I am rather struggling with this new contract I’ve taken up. It’s strange because I should be able to just fire things out without much thought – it’s fairly simple writing work, far less complex than pretty much anything I’ve written or edited in years. I was talking it through with the GF, and he was quite helpful in thinking through the problems. One is simply that I’m not taking proper notes. Back in the day I always charted out thoughts on paper. Another is the feeling of being on call all the time, which I really loathe and find paralysing. For this, two possible solutions. One is to not be on call all the time. Disable the filth that is Microsoft Teams (and use Thunderbird instead of Outlook), and only look at it at set intervals. And pay more attention to clearing my head instead of sitting and staring at a screen writing and erasing a single sentence.
i must say, I’m particularly pleased with going back to Thunderbird. And ‘back’ is the word – it’s 20 years back to before Gmail but after PINE.
And just as I typed that out, I sent myself a test email and discovered that it doesn’t work. The emails have been downloaded, but I can’t write emails. Argh.
The dove that had nested on a pile of wood for doorframes now has three baby doves in its nest. This causes great delight to all, of course – every worker we’ve met in the flat has ushered us over to take a look – but I am worried what this means for the progress of work. Hopefully it’s not long till they fly the nest, though, as they have definitely passed the hairless screeching mouth phase and look like they might be in or approaching the avian equivalent of a preteenagerdom.