My typical day

Colin wrote about his typical day and suggested I do the same.

Y���know, in the Before Times I think this would���ve been trickier. What with travelling and speaking, I didn���t really have a ���typical��� day ���and I liked it that way. Now, thanks to The Situation, my days are all pretty similar.

8:30am ��� This is the time I���ve set my alarm for, but sometimes I wake up a bit earlier. I get up, fire up the coffee machine, go to the head and empty my bladder. Maybe I���ll have a shower.9am ��� I fire up email and Slack, wishing my co-workers a good morning. Over the course of each day, I���ve usually got short 1:1s booked in with two or three of my colleagues. Just fifteen minutes or so to catch up and find out what they���re working on, what���s interesting, what���s frustrating. The rest of the time, I���ll probably be working on the Clearleft podcast.1pm ��� Lunch time. Jessica takes her lunch break at the same time. We���ll usually have a toasted sandwich or a bowl of noodles. While we eat, Jessica will quiz me with the Learned League questions she���s already answered that morning. I get all the fun of testing my knowledge without the pressure of competing.2pm ��� If the weather���s okay, we might head out for a brisk walk, probably to the nearby park where we can watch good doggos. Otherwise, it���s back to the podcast mines. I���ve already amassed a fair amount of raw material from interviews, so I���m spending most of my time in Descript, crafting and editing each episode. In about three hours of work, I reckon I get four or five minutes of good audio together. I should really be working on my upcoming talk for An Event Apart too, but I���m procrastinating. But I���m procrastinating by doing the podcast, so I���ve kind of tricked myself into doing something I���m supposed to be doing by avoiding something else I���m supposed to be doing.Sometime between 5pm and 6pm ��� I knock off work. I pick up my mandolin and play some tunes. If Jessica���s done with work too, we play some tunes together.7pm ��� If it���s a Tuesday or Thursday, then it���s a ballet night for Jessica. While she���s in the kitchen doing her class online, I chill out in the living room, enjoying a cold beer, listening to some music with headphones on, and doing some reading or writing. I might fire up NetNewsWire and read the latest RSS updates from my friends, or I might write a blog post.8pm ��� If it is a ballet night, then dinner will be something quick and easy to prepare; probably pasta. Otherwise there���s more time to prepare something with care and love. Jessica is the culinary genius so my contributions are mostly just making sure she���s got her mise en place ahead of time, and cleaning up afterwards. I choose a bottle of wine and set the table, and then we sit down to eat together. It is definitely the highlight of the day.9pm ��� After cleaning up, I make us both cups of tea and we settle in on the sofa to watch some television. Not broadcast television; something on the Apple TV from Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, or BBC iPlayer most likely. If we���re in the right mood, we���ll watch a film.Sometime between 11pm and midnight ��� I change into my PJs, brush and floss my teeth, and climb into bed with a good book. When I feel my eyelids getting heavy, I switch off the light and go to sleep. That���s where I���m a Viking!

That���s a typical work day. My work week is Monday to Thursday. I switched over to a four-day week when The Situation hit, and now I don���t ever want to go back. It means making less money, but it���s worth it for a three day weekend.

My typical weekend involves more mandolin playing, more reading, more movies, and even better meals. I���ll also do some chores: clean the floors; back up my data.