From Bond to Robin Hood

I left the firm in the middle of August and gave myself a month off to spend with the family before starting work on world wide consultancy travels (today I am writing this from Stavanger Norway).   You may be asking - so Simon what did you do with your time off?  Two family holidays and why not I say - if being let go gives you the freedom to go away when you want then why not take it!

We had already booked to take a holiday in Cornwall at one of the many properties we have access to through our HPB.   We were staying at Duloe.  Duloe is a small village about halfway between Liskeard and Looe. It's most interesting feature is in a field just across the road from the parish church of St. Cuby (a 5th Century Cornish Saint in case you were wondering - don't claim you don't get educated on this blog!).

In the field is a Bronze Age stone circle dating from around 2,000BC. Not exactly Stonehenge at just under 40ft diameter but interesting to visit none the less (well except for my oldest daughter who just wanted to chase the sheep in the field and didn't have any time for her dad trying to explain how old they were!)  What never ceases to amaze me is the way that we have treated such sites in the past - the Duloe stone circle was not officially "discovered" until 1801 because a field hedgerow had been built through the circle!

The most wacky place we went to had to be the Magnificent Music Machines exhibition.  As we pulled into the deserted car park near an old mill we were met by what we soon found out was the owner, a man called Paul Corin.  He seemed to be really pleased to see us and ushered us through to a large hall at the back of his house.  As he switched on the lights we soon realised we were the only visitors! 

Paul personally escorts you around his treasure trove of organs, pianolas and player pianos making you sit down in front of each one so that he can tell you his stories about them.  The strangest thing was that Paul disappeared off after introducing each exhibit to go off to restore instruments for clients such as a Wurlitzer Theatre Organ.   However, no chance of skipping an exhibit or trying to escape as Paul magically reappears if you move from your seat!  He said that the museum used to be packed on rainy days, like the day we were there, but that the Eden Project now dominates other visitor attractions.  Paul really is a old school English eccentric and, if you are in the area on a rainy day, it is worth a visit just to meet him!

We had a lovely holiday in a part of Cornwall we hadn't been to before despite the weather.  We had showers for most of the week at a time that the rest of the country had a heatwave! 

During a week or so back home catching up with jobs around the house I got to have a enjoyable lunch in Birmingham with my old colleague Kev.  It was really nice to catch up with Kev and being the good bloke that he is he has stayed in touch on a regular basis since I left.  It can be very lonely out here at times especially as you can feel forgotten quite quickly.  I won't bite if you want to pick up the phone for a chat and it would be lovely to hear from you....

We then departed for another week away in Centerparcs in Sherwood Forest.  The weather was fantastic, we had a lovely location, Mrs D and I got some time alone and the girls loved basically everything!  My oldest daughter, in particular, really loved the two 9 hole crazy golf courses which are in the theme of Robin Hood and are really nicely set out amongst the trees in the forest and she dragged me off to play every lunchtime while her sister and mum got some rest!

What was particularly telling was what a difference it made for me, and ultimately the family, not having the curse of the Blackberry. To be free of this device (even my toy version - thank you team!) meant that I finally got a holiday that I totally relaxed on and I spent some real quality time with the girls.  I am exhibit #1 for the prosecution that no one is indispensible and work can survive with you for a week or more.  So work slaves take my free advice - leave the Blackberry or laptop at home and actually get the rest you need to do your job to the best of your ability.

So, as requested by Paul, some music.  The blogs album of the week is from Yusuf and his latest release "Roadsinger (To Warm You Through The Night)".  In my humble opinion this is up there with his classic albums in his days as Cat Stevens.  **** stars from this blogger!

So to finish for now we have a recent BBC show of Yusuf singing the classic "Father & Son".