And so, 2020, goodbye!

Not wanting to drop into sentimental backwards-reflection, but it’s worth pointing out that, whatever this year has done to us, we have made it through to the end. I am still alive to be able to blog today, and I’m assuming – if you’re reading this – you are still alive to enjoy it.

We made it, folks.

Brothers and sisters, we are the lucky ones. Rejoice in our survival and determine within yourselves to face the net few months with bravery and resolve, and to celebrate the post-vaccine world for everything it has to offer us.

Have a great ’21, my friends……

RC 31-12-20

A thoroughly Chesworth Christmas

Well, what a wondrous time it has been.
I am sitting in my little office at work, surrounded by snacks and decorations, and I can’t believe it’s only a week since I last posted on this blogsite. It has been a long, lovely, light-hearted, luminous, overindulgent, joyous few days. Fun, family, food, festivities, farting, feelgood, fabulous!
Even when the government gave us Tier 4 as a Christmas present, it didn’t dampen my enjoyment.
It hasn’t even bothered me that I’ve had to do some work. The big thought in my head, of course, is “I’ll never have to do this again!” It’s my last ever (hopefully) December in supermarket-linked filling-station management and it’s easier to do unpleasant things when you know you’ll never have to do them again.
The lack of family interaction meant a lack of travelling and a lack of packing the car, which was a welcome change and meant we had even more time to enjoy Mathew’s first meaningful Yuletime. (One thing you never think about when planning to become parents is just how much time you spend preparing, and how much you physically have to pack, just to be able to enjoy a day out somewhere!) This year it was all spent at Chez Nous, and it was wonderful.
My big new taste revelation was Bleu D’Auvergne cheese, which I fear I may consume so much of between now and my birthday that I shall end up sweating it through my nails.
My favourite piece of television (not that we watched much) was my first viewing of “Moana” (Disney’s finest film for years) and my favourite moment all told was a 5pm Christmas Day Zoom link with Sophie, Hannah and Nathan. All merry, all stuffed with food, all happy to be together (remotely) and all full of the festive joys.
It’s been relaxed, son-centred and brilliant, and we still have New Year weekend to enjoy, and then its only three weeks til my birthday!
I am, to be frank, a pig in shit.

RC 30-12-20

Managing the Management

My last day of work before The Big (not so big this year) Day. I’m back in on the 27^th though, so it’s not like I’ve got a massive break, but at least it IS a break. I’ve tried to be as kind as possible with my staff rotas, and we are blessed with a couple of employees at a couple of the sites who are happy to work most days, but I still feel bad when I have to ask people to man shifts at Winter Holiday Time.
It’s the downside of working in an industry that barely blinks at Christmas.
Anyway, to offset my guilt at asking people to work the festive season, I’m doing quite a few days myself. But it’s lovely to have Xmas Eve, Xmas Day and Boxing Day at home, and I assure you I am far more excited than I probably sound in my recent postings! It’s just been a long year, as it has for all of us, and I feel more relieved than anything to have actually got to this point and to be in a position to enjoy it.
In case I don’t post again tomorrow – wherever you are, whatever Tier you are in, however you are celebrating this weirdest of Christmasses, I wish you a very happy, very safe, cough-free, super-indulgent, love-filled Merry Christmas.
xxxx

RC 23-12-20

Busy!

For all the talk of coronavirus and restrictions affecting people’s Christmasses, and for all the appeals from the government for people to act responsibly, we have the usual December madness ramping up in the store today. There’s not a parking space to be had anywhere, and there are queues of shoppers around the side of the building and halfway back to the filling station.

I am so, so glad at times like these that I am manager of the garage and not the superstore!

You might think that a ‘shorter, safer’ Christmas would mean people need less supplies in than normal, but I guess it’s traditional to buy three trollies full of crap you won’t eat just to make yourself feel prepared.

RC 22-12-20

4 more sleeps, kids...

Getting even closer now, and for some reason my Yuletide enthusiasm seems to have waned slightly. Maybe it’s a natural downturn after Mathew’s birthday, or maybe I went too early with my Christmas Excitement Ramp-Up, or maybe the upturn in virus cases has alarmed me, or maybe I’m just tired today. Either way, my plan to spend my workday watching Xmas films has been altered by lethargy. I simply don’t feel festive and I can’t be bothered to make the effort to try and force it.
There is a – surprisingly – professional aspect to all this. There are things I need to get sorted before the madness of The Big Day and I’m working hard to get them all done by midweek, so I can relax then instead of rushing to catch up with myself.
I did have a bit of a sore throat last night and I lay awake worrying that my little mini-tour of our garages on Friday may have exposed me to 2020’s Most Playful Virus, or that maybe I had it already and I now face the prospect of having caused an outbreak around my workforce and I’ll have to get loads of my employees to self-isolate, and I’ll then have to deal with the horror of finding staff to replace them, when it’s literally days before Christmas. But then I woke up this morning feeling fine.
I think the sore throat may have been down to the alarmingly large number of crisps, nuts, snacks and crackers that I consumed during the course of the day. Mathew is too little to enjoy most of those things, but I got some in anyway, because if you can’t take advantage of your offspring’s birthday to overindulge in party food, what’s the point of becoming a parent?

RC 21-12-20

A CoronaCoaster Sunday

It’s been a joyous day of birthday cheer for Mathew, tinged with an undercurrent of anxiety and sadness. The new restrictions and regulations announced yesterday are not affecting us directly, but the atmosphere around the whole country, I suspect, is one of despair and fatigue. We’re just getting excited about the distribution of a vaccine and then wallop! – a new strain of the virus is skipping through the South of England like a group of lambs skipping through a meadow.  This was expected to happen at some point, and it doesn’t make the situation any more fatal than it was at other times this year, but the timing does feel like a bit of a bastard. Another kick in the teeth for people who were starting to step forward with optimism.
Anyway – to the important matter at hand! The Little Fella was spoiled rotten and seemed to love every second of it, even if he didn’t fully comprehend that he was the centre of everything, and why.  He was a bit perplexed by his pile of presents to start with, but once we got him started on the tearing and the ripping, he was at it like a cat at a rabbit. I spent two hours late morning putting together his ‘Play Castle’ and he then had fun jumping around in the ball pond. Then he decided it was much more fun to be climbing in and out of the big box it had been delivered in….
We had Zoom calls with various friends and relatives, and Mathew found it quite funny to be poking the faces on the screen. You just never know what they’ll be excited by at this age, do you? Everyone spends loads on toys and cuddlies and clothing, and in the end his biggest smile is when Philippa’s cousin is on Zoom wearing a Santa hat.
Happy Birthday, son.

RC 20-12-20

Officially Official

Most of my staff now know that I will be leaving in a couple of months. I spoke directly to the ones I could, spoke on the phone to those that weren’t on-site, and sent personal e-mails to those I couldn’t reach by mobile. The reaction was mostly lovely, bless them. Quite a few asked if I could get them jobs at the new place, so I guess I’m not the only employee to be slightly disillusioned with life inside this company. Simone, the part-timer who also happens to be a black belt in ju-jitsu, had the nicest response: “Well, I’ll be off then. If you weren’t the boss, I’d have left last year.”
Proving that doing the right thing sometimes gets other people to do the right thing in return, and that karma may not be the joke it is often made out to be, within ten minutes of returning to my office I got a call from Gavin. He apologised for not speaking to me sooner, but said he was trying to be respectful of my current employers and not taking up too much of my time while I’m still with them. He said he’s delighted that I’m definitely joining him, and that we’ll have a meeting sometime in January with the whole management team so we can clarify the new structure and be absolutely clear about who is responsible for what. In the meantime he’ll get all the HR paperwork contract bollocks sorted so I can at least see that I have a job to go to!
Exciting, and it makes me feel more relaxed as I head into a nice long weekend.

