2020 DIARY WEEK THIRTY FIVE 24th AUG - 30th AUG Isolated WFH #23

New week starts and one which might well be the final "working at home" until the next lock-down of course. Starting off on Monday 24th with a day off anyway and planing on going out to visit Crematorium first off, then hopefully if weather isn't too bad, get myself over to either Richmond or Kingston on the buses having first topped up my Oyster card too. Things to get, but nice to just chill out somewhere. 

Many more people are coming back in the office this week but I know Liz and I haven't been told anything definite so hopefully we are still working at home the rest of the week. Will ensure that Monday is a good day out, get some shopping done, and pick up birthday cards for the next few months that I need plus try and find somewhere to chill out and have some lunch. Then try hard not to look at emails or slack till Tuesday for me. Have already had a bad start to the month losing all my money, this is bad and we will struggle again till September. Tuesday will be a pivotal day for us and then in the evening will have some gaming and chat with the guys which hopefully will be enjoyable. Booked some time off for next week too and then we have to pray that we can make some changes in behaviour and lifestyle. Liz (work colleague) has been very supportive which is always nice. Wednesday was not a nice day, move on. Pray that Thursday can pass by without too much opposition, then begin to plan the weekend and what you need to do next week to help out. Checked the money situation and seems I will need min £500 next week so at least that is possible and not as bad as I had expected although today could have been much better. News from Rob which is a bit unclear but some working from home allowed up to two days a week and might be returning to office, but I will not do that next week and see what the plans are in future. If I do have two days working at home will ask for Monday / Tuesday which will also help with the weekly gaming sessions. Liz thinks that this currently doesn't apply to us so will have to wait and see what happens in the coming week or two. 

Work progresses at Plough Lane and new fixtures are out, the early "home" games will be played at QPR though after the confirmation of a ground sharing scheme for the short term.

2020 DIARY WEEK THIRTY FOUR 17th AUG - 23rd AUG Isolated WFH #22

Week 22 at home, still struggling with sleep and finding my peace but will have to keep on trying to get better. A poor weekend means a trip to Richmond to pay money into Bank on Monday then we'll see how the rest of your week turns out. If we can survive this week then the reward is a day off next Monday where hopefully I can plan a day out somewhere for a change. Apart from a number of people bugging me and moaning did manage to get through the day fine, just got a bit caught in the rain while in Richmond but that wasn't too bad either. Try and sleep and have a good Tuesday too if you can, even though I was up till about 3am I did then manage to sleep through to about 8am so not too bad, lets see how the rest of the day goes now. Got through the day somehow, then gaming session with guys, it's a bit rubbish to be fair only the banter keeping it going, might give it up but there's a break next week so maybe it will be fine on return. Slept a bit better Tuesday into Wednesday morning but all my money has gone so nothing now till next week. Talk about people returning to office soon, still hope I don't have to do that but it's clearly going to be a thing in the next week or two. Didn't enjoy the day, but survived it, will go out and get myself some shopping on Thursday too but been awake since about 4am so do not feel too great. 

Planning for the day off I have on Monday next week will be nice to get out, maybe to Richmond, be nice to sit in the park for a little while but also planning on going to Hanworth Crematorium as well as it's been a little while. Have been writing up horse racing blogs for weekend (York) and try find something to do for next week. Friday arrives, seems like the team are returning to the office next week but neither Liz nor I have heard anything and I'm off on Monday so hopefully will be another week for us. Been shopping, got dinner, need to find something for the weekend to do, certainly need to get my trains out to catalogue and also change some of the ones on display. Try and have a good weekend, sleep and rest.

2020 DIARY WEEK THIRTY THREE 10th AUG - 16th AUG Isolated WFH #21

Monday 10th August see's us enter the 21st week of working at home since the lock down, while I understand that some are back in the office this still doesn't appeal to us and hopefully we can keep going at home. David Amofah back from furlough and hope our talented UX designer is well and had a productive time off, let's see if we can have a good week or not, plenty to do but heat is a problem with lack of sleep. Thankfully over the weekend the money situation improved a little and early this week shall get some of that out to put away in tin, saving for later in year, top up Oyster card too and pay a little more off balances. Tuesday hopefully will be a better day too, gaming night on later with the lads, made changes to my character, see if you can stay with it. No sleep is terrible, I cannot cope, and lost a fair bit of the money I had although did clear Freemans [BNPL March 2021], also topped up Oyster with £20, and some money to tin for me so could have been much worse I guess. Tried to enjoy a good day, go out later and collect money then pick up lunch too, some bread, milk etc for weekend. Tuesday evening is a gaming night with guys, will see how the rest of the night goes wasn't too bad although still tired and uncomfortable was sleeping downstairs and although awake every 2-3 hours it was fine and was up ready for Wednesday ... begin with radio and check my money situation for the week ahead. 

