Saturday 24th October 2015

Friday

There is no doubt that we are right in the middle of autumn now. It is dark now until gone seven in the morning, and on cloudy days, it is getting dark at three in the afternoon. With about ten weeks to go until the end of the year, I realise I have taken just one block of holiday this year; although that was twelve straight working days, and that break was needed. It comes as a wonderful relief to think that by four in the afternoon I would be starting nine straight days off.

I suppose this is another opportunity to take stock of where the journey this year has taken me. From the long dark days of winter, criss-crossing Europe witnessing various turbine components being manufactured to the bright days of April when I stood outside the nacelle factory having completed the final component being assembled. And then switching to Esbjerg fir the pre-assembly, as more and more turbines being delivered and being made ready for shipping to Holland. And finally, in Holland as the turbines were installed, and work accelerated like a runaway train until all were up, and running, producing wiggly amps.

Since the end of that, I have been getting involved with other projects, meeting customers and being a hard-nose negotiator. All exciting stuff. And then there my new project, 50 turbines in Belgium, and the start date for that is getting nearer, as is the travels I will have to do. That I see this as part and parcel of my job and nothing out of the ordinary shows how far I have come.

But still, a week off!

Now that sounds really good to say it out loud. Although, I have to get through the day first, on the face of it, should have been a straightforward day. I have meetings for the first two hours of the day, and manage to squeeze in a phone call too. At ten, there is a pause, and I say, phew. I make a coffee. Look at my list of things to do. I have a meeting to arrange for the week I return and set my out of office message. Not a lot on!

I have the radio on, burbling away. I also have regular visitors by the cats, just checking if I was going to feed them some more. I do, sometimes.

And then there is Molly: this weekend marks the 10th anniversary since I collected here from the RSPCA cattery in Lowestoft. She was so nervous she would only eat whilst being stroked. She had been taken from her ferral mother at 3 weeks old, and was lost on a big cruel world. I was urged to take her and see how she would grow as a cat and become bolder. She did and then some. After just over a year, I went to work offshore and Molly came to Kent to live with Jools and her three cats. Molly had not seen another cat before. She coped, went outside and thrived. We moved to St Maggies, and now she has the countryside to wander over, and in which to find small animals which to bring home. She is the Queen, ruling over the house hold, quick to turn, but loving. Very loving. But in her own way. She loves nothing more than to find a jumper or t short to make a bed on, but being brushed comes close.

Gosh, how I love that bundle of fur!

At three, I had done everything I could, so I switched the laptop off, packed my stuff away and turned the radio on and danced around the living room to the sounds of The Clash. Jools finishes work an hour earlier on Fridays, so after pumping some lard on the cross-trainer, I peeled some potatoes and began to prepare the rest of the ingredients for chorizo hash. It was half five by the time it was cooked, and smelling wonderful. I popped a seond beer to go with dinner, Jools came home and now we were both on our holibobs.

In the evening, it is the last edition of Gardner's Word before winter, and so for us all, the year is winding to an end. Plant bulbs, make leaf mould, get ready for the new year. It's only ten weeks away.