This week is flying by far too quickly for my liking. I started Monday with a list of about 47 tasks that desperately needed completing before the weekend and now, despite having finished 27 of them, that list is up to 83. We all feel woefully unready for the onslaught of tourists about to descend upon our sites, and the thought of another seven or eight months of this level of stress is not a welcome one. I'm sure we'll be fine in the end. There's nothing unsafe on any of the sites, everything has been cleaned, and there's nothing going on that we weren't dealing with at this time last year, and it all got done and it was all fine. And last year was even harder because, as unbelievable as it seems now, we still had a shedload of Covid protocols to instigate. That particular thorn-in-my-jacksy does seem to be less of an issue this year, thank God. So this year is pretty easy in comparison, but pain is relative and memories fade, so telling me 'well, it's easier than last year' is like telling a chemotherapy patient 'this isn't as bad as that flu bug you had 10 years ago.'
Actually, it's probably nothing like that but that's the best analogy I can come up with right now.
Was that even an analogy??? Stop sidetracking me....
It just feels like Friday night is this big deadline that we all have to hit. It feels like a looming date with destiny that will either make or break us, when in reality it's no different to New Year's Day or one of the other meaningless annual occurrences that we attach unnecessary significance to - it will simply happen, and then pass, and the World will go on. I think we need to remember (and by 'we' I probably mean 'me' mostly) that our visitors have been through a long Winter where many of them will have been worrying about heating costs and rising food prices, and now they are venturing Suffolk-ward for a break from all that. They won't mind if the grass isn't all cut to a standardised length, or if we can't run the planned twilight swimming sessions in the pool because we can't find enough lifeguards locally to man it, or if the slushie machine in the arcade only has two flavours instead of three. They are well aware that they are joining us right at the start of our season, and that they are paying less than they would in Summer precisely because they won't have access to the full programme of events. And 99.8% of our holidaymakers (not an accurate statistic) tend to just get on with it and amuse themselves anyway, we don't have to feel responsible for filling every single second of their getaway with fun and games. And 97.6% of the population (not an accurate statistic) are decent people who understand reality and don't have ridiculous expectations, so we can all relax a bit and just do our best.
But I do wish Time could slow down a bit, and give us all another week before Friday...
RC 29-3-23
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