The Winning Order

I like lists.

I feel I am on top of things if I have a list of things to do. It doesn't matter if it’s a long list and nothing on it has been done. As long as there is a list I feel there is a sense of order in my life.

This week has been a week for lists and order. It’s been the first week of “Swarm” in Battersea Park. 500 National Youth Theatre members, six marquees and a a toilet wagon. Regular readers will be thrilled to know that it was only two days in when an additional row of ten portaloos were deposited on site. The toilets are at least more in number if not cleaner. With marquees, a large parade ground and more lists and checks than one would think possible, it’s hardly surprising that the nickname “Swarmwitz’ has started to stick.

I have 78 young people who in the main are great. Keen, fun to be with and committed. We've lost a few during the week who decided the project (or perhaps my handling of it?) were not for them. but the ones who have made it to Saturday are good solid guys who I hope to have a great deal more fun with next week.

Actually I didn’t make it to Saturday. A long standing commitment with Rich took us to Ascot for the races yesterday. When two partners both work hard, and have demanding jobs its very important that commitments made to each other take priority and Rich and I try to do this. Hence the fact that although rehearsals continued yesterday, mercifully this commitment had been made long before the NYT revealed to the directors of “Swarm” that we would be working on Saturdays (Unheard of I hear you cry!) and so yesterday it was off to Ascot with Richard’s team from work and other guests.

It’s all about picking the right order..and of course the right horse. After previous expensive trips to race courses with win only bets, I covered myself yesterday by backing a full race card - one horse in each race - each way, and it paid off to the extent that my £60 spent in this way brought a return of £85. A side bet on each race of £5 to win placed course side just ended up losing me £7.50 so I came out a pleasant £17.50 in profit and having had a great day out.

Richard did remarkably better. His stake of £100 yielded a take home of £155 and as someone who considers himself no winner in games of luck etc he topped this off with a £2 dream number win of £2 on last nights lottery. Sadly both of us failed to get the right numbers for the big win.

Meanwhile my bees will spend the weekend learning the right numbers - as banker bees we are basing our pieces on numbers and in particular, the Fibonacci sequence. I hope it’s not stewing their brains as I write. I’m hoping that they have prioritised their weekend in the right way to get some quality r and r as well as a little work on their learning and work. I suspect this might not be the case and enjoying themselves to the full might have been the main priority.

Getting things in order is something one has to learn.

Now, where’s that list for tomorrow?