Taking Time
Posted: Sat 24 November, 2012 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Work-related | Leave a comment »Something I’ve always been bad about is taking proper holidays from work. Admittedly, when I’ve been contracting, taking leave also costs money (not working equalling not getting paid) and you do kind of get into the habit of not taking proper holidays and so on.
At the moment I’m in a permanent role, and as such, have a holiday allocation which I’m supposed to take. I’d done OK, I had a week off in August (when I ended up working two of the five days) and some others, but overall I’ve ended up working on leave days, and getting them credited back and so on, so up to this morning I still had 8 days remaining to take by the end of the year.
I’ve got them all booked now, including an epic twelve days (for five days of actual leave) over the Festering Season, which is pretty unprecedented. On current evidence, I finish at the end of Thursday 20th December, and go back on Wednesday 2nd January 2013.
I’ve no idea what I’m going to do with the time away, but regardless, at least I won’t be working. (Well, knowing me I will be, but on non-work stuff, if that makes sense)
Driving in the Fog
Posted: Thu 15 November, 2012 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 1BEM, BMW Drivers, Commuting, Driving, Fog, Work-related | 1 Comment »This morning, as with several others recently, there was a really thick fog during my morning commute.
Personally, I don’t mind driving in fog – it’s not something that worries me. What does worry me, though, are the other drivers. I’ve driven on empty roads in fog which is fine, and I’ve done night drives in fog which are also fine.
But a rush-hour drive in fog is something else – it’s like people just activate the “fuckwit” button in their heads, and away we go. Even worse, those fuckwits partake in polar opposites. You either see people with foglights on when they don’t need to be (for instance, if you’re sat in a jam of slow-moving traffic, you don’t need your sodding fog-lights on) or with no lights on whatsoever. (That’s one that utterly boggles my mind – particularly the drivers of silver cars with no lights) You either see people driving at 20mph or 80mph.
I don’t know why fog affects people this way – or maybe it just accentuates normal stupidity – but it makes the roads an interesting experience.
A Thousand Miles
Posted: Fri 9 November, 2012 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Work-related | Leave a comment »And that’s my big-mileage-week over and done.
It’s been a good and productive week, but Dear Lord, I’m knackered right now.
More Mileage
Posted: Tue 6 November, 2012 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Travel, Work-related | Leave a comment »It’s another of my weeks with some heavy mileage again.
Over the weekend I was up near Manchester, seeing friends. 400 mile round trip.
Later this week, I’m down in the Devon office – another 430 mile round trip.
And then I’ve still got three days of normal commute, which is a 40-mile round trip. So 120 miles there.
All told, 950 miles – and that’s not including whatever I decide to do next weekend.
I must be barmy.
When I Grow Up
Posted: Tue 30 October, 2012 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Own Business, Resolutions, Thoughts, Work-related, Writing | 2 Comments »In the run-up to turning 41, I’ve gone back to wondering what I want to be when (if) I grow up.
And the truth is, I still don’t know.
I’m lucky, in that the work I do at the moment I actually something I do love doing – and would still be doing even if I were doing something else as a ‘proper job’ – but I still keep coming back to thew question “Is this what I want to be doing for the next 20+ years?” (Or even the next 10) The answer to that is also “I don’t know”.
Of course then there’s the follow-on questions – If not this, then what? Why? How? And again, I don’t know.
So it’s a case of asking the questions, and then trying to find the answers – and I think in some cases that’s what the next year or so will be about. I’ve got some ideas, and want to work a bit more on those over the next few months. That is, basically, the plan.
Who knows? By the end of it all, I may actually have some better ideas of what I want to do and be when I grow up…
Six Months
Posted: Sat 20 October, 2012 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Bankruptcy, Domestic, Finances, Travel, Work-related | 1 Comment »Amazingly, I’ve already been in the new house six months. (Well, in two weeks’ time, anyway)
It’s been an eventful six months by anyone’s standards, but it’s all settling down now – even with the new cat as well – and it’s beginning to feel like a home.
So bearing in mind everything else that’s going on, I’ve now signed up for a 12-month tenancy here.
It’s a good thing, being a bit settled. And this area’s a good one – if I do change jobs in the next twelve months, the location here gives me plenty of location alternatives within an easy commute.
All told, it’s good to have options as well as a bit of stability – and this place gives me both of those things.
Driving Time
Posted: Sat 25 August, 2012 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Commuting, Driving, Getting Organised, Thoughts, Travel, Work-related | Leave a comment »Looking back over the D4D™ archives, I realised that I’ve now been driving for just over seven years – since 11th August 2005, to be precise.
And that means I’ve had the car for 5½ years, too – since March 2007 in fact. In that time I’ve done 121,000 miles, a surprisingly round average of 22,000 miles a year. I’ve had really two years which have exploded that average – the year I was commuting Norfolk->Cambridge on a daily basis, and the last twelve months with the daily Suffolk->London round trips, followed by Suffolk->Luton round trips. With things being a bit more stable (and nowhere near as distant) I’m hoping the next 12 months will have a much lower average. After all, my current commute works out as sub-10,000 miles for the year, which is pretty novel by itself.
Doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun?