I moved to a new office a couple of weeks ago. One where I'm facing a window; usually I'm marooned in the middle of a giant open plan office, where people circulate around and I've had to look engaged and commited to a task. Basically appear industrious. Not now, this new home means I can indulge myself more in something I really like and that's watching other people work.

Is there anything finer, indeed more uplifting than watching and wondering exactly what it is other people are doing, then pondering why? Thought so. Nothing. Unbeatable.

It's actually relaxing and strangely comforting to know I'm not the only office worker then who's bored, or who walks around the office aimlessly, or spends most of the day chatting, or in a desultory series of conversations about nothing, but which are nevertheless still more important than the whatever it is the employer is paying us to do.

This afternoon, I watched people in an anonymous office block opposite where I work, roam across the office floor, congregate for a time around a water cooler like wildebeest by a savannah watering hole, sit down then moments later get up, yawn, even play football for a time. They did this all afternoon. It's been heartening. I no longer feel alone. Kindred spirits