Empty, but with a heart that’s still beating.

It’s been a month now since my last flight – Sydney-Doha-Moscow – after my travel companion, OA, and I completed our drive around Tasmania. Since we’d been traveling far and wide, we hunkered down for a two-week self-isolation stint as per recommendations at the time. But before those two weeks were up, as you all know, full-on lockdown kicked-in. Ouch!

As I’ve already mentioned on this blog, by early April practically our whole company switched to working remotely. Everyone at home working at full-speed-ahead with the help of the cutting edge technology. Incredible really. Even more incredible: it turns out that, according to a report on our usage of corporate video-conferencing tech, we’ve been having ~2,500 online meetings every day!

But just recently I needed to get myself to the office (taking all the necessary distancing and hygiene precautions, of course). I needed to be there in person for something: alas, not everything can be done remotely it seems (but perhaps it will soon if things carry on like they are now for much longer). Anyway, after completing the few formalities that needed to be done, I decided to have a stroll around the office. I was planning on all floors of all three buildings. But I only managed a few floors of building 2 before things got too repetitive – there was absolutely no one anywhere. Empty. Bare Vacant. Desolate. 45,000 square meters of office space deserted!…

It was all a bit eerie really. As if everyone had just gotten up and left without taking anything with them. And you can read into the ‘signs’ left as much as you like and how you like: whatever you seek, be it post-apocalyptical hints or romantic connotations – you’ll find it! Me personally I rather thought of the thousands of K-folks efficiently working from home remotely, safely – thank goodness.

How sweet!

Looks as if some folks left mid-game!…

Even our elite cyberthreat hunters can carry on their duties at uncovering cyber-evil at home – our IT has enabled everyone to carry on the fight seamlessly, no matter where we are – anywhere on the planet (but for now – at home:).

Here’s our Threat Intel Lab – also empty. The only time I’ve seen it like this since before we moved in!

BarKas, Starbucks, and the other stores in the neighborhood – all closed up too. What I would have given for a coffee or a beer or a burger served in a busy BarKas. Alas…

The green elephant clearly sad and lonely. I wonder where the green bear is roaming now?

Outside – a beautiful day, with the customary hum from the nearby highway reduced to a whisper! I wish that would stay like that…

The smoking ‘shed’. Empty! Long may that last! Surely folks don’t still smoke these days do they? (I gave up three years ago, btw.) Time to demolish this relic of the past?!

I took a nostalgic glance at the badges of recent (2020) conferences and cancelled Grand Prix meets, and headed out and ‘back to work’, i.e., home!

Goodbye office – for now. Looking forward to seeing you more often – one day )…

That’s all for today folks. Keep home, keep safe, keep sane!…