Skip to main content

Day trip!

We have literally spent the whole day driving across the country, for a 20 minute cuddle with a tiny little puppy that doesn't know us from Adam - the things we do for fun! Today Abi and I set off before 9am (miracle given she didnt get home from Devon until gone 8pm last night) to meet Betty for the first time. Of course we didn't find a puppy close to home so this was a 300 mile round trip and, I kid you not, we only spent 20 minutes there. It's ridiculous but apparently expected and we are not alone - Jon and Lucy drove to the Peak District yesterday to meet their new puppy - a slightly longer trip than even ours and they have to do it again in 3 weeks! 

The good news was that after plenty of discussion we agreed that just Abi and I would go. Izzy is way too much like Glenn in this respect and could see no point in spending the whole day in the car if we weren't even going to bring her home, so she and Glenn stayed put. While of course it might have been lovely to have them all with me.... in reality I'm not stupid and I knew that it would be much easier (and more relaxing) if just 2 of us went. Betty is super cute and it was lovely to meet her and her Mum who is a very chilled, lovely dog, so I'm feeling good about the whole situation, even if we do have to do the whole thing again in 5 weeks time. 

The rest of the weekend also seemed to pass in a blur. Work doesnt seem to have eased up at all in August despite it theorectically being a quiter part of the year and every day is packed. I have started going into the office once a week as well which has been good if a bit strange. The trains are still incredibly quiet and there is a country wide debate raging about what the future of the office should be, and whether all those people who have relished giving up the dreaded, crowded, dirty, expensive commute really need to pack back onto the trains just to save a few sandwich shops. The government would like everyone to go back but even their own workforces are rebelling - its no surpise - we've proved we can work well from home - why would we opt to go back? For me I've found one day a week in the office has been a really positive thing - it's grounded me back into work and I get the social intercations which are more difficult online, but I also get the benefit of no commute for the other four days. That said I will need to get my head around the journey home. Both times in the last two weeks Ive missed my train home - no longer it appears can you rock up to the stationwith only a few minutes to spare. For some reason they don't show the platform numbers at my end of the station so each time Ive got there to find no information and no time to run to the other end of Paddington to find out. Luckily each time I've not had to wait too long for the next one and with so few people travelling, it's not as though they will be too busy. Tomorrow I'm off to our Southampton office for the first time which will be good - we just need to find the right balance for everyone to work well with the new found benefits of moe time to balance in other ways. 

The most exciting news of the last 6 months is that tomorrow the kids go back to school - woo hoo!!!!! I am so excited for them, even if they are pretending not to be too excited for themselves. Izzy has had a countdown on her phone for weeks so I think she is secretely excited even if she won't admit it. I think the school has done a good job with welcome videos, emails and other comms - some things will be different but I hope not so much that they don't just enjoy being back with their mates in a normal learning environment. Being the area it is, I think the risk (fingers crossed) of some big uptick of cases locally meaning more disruption should be low and so we can hope this is the start of proper routine again - my goodness me that is going to be a shock to the system! So it's early to bed for everyone tonight and no doubt the wek will race by and we will all be shattered by Friday - nothing changes there then!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

Diary management!

This part of the summer is definitely typified by me trying to remember who is supposed to be where and when. Abi likes to be off doing something with someone while Izzy is happier to know she's close to home and so for the last week they've gone their separate ways. Abi has been down in Somerset making the most of Ben and Laurie being about. From what I can tell she's having a lovely time. Apart from the covert phone call one evening to tell me she was 'starving'  (Mum was cooking for the hordes and so it had been delayed), I've barely heard from her. The few calls I have had have very quickly ended in "can I go now" like I'm making her speak to me! Today she switches from Mum and Dads to a night or two with Kerrie - not sure who is more excited! Izzy didn't want to be away for that long so she opted not to go. She's very conscious that Abi and Laurie are joined at the hip when together and Ben has his own things he wants to do so she ...
Post a Comment
Read more

All about Izzy

This weekend has mainly been about Izzy, mostly because Abi has been off riding again and so we've hardly seen her. This has its pros and cons - on the one hand Izzy gets lots of attention and the choice of what to do. On the other she misses Abi and when big sister arrives home we have the inevitable few hours of resettling which seems to involve tears as a matter of course. I did have a moment of despair this evening when I looked across to the table just before Sunday dinner - normally a happy time - to see both of them, heads on arms, holding back tears. Luckily a bit of food and a game of 20 questions to share what everybody had enjoyed about their weekend and we kind of managed to get back on track by dessert. When asked what she wanted to do, Izzy immediately shouted "Jo Jo" so my task was to sort out a visit with Jo, the boys and Ellie. No matter how much time passes they still love to see each other and the first task is always the same. Edward and Izzy have t...
Post a Comment
Read more