Friday
Back to (semi)normal today. I’m working from home (or ‘wfh’ as we say), as I really didn’t fancy getting up at 5 o’clock after the three day course and the drive home from Croydon.
The drive home itself was an experience, not because of the traffic, but because the car was an automaitc. I’ve driven a handful of automatics over the years, but not often enough to feel really comfortable in them. There’s always that mental block around the fact that there is no clutch, and I can usually expect at least one ‘oops’ moment on any journey. Yesterday’s came as I joined the M11 from the M25. As I came round the slip road, doing a steady 50, I saw queued traffic ahead, so, as you do, it was ‘depress clutch and change down’. Except this was an automatic, the left foot hit the brake hard and it was pretty much an emergency stop, with the gear being moved into neutral! Luckily there was no-one too close behind me otherwise it could have been a tad embarrassing.
The course itself was pretty good, but it seems that on virtually every other course, the activities on the second day lead to massive arguments and hissy fits. The team I was in sailed through the entire day with hardly a ruffled feather, so we were either absolutely brilliant or completely missed the point. I favour the former! The facilitator seemed to have an alternative view.
The hotel on the other hand was very poor. Naming names, it was the Hilton in Croydon. When you have to spend a few days away from home for the Company there is a general expectation that you won’t have to suffer too many deprivations. On this occasion it was agreed that this was the worst hotel most of us had stayed in whilst on business. To start with the air conditioning in the rooms had been adjusted so that it did not throw out chilled air. At best it was recycling at the prevailing temperature, but at times it felt as if it was actually heated. When coupled with the fact that the windows were locked ‘for safety reasons’, there was no chance of getting cooler air in so sleeping was very difficult.
The hotel itself, was at the other extreme, with the cavernous room were were put in (18 people in one half of the ball room) feeling like an icebox at times. Quite why they felt it necessary to use such a large room when we were the only people there heaven only knows.
The food was a real experience. The heady days of the famous ‘Hilton Breakfast’ are clearly but a distant memory in Croydon (and as they charge around £17 for the privilege of having the breakfast an expensive memory as well). Lunch was a serve yourself buffet, not a problem in itself, but when the staff are totally unsure as to what it is they are offering you, it does turn into a bit of a lottery. “Meat”, “fish” and “veggie” seemed the primary descriptors, although that may have been a bit too precise.
In the evenings, they seemed to have an influx of coach parties which threw service totally out of kilter. One of my colleagues had to wait 45 minutes for their bowl of soup to arrive. Still it wasn’t as bad as the 7 who went next door to TGI Fridays, were asked if they had booked (they hadn’t) and were then told they couldn’t be served as the restaurant was “not geared up for large parties tonight”. There were virtually no other diners in the place!
Still Hilton in Docklands for the final session, so hopefully that will restore our faith in the brand.
The weather today has been absolutely fantastic, unfortunately it’s almost impossible to see the laptop screen in bright sunlight, so I had to keep indoors for most of he day. I’m sure the birdsong coming through the open patio doors carried clearly on some of the telephone calls I was involved in though.
I really need to find myself a job that pays the same money but doesn’t involve leaving home. Maybe that book they say is in each of us needs to be brought a bit closer to the surface. Having said that, when it’s a grey January afternoon and it’s dark at 3pm, the appeal is never the same. So, I need a job that also allows me to follow the summer. All suggestions gratefully received.
Number 2 son had gone out straight from school, so I picked him up around 8pm at which point he reminded me that I had agreed to help him rearrange his bedroom when he got home from school. I tried to argue that it was now a bit late to start, but his counter argument that as he had not actually been home from school my promise was still valid, won the day. Didn’t take too long, and we did discover where a number of previously missing items had been hidden, including one mini flake, several tic tacs and a couple of sports bags.
I guess it’s all part of the rich tapestry of parenthood.
NorfolknGood
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