Christmas parties are a no go

Every Christmas we put on a Christmas lunch with quizzes, food, raffles and Secret Santa’s gift swaps. Last year I remember driving to the wholesalers in the morning to collect all the pre ordered party food and stressing over being able to get parked back at the office. For a team of c.70 people, thats a lot of food etc to unload.

Almost immediately after the previous years party I had already written the quizzes for last year, had already planned the food shopping and started getting bits together for the raffle.

This year, of course, that wasn’t going to happen. With my team split across two shifts now, and the need to keep sharing things to a minimum, it would have been difficult to have put on the lunch. We looked at possibilities of getting food delivered, or ordering prepacked sandwich bags. Quizzes would have been difficult too as they tend to do it as teams so sitting near each other wasn’t an option, and I’d have to do it twice which wouldn’t be practical. It seemed there was no appetite for people wanting to do Secret Santa’s either this year.

But we did decide to do a raffle. Over the year I’ve been collecting bits and pieces, buying stuff and shopping for all the things we know they’d be interested in, mainly alcohol. We managed to cover the costs and be able to put £50 in an envelope as a prize and still have some left over to give to Charity.

This year we will be sending a donation to Crisis for those who struggle expecially at Christmas time. As much as it has been nice to receive prizes and gifts, it has more meaning to give to others.

One of my team encapsulated that perfectly. He (we’ll call him S) had been talking with one of his colleagues (we’ll call him R) and they had decided which prize they would most like if their raffle ticket was drawn. S’s ticket was drawn. He picked the prize that he knew R wanted and gave it to him “in case your ticket doesn’t get picked”. R’s ticket was then picked and instead of taking something else that he wanted, he picked the prize that S had wanted and gave it to him. They were both very pleased.

There is much to be said for the giving rather than receiving. It doesn’t have to be big, bold and expensive. Giving your time, or something simple like a coffee or a chat, might just be what someone needs right now.

Socially distanced birthday cake

As plans have been well and truly scuppered for Christmas, it has also made Dad’s birthday celebrations difficult. We usually have a grand gathering for his birthday and couple it with “the great car boot swap”, the chance for everyone to exchange Christmas gifts.

As we weren’t having a great gathering in a pub somewhere I thought that Dad might miss out on his pub dinner, so my original plan for Dad’s birthday was to order dinner from a localish pub that was still doing take away service, then drop it round with his pressies and their Christmas stuff too. However with the latest restrictions, the pub decided to withdraw its offer, so I had to tell mum she’d have to cook after all.

I have however, made a cake and as I was working from home, dropped that off with his presents etc instead. I left them on the doorstep, rang the doorbell then retreated to the other end of the driveway.

We chatted for a while and updated news on what daughter is up to i.e. not coming home for Christmas. I couldn’t stop long, a) because that’s probably not a good idea and b) had to get back for a 1pm meeting.

I think Dad was suitably happy. He’d spoken to big bruv and one of my sister’s by the time I got there. Not your average birthday but when you’re on your 81st of them, maybe they get a bit samey after a while.

Models and Metrics

One of my current tasks is to write a strategy for data quality across our Trust. I’m needing to find out a lot about it and have been reading around the subject a fair bit to get some background information together.

One of the things I came across today was The Model Hospital. Its a digital information platform that helps with productivity, quality and efficiency. You can use it to benchmark against other NHS Trusts on all manner of things. It’s got some key metrics that trigger notification where there has been new information added. It churns out some fab looking charts. I might be spending a while rummaging around this gathering data.

I am a bit of a data nerd and love a good spreadsheet or set of facts to chew through.

Recording multiple metrics shows whether our processes are good enough for our service users and plots us against our peers and across the whole NHS Acute Trust sector.

This will be handy in identifying what is system related, operational or corruption data from elsewhere.

I can feel my nerdity peaking. I shall spend the day tomorrow fully immersed.

And to go with it, a special delivery arrived today from a #bellringing friend as a thank you gift, which I’m absolutely loving 👇

Wonder what else we could measure and benchmark in our everyday lives?

