No Kids Cliff

I am in the middle of my extended holiday between jobs. Compared to last year it is going well because I haven’t yet fractured my arm in three places nor has Sandie announced the arrival of any multiple pregnancies. That said I am also very quickly realising that holidays today are very different from holidays in the past, even those of last year……

Over the last few years at work I have realised that becoming more senior simply means that you have less time to deal with more topics at a more superficial level, and that the buck stops with you (especially if you live in Bangalore). My most recent realisation is that this piecemeal approach to work is really actually designed to help you deal with life with a young family. Holidays today mean that you get an uninterrupted 9.2 minutes to read half an Economist article, or to clean one riding boot, before you get the opportunity to come back and finish things six hours, four dirty nappies, three bottles, two spilt yoghurts and one stroppy wife later.

I now realise that Cliff Richard’s excessively happy look during his “we’re all going on a summer holiday”” jingle was largely because he didn’t have any non toilet trained toddlers knocking about at home.