Rebuilding a spreadsheet (actually more like two hours rebuilding and two hours wandering around muttering while I tried to get my head around why it wasn’t agreeing with the number I first thought of in the accounts). But it worked. Still didn’t agree but I could easily understand why not and fire off an email to the client giving them the options to sort it out. Followed THAT up with dealing with the emails from my Institute for the last two and a bit months and getting myself up to date on the various legislative changes and revisions to best practice. I nearly lost the will to live. BUT I do it so they (the clients) don’t have to. Not that they know they don’t know (let alone care) but you can be certain if I miss anything of importance they will discover it very, very quickly…

But today?

Hampshire Chamber of Commerce do some interesting events and one or two of them are just too crazy to miss. A morning ride on a hovercraft from Hovertravel in Southsea to the Hovercraft museum in Lee-on-the-Solent and back. Invited one of my best clients along and we had lunch on the seafront at Southsea afterwards (and Will paid for the lunch!) Great fun. One of reasonably new craft (about two years old), most comfortable and in the company of another 25-30 business folk out on the lam and trying to avoid doing any work for the morning. Which we did very pleasantly. The weather helped the day along. It was already 21C when I leapt in the car at just after 08.30 this morning and it was 27C when I returned just after lunch. This is NOT English weather… It did cross my mind that this summer could soon rival the great summer of 1976. It then crossed my mind that you had to be 42 to have even been born then, let alone actually remember it! That then made me feel old. Which I am I suppose but I’d prefer not to be reminded of it. Grumpy face. The Hovercraft Museum was fascinating. It’s not the first time I’ve been there and probably it won’t be the last. The guide was a hovercraft geek par excellence. Really knew his stuff and really brought out the people stories to go with the inanimate metal. And the odd bit of networking too! I had found myself wondering whether I had the time to spend on this morning – as had Will, as he told me over lunch – but I have to say it was time WELL spent and most enjoyable. So there. Nyah, nyah, nyah.

Actually funny old week all round as regards chargeable time.

Opticians on Monday. Two hours including travel. But at least I can take solace that I haven’t got macular degeneration, glaucoma or diabetes. Tuesday involved four hours on a meeting at Winchester City Council with my supported housing charity trying to sort the housing benefit for our residents. With a member of staff so focused on HER way of doing things it was scary. My administrator remarked that she wouldn’t want to get in a fight with her on the return. I definitely know what she means. Crashed out after that one – a TWO nap day. Unprecedented but so, so necessary. I’ll just have to tweak things to get them to agree (posh way of saying fiddle? couldn’t possibly comment). Where there’s a will there’s a way. Or a bunch of scheming relatives. The old ones are the best. Not?

 They had one of these at the museum