No blue sky for two weeks now…I don’t know how how people do it. It’s dark at 4.30 in the afternoon which tricks me into thinking it’s bedtime at 6.30. I’ve tried to get out and about around my apartment, but it’s hard to get motivated to rug up and go out in the cold. I’m leaving for the SOUTH this Friday - work demands (plus apathy) have limited my travel adventures so will make this post a grab bag of bits and pieces that happened during the week. There’s a Cotswolds adventure coming on the weekend so I promise more entertaining stories then.
We had a road trip to County Durham this week, to look at a new supplier. They design “ plug and play” modular electrical systems that reduce the need for qualified electricians to do individual wiring on every unit. The owners are two brothers, both very engaging (one with a Mr Rogers style cardigan on) who plied us with tea and digestive biscuits before giving a tour of their factory. In one area of the factory they have built the frame of a two bedroom apartment (no walls) and they run verified testing to show the speed an electrician can wire it up, vs the speed of the modular installation. Very very interesting. The timing was perfect to stop for lunch on the way home at one of the many old pubs on the roadway. The beef and pepper pie and a cider went down very nicely and when we came outside after lunch there was a brief glimpse of blue. Unfortunately it disappeared as we drove back towards Leeds.
There have been a couple of social opportunities to stave off potential loneliness. My team back in Aus sent me a 5.30am meeting request and it turned out to be a virtual birthday catch up, complete with a happy birthday banner and a few committed souls donning a party hat or a rainbow wig. I’ve also managed two dinners out with various senior people in the business, a nice break from cooking for one, and I have finally perfected the layering technique to be warm outside but not broil when I go back inside. Here’s me off to dinner with full outer layers
.
The Christmas decorations have started to come out and I walked around the city one afternoon and evening to see them. There are a few mystery designs. Does anyone have ANY idea what a crown and a heart have to do with Christmas. I also found a Christmas toastie sandwich with turkey, cranberry, potato, cabbage, brussel sprout and leek hash. I’m not sure a Brussel sprout sandwich sounds like a Christmas treat.
Yorkshire is full of owls and white flowers (the white rose of York I assume) in odd places - carved onto buildings, tiles on the ground and fence detailing. My walking has been at a very ambling pace as I don’t have anywhere particular to be, so I try and spot them as I take a stroll. I was out walking when the garbage collectors were doing their rounds, and they had keys, to go into the locked courtyards in the middle of the blocks and wheel out the giant bins. It seemed really odd, but I guess if there are 30 apartments in a building and two big skips, it’s unlikely that anyone in particular would roll them out to the street, and you might not want the footpaths blocked with big bins?
Workwise it’s a bit hectic trying to tie up loose ends and make all the plans that benefit from live face to face chats, but I’m still making time to sit in the lunchroom and get to know the crew. The casual conversations are all about the weather - the workshop guys have all asked separately how cold it gets at home and then scoffed a bit at the answer. Also lots of conversations and questions about “all them things that can kill ya”, probably brought on my a shark attack in Perth that was reported in the news here. I brought in a huge batch of chocolate chip cookies that I made on the weekend and those were a hit. Finally an update on the cleaners and the northern exposure problem (or is it southern….) that occurs when they clean the gents toilets. The safety barrier was only partially successful in keeping people out during cleaning, so I’ve suggested the cleaning time changes to about 10 minutes after the siren goes off for the shop floor to start work. Let’s hope that does the trick.
Perhaps the crown is about Jesus as king?
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Did you take the opportunity afforded by the garbage men to go into the courtyards?
ReplyDeleteI have had a couple of friends go work in the uk. They survived one winter but just could not face a second and came home at that point. It sounds miserable. Lucky you bought that hat.
Very interesting to hear the progress on the toilet cleaning front. We have a male cleaner at my work but certainly not any issues of crossover there!