Monday Morning Blues

The sort of day I don't like - having to get up early on a dark winter's Monday morning to travel into Surrey for an early morning meeting - in this case a telephone court hearing at 9.45 a.m. The weather remained wet and the roads very dangerous with huge puddles. However, despite the traffic and the weather I managed to get into my office in Dorking by 9.00 a.m. The court hearing started on time but the other side did not turn up on the line and the hearing was adjourned until next Monday morning when I will have to go through this whole process again. The rest of my day was taken up with paperwork including writing up my monthly report and discussions with my boss over future plans following the takeover in November. I woke this morning with a sore throat, runny nose and feeling distinctly unwell too. I left the office a little early this evening and attended a lodge rehearsal meeting at Crane Street in Salisbury. The rehearsal went really well and I was reminded that I shall be acting as the Director of Ceremonies at the meeting on Wednesday as our normal Director, Bryant, will be on the high seas enjoying a luxury cruise paid for by his family. What a lucky chap. I can only hope that I do not muck everything up on Wednesday especially as we have some distinguished members coming form Boscombe in Dorset and from our own Province. I went to bed early deciding to write up this blog tomorrow.

Feeling under the weather

I woke with a terrible sore throat and headache this morning and decided that I was not going to church. Mary also had a sore throat and was feeling under the weather. The weather itself was appalling with more torrential rain. Unfortunately, our absence from church was missed as we were supposed to be acting as sidespersons for the Team Eucharist. I had simply forgotten. I am sure there were plenty of other people to call upon. Sara cooked a chicken lunch and in the afternoon Mary attended a rehearsal for the village pantomime. We watched some of the Kettering v. Leeds FA Cup tie match - which resulted in a 1-1 draw and also the draw for the third round. Southampton will be at home to either Rotherham United or Luton Town - both of which are in lower divisions. An excellent draw. We attended Food for Thought making laterns for a church procession next Sunday. Tonight I drove over to Amesbury to meet with our candidate for initiation into Sarum Lodge on Wednesday night. We spent a pleasant two hours at his club in Amesbury. I feel sure he will make a great member of the lodge. Tomorrow the delights of another day in Dorking await.

North v South

After a breakfast of bacon rolls, Tom and I set off for Northampton to watch Southampton take on its northern namesake in Round 2 of the FA Cup. We had a wonderful journey up to Northampton and got there around 12.45 p.m. We managed to park the car in a field close to Sixfields Stadium for £1 and after buying a newspaper at a local service station we went for lunch at the TGI Friday's next to the ground. There was a half hour wait for a table so Tom and I had a drink and I read my newspaper. There was a further delay of around 25 minute before we eventually got served- I has "surf and turf" and Tom had a half rack of ribs. The food was adequate although a little overpriced and my steak a little over done. It did make a change, however, from fish and chips or burgers. Saints fans took up two whole stands at the ground and we outnumbered the home fans - indeed, this was the first time I'd been to an away home match! Although Saints had the majority of possession they did not do anything remarkable with it for the first 3o minutes or so and didn't seem to get the ball on target. Suddenly, on 41 minutes Papa Waigo scored first and then a second goal came on 43 minutes from Lallana. The second half saw a third disputed Saint's goal from Hammond on 59 minutes. Unfortunately, Dean Hammond scored again - for Northampton and one minute before the final whistle scored a penalty to make it 2-3 to Saints. Our journey back was uneventful apart from some delay near Chieveley caused by either an accident or broken down vehicle. We met with torrential rain and flooding as we entered Hampshire and Wiltshire. All in all a good day out with the prospect of an interesting Round 3 draw tomorrow.

