A Storm is Coming

It’s nearly midsummer, the evenings are loooong and the sun is settling in to its rhythm the heat is intense but calm, the work of spring is done.

We were going to have a tea and cake picnic in the garden. It was beautifully sunny and then there was a huge rumble. Looking up, the sky was deep dark grey ‘mummy a storm is coming’. We tried to continue with our picnic but BP was having none of it, she gathered up the cake and went inside I did ask her to stay out but her persuasive arguments of ‘it gonna rain’ and after another clap of thunder ‘it bit noisy’ forced us all in. So we had our tea and cake picnic inside with the door open. The trees began to shake as the storm blew in, there were another 2 claps of thunder as we tucked in to the yummy carrot cake and then, nothing. There was no storm, it had completely blown over. By the time the tea and cake had gone the garden was full of sunshine again and we had enjoyed our inside picnic with a view.

That’s the thing isn’t it, anticipation is the theme of the day. The world is holding its breath as we relax the lockdown. What will the new normal be or what if there is no new normal? What if after all of this, it is just normal?

In my own little world I am working on a pay cut with my whole region up for redundancy. It is a mean and nasty process made all the worse by a group of managers who think that communicating by email alone on such a tender subject is acceptable. Where moments when management win an argument over a controversial decision feel like the mean victory of a dictatorship rather than a business recovering and rebuilding. By the end of next week there will be a new normal in my little world it will either be my job without some colleagues or no job, a new start.

We need the storm sometimes, the drama to clear the air and other times we have been through enough and we just need a taste of what could happen to inspire us to make a change. I don’t know what is best for now, perhaps there is no best the day will carry a storm or no storm, redundancy or no redundancy. So I will take some deep breaths and take comfort in the little things, it’s nearly mid summer and the strawberry’s are finally ready!