The worrying thing is the speed of time. It's flying by. I was talking to Bon about when mum went into the hospital for her hip op, back in February - January 31st to be precise - and it seems like only yesterday, but it's not, it was ages ago, the beginning of the year. And now, seemingly days later, she's out of hospital and, it would be fair to say, has made a complete recovery.
Suddenly, the warmer weather has arrived, along with the blossom trees being in full bloom and Andy wearing shorts again on the ride. Even last week the weather was the complete opposite to what it was on Good Friday (yesterday). Last week it was minus one degree when I left the house. Yesterday, it was 23 degrees, sunny, summery, tee-shirt weather.
Andy and I met at the green and decided to head for the churchyard, a summer location if ever there was one. It's not the sort of place you'd visit if there was a chance of rain, put it that way. It's exposed, there's no shelter, so it's a summer location that always brings back pleasant memories. It's a place to chill out under blue skies where silence rules the roost and the smell of freshly-cut grass is never far away. Occasionally, from beyond the trees, you might hear the shouts of Lycra monkeys, but, by and large, you're on your own, concealed from view.
We sat there 'doing the usual' - drinking tea and munching biscuits, although I've given up the biscuits and made do with tea (decaff). The topic of conversation was the short-sightedness of managers, the arrogance of the businessman and the amounts of money bad managers are losing their bosses through all the usual shenanigans: short-changing their staff, shafting them, being petty and micro-managing. It goes on everywhere and it's all down to poor recruitment decisions from above.
I found myself reminiscing about a past job in which I spent an inordinate amount of time travelling the UK in search of the perfect pub meal (and often finding it). What a great job. Sitting on a train with a book, en route to some distant location where I had nothing else to do but pull up a chair and enjoy the cuisine of some of the UK's finest pub chefs - and then repeating the process the following day and the day after until it was time to go home.
It was soon time to hit the road, so we made our way out of the churchyard, down the steps and on to the road to begin the ride home. It's an uphill climb towards Botley Hill and, as always, I found myself in the wrong gear. Following last week's two punctures (see previous post) I almost considered taking the long way home or joining Andy and riding along The Ridge, the latter being the better option as Slines Oak Road is not as steep as Hesiers Hill, but time was of the essence so I decided to risk the 269. It wasn't too bad. I didn't want to use the off-road path for fear of a repeat of last week's disastrous morning, so I stuck to the road.
I reached home around 1020hrs and discovered that my lawnmower had given up and died. Smoke was visible, the blade wasn't turning, it was time to visit the mower store.
"It's either the capacitator or the motor," said a man in a red tee-shirt from behind the counter. He knew a lot about mowers. "If it's the capacitator it'll cost £30 to repair; if it's the motor you might as well buy a new mower," he added.
Something tells me I'll be buying a new mower later in the week. But the good news was that I didn't have to mow the lawn, although, in all honesty, it didn't really need it as I'd given it the first cut of summer last week. I think the good weather prompted me to get out in the garden and do something so why not mow the lawn again, get it in shape for the months ahead. But no, it was not to be and in a way I was relieved.
The trouble with early hot weather is you know it's not going to last and that, sooner or later, there will be rain, but hopefully not over the next few days. They're predicting another sunny one today (Saturday 20 April). It's currently 8 degrees outside, according to my iphone, which is predicting a high of 24 degrees. The plan is to meet Bon on Woodmansterne Green and possibly ride over to mum's for tea and cake. Let's see what the day has in store.
Suddenly, the warmer weather has arrived, along with the blossom trees being in full bloom and Andy wearing shorts again on the ride. Even last week the weather was the complete opposite to what it was on Good Friday (yesterday). Last week it was minus one degree when I left the house. Yesterday, it was 23 degrees, sunny, summery, tee-shirt weather.
We sat there 'doing the usual' - drinking tea and munching biscuits, although I've given up the biscuits and made do with tea (decaff). The topic of conversation was the short-sightedness of managers, the arrogance of the businessman and the amounts of money bad managers are losing their bosses through all the usual shenanigans: short-changing their staff, shafting them, being petty and micro-managing. It goes on everywhere and it's all down to poor recruitment decisions from above.
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| The Tatsfield Churchyard... |
It was soon time to hit the road, so we made our way out of the churchyard, down the steps and on to the road to begin the ride home. It's an uphill climb towards Botley Hill and, as always, I found myself in the wrong gear. Following last week's two punctures (see previous post) I almost considered taking the long way home or joining Andy and riding along The Ridge, the latter being the better option as Slines Oak Road is not as steep as Hesiers Hill, but time was of the essence so I decided to risk the 269. It wasn't too bad. I didn't want to use the off-road path for fear of a repeat of last week's disastrous morning, so I stuck to the road.
I reached home around 1020hrs and discovered that my lawnmower had given up and died. Smoke was visible, the blade wasn't turning, it was time to visit the mower store.
"It's either the capacitator or the motor," said a man in a red tee-shirt from behind the counter. He knew a lot about mowers. "If it's the capacitator it'll cost £30 to repair; if it's the motor you might as well buy a new mower," he added.
Something tells me I'll be buying a new mower later in the week. But the good news was that I didn't have to mow the lawn, although, in all honesty, it didn't really need it as I'd given it the first cut of summer last week. I think the good weather prompted me to get out in the garden and do something so why not mow the lawn again, get it in shape for the months ahead. But no, it was not to be and in a way I was relieved.
The trouble with early hot weather is you know it's not going to last and that, sooner or later, there will be rain, but hopefully not over the next few days. They're predicting another sunny one today (Saturday 20 April). It's currently 8 degrees outside, according to my iphone, which is predicting a high of 24 degrees. The plan is to meet Bon on Woodmansterne Green and possibly ride over to mum's for tea and cake. Let's see what the day has in store.
A job that requires travel can be a tough one, but really exciting at the same time. I have always wanted a job in which I can travel, but unfortunately never got one. I can tell that you must have enjoyed your Job that required you to travel in the UK, I wish I could have that job!
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