A day in London

I awoke early this morning in Hove having had a reasonable night's sleep at Peter's. We had tea and toast together before I set off for Portslade Station where I caught the 0806 train for London Victoria. I was successful in getting a window seat although the train was much less comfortable than those used on the Salisbury to London Victoria route. I arrived at Victoria Station at 9.20 a.m. and caught the No. 11 bus which took me down Victoria Street to Parliament Square, along Whitehall to Trafalgar Square and then along The Strand to The Royal Courts of Justice. An excellent route for any tourists as it takes in all the major London landmarks before eventually arriving at Liverpool St. Station. I bought myself a latte and waited for Michael R, my friend and our barrister, to arrive at the coffee bar opposite the courts called Apostrophe. Michael arrived at about 10.20 a.m. and we chatted about the case before moving across the road for the case management conference with Master Foster. We met the representatives from the other side and thrashed out directions before the Master for the trial of this disputed claim to be heard some time between May and July next year. Following the conference, we chatted again for some time in the Bear Garden before parting company. I walked across Waterloo Bridge to Southwark where I had a light Thai lunch in a pub before visitng Simon and Philip at Stop the Traffik where we discussed some initatives for me to look at including getting an STT Action Group together in Wiltshire. I returned to Victoria Station via the tube from Lambeth North and was back at Portslade Station at 5.30 p.m. Nobody seemed to be around when I returned to Peter's,although the front door was open and I was able to retrieve my car keys from the kitchen worktop. I returned back to Winterslow at around 7.30 p.m. and tonight went down to the Lion's Head for a drink with Richard. We also met up with John F and Bob C. A busy but less tiring day.

Dinner in Brighton

A pleasant day today - first of all in Salisbury where I worked in the office during the morning - then after a light lunch at home, I drove over to Hove for a meeting and dinner with friends in Brighton. A lovely evening with good company and fine food - steak pie and pancakes. It was great to chat with my friend Peter until quite late discussing local politics and my time as a councillor in Brighton and how things have changed in Brighton. Met Peter's daughter in law, Ana, from Columbia who expressed a great interest in the work being done by Stop the Traffik. She has some first hand knowledge of some of the problems in her home country. Off to London tomorrow for a court appearance and then dropping in for coffee at Stop the Traffik in Waterloo.

Sweet Teeth

Today started with a visit to the dentist's for me to have my teeth cleaned by the dental hygienist - a fate for worse than seeing the dentist herself. Having had my mouth poked about with bits of ironmongery, and not very gently at that, it was off on the long drive to Dorking for meetings with my staff in our new offices. The day seemed to go very quickly and there seemed an immense amount of work to do. I didn't leave the office until 6.45 p.m. but a good journey home saw me back in Winterslow at just after 8 p.m - a really good time. I was greeted by some lovely fair trade chocolates made by Mary - very yummy indeed. As I am visiting Stop the Traffik's offices on Friday I musn't lapse into eating ordinary chocolate. Tonight Sara went over to Karen's to a book sale. Sara is going to have some more investigations into why she keeps coughing all the time - it is becoming tiring for both of us and the lack of red fonts isn't helping.

Mediation in Chancery Lane

An incredibly long and tiring day today. I awoke at 5.00 a.m. and and after a shower and breakfast drove to Grateley to catch the 0657 train to Waterloo. The weather was dark, wet and miserable as I set off. Arriving at the station car park, I had plenty of spaces to choose from at that time of the morning but it took me quite a while to work out which ticket machine was actually working. Klynn, James and Tim joined me on the platform and we travelled up to London together. Once at Waterloo I decided to walk over Waterloo Bridge to the legal district and my mediation meeting in Chancery Lane. The meeting began promptly at 9.00 a.m. and continued throughout the day until we finally gave up at 7.30 p.m. We had one short break during that period at lunchtime when we walked around the block and bought coffees at EAT. Although the mediation didn't produce a settlement between the two parties, each did, at least, reduce its claim and we may return for a continuation of the mediation before Christmas. I caught the 2020 train back to Grateley from Waterloo arriving back home at just before 10 p.m. Tonight I tried to post the blog but the server seemed to be down. Great news from Tom was that Southampton beat Hartlepool tonight 3-1 and are now fourth from bottom only one point from lifting themselves out of the relegation zone. Grimsby, by contrast, lost at home again 0-3!

