Tuesday 29th September 2020

I am paid to be an auditor these days, travelling the country from one end to the other, auditing, mainly being a pain in the bum, asking difficult questions.

All our sites in the UK are on my radar, which will explain why I do travel so much in the UK now. Or would do if it were not for a global pandemic. That means my travel are very much curtailed. In fact, I have been out of Kent just once since March 13th, and those three nights in Southampton were very scary, as everything seemed so normal.

Whatever normal is.

I should have travelled back to Southampton and the Isle of Wight this week, to accompany our external certification, er, certifiers, to do some certifying audits.

But last week's increasing dire news on lockdowns and infection rates meant I did not feel it safe. I made my case to my boss, and she agreed.

The certification body didn't, and in the end one of their guys has travelled, and is staying on the Isle tonight when three weeks ago he said he wouldn't. Go figure.

So, yesterday afternoon, instead of driving to Southampton, I stayed home. Which meant Tuesday morning's commute was from one chair to another.

I woke up surrounded by cats.

Hungry cats.

Jools wan't there to feed them, so I had to.

I went down stairs and fed them one by one, then made my own coffee. It was quarter to six, and outside the day broke and a hazy scene of the Dip shrouded in sea mist was revealed.

I make breakfast, for me and Jools, so she has something to eat when she gets in. And a tea.

I have a shower, so am all nice and fresh when she got in at quarter to seven. She had had a hard day at work, steady, and having to stand up again the whole 12 hours. She took her tea upstairs and fell asleep wit the bedroom door closed. The cats tried to get in, then gave up.

I had breakfast and my second coffee and prepared for the eight hours I would spend the day, listening to others auditing and being auditors. I would take notes.

And at nine, so began one of the longest days, sitting at the dining room table while others talked, and upstairs, Jools slept.

The morning dragged.

Lunch was clled at quarter to one, with just enough time to make a cheese toastie, nip out sit on the patio on the surprise sunshine, to eat my lunch and drink my fresh coffee.

And then back to the notetaking.

He afternoon dragged further. And slower.

I took many more notes.

Jools was due to go back to work at quarter past five, so instead of me cooking, she went to the shippy for tea, which I eat while taking the notes from the closing meeting.

The meeting barely finished before Jools had to go, and I was alone.

Though you're never alone with cats and kittens, are you?

Indeed.

I wash up, make a brew, then write blogs before I settle down to watch the second half of the Spurs v Chelsea game in the League Cup.

Cats and kittens kept an eye on me, so once Spurs won the shoot out, I went to bed, with Cleo shadowing me, and laid at my feet as I read for twenty minutes before turning in.