Aside from getting to grips with all the office machinery (and tea mug preferences), I've been taken by the news of Ian Carotte's attack on the government's 'flimsy' Prompt Payment Code. He makes a good point, that if the German government are considering bringing in the law to tackle late payment, and therefore stamping out "commercial bullying", maybe the UK should be doing the same. It'll be an interesting debate, all the same and I look forward to seeing whether the PPC has a dramatic effect or not.

Coming straight from completing a diploma in magazine journalism at Cardiff University (and I mean straight – the wrist strain from frantic finals feature writing is lingering still), I was more than a little anxious to be launching straight into career in business journalism. My background is in English Literature and movie news writing at Berlin-based moviepilot.com, so you can understand my trepidation. However, SL is such a welcoming place, and Brendan and Harry and the whole office have been so supportive, I can’t help but feel at home here—as soon as I get my own mug, that is.

It also helps a little that the industry is somewhat in my blood. My father ran the family print business for 40 years, before retiring and becoming an artist, so I have grown up around the ups and downs of the wider industry over the past 25 years or so. I am looking forward to getting to know more of the technical sides of the sign making industry.

I’m sad to be replacing the wonderful Harriet as deputy editor, who is clearly going to be sorely missed, but she’s taken me under her wing in her last week and I hope to fill her shoes (which seem to be lying abandoned under the table in this midsummer heat) the very best I can.

So, here’s to a great first week, anticipating no massive Friday disasters, and to my future time here at Signlink!