I seem to have survived the first of about a month of very structured days intact and in good spirits. I woke up at about 7:30 and did half an hour of morning yoga with YouTube’s Adriene who is an absolute pleasure to wake up to. Whether I’m trying to fit many things into a day or struggling to motivate myself during a lull I always find that having a morning routine helps me. I generally like to sleep with my phone on airplane mode, wake up and go straight into yoga, have breakfast, shower and then get the old phone going and connect up with the world outside. The ‘generally like’ part of that statement is due to the fact that I fall out of this routine from time to time. My least favourite morning mode is when I make the mistake of checking my phone in bed and then get pulled into things immediately and two hours have gone by before I even realise that I’m sugar crashing and not actually making much sense. Starting the day on my own terms gives me a sense of ease and balance that feed into everything else I do later.
This morning’s first task took me to Strait Street in my home town Valletta. I’m helping update a book about the streets of Valletta and I happily spent close to an hour walking with the book in hand checking for changes, additions and things that might be of relevance for the book. I enjoyed spotting another of Twitch’s Jesuses which of course reminded me that I really need to get on with writing for Curiosity Breadcrumbs and actually implement some of the ideas in my head for it.
Not having planned lunch beforehand I got a take-away quinoa green salad from Grassy Hopper between St John and Strait Street and fell for a last minute Theobroma peanut chocolate bar. Walking from Valletta to Floriana really tested the practicality of my gear. My briefcase might be pretty but lugging it for a good 20 minutes, when it is so full it looks like it swallowed an elephant whole, was not the most comfortable procedure. Office attire and backpack will have to make peace with each other tomorrow.
In Floriana I got 10 minutes of untempered bliss. A little early for my appointment I sat in the sun and had instalment 1 of my lunch on a bench in the sun whilst overhearing three Furjanizi discuss everything under the sun. My kind of luxury. The Biennale meeting that came next went well, although everyone is under pressure, and brought many reminders about tackling unexpected obstacles with flexibility and patience.
The afternoon was dedicated to getting a handover from my ex-colleague at my ex-office where I will be doing some work from for the next few weeks. It turns out I had no cause for the apprehension I felt yesterday evening as I found that the new-improved me (at least I like to think so) and the old role quickly found ways of making sense together. It was intense but extremely interesting to look into the things I used to do with the eyes of an outsider and make sense of it all.
Walking back home felt like the biggest luxury. Valletta was lit up at dusk as I gingerly made my way home and really enjoyed the feeling of moving from one thing to another that I do not usually get when I work from home. I stopped to buy some food from the local grocer, refused plastic wrapping on my cheese to the resigned amusement of the shopkeeper (he’s used to my ways now) and made myself risotto that will also be my lunch tomorrow. A little more work to make a deadline and I’m here writing about my day. It’s 10:23pm and I still need to pay my VAT online and email a quote for a mini side project related to the Valletta Green Festival before heading to bed. I feel like I’ve managed to retain a sense of balance despite the long hours involved. The day did however make me think about quality of life to be had around working 9-5 long term, especially while also dealing with a head full of project mischief like mine.
