Another Friday rolls around. This is the time of year when things get a bit sticky for a while. For the last couple of weeks or so, the problems that came across my desk or into my ear were the easily-solved ones, simple errors of the "oops, excuse me" kind.

From now until late October, the Gordian knots I will have to unravel (or not) will be the intractable kind, the type of problem that doesn't have a solution (for instance, we need to hire more entry level employees who can pass the security scans) or the concern that will have a mid-range solution that pleases no one, because it is a compromise between what is possible and what is demanded.

The outlying supervisors will have fielded the easy conundrums and are now going to forward to me the ones they couldn't address or don't want to deal with (often because the complainant is so unreasonable or abusive). Oh, joy.

It's time to start planning a vacation, late in October, to de-stress and recharge the batteries. Think I'll start getting the Calendar section of the Sunday Times and see what's on offer.

What are your favorite ways of getting away from it all? I'd love to do something different this year.