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.