Last week was son's work experience. I had a total nightmare arranging this for him because the laws have changed and people need DBS checks etc. etc. In the end I managed to get an agreement from my work that he could do work experience - on the condition that I was the responsible manager.
So last Sunday after I posted my son and I went to Fareham where I had booked us a hotel. We needed somewhere near the station as we were working from Southampton on one day, but the rest of the week was in Fareham and Lee-on-the-Solent.
Now son is 15 we simply couldn't have coped in the same room for a week, so we needed 2 rooms in the hotel. Some months ago I cashed in my supermarket vouchers, joined lots of hotel apps and managed to get us 2 rooms for 4 nights for about £350. Which was a bargain.
To keep the costs down further part of the packing for the week was a big bag full of food that just required water to be added (porridge/pot noodles) etc.
Needless to say the hotel was certainly not luxury. It was a bit tired and tiles in the bathroom had mould etc. but overall it was at least clean. I'd anticipated that things might not be high end and so son and I had both brought our favourite pillows from home so we could at least get a comfortable sleep.
It was really strange being in the office for every day of the week and commuting in the car. Also to have son with me for pretty much every second of the day. Though I'm grateful we had our own rooms.
I have to say, my colleagues were absolutely amazing. They blew me away with the week that they gave him. It certainly wasn't one of those work experience sessions where you are just making tea for a week. He designed websites, attended training sessions and even managed to go and look at some helicopters.
I was totally jealous and want to put myself forward for work experience as well now!!!!!
Anyway, back to the food. By Tuesday an apple a day simply wasn't enough. I was desperate for some vitamins. Just next to the hotel was a Harvester. I don't think I've been in a Harvester since abot 1988. However, I did remember that they had an 'all you can eat' salad bar. So supper on Wednesday was 3 large bowls of salad. Honestly it was like nectar. Never has a slice of cucumber tasted so good.
On the Wednesday we met up with a friend from work, who gave us a historic tour of Gosport. I have to admit Gosport doesn't have a great name, but I absolutely love it there. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a place near the coastline. Amazing views of Portsmouth harbour.
When we got back from that we packed and son brought all his cases to my room. Thursday was a big day for us. I got up at 5 and packed the car. Once son was ready we then walked to train station and commuted to Southampton. After a full days work in Southampton we caught the train back to Fareham. Picked up our car and then drove home.
Still there was no rest because I needed to set up a desk for son in home study because on the Friday he was working with my team. It was very strange to have him in my normal working environment. Though my team were great and kept him busy for the day and so we didn't work together. This was largely because very early in the week I discovered that if tried to explain anything to me he immediately switched off and didn't listen.
By close of play on Friday I was exhausted - I'd basically been on full duty for a week.
Saturday morning I had to get up early again. For husband's birthday I had booked us tickets for a trip to the Rampion Windfarm in a fishing boat from Brighton Marina. We needed to be at the boat for 09:15.
I was a little nervous about the trip. I've always been fine on water, but the last significant trip I took was on a ferry from Dieppe. It was in a massive storm and they tossed a coin to decide whether to head out to sea. I wish that the coin had come up tails because the trip ended up being terrifying. We were literally on a boat in a full storm that was so bad that all you could hear was smashing glass from bottles and glasses hitting the floor in the bar area. For the first time ever I was seasick - oh so so seasick! If the boat had gone down I'd probably have been relieved.
So I've been a bit wet about going too far offshore since then. I wasn't sure if the seasickness was a new thing or not.
Before we headed out I made some ginger tea which I had in a flask with me just in case. The great news is that it turned out I didn't need it. No sign of sea sickness at all. Which is fortunate.
As we headed out the tide was coming in, a particularly strong one. We needed to head about 8 miles out to get to the windfarm. Ignorantly husband and I sat on the side of the boat with the wind in our faces. As soon as we got out of the harbour because the boat was against the tide huge waves were coming up around the boat. Because of the wind each of those waves was blown directly over us. Within 2 minutes we were soaked. In my bag we had some raincoats. I put one on.
Husband was utterly amazing. Because I have a dodgy thyroid my body doesn't regulate temperature well. If I get too hot I stay too hot, if I get too cold I stay too cold. Husband said I should put his raincoat over my legs to keep them dry so I didn't get hyper thermic. The amazing man then sat their getting soaked to the skin on my behalf (big love).
It was all worth it though. Seeing the wind farm so close up was absolutely stunning. Quite mind blowing actually.
The journey back was a completely different story. We were with the tide and so made it back quickly and there were no big waves hitting us.
It was only at the last minute that we realised that the people who had been sitting on the other side of the boat were still completely dry. We'd taken full force of the wind!!
Anyway, we loved it so much we're already planning our next trip. Next time I'll take more waterproofs and make sure we check wind direction before choosing our seat.
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