Musings on ages & stages
Met with an old friend this week – he’s my age but his children are quite a bit younger and are at various stages of leaving home: moving back to the States, going to University or travelling on their gap year. ‘I just worry that that’s it – we’ve had the best times and now they’ve gone’. I recalled when ours left the hole that left wasn’t just from their absence – but also that we could go weeks without seeing young people after 20 years or so with the house filled with youthful energy (for good and bad).
To be honest I thought we were just catching up for a dog walk and a couple of pints – hadn’t anticipated the evening temporarily taking an altogether more reflective tone.
We re-grouped and starting planning our own personal and business priorities for the coming years and then argued about football.
Our youngest turned 25 and can therefore no longer use any youth services – to which my friend observed ‘that’s OK – the government has closed them all down’.
11 days into April – 1/3 of the month gone and 1100 of 3000 push ups completed. Fundraising target met – but if you want to donate I’ll tweet the link sometime. I would say that they’re getting easier – or that I’m feeling fitter for it. But both statements would be untrue – and I’m nowhere near ready for the lycra top.
Workwise – just spending some time preparing for the last Board meeting of the Skill Mill Partnership at the end of the month and saying goodbye to those who I have got to know over the last three years. Was great to catch up with Russell who is completing the Final Evaluation of the project. The focus of the Skill Mill team is now entirely focused on securing enough funding to ensure they are still operating when the final outcomes have been collected and the Report can be published.
Other work is ticking over although I still find myself with some spare capacity. So if anyone in your networks is looking for some external support around: strategic planning, business development, system design and evaluation or mergers – point them my way…..
Had the very real pleasure of seeing Nitin Sawhney again on Tuesday night at Brighton Dome. I’ve seen a lot of live music in my time but there is no-one who move me quite like him and his band. If you don’t know him at all – check out either Beyond Skin or Immigrants. Felt like even more of a privilege this time as he had a heart attack only six weeks ago.
