6.45 AM
My alarm goes off and I’m quickly up. I shower, get dressed and have a big healthy breakfast before I jump on my bike to run the Greenhill Road gauntlet on my way to work.
8.00 AM
I like to make an early start, so at 8 am I’m at my desk. I begin with checking my emails and then check for any press releases or news stories that RAA needs to know about. This morning there’s a new ‘Cool Road’ technology trial that’s been announced, so I send the press release to my team.
9.00 AM
This morning I’m attending a meeting with Infrastructure SA to discuss the 20-Year Infrastructure Plan for the state and RAA’s submission to it. My boss and I get an Uber from our office, but our driver isn’t the speediest, so we only just make the meeting in time!
9.30 AM
Our meeting with Infrastructure SA is really useful – we learn more about where they are going and discuss the consequences of the state government’s flagship infrastructure project, GlobeLink, being dropped earlier in the week.
11.00 AM
We wrap up our meeting and head back to the office. I go back to my desk to collect fuel data. I put on some headphones and populate some mammoth spreadsheets with petrol and diesel prices around the state, so we have the information to keep the fuel industry’s toes to the fire.
12.30 PM
It’s time for lunch. I take my salad and a novel to the outdoor eating area.
1.00 PM
One of the senior managers has requested that I summarise the GlobeLink feasibility study so my team don’t all need to read the 70-odd page document. There’s lots of interesting stuff in there – I read and summarise the first half of the document discussing the current situation and challenges facing South Australia’s freight network, ready to finish it tomorrow.
3.00 PM
It’s time for a quick meeting with the data team, so my manager and I can get a feel for what their capabilities are and how we can work together with them. We have the meeting in the RAA’s onsite café, so I grab a coffee too.
3.30 PM
When I get back to my desk, the RAA fuel spokesman lets me know that The Advertiser wants to know how Victor Harbor’s fuel prices so far this year compared to last year’s, so I fire up the spreadsheet. I pull out the numbers and run some calculations, and find that while the current prices are significantly higher, that is mainly down to increasing wholesale costs.
4.15 PM
It’s just about time to head home, but before I do, I check for any more press releases or news stories. There aren’t any, so I head out, climb on my bike and ride up the hill home.
5.00 PM
I arrive home, have a quick shower to wash off the road and make myself some dinner while listening to a couple of podcast episodes. Currently, I’m going through the Roman occupation of Britain.
7.00 PM
Tonight I have a dance class – West Coast Swing. I head along early to do the advanced class for an hour, but tonight I’m DJing for social dancing later, so I sit out the intermediate class to finalise my playlist and hope that everybody likes dancing to it (they do, mostly).
10.15 PM
Afterwards, a big group of us head to a local café for late-night pizzas and pasta, and to wind down a bit after so much dancing. The café always does a bustling trade late at night, and the pizza goes down a treat.
11.30 PM
When I finally get home, I’m more than ready for bed. I check that my alarm is set for tomorrow, lie down and shut my eyes.
Simon was employed as a Policy Officer at the conclusion of RAA’s Summer Internship Program.