RC 18-12-20

A few plans

I am spending this Friday visiting all 4 sites that I am ‘manager’ of, delivering cards and chocolates for all and telling them this will be our last Christmas together.

On Saturday we will finish wrapping stuff and then meet up with Hannah and Nathan for a walk, as that will be the last time we see them until the other side of “Christmas Bubble Time”. Sunday is The Little Man’s birthday so the day is all about him. Monday I am ‘working from home’, so I hope to watch at least three Xmas-themed movies, and to start ramping up my snack intake so my stomach is nicely stretched before the onslaught of ‘Christmas Eating Time'.

RC 17-12-20

Mince Pies & Merriment

LESS THAN TEN DAYS TIL CHRISTMAS DAY!!
I normally find my excitement levels peaking when we get into the 20s (December 20^th, in other words) but this year I seem to be over-the-top with Yule love already. Maybe it’s the Mathew Birthday Excitement kicking in. It’s so nice to have his big day just before Jesus’s Big Day. He’s 2 this year, so I think he’ll be more into the whole experience of tearing paper off and seeing what’s beneath, whereas last year he didn’t have a clue and we did everything for him. This is probably the first year where he’ll be into it, and the first year where he’ll start making memories that will build annually and turn him into as much of a festive freak as I am. And I get to see it happening from the start.
No wonder I’m so excited!

RC 16-12-20

...and the downside

If this year, and all its strange occurrences, have taught me one thing above all others, it’s this: People, generally, are f**king idiots.
My cold is quite clearly a cold, and only a mild one at that, so I pleaded my case with Head Office and was allowed to drag myself back into work today. I like being at home, but there were a few things I had to get sorted with the Store Manager and it was just so much easier to do it face-to-face and on-site.
I spent the first hour persuading two members of staff that I wasn’t putting them at risk of death by being back. I spent the rest of the day having people step away from me every time I blew my nose or sneezed, and I spent most of the time in between explaining to customers with less IQ than a fridge door the differences between Covid symptoms and a regular Winter cold.
Nothing has changed since February, how are there still huge numbers of people who don’t have a f**King clue about this stuff? A simple list of symptoms to watch out for, a simple set of rules to follow, and anyone would think you were asking them to recalibrate the solar panel settings on the ISS.
And then there’s the anti-vaccine stupidity and ignorance that is dominating the world of social media. I’m not going to drag myself down further by discussing it, I’m just going to hope that a massive Electro-Magnetic Pulse wipes out all the internet before Mathew reaches 5 so he doesn’t grow up into this shit and be affected by it.

RC 15-12-20

The upside of this here pandemic

I’ve been working from home today. My sniffles got worse as yesterday progressed and I ended my Sunday with a slight cough. Work being work, and my employers being as they are, they want me to stay away for 48 hours, and to get a test if things don’t change. The fact that there are clear differences between Covid and a cold, and the fact that I am sneezing and sniffing rather than coughing, and the fact that my temperature was only slightly raised, and only briefly, isn’t considered. I’m not going to complain, I could quite happily see out the 3 months of my notice sitting at home in the kitchen, but it does show you how little understanding of this virus thing there still is nearly a year after it was first identified. 
In other (but related) news – Ted and Beryl have dates for their vaccine jabs!! Ted apparently reacted to the call by saying “I’m not being a pissing guinea pig for the younger folk” and Beryl told him “Shut up, you twat, and do as you’re told.”
God, it’ll be good to know they’re protected. And it’s really exciting to think we might be allowed to go and see them again soon!

RC 14-12-20

Sunday sniffles

I’m really tired today. I think it’s the ‘old job/new job’ stress catching up. Or maybe I’ve just been really lucky this year and not had any psychological effects from the whole Virus Scenario and now it’s finally hitting me.
Or maybe I just have a cold.
It would be just my luck if I have Covid now, on the very weekend that the quarantine time is reduced from 14 days to 10!
I’m not trying to fight it, I’m just taking it easy and letting Philippa fuss over me. She made some delicious curried parsnip soup for lunch and I’ve followed that up with some cheese and biscuits, featuring a particularly fine Binham Blue.
At least I know my sense of taste hasn’t changed…..

RC 13-12-20

Two weeks from Boxing Day!!

This is the 10^th year running that I’ve posted 200+ blogs in the year.

Philippa has decided this weekend is ‘Wrapping Time’. For some reason (I suspect she bought into the media/facebook hype about everything selling out) she got all our pressie shopping done by Dec 7^th, so now it just needs wrapping and labelling and we’re done for another year! She even sorted things out for MY side of the family. Admittedly, there’s only a couple of them, but it saved me a job I suppose. My suggestion was that we forego buying each other stuff and just spent all the money on food instead, but no-one else agreed. So now we have a house full of shite that we somehow have to deliver to different houses when we’re not supposed to visit anybody.  Hmmm…

Our ‘Christmas bubble’ has been complicated to sort out. Last year, you may remember, we absconded to a lovely little farmhouse with my sisters, and had booked to do the same this year. But 2020 circumstances being what they have been, we had a conflab back before Lockdown 2 and all decided it might be best to cancel. The people running the accommodation basically had the same thoughts as us, and would rather not have groups of people from different locations congregating in their cottages this December, so they welcomed the cancellation and offered to let us re-book for some time in 2021.
Sophie will now be working, and Hannah is with Nathan’s churchy people, so I won’t spend time with them until my birthday. Philippa’s folks aren’t always the most flexible of people, so there’s been some in-family negotiations that I’ve kept myself away from, for the sake of my own sanity.
Ted and Beryl have been having breakdowns about which of their children to have round, but I think it’s all been sorted now. I did feel for Beryl, bless her. Her family are so important to her and not being able to see them constantly this year has been horrible for her. The idea of their usual huge Christmas gathering kept her going for a while, and when it was limited to three households it really upset her. She’s already planning a gargantuan ‘post-vaccine’ party for when we’re all allowed out again.
Ted, in his usual sanguine manner, has been ‘hoping Covid would claim me so I don’t have to wear a paper hat’. He’s so humbuggy in the build-up to Christmas, but I know he loves it just as much as she does.

RC 12-12-20

Did I jump too soon?

Gavin has not yet officially offered me the position he asked me about before I chose to resign. Since I let him know that I’ve handed in my notice he has gone worryingly quiet.
I don’t think he’s changed his mind, I think this is just ‘Change Fear’ on my part descending into anxious paranoia, but it would be nice to know that I definitely have a job to go to.

Thinking about it, I do seem to remember that my exact placement in the management structure was still unclear. He was quite honest about that and I said it was absolutely fine. If I recall correctly (now wishing I had taken some notes instead of just chatting away and drinking coffee) there will be four of us, including Gavin, who between us will cover all the necessary duties, and the exact details will be ironed out now he knows who the four people are. Because it’s a bit of a restructure, there’s probably lots of HR considerations and protocols that have to be followed before anything becomes completed and defined.

