I wasn't wrong in thinking it would be a really busy weekend! I left home on Sunday at 08.00 and fortunately it was a beautiful day. The three hour drive to 'head office' was pretty straight forward at that time on a Sunday morning, and I arrived in time to find a large group of my fellow Governors happily chatting in the car park and waving to each new arrival. Having now worked together for over two years we are a pretty close knit group, and it is always great for us to meet up together.

At 11.00 we assembled in one of the upstairs meeting rooms around a large table and under the chairmanship of one of our number, to report on the Thanks for Life and crocus news in our districts. Some was very exciting from an event in Trafalgar Square on 1 October, to planting around The Angel of the North, at Castle Howard and many more. We brainstormed until lunch, and all in all it was an extremely useful and productive meeting.

After our sandwiches we assembled in the Council Chamber which is quite an imposing room in which we all have our own seat. The meeting is chaired by the RIBI President, Big Jim, but also at the head of the room are the Secretary/CEO, the RIBI Treasurer, the IPP and PE. To one side also in attendance are our RI Director and the President Nominee. We worked our way through the extensive agenda until about 18.00 when we made our way to check in at our hotel. We then met in groups to discuss a short presentation which had been put to us by the chairman of the RIBI Membership Committee and Head of Marketing, David Bryant, following which it was time for dinner and then bed.

On Sunday morning breakfast was at 07.30 before making our way back to the resumption of General Council. The weather was horrendous and the rain was coming down in sheets, but hey ho, we were all in the dry.

After a sandwich lunch and a quick chat among ourselves about what we had experienced and the decisions made, it was time to load our cars with the Crocus PR materials; a very wet job! I have to say, some of it was very heavy, so I will be doing a bit of body building before the next General Council meeting in case there is a repeat performance. It was then time to brace myself for a very wet drive home during which I encountered significantly more traffic than on the way up.

I arrived home just before 18.00 and as soon as I entered the house I felt absolutely shattered, but I wanted to attend my own club meeting where we were entertaining our new, young local MP, so i made myself a cup of tea and got my act together.

I was so pleased that I had made the effort, because I soon got my second wind and really enjoyed her presentation and listening to her answer the questions from our club members and visitors. I think it is safe to say, that a very good evening was had by all including our special guest.

Tuesday was definitely catch up and preparation day for the rest of the week. There had been no time or opportunity to deal with messages or emails while I was away and this is usually my first task each day.

On Wednesday lunchtime I made a very pleasant visit to RC of Teignmouth accompanied by DGN Graham who is endeavouring to familiarise himself with some of the clubs in south Devon.
It was still pouring with rain and I have a feeling that I may be developing webbed feet!

When I got home, having consulted with District editor Peter, I did some work for the Magazine which I believe is coming along very nicely.

Thursday saw me preparing for the District Executive meeting at Tiverton that evening along with a visit to the dentist. it's amazing how hard it is to fit in these personal things at the moment!

It was a long agenda and we didn't get away as early as I had hoped. This was probably my fault as I'm still on a learning curve, but I must try to get through the business more quickly. As it happens, we wouldn't have got home any sooner because we were held up for an hour and a half on the M5 by the horrendous accident that happened at about 21.00. I was pleased that I wasn't on my own because it's quite disconcerting sitting in a stationary car on a motorway in the dark.

I am now going to take a short break in the North of Italy to recharge my batteries so no blog next week. Hooray!