Wednesday and I wake at MB3 at 7:30. I have slept in my usual two hour bursts. I read for a few minutes and then get up and make my way to the main house for breakfast. I sit with the others and eat croissant and drink coffee. At 9:30 we begin our working day with a reflect meeting, orientating ourselves and beginning to focus on what the business of the day is to be. We discuss the format of the book we wish to produce and the possibilities of funding. We are a bright and creative bunch so there are many ideas and views to capture and consider. We brake and spend a time with the archivist at MB3 who has got all sorts of materials out for us to see, such as architects drawings of famous hospitals, early publications on TCs and lots of art work by ex TC residents. There is a huge wealth of material that we can use for the book. We move in to a lounge where we then have a zoom meeting with an Elder who was unable to make the journey to join us in person. We discuss what we had done so far and were then joined by the archivist who explained a couple of ideas that the Elders could help her with. It was a good mornings work and thinking and we had started to compile an ABC of subjects and issues to cover in the book.

At lunch time we sat down to a Christmas lunch of festive nibbles including chocolate log and cream with mince pies. We sat in our party hats and set off our festive poppers before settling down to watch a TV programme made about a famous Therapeutic Community (TC). It was an intense watch but provided us with a lot to consider in relation to the book we were considering. More coffee and we settled down to our last session of the day where we recapped the day and made our observation. We also caught up with how we all were in terms of health and life. At the end of the session everyone left to journey home only I and the MB3 director remained. I took advantage and caught up with the blog as the WiFi only extends to the main house. As I finish this I contemplate what a pleasure and a delight it is to have a peer group who understand the work I have done all my working life and who are generous and kind. It is a real honour to have a group of people where it is possible to talk about relational work who have a set of shared vales that place people and relationships at the heart of everything.

I shall spend my evening reading and writing with a view to a very early start in the morning so that I can get home with a full day to spend ahead of me. I might even make it to the gym to positively continue my reset week.