There are now three paragraphs in this blog posting, and they’ve been written at three different times of day. My mind is a whirring flurry of flurrying whirriness. I am partly worried that I have made a mistake, partly worried that I dreamt the whole thing, and partly worried that Gavin has changed his mind. I need to just accept my decision to quit, wait patiently for it all to fall into place, and relax and get on with my day.
So I’m going to make myself a seasonal gingerbread latte and enjoy the Roast Chicken & Herbs Pringles that have just accidentally fallen off a shelf and become too damaged to be sold to the public.

RC 11-12-20

Hope he's not reading this...

10 days ahead of time, we have finished our Birthday Shopping for Mathew. We got him an elaborate Play Castle thing that you build in his bedroom and he can go in and out of it as he pleases. There’s a mini ball pond and the walls are full of educational tools and toys and trinkets. All very bright, all very expensive, and I’m disappointed that it didn’t come with a qualified construction engineer to put it together for me, because the instructions look as complicated as an attempt at a Unified Field Theory. We also got him some books and a few bits of clothing, and we’ll stick some money away in an account for him as well.
It’s hard to know how to play it when your child has a birthday 5 days before Christmas. I imagine it will change year-to-year, and as soon as he’s old enough we’ll let him make his own decisions, but for this year we’ve said we’ll make it a big, separate occasion and he can have separate presents for each.
I think it’ll be great when he’s older. If there’s something he wants on his Christmas list that’s a bit beyond our planned price range he can have it as a combined birthday/Xmas pressie. I know the downside is that he won’t have another big event to look forward to during the year, but he won’t know any different will he? As someone whose ‘big day’ is just a few weeks into the New Year (subtle hint, there) I know what it’s like to have everything crammed into a small part of the year, and for me it actually heightens everything. Hopefully it will be the same for him, and if it isn’t he can just celebrate his birthday some other time of year.

RC 10-12-20

Bring it on (Xmas edition)

In a strange, sadistic way, I am quite looking forward to the pre-Xmas madness that every December in the world of retail brings. It’s nice to know it will be my last time experiencing it. It’s also nice to feel the familiarity of it all. I’ve hated the phrase ‘a bit of normality’ and I’ve hated everyone who has used it, but I must confess that in this year of uncertainty, confusion and constant change, knowing exactly what is going on for the next 3 weeks or so is rather comforting.
(Now I just have to hope our esteemed government don’t decide to change what tier we’re in a few days before Christmas.)

RC 9-12-20

Thanks, Susie.

My Area Manager has been in contact and is the first person within the company to react to my resignation like a human being! She gave me the corporate spin bollocks about her getting a promotion soon and me being in line for her job, but apart from that it was just a nice chat between colleagues. I scoffed at her suggestions about the ‘great career path in retail’ for those with a bit of intelligence. I told her ‘that’s fine if you want it, but my years in this industry have taught me that I don’t’ and left it at that. We then had a bit of a chinwag about the new job and she did actually make some good suggestions – things I won’t bore you with here, but ways in which my time in Supermarket Filling Station Area Sub-Division Multi-Site Management might be useful.
See – that’s another positive aspect of making this change. For the first time in years, I’ll know exactly what my job title is!

RC 8-12-20

Weird Insomniac Thoughts About My Job

This all piled through my head, between the hours of 2 and 4 am this morning:

Damn, I shall miss my staff discount card!!!
It’s exciting to think I’ll be dealing with people on holiday (and therefore cheerful) rather than people shopping or on their way to work (and therefore grumpy)
It’ll be nice to lose the permanent smell of petrol.
The times that I am normally my busiest (approaching Xmas) will be the times things are quieter on the holiday scene.
And even if the point above this one is not true, I can refer you back to point 2 on this list – holidaymakers in December will be cheerful rather than stressed!
This might be the first time in my life that I have been excited about upcoming employment.
A change is as good as a holiday.
I feel young again!!!

RC 7-12-20

Calm

Today was a beautiful, family, stress-free, non-work, out-of-lockdown, enjoyable Sunday of loveliness. We met up with a couple of Philippa’s cousins for a law-abiding, socially-distance stroll on the beach, we had a lovely lunch (provided by our nearest pub, who are doing some gourmet takeaway options all Winter) and then we spent time finishing the Christmas decorations. Our house is now a gorgeous grotto, resplendent with cheerful colours and as luscious as a Lapland lovenest.


RC 6-12-20

Decsup!

Our tree is up and decorated and I am glowing with the joyous internal fluffiness that can only be felt in Yuleland!!
Over the course of a year I seem to forget just how wonderful and magical it is to be in a home full of twinkly lights and sparkly tinsel! Then we get into December and the loveliness starts again! And don’t tell me this just takes me back to my childhood, when I would have felt all safe and unstressed, and excited about the imminent arrival of Santa. My mum never bothered making an effort at Christmas, so this has all come to me in adulthood.
Mathew (nearly 2) is finding it all very entertaining and bewildering. He keeps rolling baubles across the floor and trying to push tinsel into plug sockets. Then he tried to jump into the tree while I was putting lights on it. Young ‘uns are great but sometimes they behave worse than kittens.

RC 5-12-20

Unwanted Feeling of Unappreciatedness

Those Above Me have sent me a response, of sorts, to my resignation e-mail. I was starting to wonder whether I had sent it to the wrong people, or whether I had accidentally written it in Swahili, but no. No mistakes were made, they’re just unbelievably crap at communicating with the staff that do all the work for them, and that’s a huge part of my motivation to leave.
There was a waffly paragraph about ‘understanding frustrations’ and ‘accepting it’s been a difficult year for the retail trade’ and then a few lines about wanting to discuss things with me before I make a final decision. I’ve read it a few times and I still can’t work out if they’re letting me go, persuading me to stay, or simply indifferent. My suspicion is they’re going to drag things out as long as they can, so my 3-month notice period can’t officially start, so they can keep me in position until they either find a replacement or wipe the job from existence completely.
I need to decide now when to start telling my staff. I’ll still be around until the end of February but I don’t want them to start worrying about their own jobs and who might be dropped in above them as their new boss. Things have a habit of slipping out when you don’t want them to, and I’d like them to hear it from me, and hear the truth, rather that react to any rumours that will no doubt start flying soon.
It’s strange how quickly I have adapted to the fact that I’m leaving. I thought I’d take a while to get used to it and have a few days of doubting my decision or regretting the fact that I’d taken it, but that hasn’t happened at all. If anything, it feels like I’ve woken up and realised just how much I dislike about the place and the position and how pleased I am that I’ve got a way out.
I’ve often spoken to people before about the terrible situation that so many adults find themselves in – falling accidentally into a job that they then convince themselves is good, and end up getting stuck with – without twigging that I was in that situation myself.

RC 4-12-20

Happy New Month / Same Old Job

I feel very odd. It’s been a while since I’ve handed in my resignation anywhere and I had forgotten that it makes you feel excited, anxious, vulnerable and weird. I’m doing my usual duties, but I’m only keeping the seat warm until they find someone else to replace me. I’m planning things for the future of the company that I will not be around to see the results of. I am in a strange Limboland of my own creation.
I didn’t know what the reaction from Head Office would be, but I expected there to be a reaction of some kind. Instead I’ve heard nothing. Their response to my decision to leave has been complete silence.  No doubt there are a couple of under-worked middle-managers somewhere, twiddling their abacuses and speaking to external consultants and deciding whether to let me go and save some wages or ask me to stay and offer me a few more quid. I imagine, in the end, the chance to reduce their staffing outgoings will win out over any chance of improving my contract conditions in an attempt to persuade me to hang around. It’s pretty much a given that my job title is on the way out next year anyway, so me leaving in February means they avoid having to pay me redundancy when the restructuring finally happens.
Anyway – that’s not my concern anymore.
But it might have been nice to be acknowledged, at least.

