January - Don't Be Angry With Me

The first full working week of 2019 has now been done and filed away. The time of peace and goodwill to all is but a distant memory as the frantic pressure of working life takes hold once again. The build up to Christmas gets earlier and earlier with each passing year and before you know it the festive season is over – until the frenzy starts all over again in a few months.

Yet, there is something strangely comforting about the return to a routine. Not working for a couple of weeks is something I usually look forward to, but my mindset changes and I become lethargic. Like so many others I usually eat far too much rubbish and consume more alcohol than is good for me. I lapse into cannae-be-arsed mode (some people may say they don't notice any difference)

Therefore, returning to the discipline of getting up at the same time every day, going to work, dealing with the everyday pressures of life brings a normality which is akin to being wrapped in a warm blanket on a cold winters day.

By George, I’ve even returned to the gym this week – for the first time since November. This took a huge amount of effort at first but come Friday it was becoming routine once more.

Work is frenetic and with nothing happening for more than two weeks there has been a plethora of meetings, conference calls and objective settings. Everything is, of course, extremely urgent with the world being threatened with coming to an end if certain tasks are not completed IMMEDIATELY. And, among the many ‘buzzwords’ are ‘there’s no ‘I’ in team; going forward; thinking outside the box, setting long-term objectives and looking at the wider picture’

There’s no ‘I’ in team but there is a ‘m’ and an ‘e’… (can you sense my cynicism?

Christmas was less than three weeks ago but it seems ages now. That said, Leith still seems to be clinging on to the wreckage of the festive season. At the foot of Leith Walk (the thoroughfare that links Edinburgh to the old port) the burgh’s Christmas tree is not only still standing but remains fully lit – 12 days into the New Year. Which merely adds to the winter fuel where Leith folk believe they are neglected by their big city neighbours who run the council services for Scotland’s capital.

Or perhaps, as my good pal Gary suggested after a few pints of foaming ale last night, every day is Christmas in Leith…