Work is fine when you enjoy it. I do a lot of unpaid work, but it always seems to work out. Purpose is the driving force of sanity + time, so it’s time to move on to another project. I have a book to finish: Ellie Booton’s Journal, No. 3 (title to be decided). I also want to design some stationary – maybe produce textile products again. Years ago, I used to design and manufacture nursery soft furnishings. It was a particularly hard time of my life, but the work was interesting at least.
I popped the Saltaire Sentinel online, edited by my friend and colleague, James Duncan. Saltaire Village website
Our work-life balance is fluid at the moment – more life, less work. It’s open to a new definition. My mum’s time is precious. We have dogs and their life is relatively short. We need to make the most of what we have. This morning we walked. Mum was content to sit in the car and watch the activity on the beach (impressive manoeuvres to reposition sea defense rocks). Pips gets sandy, so there’s a pay-off to her fun, poor girl.
Bronte brushes off just fine.
The afternoon was spent at our desks (the dining table for me at the mo) – and this evening was catching our first real sunset. There has never been enough time. I travel on these roads again, back from the beach, as I did when I was a child in my dad’s green Corsair. I see the same things as I did then, but with a different view altered by time: success and failure, happiness and anguish. Connecting with an environment might be like a docking a space craft with the International Space Station. You need to get it right. It’s going well though.
Flinty Maguire 