RC 2-12-20

The Deed - (tomorrow) - Is Done!

Because I like to cram all important events into the month of December, I have decided to hand my notice in tomorrow.

My time as a supermarket-attached filling-station area-under-manager will come to a close at the end of February ‘21.

Blimey…

RC 30-11-20

Going to Gavin?

I met up with my potential new boss again yesterday. It was sort of my formal interview, although there was nothing formal about it, and it wasn’t really an interview.
He gave me more details about the job and what he would expect me to do with it. It was good because he gave it a dose of reality, whereas last week it was all about selling the position to get me interested.
I’m excited about the opportunity, but also a bit fearful about making the leap. Whether that is just a bit of understandable fear of change, or a worry that I might be making a ‘grass isn’t always greener’ mistake, I’m not sure, so I’m going to take most of today going over things with Philippa and seeing how I really feel. She’s already said – more than once – “You’re not happy where you are. You’ve never settled there. It might feel comfortable but it’s not really something you enjoy. It’s just a job,” so I think I can guess what her suggestion will be.
My main point is this: 2020 has shown us what’s important and what isn’t. With uncertain times ahead and many jobs at threat, the general thinking seems to be that ANY job is better than nothing. However, I believe this year has also shown us that there’s no point being stuck in a relationship, career or home that you don’t like, because if something like a virus comes along that takes away all your hobbies and your chance to visit friends and family, then all you’re left with is something you don’t like. So this should be our motivation to make changes. And I have a been given a chance to change the one and only aspect of my life that ever causes me grief.
Wouldn’t I be a fool not to take it?
(I’ll let you know later, because it needs more thought, and I haven’t had enough sleep, and I’m about to get the Xmas tree out of its box, ready for decorating on Tuesday!)

RC 29-11-20

Word Of The Year

UNPRECEDENTED has been used so, so often this year, and now I’m going to use it myself. My output of blog postings this year is reaching UNPRECEDENTED levels! I have now posted more than 20 blog scribblings EVERY month of 2020, and I’m confident I can keep that up in December too. I never thought I would beat my 2018 total of 250 posts in a year, but I think I probably will now. I might even try and post EVERY DAY next month, so I can really take this year’s numbers to unbeatable and – yes, let’s say it again – UNPRECEDENTED levels. That will also tick off a challenge I have wanted to achieve for about a decade – writing something EVERY DAY in one calendar month.
SO many posts this year!
And SO MANY CAPITALS in this posting…..

RC 27-11-20

Winter Sun?

We’re discussing the possibility of booking ourselves a little holiday. Philippa is keen to see some foreign soil before she gets herself pregnant again, and I’m getting the urge to see the back of Britain for a while. Mathew is a bit older, so won’t be a wailing infant on the aeroplane, and there are some ridiculously cheap deals to be had at the moment. Anyone would think there’s been a pandemic that has gutted the tourist industry throughout Europe…
I don’t think it’ll happen, but it’s been fun to think about and chat about. The news about vaccines and all that looks good, but who knows when we’ll all be allowed to move about without restrictions? The likelihood is that it’ll be next Autumn before a worldwide programme of inoculations has worked to the point of ‘Normality’ and in the meantime, holiday bookings and whether they’re fulfilled are at the whim of the spread of the virus. We could book a ‘safe’ trip to a ‘safe’ destination, only to be stuck in quarantine when the designation’s changed while we’re there. We could arrange two weeks on a Greek island, which could be fine when we get the confirmation, only for it to be rendered unvisitable the day before we fly. I’d much rather sort something out domestically so there’s a good chance we can actually go ahead with it. (And besides – if I take this job with Gavin, I might be able to get us cheap staycations!!)
But, as I said, it’s been fun to think about and talk about, and my long list of Places To Visit Later In Life is longer now than ever.

RC 26-11-20

I think my minds made up

I had a chat with one of my ‘superiors’ today and explained my current situation. It wasn’t part of the plan when the conversation began, it was just a regular (via Teams) catch-up, but she started talking about ideas for next Summer and I felt I had to be honest and say there’s a chance I won’t even be here.
She instantly went into Corporate Mode and tried to sweet-talk me into a decision, saying, “They’re looking at you as a possible Area Manager. Didn’t you know that?”
“No, because they’re useless at communication,” said I, “Are you saying if I stick around I might get a decent promotion?”
“Well, I can’t say that, but your name has been mentioned as a prospect, so if they don’t restructure and limit the numbers on that level, and if you haven’t been lost in a slew of planned redundancies, then I think you’d be high on the list as a candidate. If a job came up. But don’t quote me on that.”
That answer basically sums up my problems with the people running this company. You don’t really know where you stand, because no-one has a clue where it’s going. You’re not appreciated, or even noticed, until they think they might lose you. There’s no real chance of advancement, because there’s no real plan for how the management structure will evolve in the next few years. There’s a possibility of promotion, but there’s also the same probability that you’ll be sent packing in a reshuffle that’s done on the whim of some overpaid consultant that a director somewhere has decided needs to be listened to. If I quit, I’ll be taking a leap into the unknown, but if I stay, I’ll just be getting more of the same. There’s no real certainty or security here. This time next year I could be replaced by a computerised system and looking for work elsewhere. I might have done a terrific job for the company, but I’ll still be cast aside if they can save a few quid on their salary outgoings by getting thing done by an algorithm.
That ‘Reasons To Go’ list is getting longer and longer by the hour.

RC 24-11-20

A week til Advent Eve

Philippa has bought into the online social media middle-aged mums obsession with setting up Christmas trees early this year, so for once she’s not moaning at me about wanting to get the decorations sorted in the first few days of December. I was tempted to have a look through everything yesterday, but managed to hold myself off. The anticipation is as enjoyable as the action for me, so I’ll stick to my tradition and wait until November has passed.
It was a glorious weekend, by the way. Worked for a few hours on Saturday, but I find that quite enjoyable these days, as it’s not regular enough to be annoying, and there’s always a different vibe to the filling station on a Saturday. It gave me a chance to sit in my office with a big notepad and sort out how I feel about this Job Offer thing. Two pieces of A4 notepad – one labelled ‘GO’ and one labelled ‘STAY’ – then on each I wrote a list of ‘Reasons To…’ and a list of ‘Reasons Not To…’ and I spent the day jotting down my thoughts. I have to say that by the end of my shift, there was an overwhelmingly lopsided look to the whole project. I may not have all the details of what The New Position would involve, but I’d say it’s much more likely I’ll be taking it than rejecting it.
Sunday was a day at home, cuddling up away from the cold outside. I cooked a ridiculously large joint of beef for lunch, and we had a Zoom call with Ted and Beryl in the evening. Beryl is ignoring the fact that she might not have a huge gathering at her house over Christmas, and is doing her usual pre-Yuletide practice runs of Food She Might Want To Prepare For The Family Meal. We didn’t get to taste it this year, but God it looked good on the webcam. She has found a new way of honey-glazing vegetables while roasting them, so they come out looking shiny and slightly crisp. Honestly – it was like watching an hour-long advert for a five-star restaurant.
So, by the end of that I was hungry again and ended up eating loads of toasted sandwiches. And then I had some cheese and biscuits while watching the NFL. I guess the pre-Xmas eating build-up has well and truly begun!

