it’s just that it seems such a long time ago. There is a certain exhaustion that just comes from being at work for too many hours. I felt it yesterday (and I only worked the evening but it had been a busy day with the children) and I really felt it today. Back in my retail management days a normal working day was 8am to 6pm, so a 10 hour day was totally run of the mill with regular earlier starts or later finishes at busy times such as January and July sales, promotional evenings, late night shoppping in the run up to Christmas and various other events such as stocktake. Going even further back to teenage days I used to go to sixth form college Monday to Friday, work a 5-8pm shift Monday to Friday at B&Q and work all day Saturday and Sunday at my parents’ restuarant, so I quite literally worked 12 hours every weekday with no days off either – and I used to manage clubbing 4 nights a week too 😯 and one memorable occassion I worked a straight shift through from 5pm one evening til 8am the following morning, having done a day at college beforehand, whizzed home to get changed and went off to college again the following day. Couldn’t do it now though!
Today was my full day at work this week so I walked into work this morning, leaving Ady with the children. I have three days of training coming up over the next two weeks so I had all my pre-training briefing sessions and then spent some time with a lad who is doing work experience in the library this week before Ady and the children picked me up for lunch. That was all a bit frenzied with all of them wanting to tell me stuff at the same time while I shovelled cheese on toast down my throat before taking Ady’s car and going back to work again. The afternoon was similarly busy with me spending an hour on the Enquiry Desk. I realised today it was the six months anniversary of me starting at the library yesterday – that’s gone quick! And means Scarlett is exactly four and a half too – again, that’s gone quick! 😯 Ady arrived at the library around 3pm as Dad had come to look after D&S for the afternoon so he could get some study time before his two exams tomorrow (the last two – phew!) and we left at 5pm and came home together. The children had set up ‘Davies’ shop’ in the garden with more Dad-made signs and the chicks had spent a very happy afternoon in the garden in their new run. We spent an hour dismantling Davies’ shop, tidying the house up, I cooked the kids’ tea and just had time for a quick shower and change of clothes before heading back to the library again while Ady put the kids to bed and cooked our dinner.
Tonight it was an author talk by Pam Goodall a quite remarkable woman who toured great chunks of the world on her bicycle shortly before her 60th birthday, alone and with no pre-planned route or accomodation. She was gone for about a year and experienced all sorts of amazing things, met some wonderful people and saw some staggering things. Her talk was very good, she is very inspirational and interesting and although I hadn’t previously read her book I have now added it to the very long list of titles I would like to read. Above all her message was one of ‘just bloody go and do it’ ness with her planning and setting off on this journey within four months of having the idea – it would have been quicker if she’d not needed rabies jabs! Having done it all before yesterday and being in my own library rather than Shoreham tonight I was super efficient at getting tables and chairs organised and then setting up the refreshments stand (wine, soft drinks and nibbles). I have mainly worked these two nights to win brownie points, they are not paying me although I will get the time back in lieu (infact I was given a day off next week for the hours, which is just as well given I have two training sessions and would have been working four days that week otherwise, nightmare for sorting childcare!) and I certainly won lots of brownie points – all to keep in reserve for the day I do have to let them down at short notice due to my own children being poorly or my childcare falling through – the feeling will be that ‘it’s not like Nicola, she is normally very reliable’ rather than a tutting and eye rolling about me never being able to offer much committment.
The talk was given, questions were asked and answered, attendees had another drink and then we put all the chairs and tables back where they belonged again, cleared away all the refreshments and finally left around 930pm. Dinner at 10pm and now I really am ready for bed. A bit of a lie in tomorrow for me as my parents aren’t due to arrive here until 10am and they are bringing picnic lunch for everyone so all I need to do by 10am is be up, dressed, with children up, dressed and breakfasted. The weather is supposed to be lovely so I’m looking forward to a good day. And of course, we’ll be celebrating the end of A’s exams in the evening too. 🙂