Hurrah for sun!

 It looks as though Summer has come early again this year (If I'm right in saying that the same thing happened last year? I feel like it did anyway) and I am absolutely loving basking in the sun as much as physically possible, or at least as much as my work hours allow.

I've gotten back into the swing of work, my body has almost acclimatized (wrong word, I am aware) to the frantic and massively stressful conditions that come part-in-parcel with working in a hotel, and to the crazy long hours with minimal (if any) breaks. Yesterday they put my overt willingness to work (slash my desperation for money) to good use by putting me on the breakfast-dinner shift, otherwise known as the "student shift". Waking up before 7am was a bit of a shock to the system, especially after a 12am finish the night before, but it wasn't as bad as I remember back in the Christmas break. The breakfast shift was 8am-1pm, which allowed for a few hours of sunbathing before returning for the evening 6pm-1am stint. 

Despite the obvious downsides, there are a lot of perks that come with the job. The hotel I work for is part of the Exclusive Hotels chain and has a Michellin star, which of course means that the food is uh-may-zing. I definitely take advantage of any leftover meals (by this I do not mean scraps of food leftover by guests, I'm not that disgusting) and yesterday my sweet tooth was left more than satisfied by a leftover plum tart pudding. The petit-fours are a personal favourite, too, and luckily for me the guests never seem to manage them (not surprising really, after three or four courses plus coffee and wine). 

If I didn't constantly have my somewhat blinkered work goggles on, I would consider the Manor quintessentially grand and beautiful, charming and, altogether, the perfect English countryside retreat (I am seriously running the risk of sounding like some sort of brochure but nevermind!). Located in the quaint village of Castle Combe - otherwise known as the village where Stardust was filmed, and labelled the "prettiest village in England" - as I drive down the hill towards the centre of the village, it is truely like I'm stepping back in time, or perhaps transporting myself a few hundred miles into a rural French village. 

There is also the sociable side of work. Getting to know other employees from different backgrounds, and who've come from all over the World to work at the hotel, is really interesting and takes away some of the pain of polishing plates for hours on end! 

And, of course, money forms a large part of my motives to work! Hoping that I'll be paid soon, seeing as my current account is now into negative figures (I didn't have enough in there for my phone bill so they've charged me an extra £10...sob). 

Tonight I have an exciting evening of.... nothing, planned. I seriously hate not having my term times correspond with my friends' :( Bro is having friends over, I shall be banished to my room. Joy...