Oh well, it doesn’t seem possible that only 8 weeks ago I was travelling through Spain with my commanding officer, and now Christmas is approaching fast. I think most sparkies have an in-built fear of Christmas due to those blasted tree lights. And really whether they be lamps wired in series or LED versions they are all a pain in the backside. My wife/CO really has a thing about lights at Xmas. Our tree has 2 x sets of 400 LEDs strings and you nearly need welding goggles to look at the thing, I would prefer just a few lights and more traditional baubles, but who am I to state a preference?
Anyway, back to business. Where has Ted been this month? Since arriving back from Spain I have been working every day (although supposedly semi-retired). I have been to Knightsbridge, Whitehall, Caerphilly, Bournemouth and Horley. I even spent a week training in Witney, Oxfordshire, working on my doorstep for a change.
Leading up to Christmas my order book is still pretty full and January and February are starting to fill up now.
Now don’t get me wrong because I like Christmas. I actually enjoy Christmas (apart from the visiting). What I don’t like is the first few months of the new year. This time of the year always makes me think of Douglas Adams’s “Long dark tea-time of the soul” it’s damp, dark, cold and thoroughly miserable. That’s when my thoughts turn back to long days involving sea, sand and sun. One day we may relocate to Spain. The climate is much healthier and as my very good friend and old boss Adrian Hickinbottom used to say “warm sun on old bones Ted”.
During the course of November I ran a couple of Inspect & Test along with PAT courses that I hadn’t done for a while due to spending more time with maintenance courses. So going back to these with a fresh eye was very useful and prompted me to re-hash these courses and develop new training materials.
As stated earlier, I have a full diary of work for December and that’s aside from the social occasions. My first Christmas dinner is on the evening of December the 1st so you can be assured that by the 25th I may well have reached saturation point.
I always try to end my blog with a little note of kindness, so I with regard to Christmas I do like to look beyond the commercial side and consider those that are less fortunate than we may be. I hate all the bullshit advertising campaigns that provide £250k salaries for executives, and I particularly dislike misguided fundraising that prolongs civil war in Africa. I really do believe that charity begins at home and as usual, I will be subscribing to local causes.