The Tees Business Sunday Supplement

A Covid-free Sunday focus from Tees Business

This week we talk to...Carole Knott, operations improvement manager at Middlesbrough’s Industrial Technology Systems (ITS) Born in Liverpool, close to the famous Grand National racecourse, Aintree. She now lives in Ingleby Barwick.

My perfect Sunday involves...doing something creative, that could be anything from drawing or building something. I love sitting outside by the fire on an evening – there is something idyllic about looking up at the stars, sat around a fire.

My ideal time to wake up on a Sunday is…before 10.30am – but it’s not unusual for us to be up until the early hours so it is not unknown for us get up (I say us loosely, it’s normally me) in the morning to let the dogs out and then go back to bed and just plan our day. Although that doesn’t last long as I don’t like to waste too much of the day.

I like to wake on a Sunday to…naturally, no alarms. It’s an opportunity for me to recover from the week’s activities but I normally wake up with my mind racing with all the things I want to achieve that day.

My Sunday breakfast would usually be…I wouldn’t class myself as a breakfast person, but if I did, it would have to be a crispy bacon butty. There is nothing like the smell of bacon cooking.

The people I spend my Sundays with are…my husband, Malcolm, and the kids when they are around, which is not as often now that they are all grown up - although my son usually pays a visit with his bags of laundry - no rest for the wicked, hey! I also try and get a Zoom call in with my daughters and grandchildren, who are still in Liverpool.

My Sunday routine involves…I’ve never been much of a routine person, more of a go-with-the-flow type of girl.

My preferred Sunday read is…anything fiction – the business books creep in every now and then, but there’s nothing like a good book. I bought myself a Kindle but there is still nothing better than flicking through the pages of a real book.

My ideal Sunday lunch is…I’m not fussed, traditionally it would have always been a roast dinner, but you spend that much time cooking it that a salad works just as well.

The one thing I won’t have on my plate for Sunday lunch is…sprouts! I’m definitely not a fan.

If I was eating out for Sunday lunch it would have to be at…Muse or Chadwicks, but Toby Carvery is always a big hit with the family.

My preferred Sunday tipple is…I’m not a big drinker but if I had to choose it would be a Tia Maria and Diet Coke.

My ideal Sunday stroll would be…I love walking on the beach. I don’t do it as often as I would like, even though we are surrounded by some amazing beaches here.

My perfect Sunday film is…either a good film, anything from action to rom-com, or if we are in the middle of watching a series, then we will catch up on an episode or two.

The thing I avoid doing on Sundays is…I don’t try to avoid anything – if it needs doing, my attitude is just get it done.

My attitude to work on a Sunday is…I am a self-confessed workaholic – so if it needs doing and it will give me a head start then I will just get on with it. They say if you love what you do then you don’t work a day in your life!

If a visitor had only one Sunday on Teesside, the places I’d recommend they visit are...although I’ve lived here for a number of years, the lockdowns have meant I?haven’t managed to visit many places – but I love Whitby and Saltburn.

On a Sunday, I typically go to bed at…I keep promising I will go to bed early but 12.30 is the norm. I’ve been described as a night owl, rather than an early bird!