7.35 a.m. Today the wind is blowing hard from the Northwest and according to the forecast it is going to increase throughout the day. Rain will arrive by lunchtime. The day is going to get steadily worse. Or is it! Do I have the power to decide what my day is going to be like? Can I change things for the better? Well probably, a few lines at the end of this blog may help you to decide. For those of you who have been following my dawn chorus time checks. I noted Mr song thrush at 5.22 this morning.

I have spent the last 15 years of my life messing about with telephones for one reason or another. For the last 5 years I ran Island Office Minder which provided clients with telephone lines and a telephone answering service. Before that I looked after the switchboard at the Royal bank of Scotland. Running Island Office Minder meant that I had to service many telephone lines at the same time. Of course you have to be as polite as possible to people but there are occasions when a caller simply will not shut up and you let to move on! The trick here is to cut the caller off. However, make sure before you press the button that you are the one that is talking at the time. No one will ever believe that you would cut yourself off. Thankfully the Royal Bank of Scotland never did discover most of my telephone trade secrets and, I was able to deploy them later into Island Office Minder.

I began today by asking if it is possible to decide for yourself as to what kind of day you might have. Well, I am not sure just exactly how much influence we might have in what kind of life we might end up with. If anyone had ever told me that one day I would end up working for a bank, I would have laughed so hard, I would have been in need of hospital treatment. Before joining the bank I had worked in engineering, a fish factory and finally ended up on a log splitter. I do recall visiting the pub on Friday evenings after work and standing at the bar, I noticed the pub use to slowly fill up with bankers. They had loads of money and I just couldn’t help wondering what on earth they got up to behind those great bank doors. The answer as I was about to find out, was not a lot! Well at least not from my experience. I don’t blame them for earning lots of money and not having to do much to earn it, I did exactly the same. Joining the bank was a revolution for me. I had only ever been used to going out to work in the mornings in old clothes and returning each night dirty and tired. In the bank I would turn up at 9 a.m in a suit, sit at my desk all day answering the telephone and, generally being polite to people. Then, in the evening, I would return home having not even broken sweat. In a bank nearly everyone is a manager. If or whatever reason they can’t make you a manager, never fear, they will give you a title of some kind or other. They love titles. I was a BA, a very low rank certainly. I have absolutely no idea what a BA is or was, however, I’m sure it was terribly important. In banks they have loads of meetings. They love them. They simply can’t function or begin any new task without having meetings. I was forever being called away from my switchboard to attend meetings. The meetings had no relevance what-so-ever to my work. I was once called to attend a meeting about Japanese Equities. A guy flew in from London especially to talk about them. He returned to London that night, leaving the bank with a telephonist who, if called upon, would be able to converse fully with anyone who wanted to trade a conversation in Japanese equities. Thankfully no one ever did.

I would be given large bonuses at the end of the month which were called performance plus. These payments I was told were for meeting my targets and for my hard work. In the fish factory, for hard work I would be given a bag of fish. I guess any place that unlocks its doors to the public every day and chains its biros to the counter is going to take a bit of working out.

I used to take my guide dog Escort to work with me at the bank. They were very accommodating towards him. He was allowed to roam freely throughout the bank, shedding his hairs on folk and steeling their sandwiches. At lunchtime I used to take Escort over to St George’s church yard. Here he could run freely for a while whilst I ate my sandwiches. Escort loved to play with sticks and such. I recall one day having just let Escort loose in the church yard and I stumbled across some plastic pipe lying on the ground. I picked up my end thinking Escort had hold of the other. For several minutes I pulled and tugged at my end. The pipe tightened several times and it did occur to me that Escort as strong as he was, didn’t normally pull or tug in play with such determination. Escort was a very clever guide dog. However, up until then, he had never called out across an open space, in a gruff male voice. “What the hell do you think you are doing, put my bloody hose pipe down?”

The bank certainly was very good to me and gave me loads of money for doing very little. I just never thought I would work anywhere and be expected to do so little for so much.

I began by questioning if we could shape our day. If we had any control over what kind of day we might have. I think we do. I close with this poem which comes to me from Pam Brown, a former Castletown resident and blog reader from Middlesbrough.

Sculptor's Attitude

by Unknown

I woke up early today, excited over all I get to do before the clock strikes midnight. I have responsibilities to fulfill today. I am important. My job is to choose what kind of day I am going to have.

Today I can complain because the weather is rainy or I can be thankful that the grass is getting watered for free.

Today I can feel sad that I don't have more money or I can be glad that my finances encourage me to plan my purchases wisely and guide me away from waste.

Today I can grumble about my health or I can rejoice that I am alive.

Today I can lament over all that my parents didn't give me when I was growing up or I can feel grateful that they allowed me to be born.

Today I can cry because roses have thorns or I can celebrate that thorns have roses.

Today I can mourn my lack of friend or I can excitedly embark upon a quest to discover new relationships.

Today I can whine because I have to go to work or I can shout for joy because I have a job to do.

Today I can complain because I have to go to school or eagerly open my mind and fill it with rich new tidbits of knowledge.

Today I can murmur dejectedly because I have to do housework or I can feel honored because the Lord has provide shelter for my mind, body and soul.

Today stretches ahead of me, waiting to be shaped. And here I am, the sculptor who gets to do the shaping.

What today will be like is up to me. I get to choose what kind of day I will have!

Have a GREAT DAY……unless you have other plans.

Tom Glassey. News at 10-50. Counting my money and squandering my time on the banks of the Silverburn river.