8 March 2023 (Wednesday) - Holi

A large crash woke me with a start as Treacle jumped off the bed in the middle of the night. I heard her going downstairs so I got up to let her out. She took one look at the light dusting of snow and went straight back upstairs.
Finding myself wide awake I had my ablutions, made toast and watched an episode of “Downton Abbey” in which Edna had a fair crack at attempting to pork Mr Tom, To his credit Mr Tom wasn’t having any of it.
 
Having seen the horror tales on Facebook I left for work rather early this morning. Apparently the snow was ridiculously heavy across the country. Despite there only being the lightest of dustings in Ashford, who knew what it might be like in Maidstone. I scraped the few specks of snow from the car and set off with something of a sense of trepidation.
As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about semaglutide; a weight loss drug which has been approved for use by the NHS. My ears pricked up at this; if there’s one thing I wish I could change about myself it would be my weight. Over the years I have tried absolutely everything, and found that the only way I can lose weight is to seriously cut back on what I eat, and (in doing so) being seriously hungry all the time. The expert being interviewed on the radio said that semaglutide works by suppressing appetite; it stops you feeling hungry. I would be up for that… and then the expert pointed out that (like with all diet and weight loss regimes), the moment you stop taking the stuff, the weight piles back on again.
So much for that, eh?
 
I got to work where the snow in the works car park was so heavy it could be measured in millimetres (!) and got on with work.
We had a rather good day today. As part of the trainees’ route to qualification they have to show awareness of “diversity in the workplace”. Back in the day we’d just do an on-line e-learning course and the box would be ticked. These days each trainee picks one cultural event from something that is not from their personal culture and organises a celebration of it. Today Ellie organised a celebration of Holi; a Hindu festival celebrating the arrival of Spring. We all learned something, we all got to scoff samosas, sweeties and cakes, and there was even a (rather demure) bit of face-painting too. I took a few photos of what went on, and the boss suggested that I put them on the works’ Facebook page…
How times change. Where I used to work the mere mention of the workplace on social media was grounds for formal disciplinary action; I still have the written warning for saying that I was tired at 6am on a night shift. In a far better workplace, the use of social media is encouraged.
But today was one of the reasons why I like working for the NHS. Most people that I know only work with a small group of other people, and so don’t experience that much of other cultures. I get to work with all sorts of people from all parts of the world. Despite what so many people would have you think, all of humanity is pretty much alike; we all have a lot of reasons for eating cake…
 
With “er indoors TM taking Lacey to the O2 arena this evening I found myself home alone with the dogs. I came home via the works M&S where they were going three-for-two pre cooked chicken packages. I scoffed eight chine chicken wings myself, shared half a chicken with the dogs, and stuck half a chicken in the fridge for later.
I then sat myself on the sofa with the dogs and watched more “Downton Abbey” as the four of us all farted like things possessed. Not a bad evening, really.

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