Two of my favourite things

With lockdown version 2.0 imminent it seemed rather fortuitous that I have this week off work and we arranged to meet R on her day off, and the weather was on our side too.

A straightforward drive to Surrey, giving R enough time for a bit of a sleep in and to wake up and get ready. We had instructions to deliver a few things. R’s flatmate had to work this afternoon so we only had a brief chance for a hello.

R decided that she would take us for a walk along the Thames Path. They’ve done bits of it between Kingston and Kew but not the whole way. Our plan today was to walk as far as Richmond then decide whether to continue to Kew then get the bus back, or turn around and walk back.

By the time we got to Richmond we decided that is was time for a #latelunch. Having repleated ourselves we agreed to continue on to Kew.

Our journey took us past the Richmond Weir and Teddington Lock. As we were walking back towards the river after lunch we passed the site of Richmond Palace, and I confess to letting out a bit of a squeal whilst taking a photo of the plaque that commemorates the place of so many a Tudor story.

By the time we got to Kew it was dark. We didn’t have to wait long for a bus which stops just around the corner from R’s place.

Given that we may not see her in the flesh again this side of Christmas, I’m so glad that we were able to see her. Thankfulky, she has a protected profession but they are still talking about downsizing during this lockdown, so she’s waiting to hear. Her flatmate will be furloughed again as his job is not protected. Fingers crossed they’ll be OK. I’m glad they have each other and if the tally chart on the fridge was anything to go by, they seem to be good at making their own entertainment. R is winning at hangman, noughts and crosses and pretty much every game they’ve been playing.

My legs are aching but my heart is full, having seen my little girl and seeing for myself that she’s OK.

Winning at life goals

Every year I promise myself that I’ll get more organised for Christmas earlier so I don’t have that last minute panic buy. And every year, without exception, I fail.

Its usually because I have no idea what to get people, and those closest are really rubbish at offering up ideas. And also the lack of shopping opportunities between work and #bellringing commitments. I dont really like getting things as stocking fillers, I’d rather get things that people want. I also try not to get things that people need. If they need it, then they should buy it themselves. If they can wait until Christmas or birth, then they don’t really need it.

Every year the family has the same conversation. “Oh, don’t worry about getting me anything, I earn money and can get things I want when I want them, save your ££”. I totally get this and subscribe to it. I’m a grown up and earn enough, so if I want or need something, I’ll just buy it. I get that that makes me incredibly fortunate and that some people dot have that luxury. There is something to be said for I’ll buy you a voucher for a well known delivery company, and you buy me the same thing , therefore negating the point, which then becomes a battle of how much did one spend versus the other.

Having said all that though, I do like to buy people gifts, something to open on Christmas morning.

This year, due to lack of #bellringing commitments I have had more opportunity to browse shops and on line. As I’ve been doing so, if I’ve seen something I think someone would like I’ve bought it there and then. Even C has been earlier in providing guidance on the sort of thing he wants.

To cap it all, I’ve even wrapped and labelled everything I’ve got do far. With it being unlikely that we’ll all be able to gather for Christmas this year, things will need posting or dropping off, so the logistics of that will need sorting in good time.

For once, at this stage, I’m ahead of the game.

An interesting & entertaining read

As I have a week off work and we’re now no longer able to do what we had originally planned I thought I’d get in some new reading materials. My timeline has been populated recently by the impending release of Stephen Fry’s latest offering Troy. Having read some of his books before, it was a no brainer to hit the Buy Now button.

Then of course, you get recommendations based on what you’ve just purchased, and up popped SF’s previous books on Greek mythology. Yep, I’ll take those too, thank you.

I sat down and opened the first book, Mythos, and was immediately transported to a world so very different from the traditional teachings, in this country at any rate, of the origins of the world and humankind.

Far from being a stuffy, non-fiction list of unpronounceable names and dates, the incestuous, violent beginnings of the world and humankind, had me laughing to myself, wishing that all historic text books were written this way.

Its not often I read a book from start to finish in one sitting (well 2 actually, apparently you supposed to go to bed at some point), but I really wanted to know what happened next, which God or Goddess killed which next, and which sibling/spousal coupling resulted in which infidelity and offspring.

SF’s writing style is so easy to read you lose track of the fact that there’s an awful lot of information being imparted. He also relates it to modern day events and people, so there’s no need to worry if you think you’re not going to understand.

I’m looking forward to reading the next installments.

Hard or soft?

The BakedIn subscription I have really is worth every penny. Each month I get sent some dry ingredients and a recipe card, and with any fresh ingredients required it encourages me to try my hand at something different.

This months bake was lemon & blueberry biscotti. Never made biscotti before. When I first read the instructions it sounded like a bit of a faff as you do need to take it out of the oven at one point, wait for it to cool off a bit, cut it up, put it back in the oven for a bit longer, then take it out again to turn them over and back in again. However, when you’re in the throws of creation, it didn’t seem to take too long, nor was it as much of a faff as I first thought.

