What is a Week end?
Writing a report no one cares about.
There is a great line in the first season of Downton Abbey when one character mentions that he is looking forward to the upcoming weekend. And the incomparable Maggie Smith, playing the Dowager Countess Grantham perfectly delivers the line; “What is… a week end?” She says this so convincingly that watching it one genuinely believes she has no idea what it means to work let alone have two days off from work.
Last weekend felt, kind of like that. Except that it was about work or at least being busy. It started Wednesday, catching up with an old Army buddy and having perhaps, a touch too much Glenfiddich. Friday, I put off the edits that I needed to make to the current manuscript. By edits I mean minor surgery to the end of the story. Instead I spent some time with the family and then opted to do yardwork. After which I had no desire to write anything or do anything.
Saturday was a marked by the running of errands. Getting a haircut, picking and dropping of dry cleaning. I work in a courthouse and wear suits for my day job. A trip to the packie for a bottle of Powers and a bottle of Bourbon for the podcast. Then back home I wrote from three in the afternoon till ten-thirty at night. The surgery and some minor nips and tucks were then complete. Now I will to see what the editors want to do with it, but that is a ways out.
Sunday meant driving to the secret location where Fred and I record the Deported to Sweden podcast. Yes, it’s a giant shout out to the excellent 1980’s, Michael Keaton comedy movie Johnny Dangerously. It gives Fred and I chance to hang out and talk about writing or reminisce about our fun times in the 1990’s. We enjoyed a couple of glasses of Bourbon which is the unofficial sponsor of the show. I won’t tell you what brand we drink but it’s smooth. We are however open to official sponsorship from any bourbon that wants to slap it’s name on our show. If you know a guy…let him know. This is Rhode Island after all.
Monday was lunch with a good friend by way of thanking for her editorial charity and skills. It was a good weekend. Long and fun, but it wasn’t restful.
Then it was back to the office on Tuesday. The city and the court had survived without me, thus reassuring me that when I eventually retire everything will be fine.
This weekend was the opposite of last weekend. I hung out with good friends from work Friday night. Trying to make up for the disappearing act that I do every time a deadline looms. Saturday was chores and hand delivering a copy of Cold Island to my best friend and his wife. In the process successfully distracting him from the deck refurbishment he is in the middle of. Czech Pilsner and good company will have that effect. Then today I blogged and did the weekly marketing. For me, this has been a pretty mellow weekend. Probably much needed.
Maybe I should listen to the subtle hints, like the nice lady at the packie who asked me a few weeks ago; “Do you ever go on vacation?” I hadn’t slept well the night before, and managed to get four and half hours of sleep. I probably didn’t look my best when I stopped in after work. Recently a coworker asked about my upcoming vacation.
“You’re not going to bring your laptop, are you?”
I gave him some weak answer that I would but I wasn’t under deadline so writing would just be fun and not a lot of it. He looked at me skeptically and I can’t blame him. It sounded lame to me too. In either case, it was nice to have a weekend to relax.
Tomorrow, the latest episode of Deported to Sweden goes live. I will start the work week and the whole show will start all over again. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. I’m lucky to be able to do it.