Thursday, April 01, 2004

For every pleasure there is a price.

Monday and Tuesday were days of easy leisure. Wednesday and Thursday are when the price has to be paid.

Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

On a tangentially related note, As for the politics of the day, Jackie Ashley's article in the Guardian today is basically a melange of Phil Crawford and Paul Richards. SheĆ s right of course. We are seeing the boundaries of the New Labour project. You may or may not be delighted by this, but the point is that they are pretty wide boundaries. Foundation Hospitals, Iraq, Tuition Fees mark the right touchline. Increased spending on the NHS, education and anti-child poverty programmes cover the left. In essence, this is New Labour in Government.

Next year progressives will essentially have to answer for themselves whether they think that the pleasure on their left is worth the price to be paid on the right.

As for me, I shall be spending the next few days paying the price for my illicit pleasures during the first few days of the week. Gordon would have told me to be prudent, but hey, I'm not that kind of guy!

<< Home

Monday, March 29, 2004

Happy Mondays

There are some Mondays that are a let down. OK, the vast majority of Mondays are a letdown unless you are the tigger-ish workaholic with the zestful ack emma enthusiasm that invites a slap from from the bleary eyed plurality of the land. (I'm high.. on life! Fuck off).

For me, as for most of us who drag ourselves to the office for 5 days of the week (and face it kids, none of us are horny handed sons of toil. I've yet to see a sprocket maker with the time to blog).

Yet today is different. Yes, the monitor is the same. The delightful off-pastel paint is still the same. The corporate approved plants and artwork still dazzle with their respective inspiring and relaxing qualities. The co-worker with the unnerving ability to arrive silently by my desk whenever the blogger screen is up is still hovering, ever-present.

But my boss isn't. My boss is ill. My boss is incapacitated. I drink my coffee, scan the office, King of all I survey. Today, no e-mails will arrive requesting updates. Today, no meetings to review progress will be scheduled.

Shall I use this time to get ahead of my work? Of course not. Why, friends, a boss sickie is practically a day off. Three hours in and I've so far read the papers twice, had two coffees, toured the office looking smug and popped out for a cigarette.

That's how to spend a Monday morning.

A very wise person once told me that as an adult, we should all occassionally experience the feeling you had at school when the test you had failed to revise for was cancelled. Today is that day.

In fact, I'm enjoying the day so much, I may not even feel the need to blog. After all, what's the point of escapism, if you're living free already?

<< Home