31st December 2007
Hi all,
After two and a half weeks off work it's a struggle to get the motivation to go back, especially in that awkward post-Christmas/pre-New Year week. Luckily for me I'd spent just about the entirity of my time off in shopping centres or as a family taxi driver, being told "we need to be there early" so it wasn't the strain it might have been.
So what happens on your first day back? Let's take a run down.
6.05am: Alarm goes off. Ugh. It's ridiculously dark, not even a hint of the sun appearing. Wunderbar.
6.09am: I must have slept in a strange position. My neck is killing me.
6.30am: I'm doing my usual mix of consuming tea and weetabix while making sure I've got everything I need for the day. Sandwiches, can of Pepsi, Aero, a few seasonal munchies and a CD full of podcasts for the car. Have been scraping the barrel a bit these week. I couldn't even download Fighting Talk because I can't imagine Graeme Rix even being slightly amusing.
7.05am: Just about time to leave.
7.06am: Aah! The trains will be quiet between Christmas and New Year, and as I'll definitely have a seat why not grab some of the magazines I didn't get the chance to read while I was off?
7.07am: Still pitch-black in the bedroom. Let's scrap that idea. I'll re-read Bill Simmons' book "Now I Can Die In Peace" again. Worth doing as I had to wait nearly three years before finally getting it as a present.
7.50am: My train is near empty. Lots of space. Most comfortable commute in quite a while. This has to be the day we have a trouble-free journey into Glasgow.
7.58am: We pass through Bridgeton station. It's still pitch-black. Yikes.
8.05am: Arrive at Argyle Street station. Hey, it might be dark, but at least the weather isn't too bad. Ooh, M & S are open already. Good place to kill some time.
8.15am: Nah, it's a good place to see nothing worth buying and to be while the weather takes a turn for the worst. Now it's teeming down. I'll have to run into work after all, but it is just to get out of the rain.
8.20am: In the office. It's eerily quiet.
8.34am: "All by myself, don't wanna be, all by myself... anymore..."
8.45am: Company!
9.37am: One of my colleagues just told a senior manager "I'm here all week." Centrifugal force! Thank you, the bar is open for another ten minutes, enjoy the rest of your evening.
9.59am: Just had some interaction with some other people who are in today. I actually feel vaguely human.
10.23am: A lady who is seeing in the New Year in Cornwall just tried to argue that the South-West of England is warm enough to wear shorts in January. This is true. Well, it is if you went up the Cornwall/Devon border with a jigsaw and got a floatilla of tugboats to make it a new Canary Island.
(I'm putting that down to too much Christmas Sherry or something. It's just illogical.)
10.39am: Am thinking through Simmons' quotes. Want to break out the book and start reading at my desk. Probably not a good idea.
11.02am: Speak to Lorraine on the phone. I forgot to reset an alarm clock for her this morning and I'm not popular. Oops.
11.04am: Did I mention that I got The Goonies on DVD for Christmas? Not a film I had seen before, quite an underrated present. Anyway, Sloth from the film just walked past my desk.
11.19am: Just overheard a discussion about who had lost what on horse races on Boxing Day. Don't think I'm missing anything there.
11.55am: My neck still hurts. Just thought I'd mention it.
12.32pm: Was just taking care of something at someone's desk and thought I recognised a voice. I turned round and didn't recognise the face. I heard the voice again, turned round again, and this time realised that the face the voice belonged with now had a letterbox-red hair. This is what you miss when you take two weeks off.
12.55pm: Possibly the biggest idiot in the office is showing off the Sat-Nav he got for Christmas. So many thoughts, so few of them publishable.
1.26pm: My neck is still sore, just so you know.
1.49pm: Hey, it's stopped raining outside! Actually this could have happened hours ago. Windows are hard to find where I work, let alone sit near.
2.38pm: Wow, today's going slowly.
2.52pm: Really slowly.
3.13pm: This is about the time on a Thursday that I like the fact it is a Thursday and I have to pick my daughter up from nursery. Into the home stretch.
3.55pm: Five minutes to go. Thankfully.
4pm: And I'm done. One of the longest days of the year. I'm glad it's over with. Until tomorrow at least.
Have a good week!
Tony
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