Time off

The story this week has really been about time off.  We had a Bank Holiday Monday, which coincided with the first day of half term for the rest of the Scobi clan, and I personally have Thursday and Friday off this week, meaning I have a two day week this week.  Still two days more than GF, but a welcome thing nonetheless.

On a work front, that is fine, since I am basically between deals, and I am still getting used to the deal cycle, since my previous role was about large quantities of everything, so the business was about volumes, and rare dipped.  Being somewhere near the top of my game definitely helped with that I am sure.  With my new role, similar I think to Bad Man (and Golfy come to think of it), the deals are larger and longer, and will be, once I am in the swing, a cyclic thing with moments of hard work and intensity, leading up to submission, and moments of slack, in-between deals.
The fact that my deals are also a little slow means that I am not busy enough.  This will change I know.

During the long weekend, we had some sport; a football tournament for Maggot 2 on Saturday, where we did quite well, but faded in the knockout stage, and were definitely hampered by the lack of a goalie.  I now realise this could shape the whole of next season if not solved.  See next comment for possible news on this.

On Sunday, Maggot 1 was playing a cricket match at a local, well-to-do village.  The scene was idyllic, the match well played by both sides, and the weather was balmy.  We lost, but only just, and having put up a pretty good batting performance, something that has been lacking in previous games.  It was a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.
At this match, a young lad approached Maggot 2 asking if he played for the Trojans and if he know the coaches.  Maggot 2 is never one to be overly effusive to anyone he has not known for at least a year, so did not say too much, but I picked up the mantle and managed to discover that this lad was, let's call him Charlie, and someone Maggot 1 had mentioned a while back as "joining your team" but who, when I enquired, no-one on our side knew about.  It transpires that one of our less frequently used coaches DID know about him, and was meant to be passing on his details, but has yet to do so.  I was therefore asked to make contact.

Making contact was to be done by asking Maggot 1 to send a message (on social media) to his mate, who is the older brother of Charlie.  Having been informed during many a high-volume discussion that all his mates are allowed on their phones whenever they want, and he hates us, Maggot 1 did throw in that this particular mate was not allowed on his phone much.  It took two days for him to acknowledge Maggot 1's message, and goodness knows how long to actually get Charlie's parents to ring me so we can arrange for Charlie to come to a practice.  Note to self not to ever rely on a teenager for any kind of urgent communications.  And I thought this social media thing made everything instant.

Anyhow, when I was chatting with Charlie, I asked him if he knew a keeper, to be told that "Alan" was also looking to join and he was a good keeper, so once I have made the first contact, I then need to try and make a second one with Alan to see if we cannot bag ourselves a keeper.  Now that really would be a result.

It is fair to say that the Premiership has nothing on local U11 football.

On our time off, we are off the Windsor for two days and one night, staying in an ubiquitous Travelodge hotel.  We plan to see the castle, maybe Eton if we can get there, and generally see the sites.  It will be fun and we are all looking for it.

Before I sign off, just wanted to give an update on the floor.  It is two thirds done, with the utility and study area done last week, and the front half of the main room now also done.  The trickiest bit, around the cooking and eating area, was cleaned last night, and has been left for the required twenty-four hours to dry out.  I plan to seal it today, first coat at lunch and the other two either side of football practice tonight.  We have opted for a gloss finish, as I may have said before, it is not particularly in favour at this time judging by the low stock levels at our supplier, but for us it is just what we wanted.  Having moved from satin back to gloss for our woodwork (part of this work started with a redecoration of the utility area, with the walls freshened up with a new coat of emulsion, and the doors all now glossed) it was the natural next step to do the floor also.  It is lovely, better than we hoped, and not surprisingly it really does bring out the colours in the slate, as well as making the rooms feel brighter.

On that note, I wish you a happy rest of the week and weekend.  Speak again next week.