Thank you

A hearty heartfelt "thank you" to anyone who has been reading my blog.  I'm so grateful.  I love writing and can't imagine that life would be fun without it.  And yes, I know people read it as sometimes - like today, I check the statistics and do a double take.  People read it. The everyday ramblings of life.

Today has been a day for catching my breath.  And being grateful.  I have my office back after three weeks of being homeless at work, borrowing desks, moving my "chocolate spiders" teabag tin around, carting the footrest and coloured highlighters and desk calendar around.  So today feels a little more rooted.  The lady who has been using my office calls it the dungeon.  I call it the hobbit hole - much more affectionate I think.  It's quiet and peaceful and Mike in the drawing office is glad I am back - he's a quiet man and has had to listen to Wood & Woods "Mumbai call centre" - two ladies brought in (friends/wives) to phone up job centres to arrange crews attending to install their signage.  I may be annoying (to me anyway) but Mike and John - who usually works there too, both missed me.

My task for the next two weeks is printing, saving and extracting digital files. Oh joy! But I get to do something useful, work with someone I respect and make silly amounts of extra time up as overtime.  What's not to like.  And as it's quiet over the weekend and there is absolutely nothing to do in between the emails coming in, I got a bit of reading done. Upstairs, the men are just plain bored - waiting for the crews to finish the installations but under the managing director's eye and pressure mounts on them.  It's a tight deadline - two weeks to install all the front of house signage for all the job centres in England!!

The Queen is not amused

Well that's been my view of Queen Victoria, possesor of the grumpiest dour face and endless mourning clothes.  Can't say I knew much about her really - coming from Sidmouth I knew there was a connection as she stayed at what is now one of the town's hotels as a child.  But reading Lucy Worsley's biography has been a joyous eye opener of a read.  You have to love a book that starts with "The most powerful , memorable images of Victoria show her as a little old lady, potato like in appearance, dressed in everlasting black"And she follows by asking the question: "How did she go from dancing princess to potato?

What a great way to intrigue!  She documents a series of memorable "days" in Victoria's life, including the death of her father, meeting with Prince Albert, her wedding, her homes, her relationships with servants and children.  A host of familiar characters which I know only from films crop up - Abdul Karim, John Brown.  And I learned she loved her food and drink, was taller than me so how that is short I am unsure but she had tiny tiny feet! (unlike me)  Albert is evaluated from his letters to be a workaholic, controlling "emotionally abusive" husband.  I disliked him intensely! Worsley argues that although she spent her life subsequently mourning him, it was being without his influence that allowed her to use her own "emotionally intelligent" approach and to suceed as a monarch.  I have delighted in the evidence of personal quirkiness and eccentricity and it has filled out my shaky knowledge of her reign although I knew a lot more about the general "Victorian" age.  Highly recommend it as a read

Riots in interesting times

A friend has just challenged my thinking.  She comments on the notorious photo of President Trump holding a bible and says that it would be amazing if he read it, turned to Jesus as his saviour and became a humbled leader.  I think fat chance - suspect that reveals my cynical lack of faith.  I'm often challenged by my friends faith and hope and positivity.  I often wonder why we are friends as we are so different and what she sees in me - I guess my ability to listen to her process her thoughts aloud!

I have no comment on black lives matter protests - another subject I feel woefully inadequate to comment on.  It makes me aware of my own inherent racism - I'm a child of the 70s and a working class upbringing where Alf Garnet and the black and white minstrels shamefully featured as entertainment. But watching the excellent House through time TV programme this week reminded me of the riots in Bristol https://thebristolcable.org/2017/10/bristol-reform-riots-1831 in which the chartists violently took out their anger and fury at their lack of political representation and poverty in days of acrimonious rioting, looting and arson.  We are not immune.  In a different age Luddites smashed the machinery replacing their own skilled jobs - protests and riots are not an America only phenomena. In my lifetime I remember poll tax riots and miners strikes - Andrew Marrs history of modern Britain brought up my own furious anger against Thatcher.  I am not immune.  Given the right trigger, I have that same tendency in me to violent anger and a sense of injustice, however wrong the expression is I can understand the powerlessness that drives some of it.

Chaos?

Today I am working - after my first full week.  I've changed teams three times, moved desks twice, changed working hours and loved the return to banter and some heavy duty teasing that translates to "we missed you"  It seems I've learned to ask for help during lockdown - this week has taxed my spreadsheet knowledge!  So, as a beautiful counterpoint, lunchtime walks provided peace and tranquil photos as the large contract we are working on means both factory and offices are crammed with everyone's friends/relatives/inlaws and children, all packing signs, inputting data and in the case of the "youth club" larking about dancing and looking at their phones (my downstairs drawing office buddy finds the "youth club" infuriating as he's temporarily their supervisor in packing signs.  I just can't read their writing when the delivery notes appear - from one whose writing is notoriously awful

So good to be back! Oh and Sowton is lovely but the photos are closeups as the background is often litter and industrial buildings....