I had an interesting chat with one of our visitors today. He's the same age as me and he's brought his family down from Burnley, where he runs his own company.
We were chatting about management styles and he said, "the thing I always try to remember is this - you have to be prepared for the fact that, one day, half a million eggs might come rolling across the field to attack you. If you've got a plan in place for that, you can deal with anything else life throws at you. "
RC 27-5-26
Well what a day we had yesterday. An elderly
woman with heatstroke, an unexpected power cut in the restaurant and a broken
down van that blocked the main entrance, and I swear that all happened during
my lunch hour! Throw into that a fourth successive day of high temperatures, a
tired mind after a night of insomnia and an early morning with an irritable
son, and it made for quite the Monday Experience!
But hey, we got through it, and we start again on a fresh day with a fresh set
of hours to contend with.
I have to say that, despite the complications arising from the sudden surge, I
am absolutely loving the warmer weather. Getting to wear thin, short-sleeved
shirts without any fear of a cold back or stiff neck is wonderful, and seeing
the smiles on faces again, rather than the hunched shoulders as people huddle
to hide from the chill, really lightens my mood. There were some tough times
there, mentally, in the 'Spring' months of March and April, but all that is
forgotten now as I wake up in sunshine, walk to my car with sunglasses on, and
get to drive to work with the windows down! Well - most of it is
forgotten now. There are still a few residual cobwebs of darkness, so please
let us have another 5 months of this weather please, and then it will
all be forgotten.
RC 26-5-26
Do you think I created the world so you could
fight over it?
Crazy
to think that the last time we were getting the boys ready for a family day
out, we were packing extra coats and a blanket. Today it's sun cream, hats and
lots of water. And it's only two weeks later!
What annoys me about this lovely little spell of Summer (and I promise this is
the only negative) is that the second it was reported that we would have nice
weather, there had to be an announcement about a Heat Warning. Why can't they
let us just enjoy the rare bit of heat when we get it? Why does there have to
be some patronising, nanny-state infodump about staying in the shade and
keeping hydrated? Honestly, there are times this country makes me want to
staple my foreskin to a tree with embarrassment. Which is exactly why Philippa
and I are actively looking into the idea of moving abroad.
But more on that later.
To compensate for my moaning, here's a few things I am ULTRA happy about right
now:
It's half-term, so my boys have a break from schooling.
My work is hard, but it's FUN. It's about helping other people to have FUN, and
that's FUN.
The new series of SpringWatch starts tomorrow!
It won't be dark at teatime for months yet.
The sea will soon be warm enough to swim in, and for the boys to play in.
I live in a beautiful area that is even more beautiful at this time of year.
I am still hopelessly in love, despite being with my wife for over a decade now.
We are about to have a lovely family day out in the sun, including a picnic!!!
RC 24-5-26
Another
half-term is upon us and I'm already exhausted!
Yesterday I had to spend a day walking around the site with Gavin and an
overweight contractor, as Gavin's latest obsession is the idea of installing
'high ropes' equipment, and obviously the ideal time to be discussing that with
me is on the day that most English schools break up for a week and we're
literally on the cusp of a huge influx of people.
Anyway, let us not dwell on such things.
It's incredibly hot, everything (he says, with fingers firmly crossed and wood
firmly touched) is ready to go, and for the next 7 days we will be at full
capacity, and then some. The atmosphere is one of quiet anticipation, mixed
with a gentle dose of nerves. Part of me has the pre-lockdown pandemic feeling,
where I know something big is about to hit us and I'm not sure how to prepare
myself. But mostly, I think I'm just overwhelmed with the realisation that this
is where the work starts in earnest. From today, until the end of October, it's
pretty much a full-on slog. 'Weekends' will be a thing of the past and I'll be juggling
family time with work commitments and struggling to find the balance.
There you go, I've accidentally stumbled onto a great title for my memoirs - "Juggling
and Struggling (The Rory Story)"
RC 23-5-26
I swear this came to me in a dream - I'm going
to put together an all-girl Beatles tribute act, and their first album of
covers will be called 'REVULVA'.
RC 22-5-26
I
don't know whether this is just a joyous coincidence, or whether Philippa read
yesterday's blog posting and decided to treat me a little, but this morning, my
wife started wearing a new perfume that contains 'a hint of blackcurrant and
elderflower'. As you can imagine, this has driven my brain a little bit crazy.
She brushed past me in the kitchen and my senses exploded with delight and
excitement. When she kissed me goodbye, I almost squirted an entire generation
of potential Chesworth offspring into my undershorts. If you see what I'm
saying...
On a less unpleasant note, I have managed to dissuade Gavin (my boss) from a ridiculous
team-building exercise idea where he wanted to take loads of us out to sea on a
high-speed boat to try and 'learn the Suffolk coastline from the water'. He
seemed to think that our understanding of our local area would be improved if
we took an expensive trip with some fishermen and 'got to view our county as
the Vikings would have'. I honestly wonder sometimes what the Hell is wrong
with him, but at least I'm slowly learning how to talk him out of these things.
In other news, we have a group staying with us this week who are from a specialist
special needs school in Lincolnshire. They've been amazing. We've had to make a
few adjustments to things to accommodate them and to give them the activities
they wanted, but the staff are delighted with our efforts, and all the children
are amazing. I don't need reminders that I am incredibly fortunate to have
children with no disabilities or limitations on their lives, but sometimes it's
nice to get those reminders anyway.
RC 21-5-26
