Bonkers Bankers.

Bonkers Bankers.

No, I’m not talking about twitchy city types. I’m referring to my work/life balance and how desperately out of skew it is these days.

I’m at the Mac, listening to Annie Mac. Thing is, her groovy Radio One show is now over and it’s Dave Pearce’s Circuits Class Classics, or whatever he calls it… and I’m STILL here. Gone 11.00 on a bank holiday Friday evening, and I’ve been writing reports on websites and scamping up housing association newsletters. Actually, I feel like a guest on a magic show; I’ve been spinning so many project plates today, I feel dizzy.

Though some of that dizzyness might be the heady whiff of summer. 1st of May, Caroline found herself post-epic-deadline free – enough at least to plunge into the luxuriantly hirsute back garden lawn with the pitifully-armed pushy mower, to find the shed. In which, is the little table and chairs that Dad bought us last year for the decking. Summer’s here officially. Thanks, Dad.

So I used it all today. Sun was out proper today and I’ve been on a bit of a meetings marathon this week. One quick deadline after another, with not much time to prepare Actual Stuff for them, and this morning was no exception. So, by the time I got back from somewhere up the M3 this afternoon, I was fair determined to find a bagette and a packet of Kettle Chips and a nice length of deck for twenty minutes. Well, jeepers – I may be busy, but I work for myself, for Pete’s sake. And I knew, at 3.00pm, I’d be pushing on until 11.00 tonight. Woop. Lucky me – and here I am.

So I stole a few quick zeds on the deck. Have you ever stared at a blank blue sky long enough to see the sample slide bacterial weird things floating across your eyeballs? They try to float away as you focus on them, but they’re there – and they do look like weird chains of microscopic life.

I love working from home.

Anyway, snoozing deck/eyeball madness aside, I have a hell of a list of things to do here beside me for May, summer or not. Great having work on, of course. But I’ll be spending most of the Bank Holiday weekend at the Mac again.

Bonkers?

It’s actually been a very jolly week, so I’m not on the moan tonight. Found myself at the Arts Institute Bournemouth twice this week, trying desperately to not look too old. It’s twenty years since I studied there, which is longer than some of the students-who-didn’t-know-when-to-laugh- at-my-jokes have been alive. It just doesn’t make sense. But I’m not sure I did to them. Still, I awoke from a desperate snooze in the studio last Sunday afternoon to scribble down some vaguely brilliant looking diagram about creativity, hand of God style, which I inflicted on them, telling them I wasn’t sure if it was, in fact, helpful brilliance, or deranged bollocks.

The point is, it was nice of Sarah to invite me in to talk to her class. I wish I’d had some chap come into one of my lessons there and say “Crikey, none of us know what the hell we’re doing, don’t worry. You can still have fun and just about pay the bills..”

Nice too then, of Gellan to invite back to the Enterprise Pavillion to meet some more students on Wednesday night, as they presented their design suggestions for the logo of his co-operative idea, the Dorset Design Forum. I think I may have inadvertantly been roped in to promote greater harmony across the creative industries in the sunny south. And why not – as a work-at-home deck-hugger, I’ve tarted around with lots of agencies in the area. Mind you, I found myself amazingly talking to local ad legend, Matt Flemming. After he diffidently mentioned Aylesworth Flemming’s turnover and current business outlook, I did well to maintain my engaging professional air, but I was sweating at the thought of him asking me what Momo is currently up to.

“Emailing Radio One and kipping in the garden during working hours, mate.”

Why do I imagine students can’t relate to me?

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