Remember that concept called the work/life balance? No. Neither do I…

Right now the balance has swung very much in one direction, but that’s not entirely a bad thing. Here in West Yorkshire we’re in the run up to Christmas and we’re in Tier 3 – with no realistic chance of coming out of it in the near future, so you can forget the season of Xmas parties, pubs and general socialising. Plus, now London’s gone into lockdown there’s no chance of me returning South to catch up with old friends. Oh, and the weather’s been pretty crap here too – so there’s little incentive to wander out with the camera.

Instead, I’m holed-up at home most of the day, spending time living in the past, present and future. The past is because a lot of my time is spent scanning old pictures from 20-30 years ago in a concerted effort to have a decades long project finished by next year. There’s an irony in this in that by getting all these pictures uploaded to my website – it actually frees me from that past as it becomes history once more – and not something I have to spend hundreds of days of a year reliving. Yet – there is a link with the future here too. Some of the pictures I’m scanning have meant I’ve had to read through old diaries to check where I was – and when. I’ve always meant to write some of those experiences up as travel blogs about what it was like to travel overland though S-E Asia in the early 1990s but without having the pictures scanned it was impractical. It won’t be from next year, which will be the 30th anniversary of my first big solo trip…

The present is the everyday stuff we all do to keep our lives and my businesses ticking over. This can range from the mundane like shopping, cooking and housekeeping to those moments when you can simply stop and admire something that reconnects you with the here and now, no matter how random, or seemingly inconsequential.

The future? That’s a little more complex. It’s knowing that 2021 will be a very different year to this one so I can make up for some lost opportunities – and the work I’ll have done in 2020 will have cleared time and space to indulge myself a little after a year of lockdowns. All I have to hope for is that our sagacious and revered Government don’t screw up the economy and trash the pound in the next few months as the Brexitshambles reaches the denouement. OK, fair point – it’s a big ask…

Right, whilst I’ve been writing this I’ve also been scanning more slides – so here’s the picture of the day which was taken at the amazing Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) during the Ashes test between England and Australia at the end of December 1998. Our friend Alison had booked tickets for what was a great day. I love the Aussies forthrightness – which is on display here. The reason I took this photo – other than to show the crowds? look at the adverts on the middle row…

“If you drink, then drive, you’re a bloody idiot” Can’t say fairer than that!

I’ve a favour to ask…
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