T-minus 85 days......why do they call it T-minus when the space shuttle is lifting off?? Time? Take-off? Well we all know what my 'T' stands for don't we??.......Terrified!!!
Missed out on my strength exercises on Thursday, so made up for it last night with a bit of a session on the old yoga mat. By the way don't get too excited about the phrase 'strength exercises'; I'm not pumping iron, lifting logs and throwing hgv tyres. It's just a few routines to help build up 'the core' muscles and get them ready for long-term punishment, as well as giving the legs and joints a bit of a work-out. Not sure if it's doing any good, but some of the exercises make my muscles wobble; and in my wealth of experience as personal trainer to the stars I decree that muscle wobbleness is a good thing.......it had better be as there is plenty of it to be had........!!
Anyway, while I'm here; the recent stays in the luxurious Abbington Hotel, Stevenage (they do a great full English............errr....so I can remember.......barely....it was so long ago I had one....) have put me in mind to tell you a story about one of my earlier working-from-hotel experiences. To me it was a sweet, not to mention funny few nights; plus a shining example of Liverpool humour!
I am not afraid - okay....perhaps slightly afraid! - to admit that nine times out of ten, when I stay in a hotel, I am not alone. I smuggle a guest in with me (don't tell the Abbington, they might charge double!). He is my furry companion, his name is Tedito Eduardo, and yes; he is a teddy bear (I am receiving therapy for this, but clearly it is not working; the therapist is actually pro-bear!). Precisely why I do it I'm not sure, but I guess it is a reminder of home which is nice to see in the middle of an alien room even the plushest of which is still not really mine. Plus it is amusing to be stuck in traffic on the way home (not moving I stress...safety first and all that), and popping his head up at the drivers-side windows when I see a bored little girl or boy looking out of another car.
One particular trip we took was my first week at a company based in Liverpool. Although I don't live too far away, it was induction week so there I needed to stay local for a few nights. Usually, in order to avoid funny looks and whispering amongst the staff, I secrete Tedito during the day in a - well-ventilated may I say before you get the RSPCB on to me - suitcase; but on my first morning I was running late so he ended up jumbled up in the middle of bedsheets and continental quilts. What would the woman who made up the room think of me? A grown man with a teddy bear!!!
It was quite a sight which greeted me after my first day at work. The room was - as you would expect - pristine with bathroom sparkling, tea, coffee and bikkies replaced, fresh towels waiting for me, new sheets on the freshly-made bed; and there, tucked up all comfy, with head on pillow, paws over the top of the quilt looking at me......was Tedito. It was hilarious!!! I sensed some mischievous fun in the air.....
The following morning, I left Tedito reading the morning paper. Yes you heard right.....he had the newspaper open in front of him on the bed, and was leaning down to find out what is happening in the world. By the time I got in that evening he was done with the paper as I found him tucked up in bed again; this time with 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' under his arm. I honestly never knew that he enjoyed reading so much; if it's not current affairs, it's young person's fiction!
As I left on the morning before the final night Tedito had electric toothbrush in one paw, and toothpaste in the other, sat by the bathroom sink. What I saw when I returned made me realise that I was up against the champion of teddy bear poses (you think they might ever make an Olympic sport out of it??). There was ted; propped up once more in bed; room service menu spread out in front of him, the phone in his paw. It was SO funny; not to mention SO clever. Whoever she was even had the forethought to pull the phone out of socket so having it off the hook didn't cause any problems! (Imagine my surprise when there was a knock at the door and the waiter was stood there with a tub of honey......kidding....kidding...)
Regretfully I never stayed in that hotel again; however before I left Tedito insisted on writing a note thanking the lady for looking after him. I even popped back a few days later to drop off a Tedito of her own! I never met her, but not only was she not judgemental; she proved to me that the best sort of fun that you can have, is innocent fun. The sort of fun where someone else doesn't have to be worse of for you to enjoy yourself, the sort of fun where everybody wins!
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