Wednesday 5 September 2007

Kids safely delivered to school, there is now the space to focus on my own activities. The last six weeks have been great. Largely taken up with our holiday travels, meeting up with family and friends, and various outings. It is now time, however, to take stock of the opportunities ahead. Assess what needs to be done - tax return is heading to the top of the list. Resurrect memories of pre-holiday conversations - what exactly did I promise JS on the phone at the same time as I was digging out the passports? And take action.

This provides a host of distraction opportunities. Cups of tea are always a good one. Sorting out my office is another. I've been meaning to dig out that old bookcase from the garage. Surplus to requirements, it has been gathering dust and discarded items over the last year. It should fit in the corner of my office, provided I move things round a bit.

Two hours later, it does and it's great. A bit of a distraction from that focus thing. The moving things round a bit rapidly evolved into an a more significant range of activities. Deciding which books should be housed in the newly dusted bookcase became a wider assessment of which books deserve house room. And then the discovery that the shredder no longer shreds. And do I really need that unused Rolodex, much though I love the design? And ...

The random pile of stuff for the charity shop now totters along side the stuff for re-cycling next to the front door.

The vacuum cleaner is beckoned by the fall-out from the book sorting, furniture moving and the shredder waste bag. The noise associated with all my activities causes my wife, a fellow home worker, to move into a distant corner of the house. Ironic since I was resurrecting my office in a retreat from my summer invasion of her terrain.

The morning has gone. Along with four cups of tea, a houmous filled bagel and some difficult literary farewells (and some easy ones - The "Timewaster Letters" complies fully with the Trades Description Act). Much is left to do. The visit to the charity shop, the gym, keeping up with my Facebook social obligations and the kids return from their first day back at school. And some work stuff.

So my tax return has not been done. I know now, however, that it will be done more quickly and easily than if part of my brain was still occupied by office resurrection planning. I also know that positively channeled energy results in more energy and more action. Now if only I could think of what to put in my blog.