Summer holidays for those of us with school age children are usually a time to be both keenly anticipated and dreaded! It seems like suuuuch a long time, the kids get bored and need entertaining. Usual routines are out of the window and planning childcare, playdates or lifts to and from ever changing destinations becomes overwhelming on top of trying to work. August used to signal a quieter time at work with demands decreasing as people are away, but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. I know from many of our teams that workload and customers needs are more demanding than ever. It’s a time when teams pull together to cover for colleagues who need to take a break and we all appreciate their efforts.
I had an extra need for a break this summer with a milestone birthday which necessitated me running away for a few days to come to terms with it. We went to a small cottage on a farm on the border of Essex and Suffolk and had a lovely few days of fresh air, and a bit of rain, surrounded by horses, ducks and chickens – all of which we had to keep our dog away from! The kids spent time away from technology, which is a blessing and a curse for us as they have more opportunity to argue when they are not distracted, but it really does do you good to have a bit of something different for a while.
Last week I was focussed on catching up from my week away – the downside to being off – as well as some complicated Anti-Social behaviour case work with the Community Safety team. Hearing from the victims of some ASB as to the impact on their lives is quite sobering and shines a light on how sometimes, despite our best efforts and that of our partners, there just isn’t a quick win or a white knight that can be trotted out to solve things for people. We do what we can.
On a final note – August 24th marks Ukrainian Independence Day and Dorking Halls is showing a new Ukrainian children’s film, Mavka, on 26th and 27th August (one showing in Ukrainian and one in English), I am hoping to make it – have a look perhaps plan a visit.
If you’re managing to take a break this summer, I hope you enjoy the rest.