Thursday 17th February 2022

Thursday.

And annual assessment day.

And in short, it would appear honesty is not the best course of action.

As you will see.

We were up and about as usual before dawn, and all settling down for the usual working day.

Jools went for a walk, returned, and after a change of footware, she left for the factory.

I set up the office, have breakast of another toasted naan smorthered in nutella. In update news, I am trying to kick the nutella and once this jar is used up I'll switch to something else. Or nothing. Or just fruit.

I don't know.

At nine the meeting starts, and I was told that my mood, if not my attitude before Christmas, when t seemed I was going to leave, and me beig honest about it, contributed to him marking me down. I am a bit pissed off about it, if I'm honest, I mean I was honest, and he admitted he hasn't been a good manager to me, and that we will both try to do better.

Or something.

I have two new tasks, and that is pretty much that.

So I celebrate with a walk. It was breezy, but sunny. Seemed daft to sit inside.

I decide to go into the village and then down Kingsdown Road and back down the Dip and home, should take about an hour and has two good climbs, and should see plenty of wild flowers.

I hoped.

I met a few folks on the way, most walking their dogs, but a couple of twitchers too. I tell them a few places I have seen raptors, and they seemed happy enough.

As ever, the climb from the bottom of The Dip was tough, but I make it past Fleet House and back across the fields to get home at just gone half eleven.

No one missed me.

I have lunch of breakfast. I'm crazy me.

And get back to work, staring at my new procedure that my role as being le grande fromage has been clarified.

Happy again.

I finish at half three, and thoughts turn to the evening, where we were off out to the theatre, or to the theatre to watch a performance from another theatre.

The plan had been to eat out, but I saw it was due to begin at seven, so instead I defrosted some fine ragu and was boiling the pasta once Jools returned from work.

We eat quickly, Jools changes while I washed up, so we were out just after six, and I was hoping to have a swifter in the Just Reproach before showtime. But it was full and it was half six already, so we go to the theatre instead, get a drink at the bar and go to our seats in the main hall.

We were to see a stage adaptation of La Bell Sauvage, the first of the secd trilogy by Philip Pullman, set in the world of Lyra and His Dark Materials.

Well, not sure what to expect, but it was magical, the acting and set design (digital) were superb, and we laughed and cried through the evening.

A short walk back to the car, and a ten minute drive back to the hill on the downs. Not bad journey for a show in a theatre beside Tower Bridge.