After my leadership training last week I should now be a better human being. Time will tell.
Actually the training was really good and I think I can put some of what I learnt into practice to resolve some ongoing issues at work. The difficulty will be making time to revisit all my notes to embed that learning. Not always an easy thing to do. However, I've made a commitment to pick up the action to keep the ball rolling and to make sure newbies also get the training. So I'm going to have to get my head around it one way or the other.
When I wrote last week I was full of promises to go to a local supermarket to get some better food than what was on offer in the hotel. That was up until colleagues I met later in the morning talked about how difficult it had been to secure a parking spot.
Given my parking spot was right outside the door of the hotel (I was obviously lucky) I wasn't keen to lose my prime position. As a result I ate more carbohydrates last week than I think I've eaten in a year. It was literally cooked breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and then sandwiches for supper - for 5 days!!!!
Needless to say this weekend I made sure there were at least 5 different vegetables on offer to boost my vitamin levels. It was also amazing to eat some hot food!
As feared my carb heavy week has stacked on the weight and so I'm going to have to starve myself for at least a fortnight to get back to the levels of overweight I was before the week. Joy Joy happy happy.
Food aside it was a comfortable week at the hotel, though I slept horribly. Next time I have a similar situation I'm definitely going to bring a pillow from home with me. Lesson learnt.
It was great to spend time with colleagues and hopefully from a networking perspective there are some people I can catch up with in the future. Though also, as ever when I meet humans, I suspect there are at least 2 people that are hoping our paths never cross again. I know for sure that there is one person who is pleased not to spend time with me again. Sometimes I despair at myself.
I had a lovely welcome from family when I came home. Dog especially - she nearly hit the ceiling she was bouncing up and down so much. Surprisingly she hasn't done her normal behaviour of acting happy to see me after an absence and then ignoring me for 4 days to punish me for going away. She's currently curled up next to me as I type.
The biggest issue last week was clothes. From a 'what to wear' perspective the instructions simply said 'no uniform'. Now I don't wear a uniform, but many of my colleagues do. But what does 'no uniform' actually mean. It could literally be anything. On top of that the weather is surprisingly warm, but as it's October there's every chance that could have only lasted a day.
So I ended up with a suitcase full of a huge amount of clothes and 2 cardigans. Obviously I ended up without a single suitable outfit, so had to cobble together something resembling a normal outfit from what I had. Not helped by the fact that on 2 mornings I spilt food down my front at breakfast and so had to recycle clothes I'd worn on a previous day.
Every morning I went for a walk through the science park, to keep my legs moving. It was a 40 minute walk if I walked down to the bottom of the park and then doubled back and walked to the entrance of the park and then back to the hotel.
Although it was a science park, the grounds of the hotel were stunning, with woodland walks all over the place. Sadly - as ever - these walks were only open to the men on the course, because as a woman I didn't feel secure enough to walk through woods alone. This always makes me furious, the fact that certain walks and places are out of bounds for women - not because of monsters, but because they may get attacked by a man. There's still so far to go to resolve the way men treat women, I don't think it will ever be sorted out to be honest. At least not in my lifetime.
You may think that I'm making a fuss about nothing, but like every woman I could give you a list as long as my arm of when I've been flashed, followed or intimidated during a walk at some point in my life. And some of those have been within the last year - even though I'm old and haggard.
Though I recognise that for every one asshole out there there are 99 other men who recognise that there could be a nervousness and step aside, cross the road - or smile. And I'd like to thank every one of you for that.
Funnily enough I'm never nervous if I see a man with a dog - I guess because there's a reason for them to be out in the woods. There is at least some logic there.
Saturday was as per normal, dog walking, going to butchers, cooking for friends etc. etc. On Sunday I was very unmotivated to move (which is actually quite normal as well). Sun was shining and so husband and I decided to go down to the beach to walk the dog.
Husband was kicking himself because the surf was unusually 'up' and he hadn't thought to take his board out. It's a bit of a hassle because the nearest surfable beach is about a 20 minute drive away. There's a reef on the beach where we live which means unless you were a total professional you'd likely take every bit of skin off your body as you headed to shore.
Though it seemed that everybody on earth was out there on their paddle boards, hence todays picture. Though I notice in the photo the surf isn't up, must have just been that bit of beach. It was very wavy elsewhere - honest!
I went down to the beach in long trousers a shirt and a sweatshirt. It was actually so hot that even my legs were sweating (sexy). I took off the sweatshirt, but was still too hot. I actually quite like it when the sun is shining in October. It always makes the cold and dark of the winter feel so much shorter. Let's face it it's 11 weeks until Christmas (exciting). Though there is no Smugglers parade this year and the church isn't having a Christmas Tree Festival (sad face). I'm going to have to come up with something else Christmassy to get myself in the spirit.
Oh on the subject of Christmas, I'm driving husband bonkers because I'm 3 presents away from being completely finished with my purchasing. Though the ones left are big presents as they are for mum, dad, brother and son. Husband is all sorted, though I need to get a gift for son to give him and am a bit stuck for ideas. Everybody else is done, my team at work, my goddaughter, nephew and the friends that we exchange presents with. It's always such a relief to have had the ideas, purchased the items and have them tucked away. I literally couldn't face a last minute rush. Though every year it means I miss out on loads of good Christmas deals and end up kicking myself. But as ever, I never learn from my mistakes, that's just not the way I rock and roll.
Anyway, that's about it for this week. It's nice to be back home with the family and for things to feel a bit more normal. I'm about to start work and am wondering what curve balls are going to be thrown at me this morning.
Oh - and guess what - I won the lottery twice last week. I'm literally rolling in it and wondering what to spend my £8.40 winnings on!
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