It’s nice to be appreciated

For the last 2 weeks I’ve been working some pretty stupid hours – 12-16hr days, weekends etc – all because I have the most disorganised client in the world. I’ve pretty much had enough now and fortunately, apart from tying up loose ends, the work is done. Leaving me knackered, but at least with a bit of breathing space to have a lie-in until 7am yesterday.

Today, I received a hamper. Nothing flash – choccies, biccies, plonk, cake and some nibbly bits – but I can’t begin to tell you how wonderful it was to know all this extra work hasn’t gone amiss.

On one side I have a client who told me a couple of weeks back that my work was a pile of crap, on the other I have a client who sends me hampers when I least expect it and know they’re still up to their necks for a major show next week. Which would I rather go that extra mile for when they’re up against a tight deadline and who’s emails am I likely to file under forget?

It was 20 years ago today…

…when my little house did blow away.

Well not quite, but some did. 20 years since “The Hurricane” that left poor ole Michael Fish the butt of a nation’s jokes.

I know people go on about it, but for those of us who lived in the affected area at the time it really is something we’ll never forget. My own memories are more a set of mental postcards; I’d never seen my Mum scared of the weather before, but she was (though tried not to let on); waking up every hour to the sound of ridge tiles moving; looking out the window every time I woke to see what angle the tree outside was at (gradually decreasing throughout the night); meeting neighbours the following morning – who had lived there as long as I had and seen every day but never spoken – suddenly being “chatty” and all helping shift the broken glass and mangled greenhouse frames from the road; Mum asking at 4am if I’d like a cup of tea; the power going off after a bang at the substation over the road about 4.05am (as she bought the tea upstairs – perfect timing Mum).

Relatives phoned 3 days later checking we were OK – they had apparently been trying for 3 days solid to get through. Every year after that, if there was increase wind there was an unspoken “is this another one?”

The thing I find all too easy to forget, is that to some people, a hurricane is an annual occurrence (probably more frequent). To us, it’s this big thing that happened 20 years ago and caused a kind devastation we’d never experienced before, will never forget and will probably never shut up about.