November tried the patience of ‘The Composer’. The disciplined agenda for the month fell apart right from the start, despite planning and preparation.
In a year which witnessed the passing of loved and respected artists and celebrities, which offered baffling national and international polling results and weather that spanned the sublime to the cor blimey, November seemed to be anxious to keep us all as confused as possible. Some days, The Composer checked obituary columns, news headlines and weather forecasts ahead of doing anything……just to be sure!! The ‘to do’ list was thrown away many times – it just wasn’t going to happen as planned.
It’s normally a month when the ‘in office’ jobs start to look appealing as cooler weather sets in. However, the ‘outside jobs’ still need to be done around Composers to ensure the properties and grounds remain as pristine as possible, so ‘out’ won over ‘in’. Decision making for November jobs is easy to plan, normally – but not in 2016!
Thanks to really clement weather throughout the majority of November, we were kept busy looking after half term holiday families and guests taking advantage of special offers throughout the month. Many jobs were put back so as not to disturb the atmosphere with the sound of chainsaws, petrol driven hedge trimmers and the sit-on mower. Who would have thought we’d be cutting grass in mid November?
By week 3, we had to make progress while our guests were out and about. Our gardeners duly trimmed back hundreds of feet of conifers, cut and managed trees and bushes and piled grass cuttings ready for the annual composting process. We were in and out like Yo-Yo’s!! Catching the sun on some days really made the ‘out’ jobs a pleasure. The Composer does tend to get cabin fever being stuck in, day after day, so an excuse to get out was duly taken.
The month has passed and momentous upheaval with it. We still hear daily references to Brexit while the USA battles to understand what their future under ‘Trump’ will look like. The £ and Euro seem content to be at odds and in the past week Northumberland finally saw the thermometer plunge to -7°C. The one bright light on the horizon is that in a mere 21 days after writing this blog we will pass the shortest day and be on our way back to summer 2017. (OK, that’s a little premature you may say!!)
Whatever happens we’ll still be ‘in and out’ but looking forward to lighter nights! Bring it on.