the mack truck hits

After a week of changing routine and finally settling into a new one, Monday morning hits like a tonne of bricks, along with the realisation that life will be like this for a long time to come - early morning ritual, confined time-lines and lots of driving of boring routes and waiting in line.

On the one hand I welcome the routine that I have not had the pleasure of exercising. On the other, I dread the monotony of it all. There's nothing like owning your own business small enough to dictate your own working hours to spoil you for time management. Although our business is reaching a growth spurt which calls for a little more corporate attitude and management.

Because my ADSL was fried at home, I have had to come into the office to check my emails and blog. So now, bright and early on a Monday morning, I am sitting quietly in an empty office, save for our new-ish office girl, Mini, whose presence has made everyone so much happier. Mini is one of those rare people who understand the value of initiative, conscientiousness and anticipation in an employee. We all love her very much already, and I'm sure we haven't yet explored all facets of her capabilities.

Anyway, so here I am, happy to find a park as soon as I drive up to the building, eyes tired and sandy from lack of sleep and from my eldest's early morning visit and gymnastics routine on the bed as I, rather like a shaggey-haired beached whale in a sea of bedcovers, lift one eyelid and a groggy head and bellow, "Now is the NOT the time!!" before flopping back into my sandy dreams.

Come morning she is nowhere to be seen and when I struggle into wakefulness and rush out to get her ready, I see her sleeping soundly and hear her chest rise and fall with wheezy crackles. I call the school and linger around the house for a while till she wakes, then come into the office to do some housekeeping. Soon I will be off to the bank and then another bank and all the while wishing I was in small-town Perth as it was 10 years ago when you could pull right up to the front of the shop and do what you had to do with the minimum of time spent driving around...

I love driving but driving in the city when you have banking to do, with no parking, queues and stupidity all around, can really get to you.

So I sit here, enjoying a bit of quiet but knowing that a great change in routine and the way I operate is coming, is a bit of a wake-up call.

And I say, hello? Is it me you're looking for? (Errr, I'm not here)

Lovey, C