breathing space

Hecticity. Still, bet-hedging and ass-covering ensured a teeny weeny little degree of smugness at today's outcome which gives us another ten days (not specified as calendar or working days) to complete the thing the manager was attempting to rush through. A meeting about an almost entirely different subject at each end of the day tomorrow plus travel time for the first one will crop about three hours off the working day. Tidying up the huge pile of paper on my desk will probably use another one. All in all a very short journey to the end of the day (which I have decided will occur at 15:30 where it should be considering my start time) and the following weekend. Hopefully Monday will be a non-working Monday too. Fair enough that there is work still to be done (as always) but the end of the holiday year is fast approaching, I have a fair few weeks still to take and the last couple of weeks have generated an healthy amount of excess flex even after a pleasant amount of it is converted to overtime.

Second flask has already paid for himself after a mere four days' worth of not having to buy coffee in the afternoon. A pity that it has to feature Thermos's silly valve design which is not quite watertight and is constructed for some strange reason out of plastic which is not resistant to the warping qualities of boiling water. Still, these days one expects things to be not quite up to the task for which they were built such as breathable shoes which can't cope with being worn and weatherproof outdoor lights which let little bits of the weather and outdoors in.

Had a new New Scientist to read and a Lost to watch this evening so didn't make it very far outside. Popped along to the tunnel getting the above shot on the way. On my way back a bearded gentleman without a hat on an unlit bicycle hailed me but then went on his way after saying that he thought I was someone else. Maybe I am. Perhaps I should have said. Anyway. One more sleep then freedom. May the morning be as pleasant and sunny and alive as it was this morning. Either that or snow please.

Almost forgot. Tried one of these:

tripod, 10 second self-timer, click and run

20 seconds would obviously be better but a: I'd have been almost out of the other end of the tunnel and hard to see and b: beware! camera-thieves...