What’s the time Mr Wolf?

British Summer Time ends at 01:00 on Sunday morning and as such clocks are turned back an hour. Depending on where you look, the reasons state that this was to make the most of daylight hours. One site even states that during WW2 British DOUBLE Summer Time was 2 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and was temporarily introduced when daylight saving would be in force, and during the winter were kept 1 hour ahead of GMT to increase productivity.

The way I remember which way the clocks go is “spring forward, fall back” . i.e. in spring time we move forward an hour (an hour less in bed) and in autumn, we move back an hour (an hour extra in bed). According to some “fall” used as term for autumn is actually of Germanic origin adopted by 16th century England as a contraction of expressions like “fall of the year”, and not American as some would think.

For most of us, this moment in time will go unnoticed as we’ll be asleep, however I wonder how those working the night shift view it. Particularly those jobs that require time stamped data. For example if someone was giving birth at 01:00 would the baby’s birth certificate show midnight or 01:00 as time of birth? Would that baby actually be an hour older than their birth certificate states? If the police apprehend a criminal during some misdead, was the time of arrest an hour later, so when they ask the question “where were you at 01:00?” the perpetrator could genuinely they were somewhere else.

The task of physically moving clocks back an hour is painful, especially in this house. Modern devices will change automatically but we have so many manual clocks to change that the task starts early in the day on Saturday, resulting in never being entirely sure what the time is all day.

We have the cooker, microwave and wall clock in the kitchen. The hall clock and barometer in the hall. The study clock. Four clocks in the lounge. R’s bedroom clock. Our bedroom clock and the alarm clock. Analogue watches x4. Thankfully mobile phones, tablets, laptops, PC and TV will all update themselves.

Oh, and just for fun, the alarm clock is always 20 minutes ahead so I can wake up gradually before the 06:00 news. The lounge wall clock is half an hour ahead so that we’re not late for things. And the study clock is backwards. No wonder my body clock is hinky and I’m usually awake by 05:00 and asleep again by 21:00.

I shall endeavour to make the most of the extra hour in bed but suspect I’ll be wide awake.

By this time next year we’ll be miwyonaires, Rodney.

I gave C the choice of what I’d bake this weekend. The options were millionaire shortbread,  lemon & blueberry biscotti, iced biscuits, or ice cream cone cupcakes. After some consideration he opted for the shortbread.

I’ve never actually made millionaire shortbread before. I’ve made shortbread, I’ve made caramel and I’ve made chocolate ganache as part of other recipes, but never put them all together. Its all relatively easy but I get impatient with waiting for things to cool down before doing the next stage.

That’s the good thing about baking though. It forces you to slow down. Everything about life tends to be full on and at hyper speed. I listen to podcasts at 1.5 speed, I drive to work because its quicker, I’m a fast eater and have always finished first, once I’m up and dressed in the morning, I need to get on with things, I hate sitting around waiting. Weeks are rushing by and we don’t often get to slow down.

We had hoped to go out for a walk on Saturday but just as we’d decided where to go it came over all dark and drizzly so we decided to stay in instead. Then of course the sun came out. That got me a bit aggy because now what was I going to do with the rest of the day?

Well, instead of rushing about feeling like I had to do something, I sat and read a book. In fact I also ordered 3 new books on a subject that I wouldn’t normally go for but have decided to widen my horizon and try something different.

I waited for the shortbread to cool, then I waited for the caramel to set, then I waited for the chocolate to harden. Then I scoffed some, whilst reading my book.

“Slow down and enjoy life. Its not only the scenery you miss by going too fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and why” – Eddie Cantor

Brain drain

The brain apparently has the capacity for storage similar to that of an ipod or USB drive, but the way neurons connect many memories at a time, this capacity is exponentially increased. Why is it then, my ability to learn and retain a new #bellringing method is nanoseconds?

Learning new things is good for the brain. The younger the brain, the more space it has for new memory storage. As we get older it takes a bit longer and things become easier to forget quicker.

One way to learn is repetitive practice. It is suggested by some that spacing repetition over several weeks or months will have better longer term retention. There are tips and tricks on how to remember things more easily, if you can remember what they are in the first place. Exercice to clear your head. I don’t need exercise to clear my head, its pretty clear most of the time 🤣 Write down what needs to be remembered over and over again, just remember where you’d written it. Relate new things to what you already know, use some brain training app or game to sharpen your focus.

Lots of uber clever ringers remember methods as what the work is above and below where the treble is, or by thinking of it as a different method with bits added or chopped out.

Every time I need to learn a new method, I spend a while staring at the blue line, the pattern of the work. I sometimes even write it out a few times. Then I’ll have a go of ringing it on the simulator and do that over and over again.

Mt trouble is that I’m not very good at retaining it, so if I don’t then ring it for real very soon after learning it, I’ll forget it. I can also instantly forget it after I’ve rung it once and then have to learn it all over again for next time. And, when I learn it again, I have very little recollection of having rung it before, its like its completely new all over again.

