formed it was our job to hawk the idea of the development.  We had lots of foreign investors interested.  The actual No.1 Tower had nearly 25 foreign bank investors, the biggest being Royal Bank of Canada.  Our job was to raise the money, presumably so you guys could start to build.  Assumedly when the LDDC wound up in 1998/9 the freehold reverted back but to whom I'd have no idea.  

 

Our firm was based in Minories and a whole department was spawned to deal with just the acquisition of land and selling the idea of thr development.  Back in 1980 our firm was very much a fledgling having broken away from a magic circle firm only two years before so it was a huge thing when we were appointed.  Personally I was very uncomfortable with dealing with contracts which were in some cases throwing people out of their homes particularly as alternative housing at reasonable rent was rarely available.

 

That'sTV recently showed the World In Action investigation into the LDDC and it was a very interesting trip down memory lane.

Edited 20 hours ago by Megabear2

[Sarah1974]

4 hours ago, lincslady said:

Like most things in life, it all depends.  I know of someone in charge of a large company whose employees and customers are all over the world; he works from home nearly all the time (including strange hours, of course, when dealing with he USA, Australia etc)., and has to travel occasionally.  He earns a lot of money, and this is really the only way he can work.  Call centre workers, when they have all the knowledge available to them, which does not always happen, can work satisfactorily from home.  Obviously builders, dentists, heaps of jobs cannot be done from home.  The problem  seems to  be that there are (dare I say sometimes civil servants) who 'work' from home but do not put in a full day's work, and their employers are aware of this.  I think in this sort of case employers should be able to insist that people turn up at the office,  at least part of the week.  

I'm a civil servant - only doing admin work, nothing high powered! - we've been told we have to work in the office 60% of our working week - so if you're full time like me that's 3 days. 

[zap99]

1 hour ago, brian1 said:

I used to drink with a bloke that owned a ready mixed concrete company pouring loads in Canary Wharf 24/7.He earned a fortune,especially from the nonexistant loads.I heard a story that the owners were Canadian Orthodox Jews and when a load got mistakenly poured on the Sabbeth it had to be dug out.Whether that was true or an urban myth,I don't know.

It was owned by  Canadian Jews, but they sold out/went bust. I worked for RMC. Lots of returned loads went into the docks...and other places!!. In 1990 I moved to Hanson, who was looking into buying Canary Wharf plc. I may well know your buddy, but best not mention names.🤣

[zap99]

8 minutes ago, zap99 said:

It was owned by  Canadian Jews, but they sold out/went bust. I worked for RMC. Lots of returned loads went into the docks...and other places!!. In 1990 I moved to Hanson, who was looking into buying Canary Wharf plc. I may well know your buddy, but best not mention names.🤣

I went back to RMC in 2000. I went to the fortnightly progress meeting for the Barking bypass. We went on our first cruise, Island escape. This boring, whining bloke was entertaining the dinner table by showing off his jacket ( guilet?) ..look how many pockets it's got. I can wear it when I get home .Barking isn't actually countryside, but it's very pleasant...Apart from those blasted orange cement mixer lorries...he looked at me..what do you do... I flog insurance.

[Eddie99]