Friday 24th November 2023

Friday.

And my last day working from home for a week, because France!

Anyway.

After the very late night on Thursday, we laid in bed to ten to seven on Friday, hence the DEFCON level 5 panic to get dressed, feed the cats, do the bins and make coffee so to be at work as soon after seven as possible.

Thursday night it was 12 degrees when I drove back, by dawn it was four, and breezy enough so the wind cut through.

Brr.

And work had four hours of meetings, including the monthly department one, where the news we had been dreading was announced, that our Manager, interim Manager was to leave as they have a permanent replacement from January 1st.

Change is not good.

This is the worse kind.

Since being back in the big company, I have had the worse manager I have ever had, and the joint best.

Sigh.

Double sigh.

I have the final details of my trip to sort out, so make calls and then send out invites for audits the week after.

And I was done.

For the week. Last job was to set the out of office message, and I was gone, buddy.

I had a shower, then waited for Jools to come home, no way was I going for a walk in the cold wind.

Brrrrr.

Jools came back, so I warmed up the smaller of the two apple crumbles made last weekend, warmed too the leftover custard I made, and in 20 minutes we were yamming it.

The six days the custard spent in the fridge allowed the vanilla pods to infuse and make it right tasty.

For the evening we were going back to the Lighthouse for the third evening in a row, as there was a Tom Waits act on, and that is Jools's favourite singer.

We left early, so we could go to the chippy just up The Strand for supper of large battered sausage and chips, before walking down to the bar and getting a table.

I know "of" Tom Waits, and I know some of his songs, a few, anyway. So this was going to be a trial.

Also a trial was the extra 45 minutes beyond the listed start time until the band sauntered on stage and began to tune up and sing.

The singer was backed by a jazz quartet, all of whom were excellent musicians, but the mix of Jazz and Waits-style raspy vocals were something of an acquired taste. In the end, Jools was nodding off during the quiet numbers, so we bailed at the interval and came home.