Surreal!

To my friends who may wonder where I have been for the past 12 or so days!

The last couple of weeks seem almost surreal! It was on Wednesday 17th September when I thought I would head down to Frimley but with so much to do I ended up driving down very early on Thursday morning. After touching base with Ian he drove me to Farnborough, then train to London and ACFA where I met Melanie (Head of Marketing and Communications) and we set off to meet our members who were to be invested. Oliver Shepard told us to go to the Hat and Feathers in Clerkenwell for lunch so we met Les Edwards and wife, and Fred Owen and Hayley - I always wondered what kind of a woman it must be to keep him in check! The Hat and Feathers was no ordinary pub! The amazing service and leather seats gave the game away but I was not ready for the prices on the wine list - £250 for a bottle of champagne! However, Keith Davies the owner turned up, asked for me, said his old pal Oliver had told him to look me up and then asked if we would accept a bottle of champagne to toast our guests - too right we did! We were joined for the Investiture by Wendy, our other Investee, with daughter Kirsty and as ever it was an inspiring occasion. The last time for a long time we would have as many as three to be invested, as well as Dave and Wendy Human being upgraded to Officer of the Order. Les and wife then departed, but we joined forces with Dave and party for the evening, 14 of us for Dinner at the Park Hotel.

Friday morning saw an early start back to Frimley with much to do to prepare for a weeks courses. Then to the Chinese buffett in Camberley with those staff who had arrived, accompanied by the sound of fireworks and music from the event at the Royal Military Academy across the road. Then the usual 18 hour Frimley days, but a break on Tuesday to attend the ISG meeting in London. That kept me away from our guest from Focus on First Aid - the incredible Deborah who works harder than I do and doesn't miss a trick. Our training had to be good to withstand her perception but the fact that she took 458 photos and said her feature would have to run to 2 pages instead of 1 seemed a good verdict! We'll see on 1 November. Deborah also offered everyone at Frimley £75 tickets to her Festival of First Aid Conference - entirely free! On Wednesday we entertained Paul Budden for the day - my Sea Cadet counterpart who is working with us to introduce comparable training. On Thursday Len and I went first to Sandhurst to recce the National Comps on 11 Oct, then on to Guildford University where Kim, Corporate Events, showed us around to help plan the competition day for Gather 09 when 600 cadet from all over the world will come together for the week. Steve Hall from Birtish Forces Overseas SJA arrived to help the tail end of Advanced FA and then to chair the trainer assessment panel on Friday. He crossed over with Dave Human, with us since Monday also to help with the Advanced Course. Then I had to prepare for the National Panel Meeting on Saturday as students departed and Panel Members arrived.

On Saturday afternoon I had the usual sweepup to do, 7 portfolios to verify - and a Masters level thesis to write (but in effect gathering together of the owrk of the past 4 years!!)! L said at the start of the week that if I got it finished I'd be at the Graduation - also at Sandhurst - the day before my own event! Not really believing even L could achieve that miracle, I set to work in the Portacabin I had used as our course office. Could I really write a 5,000 word Thesis before I left Frimley? I worked through the night - and through Sunday. I saw the night come and go, watched a beautiful red sunrise with a huge white cross across the pink sky where two very wide vapour trails crossed. I heard, but did not see, the students arrive for KGVI, worked on as they would have had afternoon tean and then their evening meal, then heard the obligatory new course fire drill. I felt like H G Wells time traveller as events passed me by, hidden away from everything in my time travelling Portacabin! Finally the thesis was finished. If it is not rubbish and if L does achieve the miracle then 10 days from scratch to graduation will have to be an all time record!

Arrived home 10pm Sun night. A mammoth trip, even for Frimley, of some 12 days. Wrote the Panel minutes, rewrote our new level 3 award in Direct Training & Support for our trainer course students and for relaxation turned to this blog! Now I just have the National Competitions to prepare... Fortunately, I think I have got out of the habit of sleeping!!