Thanks to Mary Hines, Senior Medical Writer at Springer Healthcare Communications for sending this message:

Here in the Auckland office of Springer Healthcare Communications we are all struggling into work after a night of wild storms. We were pleased to see lights on in the office as many of us woke to no power at home. Some colleagues have had long journeys to avoid roads blocked by trees and on my way I saw many fences down and traffic lights and other signs that had been twisted in the winds (news reports say that the winds peaked at 130 km/hour at about 3am).

This is only our second week in our lovely new office in Northcote, Auckland and we are still finding it hard not to stare at the views all day instead of getting on with our work – see the great panorama of the Auckland city skyline behind me. Even getting a drink takes a little longer as we try to figure out how to use all the fancy new gadgets in the office kitchen. Now how many medical writers does it take to work out how to make a cup of coffee? We even have a boiling water tap – ahead of Jennifer Archer! (any other medical writer Archers’ fans out there?)

Back at my desk, I glance at the new work that has come in overnight and check to see if there are any ‘medical writing emergencies’. Among the emails are briefs from Italy for manuscript revisions, a query from the Spanish office about whether a new Figure that an author has supplied will be suitable for his paper, and a request for a costing estimate for a review article. One of these is urgent and can be fitted in today, but for the rest of the day I will finish two abstracts drafted yesterday for submission to a conference, and then I will start some literature searches and research for a strategic communication plan for the US office.

Well, with that ‘said’, I better get on with it – or perhaps another cup of coffee and a look at the view first…