Sunday slump

Sunday mornings are usually fairly active. We rarely get a lay in because we need to get to the Cathedral for #bellringing. Once we’re home again, it’s the fun that is the ironing to get done. This Sunday, we followed the usual routine and I even threw in some cake decoration as well. Then its time for lunch.

After lunch comes the slump. That time in the afternoon when you know you have a million things to get done, but just want to sit and slump. I have to be careful not to totally give into it though as I have a meeting this evening that I’m chairing so need to be awake.

I am however giving into watching some movies. This afternoon’s choice is The Theory of Everything. The biopic of Prof Stephen Hawking. I’ve seen it before but it is incredibly moving. Eddie Redmayne is absolutely incredible and I’m glad that he got to meet the great man and form a friendship, and won an Oscar for his performance.

I’m feeling very self-indulgent in watching a great film, with a cup of mint tea and scoffing some chocolates. Not quite joined the ranks of sitting on the sofa in my Pj’s, but enjoying my slump nevertheless.

Start the day as you mean to go on.

The start of the day really set the tone for the rest of the day. I accidentally opened tomorrow’s advent calendar window instead of today’s. Wishing the day away. Doh!

We had a virtual #bellringing session this morning that wasn’t successful either. Three attempts at one method came a cropper so we tried a different one and that didn’t want to go either. Having been ringing for around 45 minutes, we called it a day.

After lunch I baked a cake ahead of decorating it tomorrow and it sank in the middle. A bit of stealth buttercream will fix that.

Early evening the new Covid Tiers were announced and has put us and our daughter’s areas in tier 4 which means that it is likely we cannot see her for Christmas now. Her flat mate can’t go to his family either. At least if they have to stay in the flat there’ll be the 2 of them so neither will be on their own. If we can wangle it and they can come here, of course they’ll both come, we wouldn’t leave him on his own. R is, at the moment, still working until Wednesday. My fingers are well and truly crossed. I felt physically sick for a while, at the prospect of not being able to see her, or that her flatmate may have gone back to his family and she’d be alone.

I participated in another virtual #bellringing session in the early evening and there were some technical problems as well as method mistakes so that wasn’t as good as it could have been. My brain was truly fried by the end of that.

Dinner was a lovely fully loaded jacket potato with bacon, sweetcorn and some tomatoey concoction. Dinner was a bit later than anticipated as we had been waiting for a call back from R as one option would have been to drive down to get her tonight. So eager was I to eat that I took a massive bite and savagely burned the roof of my mouth and gums. I could feel the skin peeling. Then I got what amounted to a paper cut on my thumb knuckle when I peeled back the foil lid on my yoghurt pot.

After dinner it was as much as I could do to keep my eyes open. I’ll draw a line under today and move on.

Have your cake and eat it

Today there was much talk of cake, of all different sorts.

A family conversation recently discussed the merits of an After Eight Mint cake that one sibling had seen on social media, and the challenge to bake one was issued. I had actually made After Eight mint cupcakes a few years back, so shared the photo (above).

We were due to socially distance visit some friends this weekend but our area has been placed in Tier 3 so that’s now not happening. Before the deadline arrived, our friends popped round to deliver Christmas cards instead and, from the safety of staying in their car, also delivered some yummy cupcakes.

Then, the anticipation of delivery of the monthly BakedIn box. Mine hadn’t arrived yet, but the video had been released so I had a sneak peek. OMG, sounds delicious. My box did arrive later that same morning, so not really a spoiler. I will save that one up for Christmas week.

Then sibling tagged me in a post for a no bake Terry’s chocolate orange cheesecake. I LOVE cheesecake. I printed the recipe off and C picked it up off the printer and declared that I’m making it for Christmas Day dessert. OK then.

And I’ve been formulating an idea for a cake for a special delivery next week. Got an idea in my mind. 🤫

As Marie Antoinette apparently said “let them eat cake”. I shall do my best.

A Fortunate Find

As you know I’ve moved to a new role and a new office. The desk I’m now occupying used to be inhabited by someone else.

