As you may have been aware by the lack of new posts over the last few days, I’ve been away for a while. For those that are interested, I’ve been to a small but very good festival called Hammerfest on the West Wales coast. It’s actually held at Haven in Pwllheli. That means proper static caravans with double glazing, working hot showers and toilets, no cold tents, no crappy weather and an OK bed to sleep in on a night.

In all honesty, it was a short break that I really needed. I do keep myself very busy with all sorts of things, and I give myself some very short deadlines to do things in. What this means is that my work rate is intense all the time, seven days a week. And it does get tiring. I do enjoy doing all the things I’m involved with, but my energy levels get quickly sapped and I need the odd breaks like this to recharge the batteries.

After a few days letting my hair down, donning the band t-shirts and head banging with the drummer from Breed 77, the batteries are recharged and I’m ready to get back down to work on my various projects. This includes a revamp for this site, as well as my continuing work with the National Fenestration Awards. That particular project is proving challenging at this moment in time, and myself and the other people involved are trying to implement some changes that have encountered some stumbling blocks. Still, it will all make for an interesting story later on and the awards are something we all continue to believe will become one of the main features within the fenestration industry in the years to come.

I think it’s important for us all to remember to take time off. There are a lot of us in this industry that do all lot of hard work and make a great deal of sacrifices to build and maintain something we’re passionate about. There’s nothing wrong with that, but we all must take the time to look after ourselves. Last year I was physically exhausted by the time Christmas came along. It was a crazy 12 months and I’d not really given myself any time to rest. We must all remember to make time to look after ourselves. Work is important, but our health and sanity is more so!

Posts will resume back to normal this week.