Tom's Report

Another incredibly wet and miserable day today. Having dropped Tom off at the bus stop for his school bus I drove in to Salisbury where I was working today. Unfortunately there were no parking spaces in the office car park and I had to park in the College Street public park. This meant a walk in the heavy rain down to the office. Another busy day but I did manage to have a short pleasant coffee break with Nikki E and catch up on news and gossip - usually we only snatch a crumb of conversation outside St. Mary's on a Saturday afternoon. I had back to back meetings in the afternoon and finally left the office at around 6.30 p.m. Sara went, this evening, to Tom's school for an Autumn term report. The report was mixed but the message was that he has great ability, is bright, but must hand his homework in on time and spend a little longer in putting together better efforts at home. His homework is letting him down. Sara and I helped him with his alegbra this evening. Not sure if we grasped it! His strongest topics are maths, RE and art. He is clearly a sensitive, spiritual boy but still wants to be one of the lads too! Sara and I must get on top of this and stop him being distracted by more enjoyable pursuits. Tonight I watched the first part of a film depicting the tragedy of Hiroshima. Must get to bed early tonight as I have to be on the 0657 train from Grateley to London. An all-day mediation awaits me in Chancery Lane.

Celebration for Tim Elliott

We (and most of the village) was awoken this morning at around 4 a.m. by an immense clap of thunder which, we later discovered, knocked out some of the electricity supply to the village. The wind was howling and there was a torrential hail storm. I was convinced that the village was being subjected to a tornado. The flag pole was waving around quite dramatically but never snapped or bent over - such was the secure way Steve had erected it. Today's service at church was Morning Worship conducted by Jane Dunlop. A nice easy service with a few well known, though traditional, hymns and an interesting sermon on Christ the King. It transpired that Jane had met Emperor Haile Salasse I and I had met his son, Emperor Amha Salassie I during a visit to Brighton in the 1980s. A small world. Richard delivered some good intercessions too. We had an early lunch of roast pork with all the trimmings and then went across to the Village hall for Tim Elliott's Memorial Service. It was incredibly well attended - the first time I've known there to be insufficient car parking spaces at the Village Hall for an event. It was a lovely service with all the songs amongst my favourites. This evening I wrote my night sky article for the magazine before having another early night.

Singing Canaries

Another cold and very wet day. Peter, who had stayed overnight, had breakfast with Tom and me (hot bacon rolls) and we spent a bit of time chatting about masonic issues - especially some of the differences between the Sussex and Wiltshire provinces. Peter finally left around 11.30 a.m. Southampton were playing Norwich City in the league today and so Tom and I set off for Southampton to watch the match at lunchtime whilst Sara and Mary went to ballet and shopping in Salisbury. Tom and I visited our usual chippie in St. Mary's Street and I had a small bet at Ladbrokes that the score would be a 2-2 draw. The game was fast and furious with some excellent football from both sides. Two cracking goals came from Saints (Lallana and Connolly) but Saints also conceded an unnecessary penalty and Norwich went on to equalise. The final score - 2-2 - so I was able to end the afternoon picking up my £15 winnings from Ladbrokes! The weather was absolutely atrocious as we walked back to the car - and seemingly filthier as we drove back to Winterslow. We watched a little TV tonight but in view of the very late night last night decided to go to bed before midnight - very unusual for a Saturday night.

