Missed a week – sorry!  And can’t find hashtag on my old MacBook here…

There has been a lot of family stuff.  A first birthday.  A Mothers Day Roast. A wine tasting and food evening.  All very smiley. Hectic, but fun.  The one year old was Finley in Kidderminster.  2 hours in a soft play place.  Great fun – and hard work for the kids who really only lasted 90 minutes before getting a bit grizzly…Wine and food was Sue, newly on committee of local Village.  We are so good at this in the UK, I think.  Community spirit and volunteering.  Not a bad thing to have, and it just sort of happens, doesn’t it?  Easy to support.

I do like the photography too.  Great to send stuff after the parties, and feel the warm glow as the thank you’s flood back.  Nice to do.

My nephews and great nephew

Couldn’t photograph the eclipse here.  Sun came out 2 hours after the event.  Even with full cloud cover though, it still felt like evening.  Birds went quiet.  And it looked lie that sort of muddy grey you get before snow.  You can see why ancient civilisations thought the portents were bad when the eclipses occurred.  A bit out of the ordinary.  I loved the school kids getting excited on TV – you can’t fake jumping up and down with pure joy, can you?

Great quote on a training course.  “It’s best to be you – everyone else is taken”.  Apparently heard on radio that morning – Chris Evans – and I use it a to already – if you are a manager or leader – you can only authentically be yourself.  And be proud of that.  This is not to say you can’t steal with pride from others.  Creative swiping is a great shortcut to betterment.  So is seeing someone in another position doing it wrong.  Learning comes as much from “I’d never do that” as much as “I like that – and will try it myself”.  Sadly, I think the stronger lessons come from the former!

A friend wanted to say good-bye at his mums funeral. She was 104. Czech.  “B” had never learnt.  Another Czech friend was able to help, via me and e mail video – and it really worked.  Proper networking at it’s best.  You only need to ask.