This morning I got up early and walked to Greenfield railway station to meet Granddaughter Number Two who has come home from university for a week. It’s supposed to be a “reading week” but she and quite a few of her friends are treating it like a half term holiday and heading for home. I don’t remember us having “reading weeks” when we were university students. In fact, I’m pretty sure we were expected to read all the time.
It’s not the only thing that’s different. She and her mates have been rather miffed to discover that attendance at lectures was being monitored (but monitored electronically so they decided ways to cheat the system). Then they discovered that the monitoring is not for disciplinary purposes but for “well being”. If a student was noted to be missing too many lectures and seminars someone would go and check up on their physical and mental health. Probably a good idea.
Originally she was going to stay on the train to Stalybridge where her other would meet her in the car at about 9.00 but her mother and partner and the smaller siblings have decided to spend some of the half term break in the North East, admiring the Angel of the North and hunting for sea-glass on the beaches there. Granddaughter Number Two had set her heart on breakfast at her favourite cafe, Scona in Greenfield, and so when she found out that her train would stop at Greenfield we decided to meet there and have breakfast together.
We were early enough to secure our favourite table at Scona, the corner table with sofas, vaguely reminiscent of the sofa in Central Perk, the cafe in Friends. We sort of set the world to rights. She bought a slice of everyone’s favourite chocolate Guinness cake for her younger brother, the 18 year old, also abandoned by his mother for a few days and left in charge of the dog. Then a quick trip to Tesco before catching a bus to my house, to further set the world to rights conversationally. Eventually she headed for home to order pizza for her brother and herself - student discount on Domino’s pizza! Not a bad life!
As far as I know Granddaughter Number One has also been travelling today. She works from home but about once a month has to travel (reluctantly) to Preston to attend a face to face meeting. Earlier on the week she had been asking of any of us had a Covid testing kit as she was supposed to test before going. We found a kit between us. She tested negative. Such is modern working life.
I found this item about someone called Ash Jones, the founder it seems of Great Influence - The Talent Agency For Entrepreneurs & Business Leader. He told us this:
“1 year ago we introduced a “Life Admin Half-Day” where once a month the team gets half a day off, fully paid.
The half-day off comes with one rule - you have to use it to do all the personal things you’ve been putting off.
Go to the dentist.
Clean your house.
Send your parcels.
The last thing anyone wants to do on the weekend is life admin.
But getting that life admin done is huge for feeling like you can relax in your downtime.
A small idea with a big impact!”
A nice idea. Even better is a regular shorter working week, the 35 hour week that France tried to introduce years ago, for example. Instead, most places seem to want to squeeze as much work out of employees as possible.
Granddaughter Number One has to organise her dental appointments, for example, for after 4.00, and then has to get permission to log off early. The same applies to physiotherapy sessions.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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