The change in the clocks is gently confusing. Compared to the horror of the change the other way in the spring, when if I'm working I have to get up at what my body clock insists is 5am, it isn't so bad, but the fact that there's so little light left after lunch is disorientating. At work, we don't cut back our hours until November, so today I spent the final half hour standing by the till in case a customer came in (fat chance, given it was dark) and wandering around the shop putting bird feeders out for sale in a desultory sort of way, because by half past four I couldn't see to weed properly outside.
The mildly positive investment trend at the plant centre continues, in the face of world economic doom. I picked up my two new uniform shirts the other day, which is just as well as one of my existing shirts reacted very badly to the sap in something I was handling a couple of Mondays ago, and has come put of the wash with a fresh spattering of lurid axe murderer stains. It's been too warm to need the new uniform waterproof coat, but I tried it on yesterday. The effect is rather NCP car park attendant, or maybe football manager, but it's not a bad coat. The cuffs are adjustable, and the hood detachable, and it has a lot of pockets, some zippable, which is handy for carrying radio, phone, secateurs and so on. It is very heavy compared to my walking coat, which I've been wearing in lieu of anything provided by work, but that did cost something approaching three digits over ten years ago, and was presumably engineered to not weigh the wearer down during the ascent of Scafell. It has been up Scafell, and Scafell Pike, in February, but by now it is rather muddy, and I need to investigate whether it can be washed while remaining waterproof.
As well as the new uniform clothing there is to be a heavy lifting course. I would really like to go on that, but it has been arranged for a day when I'm already booked to do something else. Another Woodland Trust talk in Billericay, as it happens. And there was a note from the owner saying we had pretty much made this month's budget, which by lunchtime had translated into a plate of cakes. It's ages since we got buns for making the budget. And apparently the adverts are going up at the local horticultural colleges and in the East Anglian Daily Times for a new full-time member of staff.
With the short afternoons, from tomorrow I'm going to have to try and get into the habit of rolling out of bed smartish in the morning, to make maximum use of the light. One final challenge remains, which is to reset the clock on the Skoda. On the dashboard is a little knob, which if turned one way advances the hour and if turned the other scrolls on through the minutes. The snag is that I can't remember if to add an hour I should turn it clockwise or anti-clockwise. It won't reverse the time, so if I add a minute by mistake there'll be no alternative except to sit there holding the knob while the other 59 minutes tick by. The handbook doesn't help at all. I suppose that when I've worked it out I could make a note in the handbook, for next time.
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