Winter blues

When you are doing back to back touring you long for a few days at home. After the season ends the winter ennui starts to set in and you begin to feel at a loose end. I always said that guiding was a good profession for retirement because you have long periods of inactivity, but I sometimes am tempted by the predictability of a 9-5 Mon-Fri job because you have more clearly delineated periods of work and rest. In guiding the advantage is that you have times when there is no work and you have cetain degree of control over these. I actually turned down a guiding job in the summer because I wanted a break at the seaside in but this is extremely rare. Most of us take whatever we can get not knowing if and when the phone will ring again.

I have a short job taking a group around the Tower tomorrow morning, which should be a doddle but having time to think about it makes it seem more daunting especially as I guide there so rarely these days. In practice, getting the group through the security and giving them a brief historical orientation and ushering them into the Jewel House will take up most, probably all, of the time available, so I will not need to know that there are 40 Beefeaters (Yeoman Warders to be precise) and when every Tower was built. But I probably will do. Better overprepared than under - as long as you know when and how to edit your info.

CAROL SERVICE at St Botolph's Church, Aldgate was a lovely evening for guides yesterday with myself, Leena and Ken Menton over from Limerick. No arguments over courses, qualifications, etc. Just a bunch of guides singing and celebrating together. Should do it more often to lift the winter blues...