Beachy bonus

The weather was milder and mostly sunny. All hail those south-facing coastal towns in southern England. As much as I love the north, I imagine in the future I’ll migrate towards this region when I find myself living back in the UK permanently. The cost of heating is lower. Today I didn’t even need my coat at certain moments.

At lunchtime we stretched one hour (by doubling it) to walk to Beer where we strolled through the quaint village to the beach. There was a lot of fishing paraphernalia laid out and an auld sea dog surveyed it all proprietorially. Michelle got excited at the blackboard advertising the fresh seafood for sale.

We went back up the hill, along the cliffs and down onto Seaton beach. Michelle attempted a swim, as growing up in the Western Cape has hardened her to cold water. Her estimate of 17-degree water was wildly inaccurate when I looked it up. She got waist deep before abandoning her attempt, citing uneven rocks underfoot and not the cold.

Work was a mixed bag. On one grant we’ve recently been awarded and which is proving complex to coordinate internally, the words ‘piss up’, ‘brewery’ and ‘couldn’t’ sprung to mind.

A great announcement made by our CEO was a bonus in everyone’s pay packets this December, to celebrate getting through this year and because remarkably we’re in a decent financial situation due to lots of time invested by everyone in fundraising and writing proposals.

This is the first such bonus that I’ve known be issued in my time at the organisation, and it’s very welcome by all. I decided to use mine on extending my stay in Devon, as it seems to be suiting me.

In the evening Michelle suggested we watch Love Actually, because ‘tis the season. However, it has been taken off Netflix. I was less devastated about it than Michelle, even though it’s always worth sitting through for that scene near the end when Martine McCutcheon utters an expletive when looking for her coat. And obviously, for Emma Thompson displaying a masterclass in acting when she cries to Joni Mitchell in her bedroom.