THE LAST POST

This will be the last blog of 2007 in all probablility unless I feelt he urge between Christmas and my New Year tour which starts on 29th December. I have had quite a lot of touring work this winter but will take a break in the New Year to conentrate on writing. Have some good things I think for THE GUIDE BOOK which hopefully will be a popular stocking filler in a year's time.
Very little guiding work at the the moment which is disappointing - I suppose there are just too many guides for the number of dollars available to employ them. I cannot complain really as I have plenty of touring work and so am not unemployed or broke but it would be nice to get one or two day jobs - maybe in the inter Christmas New Year period when people are filling the shops and pausing before the next party. Can't help thinking that the one timeI have been late for work virtually in my entire career is costing me dear. I won't do it again. Promise...
I will be in Finland later this week for a really cold pre-Christams break with Leena and then in Winchester with my ex and children on the day and back to London until going on tour on 29th December. I usually aim to kick start the season on the day after my birthday on 4th March - although I do have memories of having to get up at some ungodly hour on my 40th to go to Gatwick to meet a group of agents for a 'fam' (familiarisation) tour. With my New Year tour ending on 3rd January that shoudl give me two months to write properly instead of doodling like this.
Happy Christmas to any reader(s) and will be back God willing in 2008...

DODGY KNEES

Mentally I still feel fit and curious, a little jaded if doing the same tour all the time (especially in the cold and wet winte we are having) but still up for it and ready to go to work. Physically, however, I am obviously well into middle age and the first signs of being old (elderly? ancient?) are appearing. Went to the doctor this morning about my knee and she confirmed that it is 'the beginnings of osteo-arthritis'. So the body is no longer as able although the spirit is willing.
Have just finished two six day tours back to back (actually a day in between). The tours were good and the people reasonably happy I think, but it is hard to summon up the enthusiasm for touring in the winter especially when heading north to Scotland. Rain and cold combined rather than snow in the sunshine which can be enchanting.
It is also dark when you get up. I am sure we could do lot more to combat global warming by getting out of bed earlier but the habit of allowing the sun to come out before I appear is well-ingrained and so this morning the alarm was set back to seven from six. Winter is here after all - no more tours until the New Year jaunt back to Scotland for hogmanay, which should be fun...

TAKING OURSELVES TOO SERIOUSLY?

Do we as guides take ourselves too seriously? There is a tendency, when you have to be qualified to do a job, to consider that you know everything there is to know about the job and that outsiders/civilians/the unqualified are a lesser species of being. While I am proud of my blue badge and the knowledge I have gained and stored I sometimes think we should have a court jester who whispers in our ear reminding us not to become too grand, as ancient rulers were reputed to have.
I write this because of the conflicts going on in the guiding profession between those who want to make the blue badge the only, certainly the pre-eminent, qualification and those who are not ferankly that bothered by letters after your name, certificates, badges, exams passed, etc. The former tend to be guides worried about losing working to the unqualified, while the latter tend to be, well, most of the rest of the world - tourists, tour operators, etc. Most people going on a tour just want to have a good time and want a guide who can help them do that, whatever their background. Sometimes, whisper it, a lack of experience and qualifications is actually a positive benefit, when adrenalin, freshness and enthusiasm make up for lack of knowledge and knowhow. Could not say that in a meeting of guides but I certainly felt it this last week with a rather subdued group who only seemed to rise from their torpor when I made a half-decent joke.
One thing experience has taught me, however, is never to give up on a group. They may take a lot of effort but they do eventually, hopefully, appreciate the effort, although it is usually more for organisisng their drop-offs in London and making phone calls on their behalf, rather than any intellectual excitement you offer...