Wednesday, July 07, 2004
A Man of Leisure
One of the few perks of the current job which drew me to it initially was the break from routine.
For instance, I woke up this morning, stretched out in bed, and looked out the window. (suggestion of sunlight, council block, green treeleaves. yep, still in london, and it's still summer)
Chatted online for a bit (always on internet connection, thank you BT) and had absolutely nothing to do. No train to run for, no hurried preflight checklist - keys? yep. Wallet? check. Railcard? check. ID badge? yep. Stethoscope? etc.
Rolled out of bed and had an exorbitant brekky on Russel Square and then decided to come home and lie in bed for a bit more.
It's not the same feeling you get when you have a day off, or even on a weekend. Those tend to get consumed by feelings of guilt. (I ought to be...)
This is an utter and complete freedom afforded only by working a day shift yesterday, and a night shift tonight (and getting tomorrow off to boot). It doesn't happen often, but when it does it makes me happy.
You don't get that in other fields of medicine. Or many other jobs for that matter.
(heh, with the notable exception of Women of Leisure, or rather, Working Class Girls. I find her blog fascinating as well, because it's the same london - pieces of her writing sound vaguely familiar to me -- and yet it's a completely different world she lives in. Not quite one I'd care to step into, but intriguing nonetheless. That and she's funny. Sorta.)
Windows 95. What do you want to do today?
Choices, choices.
1) Haircut at Covent Garden? God knows, I need it.
2) Tidy my flat? Looks around. ooo.
3) Buy milk. Milk is important. Without milk, there is no Chai. One of the major drawbacks of summer is that milk actually goes bad in my fridge on it's due date. One of the major drawbacks of winter is waiting thirty minutes for it to thaw out every morning.
4) Visit the Bank. This is an infrequent ritual that all Londoners practice. I can't imagine why. I tried doing it a few months ago and found it utterly distasteful.
5) Finish writing Chapter 4.
Hmm. I think I'll just take a little nap first...
For instance, I woke up this morning, stretched out in bed, and looked out the window. (suggestion of sunlight, council block, green treeleaves. yep, still in london, and it's still summer)
Chatted online for a bit (always on internet connection, thank you BT) and had absolutely nothing to do. No train to run for, no hurried preflight checklist - keys? yep. Wallet? check. Railcard? check. ID badge? yep. Stethoscope? etc.
Rolled out of bed and had an exorbitant brekky on Russel Square and then decided to come home and lie in bed for a bit more.
It's not the same feeling you get when you have a day off, or even on a weekend. Those tend to get consumed by feelings of guilt. (I ought to be...)
This is an utter and complete freedom afforded only by working a day shift yesterday, and a night shift tonight (and getting tomorrow off to boot). It doesn't happen often, but when it does it makes me happy.
You don't get that in other fields of medicine. Or many other jobs for that matter.
(heh, with the notable exception of Women of Leisure, or rather, Working Class Girls. I find her blog fascinating as well, because it's the same london - pieces of her writing sound vaguely familiar to me -- and yet it's a completely different world she lives in. Not quite one I'd care to step into, but intriguing nonetheless. That and she's funny. Sorta.)
Windows 95. What do you want to do today?
Choices, choices.
1) Haircut at Covent Garden? God knows, I need it.
2) Tidy my flat? Looks around. ooo.
3) Buy milk. Milk is important. Without milk, there is no Chai. One of the major drawbacks of summer is that milk actually goes bad in my fridge on it's due date. One of the major drawbacks of winter is waiting thirty minutes for it to thaw out every morning.
4) Visit the Bank. This is an infrequent ritual that all Londoners practice. I can't imagine why. I tried doing it a few months ago and found it utterly distasteful.
5) Finish writing Chapter 4.
Hmm. I think I'll just take a little nap first...
