Stitch This

Oh, you know it’s an inevitability like death and taxes – the back to school post. So, let’s talk bags. Yep, bags.

They are, I feel, a bit of a metaphor – I’ve got a range on bags in my life and in my cupboards, apart from the ubiquitous Yorkshire Tea (Aside: this was recommended to me by a plasterer who did some work at our place years ago, he brought his own in a massive box and insisted they were the best. He was right.)

Back to bags….

• Beach bag – my most recent focus. This bag is filled with toys, beach shoes (Brixham beaches are STONY), little wetsuits, soggy towels and flapjack wrappers (empty, ahem). I admit it, this is my favourite bag and I’m putting it back into the cupboard with great regret. Perhaps it will sneak out every now and again…I hope so.

• Changing bag – living up to its name, this really is changing and is on its last legs, being usurped soon I hope, hope, hope. Imagine a world without nappies. Little One is having his first day without me today as I go off to work and he goes to play school in his NEW SHOES. I miss him ad Elder already and I’m still on the commute to the office. Working hard as you can see.

• School bag – Elder is back to school today. I kissed him good luck at 7am this morning, he was in his uniform already and bouncing like a Tiger on Red Bull. Mind you, that’s his normal level of activity. There’s a reason why that child is stick thin despite eating everything in sight, pure burning white energy ball that one. He needs to get back to a class room tho. The last few days have been a bit ‘challenging’ let’s say. Routine is his saviour and I’m glad we’ve got some structure to our weeks again.

• Clutch – Other half and I managed a good few nights out together this holiday – yay!!! I think I will make more of an effort to continue with this, everyone always bangs on about how important it is to have time as a couple. It’s a cliché, but it’s true. Probably why it’s a cliché….

• Project bag – positively bulging. I’ll post on curren WIPs soon. Far mr eintersting and cheerful than this wingey post, I promise

• Work bag – today’s choice. I’m back in the saddle, on the train to the office. I put on office clothes this morning and it felt so strange. Partly because they appear to have shrunk, even my ‘fat’ trousers are feeling the strain. Oh dear. All those ice creams and glasses of wine have decided to stay around with me and my hips I fear. So, I am on the straight and narrow food wise. But being a wage slave is also so far removed from where me and my head got to in the last few weeks I almost feel like a different person. Certainly, the PD symptoms are back. Hello boys. I’m clenching my teeth, shaking more, feeling less stable on my feet and have a fuzzy head. My sleep patterns have disintegrated too. So, I need to work on managing the impact of my working life on the rest of my time. I want to keep that feeling I managed while on holiday, it was such a release.

I also am not particularly looking forward to actually doing the work when I get there. Now, this is a new one for me and I’m not sure whether it’s a permanent development or not. Usually despite missing time off I can muster positive thoughts when I go back to work, a new project or goal or something. Not this time. Probably something to do with the threat of redundancy hanging over me at the moment. I’ve been through about 4 redundancy programmes at Stitch&Co, after all I’ve worked there for millennia. But I’m actually under real threat this time I fear. My role is non client facing ie I don’t pull in revenue directly, my performance hasn’t been the normal ‘outstanding’ (sorry if that sounds braggy, but I do normally get an outstanding but haven’t in the past couple of appraisal periods, a comment on my PD or affinity for my role, or both? Who knows) and I’m quite expensive compared to a more junior person. We find out in just over a fortnight, so expect these posts to become more and more angst ridden before reaching a crescendo of agony or relief, who knows which eh? Still, it’ll be fun waiting to find out, I’m sure.

Anyway, in the meantime, I’m wearing my most cheerful dress…look.

So there it is, bags all over the place. As indeed I am. No change there then 🙂