Well 2013 is well on its way and once again I find myself inundated with work. Besides all my usual work, I was asked by the Theatre Benevolent Fund (TBF) to take over the secretarial duties of the fund. I am a true sucker and have a soft spot for the entertainment industry so I said yes. The TBF looks after actors and people from the entertainment industry who can no longer support themselves financially. The chairman is also a good friend of mine and we work really well together.

So I had my first board meeting today. Firstly I got there about an hour early – got my times mixed up and thought the meeting was at 9 when in fact it was at 10. So I am sure I came across as very eager! Meeting went on all morning and wish I could say it was exciting but no such luck. Now have some work to do getting it all under control. It is not a big job, I am just hyper efficient when it comes to paperwork so I need things done my way.

Son no 3 returned from school camp on Friday – thank goodness. Going from 4 sons down to 1 at home is a real shock. It is just so quiet – no sibling rivalry, nobody threatening to kill each other. I mean how do you cook for 1 child as well? All seems a bit pointless – I understand he has to eat but really. Anyway, it was nice to have son no 3 back home again to liven the place up.

I had to put my one kitty down on Friday so that was a bit of a downer. Poor Charlie was about 13 years old. He has suddenly lost loads of weight and wasn’t eating and stopped grooming himself. So I had him at the vet on Friday morning and they ran loads of tests and confirmed that he had total renal failure. They could start treatment but it would be a long road for Charlie, if he reacted positively to the treatment in the first place. So although I am not happy about the decision to put him to sleep, I think it is the right one.

I have to spend quite a bit of time doing accounts this week. Been busy with getting the year started and kids back to school so far this year so now have to concentrate on company accounts. It is also financial year end next month so need to start drawing up the financials for the auditors.  The joys of running your own business!

Then opening ceremony of the AFCON 2013 went reasonably well yesterday. This is one of our events we are currently working on. It pissed it down with rain all day yesterday so the props were all soaked through, costumes were soaking, field cover was wet and slippery. So all things being equal, it went off OK. Now for the closing ceremony in a months time.

My blog was featured on bloggers.com last week as well. I had an overwhelming response from everyone and I want to say Thank You to all my fellow bloggers who congratulated me and sent me all sorts of kind messages. I am truly amazed at the support I received and am truly blessed.

I have also made a few new friends in the bloggersphere this week – so nice to have met you all and really appreciate the comments and friendly banter.  Hope you are going to be regular visitors to my blog and keep up with the banter.  I have been introduced to some interesting places that I may put on my places to go list in the future as well.  Two years ago I thought I had been to all the places I wanted to go but it is now an ever growing list with no end.

Valentines day is approaching fast so hope you are all out shopping for that someone special in your life.  Let me know what you have in mind.

It has been a challenging 10 days or so. Firstly due to our ADSL line being disconnected. This saw us struggling with 3G for a few days. The good news is that they have reconnected my ADSL – but it is so slow it is not even worth having. Trying to download a 400MB file takes about 22 hours. We have requested other service providers to test their WIMAX solutions in our area and I now await their feedback. If we are able to pick up their signal here, we will see a huge improvement in our speeds – more than double what we had before. So holding thumbs.  

Also had some pinball machines on display – this was a huge hit with the crew as they spent every free minute playing. 

I have just finished setting up for an annual outdoor concert I have now done for the 9th year in a row.  I somehow got asked to set the chairs up for this event 9 years ago and it has become my job to do it each year since then.

It is not a terribly important job from an event perspective and it is one of those jobs that I swear I will not do again the following year, yet each year I feel obliged to do it out of loyalty to my client.  I am very fond of this client so I have a soft spot for her.  I also usually cut my fees when I work for this client but this year I charged my normal rate.  The client had a little bitch about it but then gladly agreed to it.

For 9 years we have been lucky with the weather and we have not had any rain so it is usually 2 days in the sun having fun with my crew.  I always refer to it as the start of my summer tan.

This year was different though – rain was predicted.  So I have been watching the weather closely for the last 2 weeks and virtually hourly since Wednesday.  On Wednesday I sent out an email to my client requesting additional crew and for 2000 Black Bags.

What are the 2000 black bags for?  Well I thought putting a black bag over each chair may stop them from getting wet.  The chairs are like miniature camping chairs made out of canvas.

I was checking the weather hourly on Thursday – loads of rain expected on Friday – 97% chance of rain.

So yesterday we arrive on site fully prepared for the rain – we have the black bags, I am dressed suitably warm, I have “condoms” (plastic consumable / throw-away raincoats) for my crew and 3 extra crew members.  The only thing missing is the clouds and the rain!

We start setting up and it just gets hotter and hotter.  I am sweating my ass off.  My hair is a mess, I am covered in sun tan lotion (I got really burnt last year so I was extra careful this time).  Crew are being extra competent for a change.  I keep looking at the sky and of course it is the most beautiful blue sky you could possibly imagine.

I then make the decision mid-afternoon to put the black bags over each chair anyway – just in case it rains overnight.  We have never done this before and it is a real pain the the ass.  You have to tear each bag off the roll, find the right side to open the bag – spend 5 minutes trying to open it, and then slipping it over the chair.  We finished in record time and we called it a day – everything else will be done this morning.

So I get home last night – and the clouds come over and before I know it, it is hailing and the wind is howling.  All I can think of is that these chairs are probably blowing away, especially with the bags capturing some of the wind as well.

I resign myself to the fact that there will be a lot of work today and there is nothing I can do about it until this morning.

I get up this morning and the weather is dreadful.  It is damp and cloudy.  I get to site and it is raining. We put our “condoms” on and these are just annoying.  They are blowing around and it is very difficult to work in them.  Lucky the stage crew were not in yet as we took refuge just in front of the stage under the overhang of the roof trusses.  Here I was able to unpack my boxes with the row and seat labels.

I instruct my crew about what needs to be done – they have to make up teams of 5 people as follows:

1 person to lift the back of the chair up and take the black bag off the chair,
1 person to hold the chair number on the back of the chair,
1 person to clip the number on (we have funny little clipping mechanisms that attach the number to the chair),
1 person to put the black bag back over the chair and then put the back of the chair down.
1 person running backwards and forwards getting more numbers and little clip things from myself

Usually I need 2 people in a team:
1 person fills the clip mechanism while the other one lifts all the backs of the chairs up in a row
Then one holds the label while the other clips

I usually go along and put the label on each chair seat so they just need to pick it up and clip it on.  I can’t do this today as the bags are wet and the labels would get wet.

The crew started off really slowly and it took us almost 90 minutes to do the first block.  But they soon enough found their rhythm and we managed to get it all done by noon.

My client is in a flat panic as the event is looking rained out.  The ground is muddy, the hospitality area is looking drab under the gray skies and people keep phoning her and asking if they can get a refund for their tickets.

I was quite happy to say good-bye at that point – my hands and feet felt like ice and I must have looked like a drowned rat.  A huge part of me felt very guilty for not staying on but I’m not sure I would have been any help.  Short of staying on for moral support, I probably would have been in the way.

I got home and had a nice hot bath and am now sitting comfortably in a warm lounge blogging – and feeling very guilty for not being there offering my help and support.