All at sea

Quite a different Friday from normal. I had taken the morning off to give a presentation to the Salisbury Probus Group on the topic of the ocean liners of the North Atlantic. I finalised the PowerPoint presentation I'd prepared at set off, arriving at the Salisbury City Hall at 9.50 a.m. After a coffee and a chat to a number of members who were not involved with the committee meeting taking place, and discovered that some of the members of the audience I would be addressing were former master mariners who would probably know more about my subject than I did! My audience consisted of retired professional gentlemen who listened very attentively to my talk and asked quite a number of interesting questions afterwards. Following the talk I returned to my car in the main Salisbury car park and strolled over to our office with my laptop. I met up with Kare, my PA, and Nigel and was then taken out to lunch by Fran who works for another insurer who is engaged, like us, on a case against a common fraudster. We had a working lunch at Da Vinci's Italian restaurant. I spent the afternoon going through the numerous emails which had collected in my in-box whilst in London and Bristol during the last two days. I arrived back home at around 5.30 p.m. to find our friend Peter M installing mirrored doors to our built-in wardrobe in the family room. He completed this task by around 7 p.m. and I took him to the Lion's Head where we were joined by Klynn, Chris and Richard. We stayed there until well past midnight and Peter and I chatted for another hour or so before finally going to bed in the wee small hours. It has been a rather interesting day all round.

Mediating in the West Country

A really early start today. I was up at 5.30 a.m. making tea and getting showered and dressed. I had arranged to meet Vicki at Salisbury Station at 7.10 a.m. for us to catch the 7.19 a.m. train to Bristol Temple Meads - so for the second consecutive day this week I am jumping on a train to work. Today was spent at the Bristol Employment Tribunals' office undertaking a mediation to try and resolve an issue or two with a former employee. We started at 10 a.m. and finished at 5 p.m. absolutely shattered. Unfortunately we did not conclude with a settlement but we are close. The mediation was, therefore, adjourned, and a case management discussion will take place on 30th November after the other side have further considered some calculations from us. considered the actuarial figures on a pension calculation. We may have to return to Bristol in December to continue the discussions. I got back to Salisbury on a very crowded train at 6.30 p.m. and back home for 7 p.m. Our house Group was well attended with Richard joining us. We discussed "the fruits of the spirit" and had a very enjoyable and enlivened discussion on "walking the talk" in our faith. Richard and Dawn stayed behind afterwards for a stronger beverage.

Business trip to London

Up to London today but caught the 10.57 train from Grateley which meant I could work from home first thing this morning and so didn't need to get up quite so early as the previous two mornings. Weather incredibly windy so was unable to fly the Union Flag to mark the State Opening of Parliament this afternoon. My train made good time to London and after stopping off to buy a crayfish and rocket sandwich in Gresham Street, arrived at our London office some fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. From 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. I was engaged in an intense meeting with our external lawyers preparing for a mediation in London next Tuesday. I finished the day by having a meeting with my director before catching the 6.20 p.m. train back to Grateley. I missed Klynn's text messages arriving at Grateley to discover he was in the next carriage to me, also returning home from a long day in London. Called in to see Richard once back in Winterslow for a loan of his laptop projector for use at my talk to Salisbury Probus on Friday. Once back home I spent the evening finalising that presentation and importing more pictures of ocean liners on to my PowerPoint slides.

Packing

Another day in Dorking today. Awoke at 6 a.m. and after breakfast of Honey Nut Shreddies it was off up the M3 again. The traffic was kinder than yesterday and I arrived in the office just after 9 a.m. I spent a good deal of the day ditching a lot of old paperwork and bits and pieces in readiness for the move to our new location in the main building at the weekend. I used the opportunity of the move to get rid of an awful lot of old documents and papers which I hadn't looked at for some time including a lot of old Barratt & Company records. Having decided upon the temporary replacement for Karen, my PA who is taking a career break, I let the recruitment agency know my chosen candidate and left them to give feedback to the others. I had lunch with Anthony today but had to be quick as I had another meting starting at 1 p.m. The afternoon was taken up with more packing and moving. Tonight I attended the Church PCC meeting at St. John's which went on rather longer than I had hoped. Despite this, Richard and I found time for a swift pint afterwards at the Lion's Head.