From what I’ve read from people who were much quicker at their baking when the box drops on the mat, these biscotti are a bit softer than the almond biscotti you tend to get in coffee shops, but I guess you could bake then longer, on a lower heat to dry them out more. I don’t mind if they’re a bit softer, I’ve always thought that shop bought biscotti was an attempt at keeping Dentists employed because it was so hard it would break your teeth.

The good thing about this recipe, like so many of the BakedIn boxes, is that you can adapt it with different flavours. I’m thinking orange and chocolate, or nutmeg and cranberry for a Christmas vibe.

I keep saying that I’ll make some of these recipes again but so far I haven’t. However, this one is firmly on the “do it again” pile.

Never too early

So C did the food shopping on Thursday and bought treats. Its never too early to start mince pie season. I’m not interested in the festive season starting this early, frankly its over hyped, but I do love the foods that the shops only bring out at this time of year.

I’ve already started sampling the seasonal savoury snacks the M&S outlet at work has in stock. I’ve bought the Christmas edition of Good Housekeeping and have been drewling over the images of pigs in blankets, chicken terrine, canapés, roast potatoes, porchetta, trifle, chocolate tart, truffles, shortbread and all manner of treats.

Trouble is, C only bought 1 box of mince pies. What was he thinking? How long did he think 6 pies was going to last? We had a cup of tea and scoffed 2 each in one go, then he said there was little point in leaving the last 2 on their own.

A few years ago at work I gave homemade treat gifts to some colleagues. I made Christmas tree shortbread, chocolate truffles, cranberry florentines and mini, iced fruit cake. I wrapped them in clear cellophane with Christmas ribbon and a label listing all the ingredients for each item in case anyone had any particular allergies. They took a fair amount of effort but seemed to go down really well.

Given where we are with Covid-19 restrictions we won’t know how Christmas will be this year. There’s an even chance that we might not even get to spend it with our daughter, let alone any of the rest of the family. That means we can’t really decide about what food to get in until the last minute. I will look forward to going through the M,&S Christmas food ordering magazine and wishing I could eat it all.

In the meantime I shall eat many, many mince pies 🥧

Time to Ramp Things Up

On Thursday evenings I run a RingingRoom virtual #bellringing session with a small group made up of family and friends. We’ve been doing this since about May, in leiu of actual bellringing in a tower on real bells.

Over the months we’ve been building up our repertoire of methods having started off ringing various Minor methods like Double Oxford, Buxton and Pinehurst before moving on to Surprise Minor methods, Cambridge, Primrose, Ipswich and Bourne.

For some of the group, including myself, it’s the first time that we’ve rung some of these methods so it has been a massive achievement for the group.

Some weeks are better than others. Sometimes the technology is a bit flaky and let’s the rhythm down and sometimes one or more of us isn’t quite on top form. The point is that we stick with it. Each week we have a core 8 or 9 people, so each touch requires one or more person to sit out. But that’s just what it would be like in a real tower anyway. We spend about an hour or so ringing and I use a simple matrix (pictured) to try to make sure that everyone gets a fair go, and gets to try the method from every bell.

Now we’re more proficient at ringing some Surprise Minor methods, I asked everyone how they wanted to proceed. The options were to either a) stick with Surprise Minor and work our way through some of those methods, b) to move on to ringing Major methods, starting with something basic to help us get into an 8 bell rhythm, or c) to go for a combination of both, to add some variety, but that might mean sometimes learning 2 methods at the same time for some people. I want everyone to feel that they get something out of it, enjoy it, but not to feel pressured too much that they spend all week stressing over it.

The resounding result was to try a combination of both. We then agreed that the 2 methods should be “methods of the month” so we spend every week in the month consolidating those 2 methods before moving on. So for November our methods of the month will be Norwich Surprise Minor and Little Bob Major. Hopefully we’ll be able to give everyone good go at both of those throughout the evenings.

And after an intensive ringing session, we all head down the virtual pub for a good natter to catch up with what everyone’s been up to. Just like a real ringing session but without leaving the comfort of home.

Thank goodness for the advent of RingingRoom and Zoom.

Focus, focus

Wednesday evening’s #bellringing meeting agenda had 15 items on it and the meeting was scheduled for 2 hours with 9 attendees. Focus and a good Chairperson was going to be required in order to get through that lot in the time allowed. The meeting platform of choice was Zoom.

Usually this particular meeting is well managed and several email and offline discussions would have already taken place, so a lot of it is for informational purposes, but sometimes assigning actions to move things forward, and the odd formal bit of business that requires sign off.

There are some quite major projects on the go as well as needing to ensure the core business activities are kept on track. Fortunately this group are all well versed and good humoured, so the meetings don’t tend to feel like they drag or are unnecessary.

