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Does Anyone Work in August?

29th Jul 2015
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About 20 years ago, I gave up trying to find things to do in August and accepted the French tradition of going away.

Nothing in the ensuing period has suggested that spending the eighth month of the year in London would serve any purpose.

As ever, a couple of columns over the next few weeks will relate adventures at the Edinburgh International Festival and Fringe. While this might seem like a doddle, in reality if you take life as a theatre critic seriously the experience will consist of working 15 hours a day seven days a week.

Admittedly, the "work" will often consist of watching enjoyable plays and the odd comedian who might even be funny. However, unless my luck is in, there will also be too many hours of tedium that will feel like millennia as comics fail to amuse and dramas fall flat.

This means that after the Bank Holiday the day-to-day grind of office life should feel like a pleasant break. That after all is the purpose of holidays.

Colleagues seem bullish about the prospect of filling their working weeks during my absence. However, at the moment nobody seems to be able to pin down the sizeable projects that they will be progressing during what is generally a very slack time.

In that the majority of those with whom we need to engage have school-age children, the likelihood is that the only time they can get a decent family holiday is during the month of August.

It should therefore come as no surprise that they are not particularly interested in buying and selling companies, getting audits off the ground, implementing share schemes for their loyal staff or completing tax returns.

It would be interesting to know whether readers have similar experiences or they are inundated by work right through the year.

I was speaking to a partner in a mid-size practice earlier this week who was expecting a busy August. However, this was entirely the result of a need to catch up following a frantic first half of the year.

While one can understand that, it still does not suggest that there will be any exciting new work coming in and, if fresh projects do flow, she will probably not be too pleased.

If this is the last column that you will read prior to heading off for sunnier climes (or Edinburgh) enjoy the break.

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