I was reluctant at first to move anything that belonged to the previous inhabitant, as I wasn’t sure whether they’d ever be back, or swoop in one day to reclaim their territory. However, I have since found out that said person has left the organisation altogether. Therefore, the assumption can be made that they no longer wish to claim their abandoned items. I felt vindicated then for going through it all and taking mugs and coffee pots to the kitchen and sorting through some papers and books. Amongst the books were a Prince 2 manual, slightly more up to date than my 25 year old copy, and a set of books on service strategy design, transition, operation and implementation.

Such a fortuitous find as I am now in the world of writing service strategies!!

I’ve been having a bit of a read through them and they will definitely come in handy. One book has already helped me formulate a number questions to ask. I’m sure they will become very useful in the next few months.

Is it a sign of the “meant to be”? Only if you believe in that sort of thing.

Flying visit

I needed to pop over to my substantive department to get them to start working on a specific task.

At first my ID badge wouldn’t let me in the department. How rude, I’ve only been gone a week! I set an individual off on the task required but needed to hang about to check he’d understood everything properly.

I decided to kill a bit of time by having a wander about and say hello to a few people. It was interesting how many of them didn’t respond. Even when I joked that I’d only been gone a week had they forgotten me already, only one person responded.

Now, I could take it personally, as a slight that they feel abandoned, or ignored themselves, but given that some of them hardly spoke to me when I was there before, I won’t take it to heart.

I went and sat in my old office for a while, which now feels a bit desolate and empty. I stared at the walls that I had put photographs my daughter had taken on, that were now bare. The photographs are now on the wall over my home office desk instead, no room in the new office.

Already I felt like a bit of an outsider. It brings into stark reality that everyone is replaceable and life goes on. I’ve never felt that I’m irreplaceable and have in fact tried to foster a culture that is not reliant on one single person to make it function.

I’ve always tried to encourage staff to have the confidence to make decisions for themselves, or at least know where to go to for help. I don’t want to be the bottleneck to progress, nor the sort of person who is unwilling to share knowledge in a vain attempt to hold some power over others, or some misguided sense of superiority, or feel threatened by someone else knowing more than me.

Information is for sharing. Knowledge is for those that want it. The team will move on without me and I shall always blow their trumpet.

Fungal buddies

Todays #MSEBuddyNetwork was discussing how we could extend the work, role and effectiveness of the network and an analogy was drawn to the hyphae of mushrooms. That prompted a number of us to Google what that was.

Essentially the hyphae is a network that transports nutrients to other parts of the fungi. Obviously in our Buddy connection its about spreading the network and supporting staff through listening, understanding, supporting and caring.

We’re trying to do this through the Cast of 1000 supporting #bellringing as well. The idea being that 1000 experienced ringers offer their help on a rota system to help those of us who are stuck in the middle tier of ringing progress into Surprise Major methods.

The more people willing to help and support, the easier the burden is on a small group of keen people. The more people involved, the more others get to know about it and get involved or use the services.

The spreading of nutrients, whether listening, understanding, supporting, caring or #bellringing gives us a sense of community, adds value through integration, helps cope better with stressful situations, alleviating emotional distress and enhancing self esteem.

Investing time in support networks benefits mental health, which in turn benefits physical health and longevity. Making new friends improves the relationships you already have whether you’re the one getting the support or the one giving it.

Let’s be hyphae.

Questions, questions

This coming week is going to be a week full of asking questions. As part of my new role I need to understand the detail of what I’m being asked to deliver and how what else is going on will impact, or vice versa.

I will be asking a LOT of silly questions I’m sure. But a silly question is not a silly question if it has to be asked. It is because there might be no immediate, obvious answer to the questioner. One might learn a lot through observation but in this time where we are barely meeting in person, it makes it difficult to observe.

Google provides many an answer and I’m not afraid to put that to good use. Then there’s the stuff that I already know or have some familiarity with. By targeting questions from a How? or Who? starting point, I’m more likely to get a better answer, or even framing it as a suggestion “I thought I might …” It might be off the mark a bit, but at least it would show some thought process. Framing a question correctly will make the question seem a little less silly.

Most colleagues are really helpful and are happy to give advice and support. Some are even willing to help further. It doesn’t matter how far you climb you won’t know everything and at some point, will need to ask that silly question.

Today I shall fully embrace that.