A Day in the Life & A Play With Word Count

Hey Siri.

Ding.

What time is it?

It’s 6:15am. Way too early. (She’s hilarious).

My alarm is set for 6:35am but I decide to get up anyway. I hear Gidget stretching and I ask her how she is. She stretches again, shakes herself as dogs do, and pounces on the spot right by my head, waiting for pats and rubs and cuddles.

Shall we get up? I say and she knows what I mean and immediately jumps down and out into the living room. Her morning routine is full of big jumps punctuated by long stretches until breakfast.

Morning ablutions out of the way, I head straight to the coffee machine but get sidetracked when I notice missG sitting by the balcony door, body facing the door but eyes on me. Ok, I say, and go over to open the door for her. She pokes her nose out (getting the weather report, as my Mum would say) then looks at me. I ask Siri what the temperature is. Well miss G, I say, it’s 6 degrees but sure, I’ll come out with you. So out I go, feet freezing as they hit the balcony tiles. She does her thing and we come back inside.

Back to the coffee machine and while it’s doing its thing, I give Gidget her jerky which she immediately starts eating from her lying position next to said jerky.

Coffee in hand, I make my way to the couch (see Mara, I love my couch) and make myself comfortable, scrolling through emails, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and then settling on WordPress.

When I finish my coffee, I make toast, while still reading WP posts. It’s a bit chilly missG, I say, walking back to my bedroom to get my heat packs. I ask Gidget if she thinks I could pop both in the microwave at the same time for 4 minutes, instead of separately for 3 minutes each, and she seems to think that’s a good plan so that’s what I do.

While they’re heating, I add butter and raspberry jam to my toast, then take everything back to the couch where I keep reading and replying and happen upon the genius idea to start writing this post.

I give Gidget my plate because she loves butter more than I do and I notice that it’s almost 7:30am already (!) and I really need to get moving.

Just a few more minutes!!!

So time for a shower, after which I discover that a friend has phoned me. At 7:35am?! A bit early for me. I suspect he’s in the car on the way to work. As much as I’d love to have a chat with him, I really don’t have the time.

After I’m showered and dressed (no make-up yet, you’ll see why soon) it’s almost 8, which is getting way too late. I grab my leather jacket and a big scarf, it’s now 7 degrees. One side of my jacket has been in direct sunlight and feels warm and delicious, especially against my left arm, which I’ve damaged somehow. This reminds me that I really need to find my ultrasound referral form so that I can get it sorted out finally. No time now though! I grab Gidget’s leash and she hightails it to the couch so that I don’t have to bend to put it on her (bless her white fluffy socks) and off we go.

OMG that wind is bitingly cold.

So I call my friend back – he’s an old colleague from my previous job. It’s now about 8:05am and he’s at work already but it’s ok, he’s the only one there so it’s easy to talk. We have such an easy way of talking to each other. He’s the one I miss the most from that job but we talk often, and I’m glad about that. Anyway, we talk about our work, the problems, cool ideas, interesting things we’ve discovered along the way.

Gidget does what she needs to do and we make our way back; I’m still chatting on the phone this whole time. We hang up when I get back as I have to pack my lunch and put my make-up on, plus people have started to arrive at his work. If I leave the house without makeup, Gidget will bark and bark and fret. If I go through the process of applying makeup, she’ll just sit there and watch and let me leave without issue. It’s weird, but it works for us. I like to think that she’s just making sure that I always look my best, but I suspect it’s actually a deep psychological problem (hers or mine, I’m not sure).

I have to remember to get my camera on my way out. I did a photoshoot yesterday and I need to edit the photos, plus I might have to take photos in the lab today. I pop everything in my backpack, and hoist it onto my shoulder which screams in pain at me and I make a mental note to look for that ultrasound referral form tonight.

I head down to my car and make a conscious effort to put everything in the boot so that I’m not tempted to check the phone while I’m driving. It’s illegal as well as careless and could really hurt someone. I dial up Ed Sheeran’s new album and start the 20 minute drive. One of my new colleagues (who has very quickly become a friend) phoned me on the way to work (I have Bluetooth and I’m not afraid to use it) and we had a lovely chat all the way in, about what’s going on at work and in life and coming up with some ideas to try.

