I almost called this post Try on my trainers: the lockdown edition but decided not to as like a lot of people, I’m trying to remain positive. Having said that, I probably should’ve called this post Try on my Crocs; one of the advantages of the current situation is being able to wear my Crocs, my feet feel great. I’m planning ahead and am already on the hunt for some shoes as comfortable as Crocs that don’t look like Crocs.

Anyway, I’m waffling on as per usual. I hope that you enjoy this insight into what a typical day looks like for me at the moment.

07:00 – My alarm (or WhatsApp)wakes me

Having to work from home means that my 05:25 alarm has been replaced with either WhatsApp notifications – some of my colleagues like to start work super early – or my 07:00 alarm. I find it hard to comprehend that I used to get into the Solihull office for 07:00. Working from home means that my lengthy commute to and from the office has been replaced with a short stroll to my home office; I’ve reclaimed three hours each day.

07:00-07:50 – Have a wash, get dressed and make breakfast

Another advantage of my new routine is having more time for what I call morning faffing. I nip to the loo and then head to the kitchen and make myself a cup of tea. If I haven’t hit the snooze button, I drink my tea in bed. Nothing beats that first cup of tea of the day. Tea complete, I have a quick wash, get dressed, and then make myself breakfast.

When I was commuting to Solihull, I very rarely made time for breakfast and would find myself snacking by mid-morning. Now that I have more time, I make sure that I start each day with my breakfast of choice; three Weetabix with milk. Yes, I’m aware that I’m quite boring.

07:50-08:00 – Brush my teeth, make more tea, and switch on my work laptop

Although my eating habits have improved, my tea consumption has increased significantly. Anyway, I brush my teeth, make myself another cup of tea, head into my home office, and switch on my work laptop.

08:00-08:05 – Experience password anxiety

Accessing my work network remotely involves me remembering two passwords and a pin number; an encryption password, my network password, and finally my RSA fob pin number. Every morning I feel anxious as ‘locking’ myself out of my work laptop would be a real pain in the arse.

Some mornings I have had a few issues connecting to the work network remotely. I’m such a technophobe I’m not sure what I’d do if my broadband decided it had had enough of all the extra use it’s been getting.

08:05-12:00 – Work

Before I give a brief description of what an average morning working from home looks like for me, I want to highlight a couple of points. Firstly, I’m aware that I’m incredibly fortunate as I have a job (for now) and I haven’t been furloughed or worse, made redundant. The organisation I work for has been and continues to be amazingly supportive. Secondly, I’m single, live alone, and don’t have children. This means that if I ignore the constant noise the children next door make, I can work for home undisturbed, a lot of my colleagues have to juggle homeschooling and work.

Before starting work I like to check my emails, update my time recording spreadsheet, and then write myself – yes, I’m old-fashioned – a ‘things to do’ list. As all face-to-face meetings and training courses have obviously been cancelled, I’ve been spending a lot more time participating in telecoms and WebEx meetings. Thankfully Zoom has now been banned so I don’t have to remember to tidy my home office each morning.

After spending an hour responding to a technical hydrology query that made my brain hurt, I participated in a couple of telecoms and came away with a lot of actions. The morning flew by and it was time for lunch.

12:00-12:30 – Lunch

I find lunch quite difficult as I really miss the random conversations I used to have with people at lunch. I also miss the lovely ladies who worked in the canteen. The canteen won’t reopen when we eventually return to the office as later this year we are relocating to a new office in the centre of Birmingham. The new office, unfortunately, won’t have a canteen. Writing this has reminded me that I need to get a thank-you card.

It’s not all doom and gloom as I now have the option of eating my lunch outside. On this particular day it was actually warmer outside than inside my home office. I made the most of the relative peace and quiet and managed to ‘switch-off’ for a few minutes. Heading back into my home office was a bit of a chore.

12:30-16:00 – More work

On this particular afternoon, I found myself having to close all the windows in my home office in an attempt to shut out the noise the children next door were making. I could still hear them with the windows closed so switched to Plan B; music on my iPhone and headphones. It worked but meant that I missed a call from one of my old teammates on my work mobile. Sorry!

By 15:00 I was struggling to concentrate so headed down to the kitchen and made myself another cup of tea. I spent the last hour replying to a couple of slightly random emails and identifying and downloading the river flow data I needed to respond to yet another technical hydrology query. An hour later I’d had enough – I find working from home more tiring than in the office, I’ve no idea why – so I closed down my work laptop for the day, felt grateful I didn’t have to spend almost two hours travelling back home to Four Oaks and then decided what to do next.

