1st April - Day one of my daily blogging starts here

 So today marks the start of my focussed Rebelling. My journal already has ticks in and this will be essentially my diary now. A public diary... assuming anyone reads this!! 😅

Today also marks the first day on summer hours at work. Now doing 1½ hours more than I have been since returning to work four weeks ago.

I've been at the Fort for 8 years this summer, but one of those, last year, doesn't really count as I was signed off on long term leave while I waited for surgery on my spine. I started my absence 9th April (I remember because we heard about Prince Philip on the local radio station on my way home and when I checked BBC and Sky News they still hadn't released anything!) That day was our first day back doing training to reopen after the third lockdown. The lockdown started around 19th December. So aside from the 1½ I managed on the 9th before being sent home, I hadn't worked from 19th December 2020 to 28th February 2022 when I finally went back!

But anyway, it was a relatively quiet day but it was cold! It kept trying to snow but the weather's idea of trying was really rubbish.

So first day back on Summer Hours and I get the first closing shift, meaning I had to lock up the site. I was doing so well, remembered so much (I haven't done a closing shift by myself since before the absence) but then I realised I'd forgotten a set of keys so had to go back inside the fort to get them before we could lock up one of the car parks! Never mind.

I visited my grandma after work which was nice. Had a lovely chat with her, even though loads of the things she told me she'd already told me last week but never mind! It's nice to spend time with her.

After that I went to visit another friend where mum and dad were already. Best part was the hugs from the kids, I love her kids (middle smol is the girl in the archery photos I posted, she's one of my Cubs). Second best part was the Chinese waiting for me!

Getting home I find the new mattress has arrived 10 days early! Nice! Hopefully this one will benefit my back a bit better than the memory foam.

One of the things for one of my badges is to make a note each day of 5 things I'm grateful for, so that will be my footnote for each blog entry.

So, I'm grateful for:

• My family. My mum and dad are always there for me. And it was really lovely to see my Grandma again today
• My job. I adore my job and I missed it so much while I was away from it. I actually took a pay cut from my previous job when I started at the fort but a friend of mine told me "Enjoying your job is worth £10 an hour" and he wasn't wrong. Admittedly a better wage is always going to feel nice, but the fact that I look forward to going to work and I don't dread it like at my previous place makes such a difference.
• My friends. A lot of the reason I enjoy my job is because I've made so many friends there. I can honestly say there isn't a single person who makes me think "ugh so and so is there today" or "I don't want to go in because such and such is in". I get on well with everyone there and that's a really special thing.
• Tycho. That's my cat. He can be a bit of a... well the word I use to describe him usually is one I won't put on here because I want to keep my blog clean. Suffice it to say, he can be a bit of a terror. He likes to suddenly bite me and has actually bitten me in the past and given me an infection. But despite this, he's my boy and I love him and I'm grateful to have him.
• My Cub Pack. I've been with this pack since 2016 and in that time we've had so many characters. I've had a lot of fun with my Pack over the years and long may it continue!

So that'll do for now. See you tomorrow.