Thursday 19th May 2011

Thursday.

On the long slow downward slope towards the weekend.

Yay.

The days are filled with the same old stuff; writing mails, rewriting procedures and all the usual stuff that takes up the working day. And then I drive home, along the coast, past Pegwell Bay and the waders and seagulls feeding on the mudflats, past the old power station at Richborough and then past Sandwich, which is gearing up for the Open Golf tournament in July. What is clear is that travel between home and work will be impossible and I will be pushing for working at home. Anyway, that is in 6 weeks.

Summer is nearly here; the hedgerows and fields are full of flowers and blooms, and on clear days we can see to France. Our garden is a riot of colour, but the kittens have claimed one of the flower beds for their outdoor place of slumber. Nothing can grow as the ground is compacted, and they look out through the valarum at possible birds to prey on. Two nights ago, Mulder did bring in a fledgling blackbird, alive; I managed to get the bird out of his jaws and take the bird out and place it in the hedge in the back garden. I kept the cats inside for a few hours, and we hope the bird survived. The next morning there were no feathers or signs or carnage in the kitchen, so it may have survived.

Each night at a quarter to eight, I take to the sofa to watch the Football League play-offs, secure in the knowledge that my team are already promoted, and I can thoroughly enjoy the games and the drama they contain.



Time moves on, of course, and people I have worked with here at Vestas since I joined the company have moved on or even left the company. Jesper was the latest to leave. He is a bundle of energy, but so single-minded on the task; he also knows who to ask difficult questions of, and more importantly, under whose chair to light fires to get results. Life will be duller without JFF. I did go out for lunch with my old boss, Ian this week. Mainly to ask questions about his time here, but also to catch up and just have a huge bowl of chilli-cheesy-chips. That done we each drunk pints of Coke, as smelly of beer is frowned upon at the offices of our rivals next door. Promises were made to catch up again soon. I suppose I should be used to the moving on bit; after 15 years of it in the RAF it still is difficult to say goodbye to our friends. Sometimes people we have seen every day for years. Facebook and other social media makes it easier to keep in touch, but soon we lose what we had in common, promises to call are broken time and time again, and soon I reach for the ‘de-friend’ button and we are strangers again. It is the modern way.

Other than that, the time passes and the season march on.



As the cost of fuel goes ever upwards; I filled the car up on Tuesday evening, for it to cost an eye-watering £58. This sees a 50% since we bought the car, and I think this will mean us really considering if that trip at the weekend is really necessary. That we have a 1.4 Polo, and it costs that much, how on earth do people with larger cars, who do more miles cope? It seems we shall be messing around in the garden at the weekend, maybe some walking and watching the final games in the Premier League. The next time the Premier League kicks off, there will be a certain team playing in yellow and green taking park; exciting days for sure.