Story to follow. I'm having a break over the Christmas period.
Darcy Fielding.
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So, What's Been Happening?
Hello my friends - and apologies for our silence over the last month. It's Darcy Fielding, in case you were wondering. And if you were also wondering about the reason for my particular absence, read on!
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In summary, I needed a holiday. That in itself may surprise you, workaholic that I am, but one can reach a point when the amount of work becomes too much. In fact I had reached the point where, when I was leaving home for work, I found myself looking back and longing to remain with my family.
I have always managed to balance my home and working life - until recently. The population growth in Mellowdene - including crittizens in both the village and the county - has steadily been eroding that balance. You may remember how busy I was last Christmas and my family time was going to suffer. Fortunately, my good friend and work colleague Harry Hawthorne stepped in to share the load. Everything worked well but it made me think. I needed to make changes.
That became essential following the opening of Chunglewood. Now, even though we haven't mentioned the people of that village much this year, their influence has been felt, particularly in some quarters. Granted that most of their residents still haven't left their home in Tall Tree Forest, but - possibly because of that - there is an official policy to ensure they will feel welcome when they do. The Mellowdene Examiner has been publishing a small weekly magazine specifically for the Chunglewoodians, gently giving them an insight into Mellowdene. We've taken selected articles from back issues of my newspaper, suitably edited, with a view to acclimatising them to our nature. As you might imagine, this has significantly added to our workload.
It became clear that a holiday was needed to give me a break. It was also clear we'd need help to keep the paper running in my absence but we had to acknowledge that would only be a temporary respite. A long term plan was needed. I would need a permanent increase to my staff numbers.
And that's what I did. For the past six months we have had three additional employees at the Mellowdene Examiner. And wow. They are good.
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I'll get to the three additions shortly but first I'll remind you of my current colleagues.
Harry Hawthorne may be my lead reporter but he does so much more. I decided to make him deputy editor but that was only when we'd agreed on the balance of his duties; he does like reporting and interacting with the public.
Antonia Petite does a little news reporting but she concentrates on community articles including her popular "People" column where she interviews villagers about their lives.
Although a freelance travel writer on paper, Ricardo Porcini goes beyond his syndicated travel column to help Mellowdenians learn about other Sylvanian communities.
I must include my friend Jackson Butterglove as he plays a small role in my newspaper. Of course he writes the majority of this blog, but as far as Mellowdene is concerned he writes occasional articles for the Mellowdene Examiner. It helps explain our association here at the office. I've not mentioned it before; it's not really relevant to the blog. His articles involve short interviews with villagers to discuss their musical tastes, asking for examples of songs they like and why that might be. He's rather efficient at it now and can pile up a number of articles that I can publish periodically. He says he quite enjoys it. There's the social aspect and it also helps as market research for his songwriting.
My three eldest children like to help out with small tasks for their daddy. Una, as previously indicated, goes way beyond that. She wants to be a top reporter and I think she will take over the family business one day.
So that's the current mob. And with the workload increasing, I can now introduce you yo my new gang.
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I needed someone to handle the administrative tasks that I had traditionally addressed without assistance. Some of the necessary work was tedious but it was increasingly taking too much of my time. For a couple of weeks Edith Snow-Warren looked to be a candidate but that wasn't to be. She had missed much in the years she was absent from the village, and was spending time both at the library reading our archives and here at the office delving into the recent back issues, trying to catch up on events. She wasn't interested in being employed personally but her research prompted her to suggest someone she had met when reintroducing herself to the village.
The Faraday sisters are well-educated twins and when they came to the village it was no surprise that one sister - Felicia - would become part of the school teaching staff. The other - Fenella - had not found her niche, spending most of her time in the library. It was there she met Edith and this led to her coming to meet me. Discovering what I needed, Fenella became interested and agreed to help.
She has proved to be a whizz at administration. That included the essential tasks I found both tedious and time consuming. And she likes doing them!
Calbert Porridge is the second new employee. He has always been interested both in electronics and in machinery but hadn't found the right place to utilise his skills. Since Newton Butterglove upgraded our print room a few years ago we have increased our output but it's fair to say none of the Mellowdene Examiner staff were techies. We were tinkering around the edges. Calbert, on the other paw, is technically brilliant and the print room now runs at optimal efficiency.
That brings us to reporting. Harry Hawthorne remains our best reporter but he was also faced with doing some of the editing when I was pushed. As already mentioned, that role is now official. We are more organised now that Fenella is saving me time, but my analysis highlighted that we needed more reporters. Edmund Tailbury was engaged as another reporter and he's an astute investigator snd a good writer.
In addition, my daughter Una has formally become an apprentice with the newspaper. This is part time because of her school work, but prior to this change she was like my other children Daniel and Helen - willing gophers but not deeply involved. Now, Una is shadowing Harry or Antonia Petite on their assignments.
The newbies settled in better than I could have hoped. They were happy to do their work over Christmas and Harry agreed to be on call as deputy editor - if needed. That meant - for the first time in many years - I could take a break from my family newspaper and actually dedicate all my time to my family.
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So that's how it became possible for me to take a winter break. I gathered the family and made an announcement to that effect.
My wife Bridget said she'd have a break too, and that meant an adjustment to the proportion of household chores. Fair enough.
We didn't go away, limiting ourselves to day trips. My suggestion to take a vacation beyond the village was tactfully refused. Well, I say 'tactfully' but Bŕidget prefers clarity.
"I'll miss my programme," she said. I didn't need to ask which one. Of the television entertainment she enjoys, her 'programme' is a domestic drama series called 'Meece Tenders'. She is highly invested in the convoluted fictional lives of its characters and our home life is suspended whilst she avidly watches the show.
Outside the family, I again helped Spencer Maces organise the traditional Mouse Run. Together, we interview all the rodent families to determine availability and then Spencer does an amazing job with his tables of names, workflow diagrams, risk analyses and flexible alternatives. We then notify each family of the plans for the festive visits. Even when more families are brought into the tradition, Spencer always delivers and, as with previous years, the event was a complete success.
The children had a post-Christmas visit to Santa's Grotto. For each of his "elves" (each semi-adopted into Mellowdene families) Lennox Murr-Grand invited their new siblings to see toys being made.
Bridget and I went out for a couple of meals - just the two of us. We arranged for my cousin Alonso to babysit our children. Una wasn't keen on the term "babysit" but when she was told there would be pizza she decided to live with the term.
None of this was exceptionally exciting but it definitely served its purpose. For me that was a break from work. Time with the family. When I eventually returned to the paper (two week's longer than originally planned) I was fully refreshed!
Watch out!
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