The day started on time yesterday, but much of the morning was spent on admin.
I checked in with the content editing job first thing, but there was no work waiting for me. They did this a couple of weeks ago too. I checked in at the start of my designated time, three times in the week, there was nothing for me, and then they started to post work at about 4pm on Friday. And it all had to be done NOW!
Well, by Friday, my work for the week is well and truly designated, and I don’t work at the weekends. But before I checked in again on Monday morning, I had an email off them asking if I was all right as they hadn’t “seen” me for a while.
Hey, I’ve been there. It’s they who haven’t.
I recorded that I checked in and that there was no work, and then I turned my attention to appointments …
My car was 3 years old on 1 June, which meant its first MOT was deferred for 6 months, due to COVID-19. But last week I started to see rumblings that the government might bring that back again to 1 August. So to make sure my car is covered, I called the garage that usually does our services … only to discover that they closed more than a year ago. 😟
My hair is considerably overdue for a cut, and so next on the list was contacting my hairdresser to find out (a) when they’re re-opening, and (b) when she can fit me in. And then I saw that the hairdressing salon has decided to close down for good. 😟
We already had dental appointments booked in for early next month, but I called to see if those appointments still stand. The automated answerphone said that they’re still only open for emergencies. Not sure whether to be happy or sad about that one, it being the dentist and all …
The morning wasn’t going well.
We hadn’t seen our resident pheasants for a few days, but I heard Mr Pheasant yesterday morning, and by the time I was making my phone calls, he was under the bird table outside our dining room window. And so was Mrs Pheasant. He spotted me watching and ran in one direction, then she spotted me and ran in another direction … and then two little chicks followed her into the potato field. I hadn’t even seen them. That brought a smile to my face and I tried again.
I checked my Crime Writers’ Association membership as I thought I’d missed renewing my subs for the year but, apparently, they send out an invoice when subs are due, so I’m still a member there. 🙂
I managed to get hold of my hairdresser’s business partner, and she called me back with an appointment for this Friday! Whoop! 🙂 I’m following the poet to his company car’s MOT first on Friday, then I’ll fetch him home, nip to the hairdresser, and then take him back to get his car.
I found a local garage who can fit my car in for its MOT next week – a VERY local garage. I could walk back home from there, but he said I could also wait as it should only take 45 minutes or so. 🙂
And I booked us both in for opticians’ appointments towards the end of next month. 🙂
So while I didn’t get very much actual work done, it was still a productive and successful morning. By the time I was ready to start writing, it was also time to eat.
My dinner break was interrupted and delayed slightly when a sparrow flew into the office window and plummeted to the ground. I dashed out – having first moved my dinner to where the cat couldn’t reach it! – and found the poor little bird in a right flutter. It was clearly disorientated and in a lot of shock. But as soon as I picked it up, it calmed down and clung on to my finger with its feet. And when it was ready, it flew off to join its friends again.
This is the 6th bird that’s flown into a window this summer and landed on the floor. Two of them must have died instantly – a great tit and a goldfinch. But the others have all recovered and flown off happily – a swallow, a starling, a goldfinch, and this sparrow. The reason we pick them up is to move them out of the way of predators, like our cat, or the farm cat from across the road, or the sparrowhawks – although I believe the hawks prefer to take birds in flight.
After dinner, I did some work for the Diane’s Gig List Facebook group and I very quickly cleared the jobs posted board. Then I started the afternoon, or what was left of it, doing client work with the intention of doing some writing work later.
However, I ran out of time and ended up taking a day off writing. It should have been Day 11, and that meant there should have been 20,460 words. But as I’m already at 21,337 words, I didn’t beat myself up too much and promised myself I’d try and catch up at the weekend.