Meetings and more meetings

I woke at 6 a.m. to a very dark cold, damp morning. I really did not want to get out of bed today knowing what a very full day I had ahead of me. The traffic was reported as appalling this morning and I came off the M3 before Basingstoke and drove the back roads to Alton to join the A31 up to Guildford. I eventually arrived in the office at 9.45 a.m. - another 2 hour journey across southern England! The day, once more, seemed to be filled with meetings and telephone conferences. At lunch time I ventured into Dorking town centre to do some banking and visit the post office. The afternoon was taken up by appraisals and more meetings and telephone conferences. We are moving offices at the weekend and I need to pack up many of my files and belongings to shift over to the new block. I left the office at 5.30 p.m. and arrived home just as the Archer's were finishing. Sara had made a lovely hot wood fire. I wrote my "flag" article for the December issue of the parish magazine and printed off the papers for tomorrow night's PCC. Feeling quite tired I shall head for bed early tonight. It is likely to be a long day and night tomorrow with a trip up to London on Wednesday.

Disappointment at St Mary's

Woke quite early this morning and made tea for Sara. She and Mary went off to church leaving Tom and me to have bacon rolls before going up to Barry's Field for Tom's Under 13s match against Durrington Juniors U 13s. Clarendon won 6-1 with Tom scoring one of the six goals. He played skillfully which was noticed by the Chelsea and Salisbury scout. Back home, he and I both had a shower or bath and Sara cooked a roast chicken lunch. This afternoon Tom and I went to Southampton via Chandler's Ford so that we could get a passport photograph done of Tom at the Asda's booth for his school trip next year to the Netherlands. That successfully accomplished, we drove to St. Mary's Stadium for the Saints v. Brighton match fully anticipating a win for Saints which would take them out of the relegation zone. Alas, it was not to be and Saints lost 3-1 - their only goal coming from a penalty in the first half. However, it was good to see our season ticket neighbours again after such a long break, and we must simply look forward to the game against Norwich next Saturday. Unfortunately a win then will no longer take us out of the relegation zone. We need to win two now. The struggle continues. Tonight I went down to the Lion's Head for a couple of pints with Richard, A pleasant way to end the weekend. Back to Dorking tomorrow for staff appraisals.

Down the pub!

What a great way to start a Saturday - breakfast in the village pub! We had our monthly Men's Breakfast meeting today and Roger, one of our members and the new landlord of the Lord Nelson, hosted the event. Roger has started on a new career in pub management following his retirement from the broadcasting industry and we discussed career changes and early retirement as a general topic. After the formal meeting, Roger took us on a tour iof his cellar. Fascinating to see how much work is necessary to bring good beer up to the pump for service to the customer. He has two real ales on draft which is good. Sara took Mary into the city for a birthday celebration at a pottery/craft centre and Tom and I stayed at home. I started work on the presentation I am to give to the local Probus Group next Friday. The topic is the Atlantic Ferry, - the story of the transatlantic liners - and I made some progress but am finding it difficult to get reasonable photographs of the liners download into PowerPoint. As we had little food in the house (Sara was going to do a big shop at Tesco's) I returned to the Lord Nelson with Tom and we had an excellent pub lunch - chili con-carne. I carried on with the presentatino this afternoon but felt so tired that I took myself off to bed for a short nap at around 3.30 p.m. not waking until 6 p.m. It has been quite a stressful week at work and I guess it is still a bit of a shock to the system to be back in the cold wet UK after the heat of the Bahamas. Tomorrow I will be watching Tom play football at Barry's Field followed by a trip to Southampton to, hopefully, see Southampton rise out of the relegation zone in League 1. A win tomorrow against Brighton will assure them of that. The draw for next round of the Johnston's Paint Trophy sees the Saints at home to Norwich. I am optimistic of another home win against this side. This should leave us with an easier opponent in the Regional Final (Hereford or MK Dons). Then it would be Wembley (against Leeds?)

Interviewing

A day in Dorking and an appalling day weatherwise. Torrential rain for most of the day. My day was largely taken up with interviewing three candidates to replace Karen whilst she is on a career break. All good candidates so the choice will be difficult. Tonight Sara had to go to Downton to present a Virgin Vie party. I played on the Weii with the kids and largely chilled out watching documentaries on the Sky TV. Severe weather warning for tonight with excessive winds predicted into tomorrow.