When I get to the office I’m delighted to see my office buddy is there. I share an office with one of my favourite people. Someone I’ve known for ten years and who has always been so supportive of me. He has very recently lost his sister to cancer and he is of course devastated. As am I. I hadn’t met her but I kind of felt like I had because we had talked about her so much over the years, particularly this last year when she’s been so ill. He isn’t doing so well and I didn’t expect him to come in today, but it was an absolute pleasure to see him, if only for a few minutes before he went to a meeting. He seems a little fragile to me right now and I just want to be there for him. He told our boss the other day that he likes coming in because work is a distraction and because I make him laugh. Oh how that broke and warmed my heart at the same time. We had a quick catch up, he told me about some emails he’d received from long lost school friends, sending their sympathies but also remembering the good times with his sister and that made him so bittersweetly happy. Breaks my heart. We sent flowers to him and his family. I’ve met his wife and children many years ago and I feel like I know them so well because of the way he speaks about them.

So now the computer is on and the work day begins to begin. I check in with my other colleagues and decide I need to make a coffee to get started properly.

Then it’s checking the email accounts and social media channels. The phone rings. It’s a very busy hour before I realize that my not-very-good cup of coffee needs to replaced but I don’t really have time so I switch to a big project that I’m working on and put some effort into getting things sorted out for that. In the middle of that, one of my colleagues rolls her office chair into my office (still sitting on it) and asks me to help her out with some change management ideas and we make a time to meet next week for a proper session. People drop in throughout the day to ask a question, to give me something (the best people give me chocolate, or coffee). I put a solid hour in on the project before everyone starts making noises about lunch, so after a few more quick notes, I notice everyone has headed to the tea room, so off I go after them.

I had just brought some yoghurt with berries and granola today, with the plan to go out and get something else, but I don’t really have time so I just have the yoghurt and we all chat about normal things, things like dogs and real estate and food. It’s our CEO’s birthday tomorrow and we decide we should make a cake so I put up my hand to make it.

That’s when I realize that my car park is about to expire and I have to shift my car. I offer to do a coffee run on the way and take the orders and coins for coffee. I shift my car and head back in via the cafe and after that first sip of coffee, I’m focused.

Laser-focused.

I’m building a new website for our organisation so I do some research on that before switching my mind to a meeting that’s coming up in about 20 minutes. I’m leading a communications project team and we’re having our first project planning session today. The meeting goes quite well. Communications is such a hot topic all the time. It’s so hard to get right. Too much, not enough, the wrong kind, people not replying to emails, people not even opening emails, etiquette, information sharing. We cover it all, working by video conferencing over five different cities and it’s a good meeting. We go a little over time but that’s ok, this time it was worth it.

Back in the office, I deal with more emails (they never stop) before finalising a couple of articles for another project and then writing up the project outlines from the meeting. The work day is almost over, but there’s still a lot to do. The temperature has been up and down and as I pull my scarf up around my neck, I feel that shoulder go again and again I think about that ultrasound.

[Meanwhile, I’m writing this section on my couch at home, so I really should get up and find the form.]

I have a short chat with one of the guys visiting from our other building and I realise just how much I like the people I work with. Back at my desk, my comms officer and I go over some notes for one of our projects and some more notes for another project. We decide on a few things and make plans for the next step. Today is the last day of her week as she works with us for just three days a week.

By now I’m a bit restless. My brain is fried, my shoulder is screaming. I take some ibuprofen and I think about packing up.

Then I remember some photos that came in during the meeting that I was in earlier. An event that our staff were presenting at that needs to be posted on social media. I like to make the extra effort to add our photos into branded graphics, so I create a bright orange post and share it on Twitter and Facebook and then I start to pack up. Someone helps me get my backpack on without hurting myself too badly (ultrasound!) and we all head off, saying our goodbyes.

