HOT OIL, HOT ASH, AND DIVINE INTERVENTION
Last week I received the greatest response ever to my blog, but please, please, don’t be offended if I ask you to stop giving me advice on keep fit activities and the best way to approach them. I am over it. Except that I will attempt this week to attend the new Pilates lessons at our new studio at the office. I will give a full report on how I get on.
This week I managed to have two days’ relaxation in the most beautiful surroundings at Swinton Park Hotel in the Yorkshire Dales. They do have a spa, but thankfully no swimming pool. I did indulge in a deep massage, which promises to take away all your stresses and invigorate you, making you feel rejuvenated in just 90 minutes.
My wife Michele, thinking she was doing me a favour, booked the massage for me, but I have a major problem, again which is totally between you and me. I am extremely ticklish. Going for a massage for me is a scary ordeal. You walk into the room, which is normally smelling of all sorts of oils and music of plucking of harps, accompanied by the sound of running water, designed to make you relax. You then lie on your tummy, with your head stuck into a hole on the table. This, frankly, always makes me quite claustrophobic.
The masseuse always talks in a gentle, soft voice, explaining what the massage is going to do for me, what oils they are using. By now I am really feeling claustrophobic. The fumes from the oils are making me cough and I am very tense, desperately hoping that I am not going to be feeling too ticklish.
You then get the shock of the hot oil poured on you, which frankly is rather pleasant, and as they massage you and push your face further into the hole, they say ‘Oh my, you are tense’. Who the hell wouldn’t be, choking on the oil, desperately wanting to go to the toilet after listening to the harps and running water. However, in this case I did finally relax and had to admit at the end of the session I did enjoy the experience.
Whilst I was lying there, my thoughts floated towards the ash in the sky and I thought how amazing it was that through an act of nature, all those flights had been grounded. Was it an act of divine intervention? Was it a reminder that there were powers greater than ours? – well I hope so. Of course I was very sorry for the people who were stuck overseas and couldn’t get home. That must have been terrible. In fact in our own business our senior managers were stuck in New York, and are still not returning until this week, leaving their staff to manage without them. It’s great to see how well they have coped on their own, with the distant support of their colleagues.
It was also interesting to see how our business was affected. With email, telephone interpreting, and video conferencing we managed extremely well, saving time, fuel and money. Again I wonder if this was some greater power reminding us that we don’t always necessarily need rush around as much as we do. By utilising those other forms of communication, we can continue to cut not just the cost of travel, but the stress and pressure on our natural resources.
Please let me know how the ash affected you and I look forward to catching up with you all at the end of the week.
This week I managed to have two days’ relaxation in the most beautiful surroundings at Swinton Park Hotel in the Yorkshire Dales. They do have a spa, but thankfully no swimming pool. I did indulge in a deep massage, which promises to take away all your stresses and invigorate you, making you feel rejuvenated in just 90 minutes.
My wife Michele, thinking she was doing me a favour, booked the massage for me, but I have a major problem, again which is totally between you and me. I am extremely ticklish. Going for a massage for me is a scary ordeal. You walk into the room, which is normally smelling of all sorts of oils and music of plucking of harps, accompanied by the sound of running water, designed to make you relax. You then lie on your tummy, with your head stuck into a hole on the table. This, frankly, always makes me quite claustrophobic.
The masseuse always talks in a gentle, soft voice, explaining what the massage is going to do for me, what oils they are using. By now I am really feeling claustrophobic. The fumes from the oils are making me cough and I am very tense, desperately hoping that I am not going to be feeling too ticklish.
You then get the shock of the hot oil poured on you, which frankly is rather pleasant, and as they massage you and push your face further into the hole, they say ‘Oh my, you are tense’. Who the hell wouldn’t be, choking on the oil, desperately wanting to go to the toilet after listening to the harps and running water. However, in this case I did finally relax and had to admit at the end of the session I did enjoy the experience.
Whilst I was lying there, my thoughts floated towards the ash in the sky and I thought how amazing it was that through an act of nature, all those flights had been grounded. Was it an act of divine intervention? Was it a reminder that there were powers greater than ours? – well I hope so. Of course I was very sorry for the people who were stuck overseas and couldn’t get home. That must have been terrible. In fact in our own business our senior managers were stuck in New York, and are still not returning until this week, leaving their staff to manage without them. It’s great to see how well they have coped on their own, with the distant support of their colleagues.
It was also interesting to see how our business was affected. With email, telephone interpreting, and video conferencing we managed extremely well, saving time, fuel and money. Again I wonder if this was some greater power reminding us that we don’t always necessarily need rush around as much as we do. By utilising those other forms of communication, we can continue to cut not just the cost of travel, but the stress and pressure on our natural resources.
Please let me know how the ash affected you and I look forward to catching up with you all at the end of the week.
