Friday 21st June 2013

Longest day of the year, and a chance to catch up on my week:

So, welcome to deepest, darkest Surrey. I am staying in what was once a grand country house, the lorded gentry waited upon by a small army of servants. It is now part of a chain of hotels that serve crap food and charge a small fortune to the companies that think its great. Maybe they both get value for money, but despite appearances, Wootton House is just a run of the mill conference, wedding and amateur boxing venue.

Apparently.

Sunday.

After an early dinner of chicken in a bun and a beer, before Jools dropped me off at the station in Ashord in time for me to catch the train to Tonbridge. I then had half an hour to wait before the service to Redhill. On that we passed through quiet, green landscapes and through leafy villages. It was stunningly beautiful. Redhill is a busy junction, and so we all waited the ten minutes for the train to Reading which would drop me off at Dorking.



Dorking.

I know there was such a place, but I had never given it any thought. I may have seen if signposted from the M25, maybe not, but I had never been to what the local tourist office likes to call “Surrey Hills”. I got off at Dorking West, there were no taxis so I googled a local company and waited 5 minutes for it to arrive.

We zoomed through the town, past what seemed like dozens of fine pubs and Indian restaurants: and then into the green rolling hills, through tiny villages before turning off down a tree-lined lane to the hotel. It was once a grand pile, and is a wonderful building. I checked in, dumped my bags and headed to the bar. A wedding was in full swing: I was wearing t shirt, jeans and trainers. I was a little underdressed. I got my pint and went onto the terrace to stand beneath the fountain in front of the faux Grecian temple to tell Jools about it.



This is about as good as it gets: as I said to the taxi driver, how did an old scrote like me end up here? I went to sleep to the sound of peacocks, as you do when you’re at work…….

Monday.

I had the luxury of a nine forty-five start; so laid in bed until half seven before heading for breakfast. I had fruit but could not resist the fried food and so had bacon, sausage and eggs, which went down very well.

ISO 9001:2008 is as dry as it sounds. It deals with Quality Management Systems and audits thereof. So we talked and learnt about that until nearly seven. We then had homework to do, which meant me heading to the restaurant to have dinner, which was terrible. We consoled ourselves after the fifteen quid burger with large whiskies before hitting the stairs to our rooms.



And now some news on Mum: she is out of danger and is now on a respiratory ward as they try to deal with her various problems. She is off the oxygen, which is good and can now eat and drink. Although she needs constant care, drugs and physio as they try to get her more active, or will do if she is to ever go home again.

Tuesday.

Much the same as Monday, but with higher humidity and an earlier start. We went to the pub at the end of the drive for dinner. We sit in the beer garden and I have been eaten alive my midges, but I did have fried wing of skate for dinner, which was great.



Mum spoke to Jools, she can barely talk, but seems like she has been caught out slagging off one of the few people who helps her out. A neighbour told Pat what has been said. This just gets worse and worse. How she is going to look Pat in the face I don’t know. Anyway, I am sitting in my room, listening to The Sundays, outside I can hear a nightingale singing. Life is good. And this is work.

Wednesday.

I wish I could say that the venue for the course, what with beieng a supposed 4 star hotel, service and food would be good. But it sucks. I mean it really is poor, we were informed on Monday we could not be served dinner on Wednesday as they had a large corporate event which would take all their staff.

Thankfully, we have discovered the pub at the end of the drive so we spent our second evening there, this time revising and doing our homework. So, we did our homework before hitting the beer and ordering our food,

The day has been splendid, as far as weather was concerned. Although we were in classrooms all day, I did get to go outside at lunchtime, where I spent my time looking at the damselflies near the pond. Oh I wish I had my camera with the macro lens, as there was a banded damselfly, which I had not seen before. Stunning insect.

So, another day passes and I think we are learning. Something. We shall see if I pass the exam. However, working with the various nations on our course is difficult and makes the team exercises tricky as it seems half the time is spent dealing with language issues.

No news on Mum as we can’t get the hospital ward to pick up the phone to answer our call, so we shall see what tomorrow brings.

Thursday. It has been busy at Wootton House these two days. Unilever have been holding a massive teambuilding session here, part of which involved a bouncy castle, fake plastic trees, cocktail making lessons amongst other stuff. There were a few sore looking heads around this morning. We were told that due to the high numbers of people, the hotel could not accommodate us for dinner last night. Thanks to their dreadful food and service we were only too happy to take our business to the pub at the end of the drive; which we will do again tonight as we will toast our last day here, and then we shall scatter to the four corners of the globe.

And Solihull.

The thunder and rain forecast did not arrive, so we sat in the classroom and sweltered in the humidity. Or at least the Brits did, those from the Middle East complained about the cold and breeze.

Mum is better and walking a short distance and is due to see the occupational therapist and all this is still a long way from her being discharged. At some point she will have to try and cope with being at home and what has become of her chosen life path. It is nice that Jools and I spoke today and were able to make plans for tomorrow evening, which seemed to be more orchid chasing. No change there then…..