Is anyone else struggling to remember what day it is at the moment?
Working from home has been my thing for several years now. I'm so expert at it, I recently wrote some tips for readers of my writing blog. As such, I've no truck with weekends or bank holidays. If a job needs doing, it gets done at a time that suits me, but if I want to skive off in the week for a nice lunch or to do something for me, then I don't feel guilty about it. I have a phone, so if anything is urgent, and I don't think writing about toy trains is in any way an emergency service, then I'm contactable.
But without the daily school run outside the window, no chance to get out and about, days all merge in to one. I go for a paper on Sunday and a quick milk/bread stroll on Thursday, but that's it. The allotted hour's stroll isn't working for me as the silence outside is deafening, so I give it a miss.
What has this to do with the blog? Well, as some of you know, I write posts well ahead of the day they will be published. At the moment, I'm trying to keep myself two weeks ahead. My thinking was originally that if I fell ill, a couple of weeks gave me a chance to get through the worst of it. Enough not to leave a break in posting, providing both comfort and an incentive to feel better.
There is also a pattern to my postings - Mon/Tue projects, Wed Boats, Thu something random, Fri something historic or collectable and Sat a video. Sometimes a magazine appearance on Thursday drops in and maybe the current project demands more space, but generally, this is my timetable.
Except that it's not always working like this. I'm trying to plan ahead but sometimes it all just gets mixed up. That's why you didn't get a film yesterday. Not that it matters, but it niggles me.
All this extra time isn't doing much for my project progress. Lots of people are making things, sales reports from many of the trade tell us that, but I'm often finding it hard to focus. I know I want to make things, but after a day staring at the computer, my brain is fried. I have watched many telly shows with people spannering cars in the evening, just because I can't get into anything else.
They say every journey starts with a single step and sometimes that's the hard one to take.
The good news is I have managed to make a few things. As we adjust to the new normal, I'm getting better at ticking off a few jobs that have been kicking around for a while. These are appearing as "Lockdown projects".
I'm sure everyone out there is busy doing workouts, learning new languages AND assembling Airfix Spitfires. I'll be happy if I don't have to look at my phone to work out if it's Tuesday!
2 comments:
It doesn't take long to lose track either. I had to take two weeks off work as my wife woke up one morning feeling poorly, which meant that she had to stay at home off sick (she's an NHS keyworker) with the knock on effect that I had to take a fortnight off. Her illness was thankfully very brief (she was back at work a week later), and I was fine, but as you say every day faded into the next, where's the weekend when you can't do the usual weekend stuff (go into town for a coffee etc.)?
I'm lucky in a way as I'm still working (in a sweet factory), which does mean that I have a routine and my regular wage but do I want to be around other people right now?
As for modelling, this current situation coincided with the return of my long lost mojo, so I've not only wanted to get back to the workbench but I've had plenty of time to do so, helped by the fact that my one form of exercise a day is walking the dogs so weekend mountain bike rides and running up hills are out for the time being. Thank goodness for creative and absorbing indoor hobbies!
Fortunately, as a keyworker , as yet uninfected, I take bouts of two weeks stand down coupled with Depression, having a routine is key, making a list is key, some form of exercise is key.
And being creative is the key- garden and model. Stop buying and open the project drawer and if you have all the bits and recall the reason, do it, don't throw it away because that project is your creativity and good for mental health in lockdown. Set a soft target to complete stages of a kit by the close of a day.
As for weekends- well, treat them as such and have a virtual trip out IE watch that archive DVD you bought at a show or railway and revisit the place of purchase in your mind.
Re media, RADIO is an excellent idea but avoid 24 hour news. Listen to music and if your mood is up for it, drama but as Phil suggests, phone ins and pundits can destroy your belied in people. We look for the end of Lockdown but we will be so busy or stressed with emergent dormant problems when it lifts, that modelling will be pushed aside. So seize the day and model while you can!
Post a Comment