The meeting rattled through, including some sticky subjects, business duly conducted and only 10 minutes over published time. I think I only got one action out of it, so all good. 🤣

One of the things I can’t help but notice during these types of meetings is people’s refreshment choice. There were several glasses of wine in evidence, a couple of reds, 1 white I think and possibly 1 rose. There were a couple of mugs, presumably with tea or coffee in, unless they were cunningly disguising their beer or wine. My own beverage of choice was red wine, but it was wine Wednesday in our house after all 😀

Which platform?

Yesterday I had a number of virtual meetings both at work and for #bellringing in the evening. This has consisted of using various different video conferencing platforms.

At work we use Starleaf which enables meetings and video conferencing, screen sharing and so on. You have to send your attendees a link with a meeting ID and password and you can dial in on a phone instead.

We have a fortnightly Skype meeting with family members and our daughter. You need a log in for that and connect with other users first.

We use Zoom for #bellringing meetings and to support RingingRoom sessions. Similar to Starleaf with the ability to run polls and breakout rooms as well. I have acpaid Zoom account which often means I’m the one setting the meeting up. Again you can send attendees a link to access the meeting or dial in.

Tuesday evening I was on a meeting with the Communications & Marketing workgroup and we used MS Teams for the first time. It seems to have similar functions to Zoom and Starleaf although it did take a bit of getting into. It wasn’t particularly intuitive at first. Once you get into it it made a bit more sense but I haven’t figured out how to add files or calendar dates yet but probably need to spend a bit more time rummaging around it to get myself acquainted with it. We’re supposed to be getting this rolled out at work eventually.

There are so many different platforms being used for various things sometimes it’s a wonder that it all works. So many log in IDs and passwords to remember.

What is the defining moment that shaped your identity?

An interesting question popped up in one of my social media time lines. It possetted that the best way to get to know people was instead of asking where someone is from or what they do, ask what was the defining moment that shaped their identity.

We are often defined by our job title, our social status, our religion, relationship status and so on.

I like questions like this but I’m not very good at answering them myself. I’m not sure I could pinpoint a defining moment, more a steady build up of experiences.

Getting to know yourself is important in defining who you are. Finding out what makes you tick. Observing how you think and feel, reflecting on thought process and recognising and catching some of these thoughts before they cause any anxiety.

I read an article in Psychologies Magazine offering a series of questions to ask friends or colleagues to get to know each other better. The idea is each person completes the following sentences then shares them with each other (I’ve added my own answers in italics):

To get the best out of me … give me all the data and the time to analyse it and formulate questions and an action plan. Give me some encouragement that I’m on the right track. Treat me how you want to be treated.

In social situations … I’m generally uncomfortable, give me an “in” to a conversation so I’m not stood on the sidelines like Billy-no-mates, but give me and “out” opportunity to leave when I’ve had enough without it being awkward.

If I am stressed or worried ... I will shut my office door ear a lot of rubbish food, or sleep. It can’t bother me if I’m asleep.

When you ask me to do something … give me all the information then let me get on with it. Don’t micro manage me. I will shout if I have any problems or questions. You will be kept up to date.

If you are upset or angry with me … tell me straight away. I can’t put it right and learn from it otherwise. And the sooner its dealt with, the better for everyone.

If you have feedback for me ... let’s go grab a coffee and go through it together so I fully understand and we can formulate a plan.

If you want to praise me or reward me … please do, be genuine about it but don’t make a big deal about it.

If I say no to something … be assured there’s a damn good reason. I won’t say it unless I have to and I will tell you why.

When I want time to myself … I’ll take myself somewhere else, and probably bake something or read, or sleep.

I am trying to get to know myself better and be more curious about others, to know them better too. That’s all still work in progress.

The Week Ahead

I turned the page in my diary to look at the week ahead. Its going to be a busy one.

I have the day job of course, 9.5 hour days Monday to Thursday. Then when I get home, apart from Monday evening, I have Zoom meetings or Ringing Room sessions every evening.

Tuesday a workgroup meeting, Wednesday an executive meeting, Thursday a RingingRoom #bellringing session, Friday a RingingRoom session, a joint workgroup discussion and a different workgroup meeting. Then Saturday a day off.

Its just one of those weeks when everything happens all at once. Thankfully not every week is like this.

Keeping busy is a great way to keep hopeful and motivated. Having something to occupy our time gives us something to talk about, something to learn from, something to share with others.

I know myself when I keep busy, I’m more motivated, have increased energy, more productive, more creative, more alert and more positive. When I have less to do, I get easily distracted by nothingness and lose focus, then just sit on the sofa playing games on my tablet.

Having said all that, of course it is good to have some down time, to relax and recharge. I have a week off work the following week which I’m looking forward to.