16:00-17:00 – Chill out time

What I do when I’ve finished working depends on the weather. If it’s sunny I’ll stick on some shorts, grab whichever book I’m reading, and head out into the back garden to get some fresh air and sunshine. If it’s raining I’ll spend the hour working on whichever jigsaw puzzle I’ve got on the go.

Since the lockdown was introduced, I’ve completed four jigsaw puzzles and am waiting for a couple more to be delivered. If the children next door have been particularly noisy, I’ll spend the time playing my violin, petty I know. I think having a break from my home office and computer monitor is important.

17:00-17:40 – Exercise bike session

Unlike the rest of the running world, I’m not running at the moment as my running mojo has gone AWOL. I’m aware that exercise is important so I’m spending 30 minutes a day on my exercise bike.

I like to stick some appropriate music on my desktop computer and a YouTube video of someone cycling outside on my laptop. Not quite as sophisticated as Peloton et al but more than sufficient for what I need.

17:40-18:00 – Lie on my bed feeling shattered

Most sensible people would drink some sort of recovery drink, stretch, and cool down after spending 30 minutes on an exercise bike. I tend to lie on my bed for 15-20 minutes feeling shattered. And I wonder why I’m so injury-prone.

18:00-19:00 – Prepare and cook food

Another advantage – hopefully, that’s an appropriate description of the current situation – is the reduction in my consumption of takeaways from my local Chinese. Since Boris told us all to stay at home I’ve treated myself to one Chinese takeaway; it tasted terrible and I felt guilty afterwards.

Now that people have stopped panic buying in Four Oaks, I’ve been trying to prepare meals on a Sunday evening. On this particular day, I wasn’t feeling very hungry so prepared and cooked my favourite Italian oven-baked penne recipe.

19:00-19:10 – Eat

I now understand why chefs (and my mother!) can get frustrated; it took me an hour to prepare and cook my food and less than 10 minutes to eat it. It tasted amazing so it was worth the extra effort.

19:10-20:00 – Watch TV

I’m not sure what happened but I’m way behind with both Chicago Fire and Holby City, probably a good thing as they’ve both stopped filming. I couldn’t decide which one to watch so flipped a coin and found myself watching Chicago Fire. I also ended up thinking about the Chicago Marathon; I have a place but can’t see it taking place later this year.

20:00-20:15 – Wash-up and tidy-up

Chicago Fire complete, I spent an enjoyable 15 minutes washing-up what felt like a small mountain of pots, plates, and cups and tidying the kitchen. I can’t go to bed if the kitchen is a mess, I’ve no idea why.

20:15-22:00 – Emails, Zoom, job hunting, and life admin

I like to spend a couple of hours each evening reading through and responding to personal emails, the press releases about sleep are getting a little tedious, having Zoom sessions with my family and friends, job hunting and catching up on life admin. The job situation is starting to stress me out a little, my temporary contract ends in November and I’ve no idea what will happen next. I’m not very good at dealing with uncertainty and it feels like the job situation is completely out of my control. Sorry for the self-pitying, I’m aware of how fortunate I am to have a job at the moment.

22:00-22:20 – Shower etc

I still prefer to shower in the evening and still go to bed with wet hair. I love heading to bed feeling all clean and ready for the next day. As I have more time I’ve been experimenting with a range of face creams and lotions. The outcome? I still have stupidly sensitive skin and currently have more spots than I did as a teenager. Anyway, I brushed my teeth, had a great shower, and then applied more face cream.

22:25 – Climb into bed

Getting up slightly later means that I now aim to be asleep by 23:00 at the latest. I like to read for a while as a good book helps me to switch off whereas messing around on my phone seems to have the opposite result and I find myself googling random stuff and getting myself stressed.

23:00 – Lights Out

I was so tired I managed to fall asleep quite quickly. I, unfortunately, woke up at 03:00 and then struggled to get back to sleep and spent a couple of hours thinking and worrying about the current situation. The next day was a bit of a struggle and I ended up having an afternoon nap.

I hope that you enjoyed reading about what is currently a normal working day for me and a lot of other people. Although my work-life balance is a lot better, I do miss my colleagues and at times find living alone quite difficult. I also miss having the option of walking to my local for a quick pint, parkrun, being able to buy whatever I need either in my local shops or online. Above all, I miss being able to spend time with my family and friends. My nieces Tabby and Penny celebrate their first birthday next week; I won’t be able to see them. I have to keep reminding myself that this won’t last forever.

And finally, if you’ve got this far then thank-you. I’ve said it before but I’m quite nosey and love reading about other people’s lives, I hope that you enjoyed reading about mine.

**Quick disclaimer: some of the photos I’ve included in this post were taken before Boris told us all to stay at home. I thought that a post with only a couple of photos would be pretty dull** 

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