RC 23-11-20

Fri-ku, a month before Mathew's birthday

My son will be two
In just a calendar month
Where does the time go?

Working this weekend
A Saturday morning shift
Let’s hope it’s quiet

Already I see
Many homes decorated
Christmas is coming!

A very sore tooth
Christmas just a month away
Dare I eat peanuts?

Vaccine on the way
Just ONE ‘different’ Christmas
Let’s make it special

RC 20-11-20

(Possible) New Job Update

I’m still no nearer knowing how I feel about my job offer. Every positive aspect I consider can be countered by a reason not to do it. I don’t know if most of that is fear based or the result of sensible consideration. I’m so mangled up inside my own head that I am starting to wish I could magically jump to next Summer so the decision was already taken and I was living with the consequences, rather than being crippled by the choice before me.
I had no intention of mentioning all this to anyone within my current company, but I did go against that yesterday and chat with one of my fellow under-managers from the East of England. I won’t name them, for fear of future reprisals against them if any of Those Above Me read this blog, but I respect them a great deal and decided to open up about the situation. Their main worry was about how my leaving might impact on their own career! The fear is that I will not be replaced, so the bosses can cut my salary from the outgoings, and the culling of our level of management will begin in earnest. That can’t be my concern, but I can see it happening. This has been rumoured for a long time – almost since the changes first happened that created these jobs in the first place - and they’ve spent the last few months trying to find ways to justify getting rid of a few of us, in favour of a more automated system, overseen by just one Area Manager.
Maybe I should be seeing that as another reason to say yes to Gavin. If my ‘superiors’ have made it plain that my job might not even exist in a year’s time, what’s the point of feeling guilty about quitting? Isn’t it better to get out now and get a head start, rather than wait for the inevitable and then have to scramble around to find something else?
The other big determining thought in all this is the teaching idea. Over lockdown, and after discussions with Mrs Chesworth, we had pretty much decided that I’d drop out of employment next Summer anyway, to spend a year training to be a teacher. That timing would seem to fit in with what my present employers are supposedly planning. If I stick it out another 9 months or so I’ll get a redundancy package and be free to start training. That almost sounds too convenient to seem true.
However…
On top of that confusion, and since that decision was discussed and decided upon, Philippa has been hormonally hijacked by a seemingly impossible-to-reason-with urge to make a sibling for Mathew. Can I consider a year of studying with the likelihood of a baby and a 2-year-old in the house? Maybe, in that case, a bright shiny new career already up-and-running before my wife gives birth again is just what the doctor ordered, and that’s another big plus on the side of making the leap.
God, this stuff is hard.

RC 19-11-20

New woe

I have a problematic tooth, and not much choice about what to do with it. It’s niggling away on the right side of my mouth like a constant reminder that I’m human. On the odd, rare occasion when it stops hurting I forget about it, then I eat on that side again and it sets it off. I’m not in agony, but I am in continuous discomfort and it’s starting to pee me off.  Our dentist is only accepting emergency calls, which basically means extractions and nothing else, so I either have to put up with it and hope for the best, manage it with painkillers and saltwater rinses until our dentist stops using Covid as an excuse and gets back to work, or let it get so bad that there’s no choice but to have it taken out.
None of those options are making me feel contented.

RC 18-11-20

Yule Views 2020

Two weeks from today we’ll be in December.

I already feel I am running out of time to squeeze in the Xmas movies I wish to see, so I have spent an hour today (in work time, obviously) compiling a list of definites, possibles and ‘If There’s Time…’s.

MUST be watched before Dec 25^th:

The Muppets Christmas Carol

Gremlins

Santa Claus: The Movie

It’s A Wonderful Life

Arthur Christmas

 

Would love to fit in if I can:

 

Miracle on 34^th Street (either version…)

The Patrick Stewart 1999 TV version of “A Christmas Carol”

Elf

The Santa Clause

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

 

Also on the ‘Wish’ list but not vital:

 

“A Christmas Carol” (Robert Zemeckis/Jim Carrey CGI version)

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Van Helsing (my first viewing was one Xmas so it has an association..)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (same as above)

Murder on the Orient Express (1974 version), (because there’s so much snow!)

 

And Philippa wants us to watch “Love Actually” because she’s a woman, and they all have to do the same things as each other or they’re not part of the Sisterhood, and watching “Love Actually” at Xmas is just what women do these days….

RC 17-11-20

Head like a bouncy castle

Working from home today and finding it hard to concentrate.
Partly distracted by the thought of a possible change of employment, partly stuck in Weekend Mode and therefore wanting to do fun things instead of work things. 
Partly thinking “I might be leaving soon, so what’s the point in trying?” and partly thinking “I can’t focus today anyway, and anything I do will be done half-arsed, so what’s the point in trying?”
I am seriously considering giving up on the day and watching a Christmas movie.

RC 16-11-20

Surreal on a Sunday

November, like a partly-decomposed squirrel, is half-gone already!

My mind is still whirling today like a Catherine Wheel. I had strange dreams about being bombarded by a swarm of bees while working as a lifeguard, about having to manage a caravan site while dressed as a clown, and about being caught-up in a terror attack at a socially-distanced wedding on a beach.

Gavin and his proposal have set weird things swirling in my mind and I need to take a break from them and enjoy what’s left of my Sunday.

So – a roast meal, a bottle of light wine, a Duplo-based play with Mathew, and an evening of Live NFL will help me out a treat, I feel.

RC 15-11-20

Developing developments

I met up with Gavin today, the gentleman who has asked me to work for him. And when I say ‘met up’ I mean ‘sat at either end of a large table outside, both wearing masks’.

It was quite a conversation. The first 10 minutes was general chit-chat, then there was 20 minutes of him explaining the history of his business, where it is now, and where he wants it to go, and then the next 20 minutes was me brainstorming ways I might be able to help, and how my career history to this point might be beneficial. For the first time in my life I feel like I have performed well in an interview, even though it wasn’t an interview as such, just an informal chat about the position and the possibilities.

My interest, I must admit, has been piqued.

His caravan sites – there are 3 of them – are a mixture of on-site homes and holiday lets. The permanent residents sometimes rent out their places during the Summer, and by law they have to vacate the site for 1 month every year anyway, so part of the job is keeping them happy and helping them with finding alternative accommodation every January. The rest of the work is managing the day-to-day running of each site, and overseeing the teams that handle bookings, maintenance, security, sales and marketing. They get extremely busy with holidaymakers from May half-term through to Hallowe’en, but there are no spots for touring caravans to rock up, so I’d always know how many people we had at any one time, and there’s an absolute limit to the amount of people I might have to deal with. That is not the case, of course, in my present place of occupation.

There would be lots to learn, and it would probably be two years or so before I got the hang on the yearly ebbs and flows and what is needed when, but Gavin is insistent that he will be on hand at all times should I need help, guidance or assistance.

I can see pros and cons a-plenty, and I could write about 10,000 words here in this post, with all the thoughts that are bouncing round in my head, but I think I need to let them settle, and I need to discuss it all with Philippa.

Thankfully, he doesn’t want an answer straight away. He’s planning to make the changes in January so everyone is in place before the busy season starts at Easter, so I can mull it over for a while yet. Which is just as well, as I need to give three months’ notice.

RC 14-11-20

vaccination anticipation

In a week of big news, came the biggest one of all – Pfizer believe they have a useable Covid19 vaccine that could be rolled out worldwide within months. I haven’t mentioned it yet because it’s still been sinking in. I’ve been avoiding the news since late Spring, so I don’t always get the latest headlines, and we’re all so used to doom-laden reporting this year that a sliver of hope in amongst the darkness is somehow hard to believe.

