Autumn Frost

It's been a pretty horrible 48 hours. The details are tedious but as a result I've come to a conclusion that helps me put a positive spin on events. I feel a bit like one of those sports stars who has carried on playing for too long, getting knocked out earlier and earlier in lesser and lesser tournaments as the years pass by and the original talent fades. My colleagues are being very supportive and keep telling me that it's just a matter of being tired, a symptom of not having had more than a couple of days break all year, but I know inside that the problem is deeper.

When it comes to writing code I think my playing days are coming to an end. I just don't get the same buzz from it any longer - probably because by the time I get the problem solved I'm too exhausted to take any satisfaction from it. And I think I'm beginning to resent the amount of space this stuff takes up in my head. I've got the nucleus of a great team here at work and I need to grow that now, putting my energy into people rather than programming. That's a big change for me. It's not going to happen overnight, and I'm aware that I've talked about this before, but the difference is that now it's not so much a notion but a plan that I'm going to start implementing right away. You heard it here first!

I've previously never kept a journal for more than a few days - before blipping turned into far more than just posting a picture every day. I'm not even sure when exactly that happened but, rather strangely, it seems the most natural thing in the world now to post my thoughts here into the public domain. Someone yesterday suggested that I might be a workaholic and I'm not going to deny I probably have been in the past. But not any more. I'm working as hard as I am at the moment out of necessity and a strong sense of responsibility to my colleagues. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do because other people are depending upon you.

With apologies once again for being so completely awful at commenting back, I'm having to blip and run again tonight in order to finish a few things before more training and presentations take place tomorrow. I've not really got a choice.

Amazing how different the weather has been across the country this last few days. I awoke to clear skies but a huge cloud bank was approaching from the east. By the time I got to the office it had overtaken us here and the rest of the day was very grey and miserable. I've seen blips from the Lakes which suggest the west has seen the most magically clear skies again. Oh, to have been able to enjoy that. We had the first proper frost of the year and as I got off the train at Shipley I spotted this sheltered area of waste ground behind a wall. I managed to find a way around to reach it and caught this shot of the frost with a very autumnal back drop. I would never have a noticed this at all last year but it provided a little oasis of calm in the middle of a crazy day. I love blipping!!