Back to Work

No matter what it takes, this year I'm going to take the full two weeks off at Christmas and New Year.  This going back to work part way through the week is a killer.  One day I'm happily spending the better part of the day in bed, the next I'm having to get up for work.  Whilst I'm not recovering from illness, as I was this time last year when I returned to work, it was still exhausting going in today.  It's also quite disorientating going back to work, even for two days, this week, as a lot of people are still off and still, it seems, celebrating Christmas.  There's nothing worse than driving past houses with their Christmas lights still on as you go from one job to another.  On the plus side, at least the traffic wasn't too bad, with so many people still off work and schools still on holiday. 

The problem is that we're in that other seasonal hinterland - the post new year interregnum.  Whereas I always enjoy the hinterland which lies between Christmas and new year, with its lazy days of doing nothing and feeling of normal time being suspended, the bit immediately following new year always feels awkward.  It isn't so bad if New Year's Day falls at a weekend - then the next week just starts like a normal week.  However, if, like this year, it happens near the beginning, or in the middle, of the week, we are left with a few days which nobody knows what to do with.  Should we continue with Christmas?  After all, there are still several days to go before Twelfth Night, the official end of the festival.  Not only that, but the schools are still out.  But if you do take the time off and stay at home, it always feels slightly strange - sufficient numbers of people have gone back to work to make you feel guilty about being off work yourself.  But if you do go back to work, the knowledge that many others haven't, makes it feel equally odd.

The situation is reflected in the television schedules, with the TV stations unsure whether to return to a regular schedule or whether to stick to some kind of 'special' schedule.  The result is the odd hybrid schedule we've had for the past few days, with news programmes and soaps returning almost to their normal schedules, but still interspersed with slightly seasonal special programming and premiere episodes of new series masquerading as something special before settling down to become new regular fixtures.  Personally, I just want to hibernate until the end of February.  At least by next week the Christmas decorations should have gone, which will at least make things look 'normal' again.