Moving on - a task for the hotel staff!
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2011-06-08 21:15:04 - Graham EllisSix beds (and seven bedrooms) in six nights ... this is one heck of a week if you wondered why my blog has dropped to a trickle. Sunday night at home, Monday in Cheltenham where (for the first time in my life) I complained at checkin ("oh yeah - it might smell - they've been working on the drains"), Tuesday night at home, tonight in Cambridge where "sorry - there's a leak in the room you were booked in so I'm in what they call "BF1" tonight (back flat - a double bed and four singles!) then into the main hotel for tomorrow night. And on Friday night I'll be back home. I tried to negotiate BF1 for tomorrow night too ... rather than move, but I don't think it's in the evening receptionist's remit to give five beds for the price of 1. So - another packing up, and another bed for the staff to change.
It's also been quiet here because last weekend was spent - or rather was supposed to be spent - immersed in Rails. But interruptions, such as an interview on Saturday (an investment that I'm sure will bring reward for everyone, and quickly) and attendance at the Civic Service on Sunday - a very curious piece of tradition and / or legal linkage where the newly (re)elected town mayor is welcomed at a service in the Church, attended by the whole town council and the majors of the other towns around. I was most interested to see one of the church's rectors or deacons (the terminology escapes me) going around during the service with a click counter - the sort they use to count pedestrian or vehicle flow up a street - and I found myself wondering if it's for health and safety reasons for them to know the numbers, for their stats, or so that they can send their bill, per head, to the Town Council.
The service blessed ... the Mayor and councillors for the work they do, businesses and business owners for the gainful employment they bring to the town, headmasters and school teachers for their work in education, and volunteers who work on a (err) voluntary basis. All good and laudable, and also a fascinating insight as to what the preacher sees as important - I agree with him on much of it; I agree rather less with some of the religious aspects, and I question whether Melksham truly looks to all religions when all the speakers were representatives of the branches of Christianity, and no-one from our flourishing Muslim community, for example, added their welcome and blessing.
Whilst I don't agree with some of the things that were said and suggested, I didn't walk out, as that would be abdicating my responsibility (as it was on Sunday) to represent business). I say that because a piece on the radio was talking about how long you should give a play you're not enjoying before walking out, or how much of a book you should read before casting it aside. I've never walked out of a play or anything like that, (but I did - just once - fail to return for act 2) in a large theatre. And - rather curious - I've witnessed who walkouts (one by several people) in Melksham recently. High passion in both cases, and in my opinion both cases where the person concerned abandoned their case rather than advocating it ... doing a disservice to their position. Rather curiously, I note that the walker from the 29th April area board meeting is now on the Shadow Campus Operations Board which was part of what was agreed on after he left ... and I hope that he doesn't cause distractions and have histrionics at their meetings where we should be pulling the town forward.
This was supposed to be a short "I'm still here" note, but it's turned into rather more, but excuse me if I head off now and choose one of all these beds. I've been up since about 4 a.m. ... I've prepared for the course that starts tomorrow, packed a new suitcase, driven Melksham to Cheltenham to Cambridge. I've made a couple of very useful phone calls indeed and done some significant emails. Oh - and I've done eight hours of training too. Am I grumbling? Only about some of the minor pressures and tribulations that have been laid on me following last night's meeting, and my grumble there is just a gentle, soothing, and smoothing one - I'm delighted that I'm going to be training again tomorrow - I'm going to really enjoy this one -an intensive couple of days of Perl programming.