It's work...but not as I knew it!

I had said I would take Mike to work this morning so at 5am the alarm went off and I got up to make sure he was getting ready. Driving him to Kettering, I couldn't get over how many birds were in the road! They were everywhere!

After dropping him off it was home for a coffee and I was glad to see Keith was still asleep. Sophie went to the gym at 6.30am and I went into the shower as today I was starting at 8am, just like old times!

I left well before 7.30am because one of the roads I normally use to escape the traffic on the A43 was closed. I needn't have worried, though, as the traffic was nowhere near as bad as it used to be at rush hour. I made it to work very easily but by now it was pouring with rain so I got soaked running into the building!

We had very few staff in today and only Sheila was in the office when I arrived. I learnt that we had to empty our own bins after each shift, which was something new! I'm not sure if our cleaners are in, but it looked like we had just a skeleton staff in.

I set up the wallboard and hoped that today wouldn't be too mad! Normally in the school holidays we have endless queries about swimming times but that wouldn't apply today as our pools were still closed!

The morning started off very well but after 9am the calls ramped up and we started getting grumpy people on the line who were querying why they couldn't swim or play badminton. We are having a careful phased re-opening and some people just weren't happy. The wallboard kept turning off as well so we lost count of the calls, but by the time I left at 1pm Jo and I had taken well over 100 calls. It was lovely to talk to some old regulars but a couple of the people we spoke to were quite rude - don't they realise we are still in the middle of a pandemic?!

In the quieter moments I looked back at some of the work I was doing earlier in the year and felt very sad that a lot of time had been wasted putting on the holiday activities for Easter and the May half-term, none of which took place for obvious reasons. It was like looking at a different world. Outside, the building seemed very quiet and I thought back to how the school holidays should be, with loads of activities for children taking place, the playscheme in full swing and people playing basketball and badminton in the main hall.

It was still pouring when I left and I learnt that Mike had been sent home from work because of the weather. Sophie had prepared lunch and it was nice to sit in the conservatory and talk about my morning which, on reflection, certainly wasn't as pleasant as Saturday!

In the afternoon Keith and I went to Tesco and we had to wear our masks the whole time. Luckily we didn't have to get much so as soon as we were out we took the horrible things off. On the way home we called to make sure Mum and Dad's house was OK and then took the scenic route home as the sun had come out.

Dinner this evening was soup and crusty bread as we had enjoyed leftovers from last night for lunch. We sat and played cards in the conservatory but with the absence of alcohol, it was quite a subdued affair!