But when you look at it properly, and read the science, rather than the political slant or the journalistic bias, it does indeed seem to be wonderful news. My fear now is that the most stupid people of Britain, who have shown themselves to be ignorant to the point of dangerous throughout 2020, will now assume it is okay to start behaving like it’s 2017 again and will propel us into an even worse situation long before the vaccine gets here, but maybe that’s my pessimistic side trying to find the negative in everything again. There are still final hurdles to be cleared, and it will take many months before the roll-out is achieved to a level that is workable in the wider world, but for the first time since February we can plan for the future with hope, and I’m going to enjoy that feeling while we have it.

(And I’m going to avoid my wife as long as possible. I have a suspicion this news will give her the go-ahead to discuss another baby…..)

RC 13-11-20

Questions; questions

Here are roughly 10% of the work-related questions I have asked myself today:

Do I want to swap retail for tourism?
Would the caravan site be a career cul-de-sac, or can I use it for future advancement?Wouldn’t I miss the constant smell of fuel?
Would it be nicer dealing with people on holiday (which is a joy for them) rather than people who are shopping (which is a chore)?
Do I really want the job or do I just fancy a change?
Where would I be in 5 years if I take it?
Where would I be in 5 years if I stay here?
Isn’t the supermarket trade a more stable one than holiday sites?
Isn’t there a good chance that my job here will be obsolete soon anyway?
Hasn’t that been mentioned several times over the past year or so?
What about the plan to train for teaching?
How is any of this using my studies in science?
Shouldn’t I be concentrating on working today instead of thinking about a different job?
Isn’t my current office conveniently close to home?
What about losing my staff reduction on our groceries?
Will there ever be a rainbow?

RC 12-11-20

A way out? Or a false ray of hope?

I have sort of, but not really, been asked about the possibility of considering a change of employment location.
I think I mentioned this before, but through the garage work I’ve got to know a guy who owns a number of holiday venues throughout East Anglia. Really decent chap, and we always have a good conversation whenever he’s around. There was an occasion, a couple of Summers ago I think, when he had sounded me out about the idea of going to work for him as a manager. I was flattered, and excited, and gave it a lot of thought, but at the time it seemed like the wrong thing to consider seriously. Philippa was either pregnant, or desperate to be, and it seemed a bit risky to chuck in a job I had got the hang of, for one where I’d be having to learn, and prove myself, from scratch.
Anyway – regardless of how accurately I remember that situation – he has floated the idea to me again today. He actually rang me, unexpectedly, and said he would have loved to have taken me out for a meal and a chat under normal circumstances, but obviously they don’t apply right now. So he had to call me and have a speculative, pot-stirring, would-you/wouldn’t-you exchange on the mobile.
My head is spinning, I must confess.
He told me that they have just had the best four months in their history, and that 2021 bookings are already close to sold out. The ongoing uncertainty over foreign travel has led lots of Brits to plan for a holiday at home, and the coastal regions of Norfolk and Suffolk in particular have been swamped with enquiries. Confident in the short-to-long-term future of the company, he has just invested in buying out a small fleet of hire boats on the Norfolk Broads. His intention is to concentrate on that side of the business from now on, so he’s looking to share his workload at the other venues. I think the whole life-changing, time-to-rethink nature of this year has led him to decide he wants to ease off the pedal a bit, personally, taking on less work and spending more time with his family. So the boats will be his thing, and the caravan parks and the campsite will be in someone else’s hands.
He said he has always been impressed by the personalities and the professionalism of my staff, and he knows that the attitude of any workforce is a reflection of the manager above them. He also likes the fact that I am responsible for filling stations at 4 different sites, as this would be a similar way of working to the one he hopes to instigate across his holiday places.  We didn’t go any further than that, he said he just wanted to plant the seed in my head and give me a few days to mull it over before discussing it with him properly.
So…..
Lots for Rory to think about tonight.

RC 11-11-20

Credit where it's due?

I have to say that the first few days of lockdown this time have passed surprisingly smoothly in my corner of the world of supermarket retail. Whether it’s because we’re familiar with it all from Spring, whether it’s because the restrictions aren’t quite as severe as last time, or whether it’s just a collective sense of decency, people generally seem to be behaving themselves and treating each other with respect. The ‘All In This Together’ attitude seems to be winning out over the ‘F**k You, I’m Looking Out For Myself’ one. We’ve had a few individuals trying to buy enough toilet roll to see a troop of scouts through a bout of dysentery, but they’ve been exceptions. Mostly, shoppers are buying what they need to see them through the next few days, rather than stockpiling whatever the latest internet scarefest is telling them will be running out soon.
As I wandered around the store this afternoon, there was dried pasta, milk, eggs, sanitary products and handwash to spare. Back in the last two weeks of March, you were more likely to see an albino Yeti on a shelf than a bottle of Carex. So something is different this time, and I applaud it.

RC 10-11-20

election reflection

It’s taken me a few days to be able to process it and respond to it, but here’s my little tuppence-worth on what has transpired over in America since Tuesday.
For a start – I thank God I don’t live there. Our Brexit referendum shenanigans may have got a little heated at times, but nothing like the undercurrent of armed chaos constantly simmering Over The Water.
I think the telling moment in the whole affair was the difference in the two men’s behaviour while the count was still going on. Joe Biden was pleading for calm and asking for the democratic process to be allowed to happen in the fullness of time; Donald Trump was trying to throw a spanner in the works, accusing everyone of conspiring against him, and stoking up the rhetorical outbursts. (Apologies if that sentence didn’t make sense – I lost interest in what I was trying to say after typing the word ‘Trump’).
I, like many other people around the world I suspect, just feel incredibly relieved that the outcome has fallen the way it has. There will still be fallout and there will still be a defiance from the present incumbent and an infantile attempt to hang on to his power, but I have a feeling that there are mechanisms in place behind the scenes that will basically hamstring him from now until January. I don’t lean either way, politically speaking. My support and my vote and my opinion has always been influenced by the personality and the behaviour of the individuals involved, rather than by policies or any particular allegiance to a party or an ideal. I was amazed, disappointed and fearful when Mr Trump was elected 4 years ago, but there was a part of me that hoped he would treat the Office with respect and compose himself accordingly. I hoped all his supporters were right and all the naysayers were wrong and that maybe, against expectations, he would be a great President and exactly what the 21^st Century needed in a leader.
Nope.
So – yeah – not nailing any political colours to any masts, but I don’t think there’s ever been an election result in another country that has been met with such delight by me, and by the people I know around me here in Britain. There is still shit to deal with, and the World is still a mightily dangerous place, but it somehow feels safer, and in safer hands.

RC 9-11-20

Remembrance Sunday reflection

On this day of sombreness and thankful remembering, I hope most of can appreciate the fact that what we are going through now is nothing compared to what the generations before us went through. Be anxious and feel restricted, yes, but do not convince yourself that we are facing the worst conditions ever endured by the British people.

2020 hasn’t been great, but I’m 100% sure that 100% of those living in 1920 or 1940 would happily trade places with us in an instant.

RC 8-11-20

Less than 50 days now, you know...

