- Dyfrig Gibbs
Juggling

I sat down late on Thursday to write a post for Friday. My heart wouldn't settle on a story, a moment or the tiniest thread of an idea. It hadn't all week to be fair - it's not had a moment between beats to think straight. I might already of mentioned it but I'm going flying on Sunday. Mental preparation for this was high in my mind for much of Monday - hence writing about it late into the evening then publishing Tuesdays insight into my intentions for the week. Since then, I've not found that quiet zen space to ready my mind for that precious hour let alone trap a blog post in amongst the deluge of tasks that have materialised.
Tuesday - a record breaking day of spraying for our team - we covered a lot of ground. We didn't stop for a break and left the woods in a cloud of dust so that I could make a dentist appointment. Met Bella and the kids there. Bang on time. The evening was tricky, Aria was clearly suffering from the latest bug that's trending. By 2200 we had the chores squared away and I sat down to plan my besties stag do. In exactly 3 weeks i'll be out of my depth in Ibiza. I want it to be a success though. I went to bed late.
Wednesday - Bella had a hospital appointment in the afternoon, so I had the day off work. Took Aria and her noticeably deteriorating demeanour to her nursery in the morning. Bella and I did the weekly shop, I returned our tax forms to HMRC and accepted our re-mortgage offer from the bank. Picked up Aria, had lunch, drove to the hospital in Swansea. Debated taking Aria to a doc there. Decided against it, rung our surgery - shut on Wednesdays. Will have to wait for the morning. The evening routine takes the protracted route that they tend to when tired poorly kids are in town (Bears not that happy either - he's suffering with colic and hasn't had a dump in days. They eventually settle, we tidy, then I sat down to work on a logo for Shimoda and take the Cessna for a spin on X-Plane. I'm going flying on Sunday! Went to bed late - 0130. At 0140 Aria woke up in a coughing fit with a raging temperature.
Thursday - I woke at 0600 to find Bella still down stairs with a naked and fitful Aria who had rejected all meds. And Bear feeding. She is Superwoman. She is drastically under slept Superwoman and want's my help. This morning I can't help. I've got to go to work - no one can cover. The business's daily running costs and 3 mens wages depend on me this morning. I tear myself away and slope off to my car. My car. My car whose starter motor has chosen to implode this morning. Belatedly we get to work and get cracking on another hefty hectarage. My mind is with my girls and hungry Bear. At lunch a supervisor for the company we are contracting for pays us a visit. He must of been having a worse week. Within 2 minutes of his arrival he and I were in a heated exchange. I think we all have at least one in our life, a person in management who shouldn't be any where near it - or perhaps in a different profession all together. Unfortunately this is the case with todays supervisor. I think I extend a healthy level of empathy to everyone I encounter. Everybody has their own story and individual stressors that contrive to divert a persons actions and decisions away from what you personally perceive as the best course. It also doesn't make them the wrong course. Sincerely I am empathetic - and patient. It is rare that I will be drawn into a heated tete a tete. I'm not in the slightest bit prone to losing my cool. However, on this day I was faced with an astounding level of dishonesty and unprofessionalism - from a man far my senior with an attitude befitting of a jilted bolshy teenager. We were given a directive plucked straight from the ethers of the wildest imagination, borne of this chaps unfathomable personal agenda. A directive that served zero purpose, would render a whole 4 year contract worthless and effectively descend our whole team into total discord. Cool promptly departed. A hard days work got longer.
Home was the perfect remedy. Bella had taken Aria to the docs - he'd soothed our concerns and issued her with the evocative fluorescent yellow banana flavoured antibiotics and an industrial bottle of Calpol. She already seemed brighter. The evening routine and the time to recapture the house and our senses took us until around 2200. I put the kettle on and settled in to write something on here. Like I said I'd had little inspiration so far in the week but I really want to keep my momentum up with the writing. I am enjoying this blog and I genuinely believe and hope that it can be a source of encouragement to others on all sorts of paths but similarly hell bent on realising their own passionate desires. I also hope that to everyone else it is an amusing journey to follow. So I sat down to write a review on my latest favourite book about aviation - Skyfaring. Got that to look forward to. Before I raised my tea to my lips in earnest contemplation of the first line, Aria woke up coughing, crying and then hurling curdled milk all down the stairs and through the lounge. Bella simultaneously soothed her and fed the boy whilst I scrubbed carpet for an hour. Calm restored by 2330 I relinquished writing and settled down to practice a couple of circuits - I'm going flying on Sunday you see.
Friday - an altogether better day. A different district to work in. Fair weather. Home to a rapidly improving daughter. A steak to wave at a pan and devour. A swifter bed time routine. A haircut from my wonderful superwoman wife. And inspiration to document this last 90 hours.
Saturday - (Friday night still) it's the early hours and I'm finishing this. I need to go to bed. I'll publish this in the morning before we embark on the Bank holiday weekend. Later today we're going to the circus! Aria's (and Bear's) first time. We're going for them and so we can both get some juggling tips.