Weeknote 47/2024
This weekend, something happened which required five things to be true simultaneously:
- Winter light levels
- Low levels of existential angst
- Junior football matches called off
- Feeling slightly under the weather
- Family members being quiet
That’s right, dear reader, I’m talking about not waking up until 09:00 on both weekend days. Unheard of! Well, it’s front page news in my universe, at least.
All of which is a cunning plot device to explain what I’ve been up to this week, which is: not much. I did very few hours of paid work, which is directly correlated with the fact that I had two job interviews on Friday. I don’t think it’s fair to discuss either until the process has been completed, but they’re fairly different roles. While there are benefits and drawbacks to each, neither are full-time gigs, so I’d still be able to work with my WAO buddies on client projects.
It’s now the run-up to Christmas in the Belshaw household. The tree is up, the lights are up on the outside of the house, although we’ve been absolutely put to shame by some of our new neighbours. Having moved to an area of Morpeth that we previously didn’t have reason to visit at this time of year, we were unaware of quite how festive they are. Unfortunately, the storm over recent days has meant that some of the various decorations have come down.
Yesterday, faced with the prospect of staying in all day, we braved the weather and went to Woodhorn Colliery museum which was a bit of a nostalgia trip for me. My family moved up to Ashington in 1985 just after the year-long miners strike of 1984-85 and, looking back, growing up there was definitely an ‘interesting’ experience. I occasionally have a go at my kids for being too soft, but I’m not sure I would have wanted them to grow up where I did.
I’m back into some kind of rhythm over at Thought Shrapnel and published 10 posts this week. I also published two here:
…and one on the WAO blog:
Next week is my last at work for 2024. We haven’t got loads on which, unfortunately, has been a bit of a theme this year. It’s not just us, though — the Slack channels, private messages, and surveys I’ve seen suggest that freelancers and small agencies/co-ops have found the last 12-18 months pretty tough.
We’ll see what 2025 holds. It might mean a different approach. It might mean a different offer. It might mean a different ‘job’. Watch this space, I guess.
Photo taken by me at Woodhorn Colliery museum