Sunday 19th April 2020

Ten year work anniversary!

I have been writing this blog since the week before our wedding in August 2008. Then on to changing jobs, a stint in the arsehole of the world, Kazakhstan, losing that job, then the trials and tribulations of a getting permanent job.

I worked at the box factory for best part of five months, working with Jools' sister as my boss.

Then came the fallow times, going to the job centre to sign on, the humiliation of explaining on a weekly basis how I had looked for work so I would receive the next batch of fifty quid a week.

And then-on day, I saw an add for a job that combined quality, engineering and documentation. I went through the list of requirements and I knew then if ever a job was made for me, then this was it.

I applied, got an interview, did OK, and was told to wait a week for news.

Two hours later they called back, I had the job if I wanted.

I did.

A temporary job turned permanent, and then the company went through tough times, we had to justify our existence on a daily basis.

But, in time, fortunes turned, we got new projects, we ramped up the department going from me and my boss, Philip, to last count over a hundred. Probably lots more.

I got a new job, did poorly, did well. Travelled, then, last year, it all went Pete Tong. But, I heard about my current position, applied and got it.

So here I am, celebrating only the second job I have lasted a decade in. The other was in the RAF. So, not done bad.

In these ten years I have met and worked with many fabulous people, many going on to be my friends.

And there are others. Well, we all light up a room with our personalities, some when we walk in, some when we walk out. I hope they see me as the latter.

In normal times I would be going to Denmark on Monday for a celebration with my colleagues. A day workshop extended into an evening event at some nice restaurant or another. But not now, not in this reality. Normal might come later.

Instead we are virtually housebound, locked down tight, only allowed out once a day for exercise and other times for shopping. Or it depends on how you read the guidance. Anyway, how to celebrate the day?

By going on an orchid hunt, of course.

What else?

It was to be a bright but breezy day, but near to sunrise the wind would drop some, so no time to lose. We get up, have a coffee and then Jools drops me off at the NT place on the cliffs, though it is all locked up with as many warning signs as those on the Falklands warning about mines. And the entrance is monitored.

So be warned.

I was.

Jools speeds away, leaving me to gather my thoughts and clamber down to see if the remote colonies of Early Spiders had returned.

Overlooking the port I found two rosettes, including one with a spike that was just about to open. Nearly, but not quite.

I walk on, scanning left and right until I see what I was looking for: a small yellowing rosette with a spike, and on the top was a single open flower.

Orchid goodness.

Around were two more, one open, the other not. I get shots.

Further along I find two more, then as I scramble down the cliff, another plant, this one the most glorious deep maroon colours, all covered in dew that make it look like it was coated in diamonds.

I take a lot of shots.

Before the cliff road turns inland, I find two more spikes, I snap those too, but was happy enough I had found more than enough, for now, so that the rest of the walk would be for exercise and general botany and photography.

I walk up the cliff road, the bed on an inclined plane railway that was constructed to help build the new eastern harbour arm, cutting a shelf into the face of the famous cliffs for only a few years use. And has been abandoned for 110 years or so, but the ten metre wide shelf, trackbed or road has been there ever since, and is a fairly gentle slope on which I could try to limit the strain on my back.

I went this way to check out different habitats in the hope of spotting something new, but really see very little of interest, and my back was making a big deal about how much it ached. I was passed just before the gate at the top by a jogger, the first person I had seen since Jools had dropped me off. Strange times indeed.

I make it to the top, and see Jools approaching. She had parked the car in the village and came to meet me on my walk, then we would walk back to the car together before driving down the hill to home.

Instead of walking along the cliffs, we took the wartime road set back a bit, which runs from the top of Langdon Hole to South Foreland lighthouse.

We see little of interest, as the road has been resurfaced since last year, and the swathes of Scarlet Pimpernel were nowhere to be seen.

A few joggers passed us with a safe distance between us, we walked back towards home, past the lighthouse, then through the scrub woodland to the path that crosses the last big field before we enter the village.

Then, across Reach Road, to the car park and into the car.

All by five past nine in the morning.

I make coffee and warm up the croissants, which we eat on the patio out back, once I have checked the shots of the orchids, and posted a couple as teasers.

Anyway, that was it really. The exciting stuff over before breakfast, the rest of the day doing chores, writing, watching more Bosch, making lunch.

It is almost too warm to sit in the garden, and the lunchtime beer I had to wash the lamb burger down caused my eyes to drop on more than one occasion.

Dinner is a simple one of fish cakes, curried rice and the leftover French style peas. And it all came together well.

The evening passed with listening to the radio, and me drinking two bottles of Hardy Ale, a barely wine rated at 12.7%. I should have stopped after the first one, but it was a night for celebration, so I did crack open the second, and spent the rest of the evening forcing it down.

Just before we went to bed, we went into the back garden to watch a string of Starlight satellites pass over. They went from west to east, and we stood and counted as 27 of them scrolled overhead. An amazing thing to see. And once we thought we had seen the last one, we went inside and to our bed.

Phew.