Dreaming

I'm only about 100miles from home but it feels like 100,000miles. And I'm only about 1.5miles from the dreaming spires of the Oxford colleges but it feels like a lot more as I am staying in a guest house in a less than salubrious area of Oxford. Most telling sign being the boarded up pub across the road. Still, the room is clean, the bed is comfortable and the internet connection works. This is my home for the next two nights and I feel a bit like a travelling salesman. There's nothing glamorous about this work trip and I'm feeling quite alone.

I'm also worrying about the next two days. On top of my usual, I hope I can pull this off nerves, there is an added level of anxiety as it has become apparent in the last couple of days that a number of logistical details have not been taken care of. I'm sure solutions will be found and we will deal with whatever we need to deal with. I'm just a bit (oh alright, lot) of a detail person and I don't like mess.

But, to give myself a good talking to via the medium of blip: I am lucky to be working and to be doing something that, on the whole, I really enjoy. I only stay away from home about three or four times a year and most of the time I am not only at home but able to fit work in to school hours so have ample family time. The details are minor compared to the big picture and I am sure we can deliver a good couple of days and I can return home happy with a job well done.

In the meantime, there's a distracting football match to watch and an early night to be had.

Lesley x

ps - not a great picture of the old buildings I know so I've played about with the colours a bit. I keep thinking that on one of my visits to Oxford I must take some time to wander and take some better photographs but thinking about it, this hastily grabbed, wonky shot is a much better reflection of my time here!