31 March 2017 (Friday) - Another Day Off

Having spent much of the night listening to the rain I was rather surprised to get up to find it hadn’t rained at all overnight. I must have been dreaming. But what a vivid dream it had been. I set off to the co-op to meet "My Boy TM", and to get lunch. We then went on to Rocky’s café for a full English then on to Shirkoak for another day’s fishing.

The weather had been forecast as overcast in the morning and sunny in the afternoon. It rained in the morning, but the afternoon was rather bright. Fishing-wise the day started quiet, and stayed quiet. We’ve had some really good days at Shirkoak in the past. Today was (in all honesty) probably an average day’s fishing for most lakes, but compared to what we’ve had before we were rather disappointed. Mind you we both lost count of the fish we’d had, and we both had carp up to five pounds. Not massive as carp go, but on light tackle certainly put up an impressive fight.

We came home about an hour earlier than we might have done; "My Boy TM" was expecting a delivery of shopping. Usually on the last Friday of the month I would be off to the astro club. For some time the last Friday of each month has been a firm booking for me with the astro club. But over the last year the thing has (for me) rather lost its appeal. Over the years I’ve made great efforts to build up a sense of friendship and bonhomie amongst the regular attendees. I’ve arranged all sorts of events and activities for the regular attendees of the club, and included people I’ve met there in all sorts of family events.
I’ve had it all thrown back in my face by what I thought was one of the best of friends.
Things have been far from peachy behind the scenes at the astro club for a very long time. Having spent the best part of a year or so trying to work out what has gone wrong I think the problem is that I have dared to voice an opinion different to that which is being touted as incontrovertible fact. When I say “I believe differently for the following reasons” I am being seen to be deliberately giving offence. The many conciliation attempts on my part have just made bad feelings worse.
There is little point in rehashing the specifics of trivial squabbles which would mean little to anyone, but over the last year or so I’ve been told that I was actively excluded from the formulation of plans for the observatory project (that I suggested in the first place) because I was an embarrassment. Furthermore (apparently) I am “subversive, manipulative and a leader of negativity”. I have variously been told (quite nastily) that I don’t "live in the real world", that my opinion is one of a "no brainer" and that conversations with me are akin to banging your head against a brick wall. And then it became really personal when despite having spent years working all sorts of odd hours at nights, weekends and public holidays (including family birthdays and Christmases) I was told about just how little time I put into my professional life.
Finally, having been told of the things being said about me to friends and family I have decided that I have had enough I am distancing myself from all of this. If it means I have to leave the club to get away from it, then so be it. The astro club has stopped being fun for me. And from here on in if it’s not fun then I am moving on.



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