I’m glad I get the opportunity to learn new methods and extend my repertoire, even if only temporarily. Apparently learning new things improves brain chemistry, increases learning speed, helps make connections between skill areas, makes you more interesting (😉) fights boredom and may help stave off dementia.

Double Trouble

Every now and then, half way through a workday afternoon I get a real hankering for cake or biscuits. I’m supposed to be dieting but a long afternoon often needs a sugar boost to get me through to the end of the day. Its really not helpful having an M&S and WHSmith on site. It makes it too easy to pop along for a snack.

For some reason, Wednesday was a day that needed feeding. I’d brought my breakfast in and had it at about 9am. Yoghurt and grape nuts. Pretty good. I’d brought my lunch in too, homemade leek & potato soup with a slice of C’s homemade multiseed bread 😋. So far so good.

I had a couple of video conferences over the lunchtime period so I’d eaten my soup by 12:30. After the calls, I went for a walk around the hospital site to get some fresh air. Despite being damp out, it was warm and quite pleasant.

When I got back to my desk, I ate my Fibre One cake bar, swiftly followed by the popcorn bar, which I sometimes save for snack later on. But I still wasn’t satisfied.

Purse in hand I went to M&S firmly resolved just to get a small packet of biscuits. But I want cake. I REALLY want cake. But I want something savoury too. And something sweet for a sugar kick.

Before I knew it I’d got 2 packets of sweets, a packet of pitta chips and a twin pack of lemon curd whitby buns (why don’t they sell them in singles?).

I know, I’ll have the sweets this afternoon because I need a quick sugar hit, then save everything else for tomorrow.

Apparently not. I’ll get back to my desk, then scoff the lot. Now I have a sugar high and full up so I’ll not want my dinner. Doh!

Able Relationships

Day 2 of our Leadership course talked about 3 able relationships that leaders should consider.

1. NOTICABLE – how we should take notice and responsibility of ourselves, of others and of the task.

2. RESPONSIBLE – how we respond to problems can sometime make it worse. We have the power to choose our response: change it, change ourself, accept it or walk away.

3. DESIRABLE – how much do we want to change ourself to manage relationships and leadership behaviours.

The final exercise of the day was to take it in turns to talk about each member of our group in terms of what we had appreciated about them over the last 2 days and what we felt they could do to improve their leadership skills. That person had to sit quietly and listen and then had an opportunity to respond. Bearing in mind that before day 1 most of us had never met.

When it came to my turn to be analysed I sat in the hot seat with sweaty palms. The comments around what people had appreciated about me were things like my quick witedness, honesty, natural skills, good leadership qualities, focused, put everyone at ease, not pretending to be something I’m not and very able.

The suggestions about what I need to improve on were having a greater sense of self belief, understanding others a bit more and being aware of my own ability. One of the comments I had made about myself earlier in the day was that I don’t consider myself a people person, but everyone disagreed and felt that I had been open, friendly, curious, caring and inclusive and that I should try to stop seeing myself that way.

These 2 days were a really useful practical assessment and learning experience. All previous leadership courses I’ve been on, and indeed my Masters in Healthcare Leadership, have tended to be more theoretical but didn’t really give anything by way of practical suggestions. The giving and receiving of feedback for me, has been key to unlocking some changes I need to make in my own perception of myself so that I can be more like how others see me. As one of the group said I am my own worst saboteur.

This course continues next month with another couple of days. We weren’t given anything to work on between now and then, but I guess the idea is that we take this new found knowledge about ourselves, and work on those areas to improve.

Intra, inter and Extra

Day 1 of our leadership course is asking us to reflect on our intra, inter and extra awareness. The awareness of ourselves, others and the wider world.

In a task in the afternoon we were given 4 instructions, the second of which was to select a leader for the task through a formal process. There were 4 of us in the team and after a very brief discussion about process I was nominated by all of the other 3, so I didn’t really get the opportunity to challenge.

The task was to prepare a 3 minute presentation to the Executive about building and maintaining morale, highlighting the challenges and changes required of leaders. We then had discussion and decided a way forward, then we had to pretend to present it.

After the task everyone is then invited to provide feedback on the content and dynamics of the leadership of the task. Basically invite character assassination but in a constructive way.

I was invited to give feedback first on how I thought it had gone and how people had behaved and contributed before they gave feedback on my leadership of the task.

Given that we’d only met each other that morning and had done a couple of small tasks together, there seemed to be already some understanding of people’s skills and attributes. Apparently, I was nominated to lead this task as I had already demonstrated earlier my ability to understand the rules of a task, to methodically approach the task and keep people on track.

Whilst it was really hard to listen whilst others talked about you, it was a very supportive environment, and I didn’t feel in any way threatened or demoralised by what people said. I actually found it uncomfortable because people were saying very complimentary things about my style. In fact there was nothing negative at all.