With Bonfire Night in the rearview, I am starting to turn my thoughts towards Christmas. One doesn’t like to go at this stuff too early, but one does have a long list of Xmassy songs that one loves, and a long list of Xmassy films one likes to see during the build-up. Normally, I leave it too late and then run out of time to fit it all in. This year, I am considering a seven-week run-up that gives me time to exhaust my entire collection of festive favourites.
Working where I work doesn’t help. We’ve had the decorations up since the 1^st of November, and two aisles in the store have been given over to selection boxes, advent calendars and tinsel. All sorts of specialist puddings are available already, and 20% of the output from the in-store bakery now is mince pies. Normally this starts to annoy me, but this year I’m getting right into it, and I’m considering getting into it even more by cracking open my own catalogue of Christmas delights.
We’re not allowed out-and-about for the next four weeks, so why not spend that time getting myself into the mood for December? Yes -WHY NOT? I can always come up with reasons to stop me doing stuff I know I will enjoy, and that is not a good way to treat oneself. So – unless you can come up with a justifiable excuse to stop me – I am going to start ploughing through some old Christmas classics on Monday.

RC 7-11-20

BANG!!

Our stay-at-home, virtual Bonfire Night was an ultra-enjoyable triumph!

It may actually lead me to think ‘who needs organised displays?’ in the future. The outside air was perfectly crisp and still, our mini bonfire sparkled and flamed like a cosy slice of Winter warmth, and the grub we took out with us tasted marvellous.

I ended the evening by showing a video of the biggest firework ever set off – a gargantuan monstrosity of manmade explosive wonder that detonated over Colorado back in February. Even seeing it on a screen was breathtaking.

I would post a link to the clip, but I don’t want to be advertising someone else’s YouTube channel, so if you just type ‘WORLD’S BIGGEST FIREWORK 2020’ into the search bar I’m sure you’ll get a chance to see it. It’s not a fancy, multicoloured, lots-of-stages, cacophonous affair, it’s just a one-off sound-and-light ejaculation (for want of a better word). But WHAT a one-off sound-and-light ejaculation!

At first, you just see a black nightscape with a trail of a rocket racing its way into the sky. Then the damn thing goes off and lights up what appears to be an area with a 7-mile radius, including an entire valley and two separate villages. The camera is so far away from the explosion that it takes several seconds for the sound to reach it, THAT’S how enormous this baby was. It is almost unreal to behold. If we got our hands on one and set it off in our garden, I think we’d level half the houses in Suffolk.

My favourite firework of the night, however, was a cleverly designed Japanese one that left a pattern in the sky like a jellyfish.

I had a great time. I expected disappointment because I was comparing this year to previous ones, and I ended up trying something different and enjoying it immensely. A lesson for us all there, as we deal with another lockdown and an ongoing pandemic…

RC 6-11-20

P.S. Sorry for the nasty image about a giant ejaculation in the sky…

Masterpiece

I watched ‘Parasite’ again last night, and I’m pleased to say it was every bit as good as I remembered. I was scared going into it that it might be one of those films that suffers a bit from repeat viewing. I wondered whether I should leave it as a one-off watch so that I didn’t somehow taint the utter joy I experienced when I watched it in the cinema back in the pre-Covid days. I needn’t have worried – if anything, I noticed more to be impressed by than I had spotted first time around.

It’s just brilliant. If you haven’t seen it, I urge you to rectify that situation as soon as possible. In a year of cancellations, postponements, disappointments and hurt, it is a rare chance to enjoy something wondrous.

RC 5-11-20

Absence makes the heart, etc.

It has disappointed me massively that I won’t get to see a fireworks display this year. Bonfire Night has always been one of my Top 3 Days Of The Year, and has grown increasingly so as I’ve got older. I just love the whole thing - congregating outside, drinking overpriced soup from a Styrofoam cup, feeling your front half singe as you face the fire while your back and arse are freezing, jostling for position in a muddy field, the slight worry that comes over you when a rocket seems to be arcing over the top of the crowd. Even the idiots who stop watching the display so they can get their camera phones working to film some of it have a certain charm to me these days. But, like so many things in 2020, that regular, annual source of joy has been denied us.
Never mind. I’ve always said that things like Christmas would mean so much more if we had to wait longer for them. So I’m not gonna get all down and grumpy about it, I’m going to do what I’ve been telling other people to do all year – adapt and accept, and make the best of it.  Tomorrow night we shall have a little fire in the garden. We shall have mugs of soup, warmed sausage rolls and some sparklers. Then we shall come indoors and, on our largest, brightest, most HD-friendly TV screen, watch a video of a big, expensive display on YouTube (of which there are many).
And then next year I’ll hit an outdoor event like a sugar addict hitting a sherbet fountain.

Here’s an afterthought: Why don’t all the organised displays store up the fireworks they would have used this year, and set them all off in one go when we finally see off the virus?

RC 4-11-20

Here we go again

What a fun time to be working in the supermarket trade…
People are buying loads of stuff, even though we’ll still be fully open during the lockdown, and even though we didn’t run out of anything last lockdown (do humans really have that short a memory?)
Philippa’s doctor surgery is having to deal with people trying to over-order their regular meditation in an attempt to stockpile it, even though the dispensary will still be functioning normally during November, and even though there were no issues back in Spring.  Once again, we are having to deal with problems caused by people who are trying to deal with a problem that didn’t exist in the first place.
If everyone just did what they normally do, we’d have well stocked-shelves and no problems at the GPs, but saying that is like saying ‘if everyone does as we’re being asked to, we won’t have to have another lockdown’.
No offence to anyone with a modicum of intelligence, but the British Public, in general, are thick as shit.

RC 3-11-20

Juxtaposition of emotions?

In this strangest year
I’m Happy on Hallowe’en
It doesn’t feel right

Normally I hate
The return to GMT
This year not so much

Each second passing
Will take us closer to Spring
And for that, I’m glad

RC 31-10-20

Jurassic Joke of the Day

What do you call a dinosaur with diarrhoea?

A Ve-lotta-crap-tor

RC 29-10-20

'Jinkies' - an Appreciation of Scooby-Doo

I confess that I ran out of words beginning with J and so the premise for this posting has come from a sudden remembering of a word from a cartoon series of my youth. But now I’ve started it – why not go for it?
SO – Scooby Doo. The Scoobster. Scoobert Doobert. Scoob. For 50 years now (FIFTY YEARS) this Great Dane and his gang of teenage mystery solvers have been entertaining the world with their zany animated adventures. We all know the shows. We all know the themes. We all know the catchphrases, the cliches and the characters. They got it so right first time out that they’ve never had to change the basic format. The world has changed and it keeps on changing, but almost every year there has been a new batch of output from the Scooby team that fits the trend of the day whilst also remaining timeless. It is one of those things that is so remarkably consistent and ever-present that no-one seems to appreciate it as they should. It is just taken for granted that Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy, and their loveable, chatty pet will always be with us in one form or other. The animation changes, but the gang remains the same.  The Mystery Machine just keeps on rolling.
But how far, and for how long, has it rolled, exactly? I have researched it and added it all up for you. Here is a list of each consecutive series, with the number of episodes produced and the average run time per episode.