A bad journey

A terrible journey into Dorking today taking just under four hours because of the closure of the M3 close to the junction with the M25 and massive queues around Guildford and up to Ripley on the A3. In fact, I didn't get into the office until 11 a.m. I brought in sweets and presents for the staff from the Bahamas and went into Dorking town centre at lunchtime to do some banking. This afternoon Belinda and I interviewed the first of four candidates as a career break replacement for Karen. This was followed by an interesting and challenging meeting with my boss. Tonight we had seven for the House Group including Nils which was wonderful. We discussed the granting of gifts by the Holy Spirit. Klynn stayed behind for a couple of Canadian Clubs and a chat about family and work. He stayed until after midnight so this blog is being written rather late and is shorter than normal. Tomorrow I'm back in Dorking.

Sweet and Sour Day

I awoke earlier than expected as I had set my phone alarm for 6.00 a.m. not realising that, because we had been away in the Bahamas, I had not put the clock back one hour. Consequently I was awakened at 5 a.m. I needed to be in the office at 8.00 a.m. this morning but didn't actually arrive until 8.30 a.m. due to heavy traffic in Salisbury. Sara B and I presented a TUPE workshop to HR colleagues which seemed to go well judging by the feedback. Unfortunately the day was marred by the revelation that an extremely loyal and long serving employee of the Company was being made redundant. The decision was very surprising. Tonight my low mood resulting from this was raised when I took Tom and his school friend James to St. Mary's Stadium for the Quarter Final tie of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy against Charlton where Southampton secured their place in the Southern Regional Semi-Final by a 2-1 win over the London club. They played brilliantly and seem to be on a real role. I am confident that they will reach the Play-Offs come April. Tomorrow it's Dorking with a tricky meeting to attend.

Another defeat fror the Mariners

It was hard to get out of bed this morning. The rain was pelting down and the the sky very dark - such a contrast to our last two weeks. I made it into work and secured a parking space by 8.30 a.m. Lunchtime was taken up with a visit to two banks and a meeting of the Christian Fellowship. Meetings took up the rest of the day and I returned home at around 6.30 p.m. Tonight we watched Leeds United beat Grimsby Town 3-1 in the Northern Area Quarter Final of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy competition. Tomorrow night we will be at St. Mary's to see the Southampton v. Charlton Southern Area Quarter Final. Sara's illness seems to be getting worse. She is pressing for an early chest x-ray. The Christian Fellowship meeting prayed for her health as, I know, have several other Christian groups. She is feeling so miserable. She slept through until 3 p.m. after returning from taking Mary to school.

Back to work

Had a deep sleep last night - jet lag has now caught up on me. Worked at home today in the warmth of my study although had a frustrating start to the day as I had forgotten my laptop's password - nice to think that my last two weeks in the Bahamas made me not only forget work but also the little things, like passwords, connected with it. Most of my work today was involved in reading all the emails and attachments which had amassed during my vacation. My staff had handled things well and I was able to deal with many issues quite quickly. I got tickets for Tom, me and a friend of his to go to the Saints' game against Charlton in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy on Wednesday night. I also bought tickets for their away game against Walsall on the 5th December. I shall be working in Salisbury over the next two days which is a blessing. My sciatica eased in the night although it was very painful yesterday evening and I had resorted to using a walking stick last night on the pub quiz visit. Feeling tired but refreshed all at once. Sara visited the doctor today and she has a "crackle" on her lungs and is being sent to the hospital for a chest x-ray. She continues to cough nearly every minute or so and last night took herself off downstairs and watched TV whilst I slept. The BA cabin crew were very concerned about her as we crossed the Atlantic last night from Nassau. She has also been given anti-biotic pills which are enormous but hopefully might help but at present her condition doesn't seem to be getting any easier.