I chat to a lovely colleague on my drive home but have to stop off at the supermarket to buy the makings for cake. We chat for quite a while, me sitting in my car in the supermarket car park. After we hang up, I decide on a chocolate cake with fresh raspberries and cream in the centre so I get all the bits that I need and I rush back to the car and drive home.

Realising that by now it’s almost 7pm and I’ll have to walk GG when I get home, I decide to stop at the local Greek restaurant and order some chicken and their famous grain salad. I head back home, pop the cream in the fridge and grab GG for her evening walk. We are quick to go around the block (a different block in the evening) before heading to the restaurant to pick up my dinner. They see me outside and bring my food to me – so kind, since I can’t take Gidget inside.

Back upstairs and I organise the food for both of us (hers comes from a can tonight, but I warm up some leftover rice to mix in with it) and settle on the couch to enjoy my delicious dinner while watching a couple of old episodes of The Big Bang Theory.

And then it’s time to prepare the cake. I don’t really want to, I want to go to sleep, but I want to make the effort since she made me a cake for my birthday last month and I’m sure she was exhausted as well. It’s going to be an hour in the oven and then I want to cut it in half to make two layers sandwiched together by cream. So I get all of that organised and pop it in the oven and then come back to the couch to check through social media.

That’s when my friend pops up on WhatsApp and we have a lovely chat via text and voice audio for over an hour, while I’m also typing up this post on my Notes App.

My phone battery is dropping rapidly.

During the call, the oven dings and I check the cake. It’s ready, so I pop it on a cake cooler and come back to my conversation. Once we stop chatting, I take the cake out of the cake tin to cool properly.

It’s now 9:15pm and I’m exhausted. I still need to finish the cake but it’s not cool enough to cut so I’m off for a shower.

I was just about to hop in the shower when I got a message from a dear dear friend in England. I have missed him so much. It’s so nice to talk to him, even just via text. We’re making plans for a future visit, that’s always nice, but still I’m sad for that lost connection now that we aren’t in touch as much as we used to be.

Ok definitely time for a shower now before I get all emotional. I’ll admit that his message brought a little tear to my eye.

When I get out of the shower, there’s another message, saying lovely things and a promise to have a proper catch up next week.

My shower felt so good after such a long day. The hot water pounding on my shoulder.

You know what? I’m at my desk, I’m going to look for that referral.

Two minutes later, I’ve found it.

Ed Sheeran is playing again as I go through my To Do list for tomorrow. There are some photos on my home computer that I’ve been meaning to put on a stick to take to work for our social media, so I finally get that done.

I’ve now transferred this post from the Notes App into the WordPress app on my phone. Once I hit “Save Draft”, hey presto, it’s appeared on my computer, so now I can finish it up here.

Gidget is making snarky snuffling noises. It’s bedtime but I’m at my desk, she knows that means bed is not close.

Ok, I should check that cake. It’s almost 10:30pm and I usually try to go to bed at 10. I can’t do it in the morning because my mornings are full and I promised my office buddy that I would try my best to have breakfast with him tomorrow.

Right, the cake is done. If I was nice, I would have taken some photos to show you, but hey, that sounds like the perfect opportunity for a #fiveminutes #regularrandom which I will try to get tomorrow before we sing happy birthday and eat the cake.

I’ve turned the heater off. Gidget has given up and she’s in bed. I’ve put the heat pack in the microwave (just the one). I’m going to sign off now. It’s been a big day, but it’s just the usual really. Although the cake was extra.

It was nice to lick the beaters though 😉

Goodnight, dear Readers.

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For our Finding Everyday Inspiration writing prompt – “Recreate a Single Day”. Today, I combined it with the “Play With Word Count” prompt as well, since this is probably the longest post I’ve done (2817 words), it’s certainly the longest time I’ve spent writing a post (it’s now 11pm).

EDIT – we are trying to introduce “A Day in the Life” at work in an effort to provide some empathy and understanding about people’s roles. I feel like mine is a little too personal though, I would clean this up a little for work, perhaps just include the 8-6 hours…..

I do hope you enjoyed spending the day with me and didn’t find it to mundane. Life is life, right?

Have a very Happy Friday!

x desleyjane