Week 3 – 15th to 21st January 2023
Three weeks in…
It hasn’t been the start of the year that I had expected. The flu had scuppered any plans that I may have had, not that there was going to be very much going on in the first few weeks of January anyway, I suppose. I spent the best part of two weeks in bed, only coming downstairs when I needed a drink or more pills. This week I’ve been working from home, and although it isn’t hard labour, I’ve been finishing the day knackered. Just imagine if I had a manual job! I’ve turned into a soft southerner. To be fair, this time last week there was a distinct possibility that I could’ve been admitted to hospital, so maybe I should just accept that I need to be a little bit more careful these days.
I did manage to send a couple of emails out last week, still trying to get in contact with people to record messages for the website and help to publicise what we’re hoping to do this year. There haven’t been any responses so far, so I don’t have anything to report yet, but fingers crossed something will come from them. People in the public eye, whether they are television presenters, comedians, singers or sports people must get lots of requests to do things for charities or individuals raising money, and they can’t help everybody. Hopefully, what I’m doing can resonate with somebody and they will help us out by recording a video. And that may start the ball rolling with others. Essentially, what I want to do is increase our followers on social media and see whether we can make A Goldstitch Christmas more visible, and in turn, generate more donations to help more people.
After this week I’m going to try and step up a gear to see how we can start fundraising in earnest in 2023. There are some people that I’ll be contacting shortly to see whether they would be able to help us, and if I can spin it right then it would be a good way to add some funds to our campaign. And there are also some things that I’ve been thinking about that would be amazing if I can pull them off. Maybe I’m being too ambitious. Maybe I am expecting too much. I can do that sometimes, then feel disappointed and deflated. I’m my own worst enemy.
WFH!
Since the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, businesses have been a lot more flexible with the way that they manage their workforce. Hybrid working is now the norm, working from home has never been easier. During the lockdowns, the company that I for stayed open for the customers by ensuring that the staff had the technology to carry out their office based duties from home. When the restrictions were lifted most businesses continued to work in this way to varying levels, including ours. Unless, of course, you worked in our team.
The management have their reasons; customer contact is a key aspect of the job and they were concerned that once workloads increased to normal levels the service that we would be able to provide would be impacted if staff were able to work from home regularly, as the other teams were. I’m not sure about the statistics, but during lockdown the performance of our team was affected by the availability of the other teams and the way that the COVID restrictions were affecting what the company could do as a whole. There were some people that struggled with childcare and the wider problems that were a result of the pandemic, and allowances were made.
The fact is, the people who took advantage of working from home and helped bring the stats down would be the same people who would try to dodge work when working in the office too.
Since I was diagnosed with you-know-what I was given the option of working from home whenever I felt ill or affected by any side effects of the treatment. Having that option definitely helps, although I haven’t taken it for granted or taken advantage. There have been times when I’ve felt rough, and most days I have a headache or niggle that I just accept as part of life.
Some people don’t like working from home, preferring to be in the office, in the thick of things. Personally, I’m more than happy to be at home. I work harder, with less distractions. And it’s not that I don’t like the people that I work with either; they are all nice, friendly and supportive. I’m just not always that much of a sociable person.
That’s not quite true, to be fair. I may not be a party animal, or somebody who likes to be surrounded by a big group of people all the time, but in the right circumstances (and if I’m in the right mood) I quite enjoy a social gathering. I find that too much of a good thing can ruin things though. Even in my youth I was happy to occasionally meet up with mates, rather than regularly meet up with them. I just like my own company.
Nights out these days are sensible affairs, usually including a meal during the evening rather than half a kebab at the end of the night. Gone are the days of drinking copious amounts of alcohol and regretting it in the morning. Sometimes it’s just nice to be amongst it, people watching, observing from the sidelines.
Can I have my ball back, please?
When I was diagnosed with you-know-what I didn’t know what to expect or how to feel. Obviously, it’s the news that nobody wants to hear, and nothing can ever prepare you for it. I knew that I was just one of many; there are around 400,000 people diagnosed with cancer each year in the UK and in 2020 there was more than 3 million living with the disease. Although I knew that I wasn’t alone, and I had the support of Heather (I didn’t tell anybody else in the early stages), it was still the weirdest of times. I spent most of my time wondering and worrying about how it would affect those around me, Heather, the kids, mom and dad, and if somebody had asked me how I was feeling or what I was thinking, I don’t think I could’ve explained.
Comedy legend and King of the Edinburgh Fringe, Richard Herring, has himself had a brush with cancer and written a book about the experience – Can I have my ball back? As a fan, of Richard Herring, not cancer, I requested a copy for Christmas and have just finished reading it this week. I highly recommend it. Find it in your local bookshop or buy it from Amazon, if you’re that way inclined.
The book is typically well written, funny and full of interesting facts about genitalia; any follower of Rich and RHLSTP will know exactly what to expect. But reading about how Rich reacted to the news, his treatment and how he coped with those dark thoughts and worries that go along with this sort of thing was something that I think would have helped back in 2018 when I was first diagnosed.
A lot of what he speaks about in the book resonated with me, I felt much the same, and it’s nice to know that you’re not alone. I won’t give you any spoilers, read the book (but only if you promise to read mine when it’s published too). I know this isn’t a competition but, Richard lost a nut and had one session of chemo and is now as fit as a fiddle. I lost a third of my bowel, had four cycles of chemo and then it came back again. I know that I said that it isn’t a competition but…