Wednesday 3rd July

I am still suffering from post holiday blues.  Why is it that we always feel we could have done more on our breaks?  It isn’t that we actually wasted them and at the time we were often quite contented, it is just that niggly feeling that it was sort of less than we could have achieved.  And then you look at the next few weeks, and thank goodness it is only a few weeks, of work ahead and you feel so dismal at the prospect.  It isn’t that the work is particularly onerous or difficult even, it is more that you just are bored by it.  And the alternative prospect of sitting face tilted up to the sun for a few days is so alluring.

I used to have a mantra, a little thought that would pop up and I would repeat it to myself, silently mouthing the words ‘Be Philosophical’ whenever life seemed a bit grim.  I am not sure if it ever worked, other than calming me a tad.  I almost enjoyed the feeling of being stoical for a few minutes.  It never made the problem go away of course, and inveterate worrier that I am I soon returned to it, but for a moment it could cause a smile to hover across my furrowed brow. And now as I contemplate the day ahead, the sheer repetition of the work, the same problems, the same people, the same incompetence I will encounter, I must learn again to smile away these post-holiday blues and repeat to myself those gentle words of wisdom ‘Be Philosophical.’

As I read the news, the Tories seem to have got over some of their woes and preparing once more for battle, and the economy despite Osborne’s best efforts is beginning to recover – I just have to smile and say to myself ‘Be Philosophical.’