Ordinary Day

The radio switches on at twenty minutes past six and I turn it off again straight away to avoid waking Jan, who is sleeping beside me. I swing my legs out of bed, find my glasses in the draw and pull on a jumper and trousers. It’s dark, but I usually manage to make it out the room without stubbing my toes on the stool by the dressing table.

 

Downstairs, I switch the light on and greet the dog who is blinking in his basket and wagging his tail in anticipation. I feed the cats who are complaining furiously and pour myself a glass of grapefruit juice. Coat and wellies on, and out with the dog for a walk around the woods. It’s foggy this morning, and the torch is shining through the murk like a search light beam.

 

Back home for a quick breakfast – two weetabix with milk – and then I make a cup of tea to take upstairs to Jan. I drink my tea whilst checking my email on my wireless pda in bed and reading the news headlines. A quick shower and then I get dressed and chivvy my daughter out of the house so I can drop her at the bus stop for school.

 

I usually work at home, but today I’m driving to Leeds for a meeting. The motorway is busy in the fog, but the drive is relatively easy, listening to Terry Wogan on Radio 2 before swapping to my mp3 player for an audio book. I manage to grab the last space in the car park by the office at just after nine o’clock – if I’d been any later I would have had to drive to another car park ten minutes further away and then lug my laptop bag to the office.

 

I update my ‘to do’ list for the day and tick off a couple of items before going into the meeting. The changes they want are reasonably straight forward, but I suggest including proper version control and documentation to be included as well. I just need to do the work now.

 

Lunch is a walk into the centre of Leeds for sushi from Little Tokyo – a slight extravagance, but a welcome treat. I change some money into Euros for my daughter’s holiday in Italy next week. I then walk back, listening to my mp3 player on the way. I eat my sushi in the staff room where I can browse the internet freely and check my emails – personal use of the internet is restricted from the rest of the office network.

 

Home again, and another drive in the mist that hasn’t shifted all day. The Indian summer that we had been enjoying has definitely given way to autumn weather. It’s dark too, by the time I take the dog for his second walk of the day, Still, the house is warm and cosy when I get back, and I have a Spaghetti Carbonara to look forward to with maybe a can of beer as well.

 

This is the sort of ordinary day I like

 

For One Day in History