I was described as calm, considered, logical, methodical, organised, inclusive and paid attention to everyone, and strong when I needed to pull people back on topic and keep them to time. One person even said that they aspired to be like me.

The trouble is that I have no belief in that myself. I’m not saying they were lying about what they said, it would be difficult to accuse the whole group of conspiring, but I just don’t see it in myself.

The group facilitator wrote it all down (pictured) and told me to take it home and keep it to remind me of my leadership attributes, and believe it when other people see it in me, even if I don’t see it myself.

Just the two of us

With our area in Tier 2 restrictions the #bellringing community is once again advised to not meet in multiple households. So the decision was whether its worth #bellringing just 2 bells.

We went along to the Cathedral anyway. We met the Dean and other clergy who also asked if everything was OK last week as we didn’t ring at all then. We clarified that others had been ill so we’d decided not to ring, and explained that it would just be the 2 of us until restrictions changed.

C did try to chime 2 bells so we could try 3 between us but the musical version was too heavy to keep going, so we decided to stick to ringing the 4th and 5th properly.

We did a few minutes of rounds, ding dong, then swapped places, dong ding, then back again. Then we did some places dodging. Two blows in the same place, dodge, 2 places, then dodge, and kept that going for a while. The finished up with a couple more minutes of ding dong.

Although ringing 2 bells may seem pointless to some, we felt that it was important keep #bellringing going if we could. It seemed to have been welcomed by the Dean.

Fingers crossed these restrictions won’t last long and we can meet some of our friends again.

Something simple for the weekend

The weekly bake continues. This time with a chocolate orange marble cake. It was going to be just chocolate and vanilla marble but something inside me can’t resist chocolate orange flavour.

I used #foodieflavours orange flavouring in the cake batter. Then decided to top it with melted chocolate orange buttons.

I’m missing out on Cake International this year as its been cancelled so my shopping list, that included getting some different #foodieflavours flavourings has also been cancelled. Their flavourings are brilliant. You only need a few drops as they are quite intense. And they have a really large range too.

Chocolate tends to go well with many different flavours though. I quite like raspberry chocolate too.

Looking ahead to next weeks bake, I’ll have the choice. I could either do one of the outstanding BakedIn boxes. I have millionaire shortbread or lemon & blueberry biscotti to make. Or I could do the next magazine bakes of either heart shaped cookies, with the dreaded royal icing again, or ice cream cone cupcakes.

Decisions, decisions 🤔

What time is lunchtime?

Lunchtime seems such a strange time of the day. You can have an early lunch, brunch, a late lunch, a liquid lunch, skip lunch, desk lunch, long lunch, a working lunch and everything in between. But when exactly is it lunchtime?

When I’m at work I tend to get hungry pretty early. I start work at 7:30am, have breakfast around 8:30am but by 12 noon I’m usually hankering after my lunch. Depending on whether I have meetings or not will depend exactly what time I get to eat but its usually some time between 12 noon and 1pm.

Yet when I’m at home or on holiday lunchtime might not be until nearer 2pm. Or yesterday for example was 4pm and we hadn’t had lunch yet because we’d been busy. So is it too late for lunch now because its getting on for dinner time? Or is it a late lunch now? Or is it afternoon tea? At what point is it no longer lunchtime?

I’m got something to eat at 4pm but not much because I didn’t want to fill up and spoil dinner later. So am I having lunch or a snack?

In anticipation

A couple of christmasses ago I was given a 3 month subscription to BakedIn, a baking club where they send you dry ingredients and the recipe card for a different bake each month. I was suitably impressed so I extended it.

Every month you get sent an email just before they post the boxes out, telling you what fresh ingredients you’ll need, but they don’t tell you what the recipe is. The anticipation is trying to guess what’s going to be in the box. The social media groups are abuzz with guesses as to what it might be. There is an embargo for a couple of days to stop anyone posting photos or comments to give everyone a chance to recieve their box. Then there’s usually a photo competition for those who get their bakes done quickly and the winner is sent some other BakedIn goodies.

I’ve never actually made a bake in the same month that it was sent. For a while I was considerably far behind, but since I changed my working hours it meant that I could catch up a bit. I now just about get it down by the end of the following month.

There have been a couple of bakes that we’ve not liked so much but that’s not because of the bake itself, more that we don’t like the some of the ingredients. For example the bakewell tart I had all to myself because C doesn’t like almonds, but then he’s had a different one to himself because I didn’t like it. There has only been one that I haven’t made at all because neither of us would like it, so I’m waiting for a time when I can make it for someone else.

This month, the email said we needed to get a lemon, some butter and eggs. I like lemon flavoured things so I’m sure we’ll like this one. And I still have last months millionaire shortbread to do.

I await my delivery 😋