See the dude hanging out of the neighbours apartment?

I got home last week to find the police blocking my carpark, and the apartment next door full of lighting gear. My immediate reaction was to think they were shooting a porn movie as the neighbours place is a brothel. However, when I got into my place and found Dirk Diggler standing on the balcony (above) I realised they had turned the whole back yard into a movie set - but alas, not for a porn movie. After a couple takes of a devushka walking up the steps I decided it was time for a beer.

Work this week has not let up, I’m still on 14 hr days and trying to get some structure into our plans for 2009. We have launched a new product (term deposit) very successfully and we’re now closing on completing a personal loan product (yes - we have to finish it even though the lending market here is like putting money on a fire) to clear the technical environments for more changes. Overall, we’re going OK but I have two more weeks of heavy graft before I have the plans in place, objectives done and the team focused on what needs to happens.

We’re also madly looking for cost savings - we have got rid of our instant coffee, changed the tea, enforced double sided, low quality printing, forced the shutdown of PC’s each night and stopped buying flowers for the reception area - yes - it survival here and we are determined to keep the doors open. Its a massive experience but tough for a whole lot of other reasons. I cannot believe we are now in this situation after working our guts off to open the Bank. Amazing how things change....

The country is in even bigger strife though with protests, strikes, raids by secret service, political fighting and strange behaviour from the mayor of Kiev. The mayor is saying God is talking to him, so the other faction wants him committed.

To prove he wasn’t mad, he did a press conference in his speedo’s after swimming 50 mtrs in a pool, doing 15 sit-ups and then jogging around a 400 mtr track in the cold - is he nuts? He has also decided to charge a fee to people visiting their family grave sites - God made him do it.

The temperature here is now 0 degree’s most days so the doom and gloom is starting to lift. While it hasn’t been a harsh winter, everyone is depressed and frustrated so some sun would go great.... see you next week.

p.s. we got asked to morally give our bonuses back today. interesting.