Think I need to get a new fan for home the larger one is not putting out any breeze though the smaller USB one is doing a great job while at home, good thunderstorm on Wednesday afternoon helped to clear the heat for a little while. Thursday morning another sleep downstairs not too bad but its not a long term solution, had plenty of work to do, also been out and picked up a few more supplies too. Have podcasts to listen too later tonight and see how night feels then, at least we reach Friday with money, food and some beers in for the weekend. Just try and sort out some sleep, clean up and then we will keep updating the trains into spreadsheets.

2020 DIARY WEEK THIRTY TWO 3rd AUG - 9th AUG Isolated WFH #20

Important to know if we still working at home this week which will be #20 in the work from home series, with the news from Boris Johnson on Friday it would appear that we are here for another couple of weeks at least as the numbers start to rise again not just in Uk but all over. Monday will see how I feel and what we can achieve this week not a good night with little sleep and up at 4am, hopefully the week will improve and it's clear we need to go out on Tuesday to Richmond to visit bank amongst other things. Another poor night lack of sleep but up and ready to go out in morning, headed out on buses and trains, nice and quiet and made it into Richmond for about 10am, Bank was pretty empty, got my money in and picked up some shopping in Tesco and head home. Indoors again by 11am and nothing missed by the looks of things. Feel better, money will be fine now, can pay other bills end of week too.
Tonight (Tuesday) is a gaming night with the lads bit of D&D [struggled in that] see how you feel and prepare for Wednesday. Wow did at least sleep a bit better although awake couple of times was able to go back off again. Feel tired though, managed to strip bedding and get washing done while Mrs H gone out to Kingston. See how today goes think about what I need to get in for the weekend. Will see if I need to go out on Thursday to get some supplies in although probably fine since I did a trip to Iceland for some dinners earlier. Money is again an issue for me, hopefully cleared funds on Thursday but that's pretty much all gone already and couple of weeks still to see out. Booked some days off to have something I can plan and hopefully will be able to get out and about soon. Aim for the weekend is to find something useful to do away from the computer screen, get the trains out again, as we need to catalogue them again having done so before only to lose that data when the old laptop ceased working. Made a start on the three different Gauges, the N Gauge one will take the longest as I have acquired a lot again. Updated blogs for horse racing and hope that covering that will help to distract me from losing yet more money, need to survive the next couple of weeks and pray we still working at home. Then try and be better in September. Friday / Saturday look like being very hot and not surprisingly had another difficult night with little sleep. Catch up on music and podcasts too then rest over weekend. Successful day on Saturday means the week ahead is a little better than originally planned, long may that joy continue. 

2020 DIARY WEEK THIRTY ONE 27th JULY - 2nd AUG Isolated WFH #19

Week 19 working at home, though with changes being suggested for August 1st things might be changing sooner rather than later. Usually disappointment having been paid and lost it already, we need to survive this week, find small victories, and focus on work plus all the horse racing at both Galway and Goodwood festivals. Will be a difficult week again without much sleep or joy, at least we got on with Monday and find enough to do this week to help it to pass quickly enough, the opening evening of the Galway festival at least provided us with a few winners on paper and gets us up and running for the week. Goodwood begins on Tuesday and maybe that will also give us some pleasure. 

Slightly better night sleep on Tuesday helped, and easing of the financial pressure as the refund from South Western Railway received into bank helps with the loss I made for myself last weekend ... or at least it would have done had I not spent loads more today and now yet again need to find about £90 more to see me right this month. Gaming night with guys later hopefully that will make us feel better, wasn't that great a night, and try for some sleep tonight which wasn't too bad as I was only up once about 3:30am and did get back off to sleep till alarm sounded at 8am. Wednesday more meetings and loads of noise from nearby digging / drilling work. More blogs to update for the two horse racing meetings at Goodwood and Galway. Went out for a walk for about an hour, nice and sunny out, got some wine and bits for the weekend ahead, sadly we still not feeling great and have plenty of worries the next three weeks need to be kinder to me. At least Thursday morning started a little better, need to find some money and hope that we not in office next week, that task has begun, see how things are by next Monday. Friday night very hot and humid up about 3am and might be a difficult day then see how your weekend pans out. With the news from Boris that we are sure to be locked down for two more weeks at least I can be fairly sure we not going back to the office next week now. So enjoyed the weekend having watched the F1 from Silverstone, and also the end of Goodwood races which wasn't too bad then it's the FA Cup Final between Arsenal and Chelsea.