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? – 41 episodes (21 mins each)
New Scooby-Doo Movies – 24 episodes (43 mins each)
The Scooby-Doo Show – 40 episodes (22-24mins)
Scooby and Scrappy Doo (v1) – 16 episodes (22mins)
Scooby and Scrappy-Doo (v2) – 33 episodes (21 mins)
New Scooby and Scrappy/ New Scooby-Doo Mysteries - 26 Eps (22mins)
13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo – 13 eps (22mins)
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo – 27 eps (22mins)
What’s New, Scooby-Doo – 42 (22)
Shaggy & Scooby get a clue – 26 (22)
Scooby Doo, Mystery Inc – 52 (22)
Be Cool, Sooby-Doo – 52 (22)
Scooby Doo and Guess Who? – 39 (22)  as of the day of this posting

By my reckoning, and my maths, that is a grand total of 165 hours and 12 mins of televisual entertainment. And that doesn’t include two blockbuster live-action movies, a series of one-off direct-to-video animated movie specials, and a 2020 CGI version called ‘Scoob!’ which, were it not for the pesky virus we’ve had this year, would almost certainly have been a worldwide smash hit in the cinemas.
50 years. Three generations. Countless millions of children delighted, intrigued, scared, excited and thrilled.
Bravo.

RC 27-10-20

Just not enough 'J' words

I’m struggling to meet this challenge of mine.
Still a week left in October and I’m already reaching for the dictionary and thesaurus. I never want to deliberately bail out of a challenge, especially when I’ve set it myself, but I do worry that my usual creativity and flow is being stilted somewhat by the obsession with what each blog will be titled.
In other non-blog related matters, I am thoroughly enjoying the non-work aspect of the weekend. I have successfully planted that whole ‘employment’ thing firmly in the back of my mind and I’m having a great couple of days with my wife and son. It is mild enough for a nice walk and dry enough to hang washing out. I am cooking a large, indulgent pork roast for tea, and I am looking forward to watching my chosen NFL team (49ers) live on Sky Sports this evening. The fact that we have changed the clocks and returned to the horrors of GMT has, thus far, bounced off me completely. I am unaffected, optimistic and relaxed. I am not expecting it to last, but I’m enjoying it while I have it.

RC 25-10-20

Jack of No Trades

I am thoroughly hacked off with work this week, and it’s making me feel depressed. Thank God it’s the weekend and I can be away from here for 60 hours or so and re-charge a bit. I think the bloody course I did last week started it all. My usual routine was messed up and I got used to not being here. The course was pointless, but at least I got to do it in the comfort of my own home. When you’re not being forced to go and sit somewhere you hate, you really start to realise how much you dislike it.
The trouble is – with a cloud of tiredness and low mood hanging over me – I don’t feel like I have any options. What can I realistically offer another employer that would give me a chance to break away? What skills do I actually have? (I’m not expecting you to answer that, by the way, this isn’t one of those social media posts that is fishing for forced compliments!)
Ah, well – it’s Friday. Let’s just plough through the last bit of work time, then pick up a make-it-at-home Thai takeaway and a decent bottle of wine. I feel a tipsy visit to “Stan and Ollie” coming my way…

RC 23-10-20

Jakemans, etc

I must be getting old because I’ve started putting together a little ‘Winter Kit’ to have in the back of the car. It’s a sturdy plastic container, with a sealable lid, and I am compiling a list of what to put in it. I want to cover every possible emergency I might encounter while driving, including (but not limited to) freak storms, flooding, a pile-up, carjacking, seizures, stroke, or rapid onset sickness and diarrhoea. It will have a decent pair of boots, a blanket and a shovel (in case we get caught in heavy snow) a spare washbag and change of clothes for Mathew, a bag of toiletries, a torch, a towel, some bottled water, some tinned fruit, a mini-kettle that can plug into the cigarette lighter, Pot Noodles, Kendal Mint Cake and some walnuts. And some paracetamol. And, if I can get my hands on them, some Valium. And maybe a weapon of some kind, in preparation of hostile alien invasion or a huge wave of zombies. Oh – and a sleeping bag or two and a pillow, obviously.

Now I’ve typed all that I’ve realised I may have to buy another car just to fit it all in.

RC 22-10-20

Joy of Parenthood, no. 1167

Mathew is such a little character now. I never would have guessed that by the time he was approaching 2, he would have a distinct personality and we would have a genuine, close relationship. I thought being a dad was just feeding them slop and changing their nappies for a few years before they head off to school and start developing.

Shows you what I knew…

Tonight, when I came in from work he ran (sort of) straight over to me for a pick-up and an aeroplane spin and some silliness and some cuddles. Bless him. Just what one needs when one has spent the day dealing with incompetent delivery drivers and over-compensating upper management. 

RC 21-10-20

Jarringly bad luck

I’m really getting into quinoa in a very big way. Please don’t hate me and throw words like ‘woke’, ‘hipster’ and ‘eco-git’ at me. I just find it versatile, simple to use and (if spiced correctly) delicious. I often mix some up with salad to have cold at lunchtime, and at least once a week I do a big panful and we have it with roasted veg and some chicken thighs. God I sound healthy! I usually follow it up with a tin of creamy rice pudding or a slice of cake, though, so don’t be nominating me for Healthy Twat Of The Year just yet.
Anyway, the reason I mention it at all is to share a little story, give you a little warning, and hope you may learn from my mistake:
Quinoa, for those of you that don’t know, is basically a collection of tiny multicoloured balls. A bag of it looks a bit like the inside of a beanbag, but with the balls being harder and smaller, and not made of polystyrene (so not much like it at all, in hindsight).
ANYWAY – if you rip open a bag of it too enthusiastically, like I did this evening, the bloody stuff flies off in about 3,000 different directions and you spend the next two hours trying to fish it out from under the dishwasher and finding several balls in the living room.
Versatile and tasty it may be, but it’s also very, very difficult to get out of a carpet.
That is all.

RC 20-10-20

Juggling Time

I got so sick of being back in my little office again that I’ve spent all afternoon trying to master ‘an overhand cascade’. It’s a juggling move. I found an online tutorial on YouTube and I’m determined to get it right before I go home. I’ve never had the foresight and planning to leave a set of juggling balls here in my desk, so I’m using an apple, a carton of apple juice and a novelty paperweight in the shape of a tortoise. Not ideal tools, but I’m doing my best.
I should, of course, be catching up with all the work I didn’t do last week because I was at home doing a course, but my thinking is that there’s no point rushing back into the same old routine, because that’s the scenario where mistakes are cultivated. Best to give yourself a ‘soft landing’ after a holiday or enforced absence and spend the first day back doing as little as possible until your mind and body get used to the return. Plus – I got loads done in advance, so it’s not as if I’m months behind in my paperwork. Plus – I had a colleague keeping an eye on things while I was gone, so he was dealing with issues as they arose, rather than leaving them in a pile for me to look at today, so there really isn’t all that much to get on with.
I am, to be honest, supposed to have all my Christmas and New Year rota requests sorted by the end of October (and therefore the end of this week) but I’m not sure there’s any point in doing that this year. We could set everything in stone, then have two members of staff self-isolating from mid-December and the whole thing will go in the bin. I have a feeling that will be quite a common practice come Xmas week – people who fancy a bit of time at home over the festive period will suddenly develop Covid symptoms and have an excuse to keep away from work. None of my staff are included in that projection, by the way, I have a really good team who look out for each other and no-one is that sneaky or dishonest, but I bet it’ll be happening elsewhere.
Anyway – back to the juggle-isation.

RC 19-10-20
1700 BST

Just... SO glad to be back on site

People are starting to panic-buy because there is an online rumour that we may have a 2-week mini-lockdown happening soon. A) Its just a rumour, and B) SHOPS STAY OPEN IN A LOCKDOWN. There is NO NEED to buy loads of extra shit to fill your house with. Did no-one learn this back in March/April? Are the British public really this stupid? Sadly, I believe the answer is YES.

RC 19-10-20