It's been a while

Had an extra long weekend last weekend, taking Tuesday and Wednesday off, to give me a full six days of relaxation and other nice things.

We have not had any football with Maggot 2 for a while, it starts again this weekend, so instead Maggot 2, Maggot 1 and I went out to a local school to do some practice a couple of times.  It was fun to have both boys out in the fresh air with no controllers in sight, and we practiced a number of things, including long shots and one-touch finishing for balls put in to the danger zone.
While we were practicing, a bunch of kids turned up and setup for some baseball practice, and as we were leaving an older team, probably under fourteens, turned up for practice on the goal the other end of the pitch on which we were playing.  It is good to see this kind of stuff going on.  The field backs on to the canal, and the sun was shining, so it was hard for us not to have fun.

As a result of my two days off, this was a very short work week.  In essence, it was a case of getting on top of my inbox, chatting with colleagues on the status of activities, and generally getting back in the saddle.  My deal is on a slight lull, so yesterday at least was a very straightforward day that enabled me to ease in to this working thing.  Today has a few more calls, so will be a bit more hectic.  Then it is the weekend again.  Woo hoo.

In the wider world - which represents currently anything happening beyond our front gate - there seems to be some agitation over the calling of a snap election.  To echo Gorse Fox's view on things, I would like to call for what is probably the impossible; let's engage in adult debate, let's respect others opinions, and let's not keep falling in to the trap of considering and arguing our personal opinion as if it is fact.

I am intrigued by the tactics going on here.  The argument made seemed fairly clear - we do not want the election to be happening at the other end of the negotiation phase - however it is hard not to consider what it will do for the Labour party, for SNP, and potentially for UKIP.  It is, of course, a gamble of sorts, and we know the last time a PM rolled the dice - Cameron calling a referendum on membership of Europe - it did not work out as planned.  It is true today, as it was yesterday, that any plan made on a spreadsheet or in a dark corner of some office or club, rarely pans out as expected.  Once the harsh light of reality shines on it, and the opposing parties react to the initial shock by energising their thinking and activities, anything can happen.  And in these post-truth days, it often does.

On that note, I wish you a great weekend, and speak next week.