Skip to main content

Guilt!

The Vyne, Basingstoke
It's been oh so quiet this week as the entire family apart from me has been on fun trips while I held the fort (note from Izzy - "why do you always start your blog so weirdly - who even says 'oh so quiet?' anyway?!"). Glenn disappeared early on Sunday morning with George for a week in the Alps cycling, then I had to drop Abi off at 5am on Monday, also to go to France, with Izzy following at a much more sociable 8am to have half a day in school before going to the PGL camp at Swindon.  So one by one they disappeared and the house got quieter and quieter (and tidier and tidier!) - bliss, or not...

In my imagination this week was going to be wall to wall sunshine and I was planning on working from home with the doors thrown open and lots of catching up on things I've had on my work to-do list for a while. I had booked some extra yoga classes in the evenings, a sports massage and the week would pass in a flash. In truth the house felt very empty and the weather was rubbish so I ended up with doors firmly shut, working with a jumper on (it's June for goodness sake!), missing the lack of adult conversation. Work conference calls just aren't the same as a quick chat in the work kitchen or being able to step from my study to the kitchen have have a natter with Glenn.

On the plus side, the extra yoga was fab, the massage was lovely and I've run nearly every day. The house was spotless all week, the dogs have loved having me at their beck and call all week (well, Freya anyway who by Friday had become permanently glued to my side / feet). I proved that the hassle of getting into the office is worth it for the connection with co-workers - I don't think I'm cut out for working from home more than a couple of days a week!

Originally Izzy was the first due home on Friday afternoon, followed by Abi late on Friday night, then Glenn on Saturday evening. In the end Glenn and George came back a day early as the weather turned and they wanted to finish on a high after 5 days of fantastic (super hilly) riding. The house therefore went from ghost like to looking like a church hall post jumble sale with everyone's bags, washing and kit strewn through the utility room and kitchen - so much for tidy!

So after looking after the house, dogs and guinea pigs all week the deal had always been that I would
go off with Zsara on Sunday to visit a garden and have a few hours walking and talking. This had been agreed and talked about but when it comes to it, why is it then the kids look at me and say "what about us?" Yesterday Abi went off to Mia's while I was at yoga and then complained when I said she had to come home at 6pm rather than staying over (not least because she was knackered), arguing I wasn't going to be here anyway on Sunday. Despite the fact that I arranged not to meet until 11, it's now 10am and Abi still isn't out of bed, Typical! Just to top it off she casually said "I was hoping we could have gone to a NT garden ourselves Mummy, but you just think about yourself...!" Deep breath as I know that if I had even suggested we have a family day out to a NT property I would clearly be going on my own. Despite this I still went to bed feeling guilty even though I know it's silly. I am allowed to do the things I enjoy doing regardless of what my family want of me!

Anyway, picking this up after a lovely walk through a beautiful NT property to get home and find that everyone is fine and no-one missed me at all. I knew I was right to go.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ypres

Walking around the lake in Ypres while waiting for the rugby to finish! A wet Monday evening after a lovely long weekend away in Ypres - just the two of us and just what I needed after what has been a relatively stressful few months of decision making. The decision is now made however and on Monday I resigned my job in order to join a new company in January. This will be the same role, but a company that hopefully offers more long term stability than my current one. It's been hard going through the initial round of telling people.Despite only being there for 7 months I've made some good friends and very quickly become established and everybody who I've told has been happy for me but very sad that I'm going - it hasn't made it easy. I do feel like I've been through the mill a bit this year - what with leaving EY, ramping up to a big new role, finding out it probably didn't have the longevity I was looking for and then going through the process of finding ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cough, cough

Izzy - can't do a photo without rude finger gestures It's fair to say that the last couple of weeks have been rough. I managed to get the cough Mum had a while back and it has been horrible! Both Dad and Glenn seemed to get a very mild version of it but Mum and I got the full dose and I can safely say that it has been a stark reminder of just how bad a viral infection can be. It also illustrates the whole Covid experience - some get it worse than others. For me it has meant that for over 2 weeks I have had the worst cough which has left me unable to sleep properly. I still can't sleep lying down fully, and have to be propped up on pillows on my back which is not my favoured sleeping position! It has also meant that Glenn has spent the last 10 days in the spare room because I have been coughing so badly he is unable to sleep in the same room. Thank goodness we didn't all have it - we'd have shaken the house to its foundations! It has also meant that I have been exhau...
Post a Comment
Read more

Welcome Albert James!

So this week has been full of new things - Jess and Chris have welcomed Albert James Wilkinson Rayner to the family, a tad early but all doing well apparently (and so cute!!), I started my new job, Abi has her new shed and Dad got sorted on a phone that wasn't invented before the kids were born!! I always knew this week was going to be full on and it certainly has been. The first thing I had to do was try and sort out my diary which had been filled from dawn to dusk by my predecessor with meetings. I decided to set out as I mean to go on and immediately took out those that started before 9am. While I can get into  the office for 8am , it's a pain and requires me to be on the 6:30am train which is just a bit much every day (stating the obvious). I then made it clear that we don't need to be joined at the hip for the next 4 weeks which is a sensitive process - even though he is retiring it's hard to let go and he is understandably keen that the team are looked after. ...
Post a Comment
Read more