"yesterday"

Today

Today started with attending a school assembly. It was really good and even included a song from The Greatest Showman! A side benefit - I was quite pleased to see others there checking and replying to emails while I didn't need to. (I'd checked my email in the queue outside, nothing to respond to; and then spent the queue time writing a blog post on my phone.)

Quick visit to check on the property I'm renting out soon and then back home for an hour of assorted bits.

Next up was afternoon tea (at lunch) with my wonderful wife. We went to Nutfield Priory which lived up to our high expectations with excellent service and delicious sandwiches, scones and cakes. We were sat in their library room and even managed to fit in a little browse; with Liz finding a book that covered a daily journal from a member of staff in 1956 when it was used as a school. The book included notes on students who had done well, issues the school had and students who were going home each weekend. Our waiter noticed and pointed out another book with some historic photos of the building and a short write-up of it's history. Also included was a newspaper clipping, that I found most interesting, from the 1860s (I think) which included a sale listing for the estate - at that time advertised as a private estate of 300 acres, potentially suitable for a banker looking for an easy commute to London.

The afternoon saw another return to work for a short period before I went out for the Redhill Business Guild's Destination Redhill event and my own Micropreneurs social.

Democracy (and tenant fees)

While I appreciate that very few people actually have the time to watch/listen, I do think it's fantastic that we live in a time and place that provides live streamed (and recorded) access to our democratic processes - today's highlight being a discussion on the ban on tenant fees bill. I only managed to listen to a small amount but some of the evidence given of dodgy agent and landlord practices are really quite scary! It sounds like enforcement (and discovery in the first place) is (yet again) going to be one of the largest issues, potentially making a fee ban irrelevant for the worst affected.

Unexpected

Firmly in the category of unexpected time uses this afternoon was responding to a voicemail from a Park25 flat owner who was looking for help resolving a water leak. I received the voicemail because a VOIP number had been setup by the person who previously ran the Park 25 community site, and it was still listed on the contact page. Thankfully by the time I called the flat owner back they already had a plumber on the way. Wherever you live - make sure you know where the stopcock is! I then spent much longer than the phone call convincing the Wordpress site to let me login so I could edit the phone number away - replaced with a link to the site management company who (if you can reach them) should be more use.

Evening

Managed to fit in some more All Secure Domains server work (and a little website bug fix) before heading out for the evening's events.

Destination Redhill had three speakers - the founder of Suit City, of Plan Insurance and the local MP Crispin Blunt. The focus being to share their stories of Redhill, old and new; plus hopes for the future.

There was networking time before (which I mostly missed thanks to children) and more afterwards which I stayed slightly longer than I should have for - I had to try my best to reduce the amount of food being wasted (if only I'd brought some tupperware). Speaking of the food, it was supplied by Max's Kitchen and was excellent as always.

The speakers were all interesting to hear from and I particularly enjoyed some of the Q&A afterwards, especially the "energetic discussion" between two of the speakers about whether Gatwick should have been selected for an extra runway!

When I eventually tore myself away from the food, the Redhill Micropreneurs social and Tweetup (a combined event) was also very enjoyable. I met a local illustrator and chatted to people about all sorts including Brexit, local councillors, storms, cancelled flights, extreme mist, VR, todo list software, digital (or not) calendars, picnics and new business learning curves.

Photos