day off

Recharges All Round

Tim MaidmentLeave a comment

I’ve needed a slow day, and as I’m working this weekend I’ve taken today off. It’s allowed for a slow pace. With Lady M not feeling fantastic after a broken night, I did some grocery shopping, gave moral support to a member of staff who was having a bad morning, and was just settling with an audiobook when boy s asked for help with getting out of the flat to do some shopping of his own. Then having done that I had a message from Lady T saying she was on the way round for a coffee, a little unexpectedly as I knew she’d been unwell herself the last couple of days.

Green skinned and brutish figure with tusks, a dark mohawk, big boots and ragged trousers, and large multicoloured moth wings out his back. He is brandishing a green sword in the air against a background of a wooden-framed building

So a quick trip back down the road while boy s recovered from the stress of being out in public while battling agoraphobia, and a quiet afternoon of coffee and nattering with both Ladies M and T, putting the world to rights.

I started the day thinking I might struggle to get much done, and forced myself to the shops in the first place to battle that. It turned into quite a social day.

Having dropped Lady T home, I’ve just been quietly playing around in HeroForge and watching old Time Team episodes on YouTube, leading to this odd fellow appearing that I have labelled “Fairy Nuff”

Sometimes the old jokes are the best – in this case based on memories of stories told and retold in my family based on the Lobey Dosser cartoons by Bud Neill that started in 1949. In the comic strips, Fairy Nuff wore “tackety boots and spoke only in verse” There’s something that has resonated for years and become the focus of shaggy dog stories and jokes – most particularly by my grandparents when I was young. Today was obviously time for Nuff to step forward again…

Day Off

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I’m working this weekend, so I took advantage of a lull in planned meetings and events to claw a day back, have a lie in, and then catch up with Lady T for coffee, chips, and putting the world to rights while sat by the river.

We’ve not caught up too much this year due to several bouts of illness, so a gentle afternoon felt very overdue. As part of our respective rock and roll lifestyles we talked about kids, partners, mental health, fairy tales, and all the gossip about people the other person doesn’t know and is unlikely to ever meet.

Not a bad break to the routine. Tomorrow I’m back to the usual meetings, shenanigans, and quiet plotting of the day job…

I Tried To Have A Day Off

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Last week was heavy going, for a variety of reasons that I won’t bore you with at the moment; and the tail end of the weekend was spent being anxious and tired and generally overwhelmed with life. It wasn’t until the early hours of this morning though that I decided I needed to have a time out. I had enough accrued time, no meetings booked in, and as far as I could tell nothing looming that couldn’t survive waiting another twenty four hours or so for my direct attention.

Eleven year old children, however, are no respecters of mental health time. I already knew the cub was coming over today, but I reckoned without the bright cheeriness and inquisitive soul popping his head round the door every half hour or so with some bon mot or repetition of a school in-joke that had him chortling and myself considering whether he actually needed both legs.

So I’m partially rested, and have done small household odds and ends and some grocery shopping without being tempted to look at my phone or log in to work email – so in the grand scheme of things it’ll do.

I’ve just had a text from Lady M to say she’s on her way home too. With the cub ensconced back with his favourite YouTuber streams and some chocolate milk I think the odds are good she’ll arrive back to a fairly intact flat. If I can just get this anxiety to give it a rest, that will be a great bonus.

Claiming Time Back

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I’ve been working extra hours to balance the rotas over the last few weeks so after checking with colleagues and setting out daily timetables I took today off and went down to Portsmouth.

Yesterday’s activities were exhausting on a mental level, so catching up with myr s and the rest of the polycule was a good antidote. Food and drink and a bit of shopping later and it was time to go home again – it was just a much needed break to get some sun and good company.

I wish I could have stayed longer, but we’re obeying the restrictions regarding staying over in the hope we can restart normal visits next month. Here’s hoping. It’s been difficult to be so separated.

Monday Musings

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My weeks normally start with a day off, but with the new job starting in a month or so I’ll be working full time so I want to try and use the time while I still have it.

So today I finally got round to catching up with Lady G for lunch, and the first pub visit since I can’t remember. As is traditional, we both waxed lyrical in our gossip about work and people we know – and it was just nice to see her again.

We both play (I use the term loosely as it’s a mostly zero-interaction game) Godville, so I got challenged to draw her hero and their animal companion – as if I need an excuse to doodle away – so thought I’d share the results here:

Meanwhile, I’m trying to limit checking on work emails while I’m off, but there’s an awful lot happening all at once so I did respond to a couple of them. The very minor issue that it has highlighted is the continuing tightrope I’m walking where I’m still substantially working in my existing job but am being called upon in the new role, while that new role is also still occupied by someone.

I shall have to have a conversation or two about how best to manage this over the next few weeks to both manage expectations and limit any treading on toes.

Low Spoons Monday

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Lady s was able to stay on for an extra day this weekend, and we had made plans to go up to London and introduce her to Forbidden Planet. However, having had a long couple of busy days across the weekend, lady s just wasn’t feeling up to it.

So we compromised, had breakfast locally, and I introduced her to the many charity shops in one of the local High Streets. Lady s is an absolute devotee of the bargains and oddities to be found in them, and it made for a nice relaxed afternoon to just potter from store to store, talking to the volunteers and being occasionally alarmed by some of the items on display.

I certainly learned more that afternoon about the nature and work of some of the local charities than I’d picked up in working in the area for a few of years, and between us we picked out a few treasures.

Thinking about it, it was a needed change of pace, especially with all the travel I’d done the previous three days. Frequent stops for coffee along the way gave me the pretence of being reasonably human too. Diving straight back to work the next day felt like a huge shock to the system – though that was more to do with having to talk certain colleagues out of their own states of panic.

Self care, everyone, if only so you’ve the reserves to help other people too…

Last Day Off

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We did a lot more adulting today to sort out the mortgage, solicitors, and so on – and then decided to go pay a flying visit to Lady S. We got there just on time to join her to go pick up the cub from school, and then spread some joy with some presents from MCM.

There was a particular Funko Pop that the cub had wanted, but as they were away on holiday we’d picked it up as a Con exclusive. I’ve never seen someone hug and kiss a Funko box before, so that was an experience.

We had badges and pins for everyone, and an extra Funko for Lady S whose health hasn’t been fantastic recently. Like Lady M she’s coping with fatigue and pain through her body – which has dampened her spirits considerably.

Even so, with Lady J joining us to chatter, we all had an afternoon that passed in animated conversation and that I don’t think any of us wanted to stop, even with meals, medications, and tiredness hitting us.

Still, a good end to our break.