The Hits: Never have I been so glad to get back to work

Adam Green

All the way back in December 2018 I had a dream.

I dreamt of sunny days, lounging by the beach with a good book and a cool drink. Of sleep-ins with no alarm and lazy morning coffees. The sound of a well-marbled steak hitting the searing hot grill of a hot barbeque as the pshht of a silver lid popping echoed across the back ya…. Hold that thought.

Why? Because for the ten thousandth time today the only sound echoing across the yard is "Daaaaad, I'm Huuuuungry" Hi hungry, I'm Dad. Came my reply, a tried and tested classic that for us Dads will never grow old.

"No I mean I want some foooooooood" What? I just threw some crackers and muesli bars at you 20 minutes ago, how can that be? "We ate them, the leftover chips and an apple. Now can we have some foooooood?"

No, you can't, I think silently to myself, you woke me up at five past six today to ask if you could watch Power Rangers, and then put the TV on the "loud as a jumbo jet" setting. Why would I want to feed you your 40-second meal of the day? "Yes," I say out loud.

There is no beach lounging. Between being too hot in the sun, too cold in the water, and somewhere in between on the way back to the towels, being parched and clearing sand from places it just should not have got it was action from the moment the beach bag hit the ground.

The book remains open, page seven looking up at the roof forlorn, "Why have you forsaken me Adam" it seems to scream from its still untattered pages. The mysteries of chapters to come remaining hidden in the pages unturned.

The steak? Tenderised. All the money spent on snacks, chips, trips and petrol! There was no room for eye fillet on the bbq, amongst the pre-cooked sausages. Which, to be fair to pre-cooked, went down a treat.

As I sat in a tent, the final week of holiday, and the rain poured down around me, my December dreams had changed.

The new dream was one of work. Sweet, child-free work. Oh don't get me wrong I love my kids, and my holidays but as I set foot in the workplace the relief came over me, maybe tomorrow I'll bring my book…

pf■en Don't miss Adam Green and Megan Banks on The Hits Hawke's Bay from 6am to 9am Monday to Friday.