Routines change with having to work from home. The 15 minute commute by bike that I had to do daily, made for a clear start and end point to my working day. Now, I’m taking a short walk around the block before starting up my computer in the living room. I hope to be able to set up a real ‘office’ next week and be able to ‘leave’ work in that room at the end of the day.
The work itself hasn’t changed much. I’m still working on things like the timetable, sending out emails about Moderation and Senior Projects and updating the website. What is different is having to use two (or three) different modes on my computer to access different parts. RD web for anything related to shared documents, the UU remote desktop for anything with student data and then sometimes my regular computer for Zooming into different meetings. It makes for a confusing set of screens, but I’m slowly getting used to it.
While my workday may be a little different, the seasons are still the same, so I’ve started up some seeds in small greenhouse-boxes. I’ve spotted the broccoli emerging from the soil and hope to welcome some carrots, leek, spring onions, lettuce and spinach sprouts in the near future. Once they are big enough, I’ll plant them in my tiny, tiny front yard. Seeing this new life grow is inspiring and brings me a little hope that we will all come out of this.
Between half April and July, I will also plant some endive, Chinese cabbage and courgettes. I hope that when they are ready to harvest, between July and October, I’ll be able to bring left-over lemon-courgette muffins to the office again. For now, I’ve frozen some individual batches of cookie dough, so I can always get a fresh cookie and not get stuck with 20 for just me.
Growing vegetables in your front yard is so cool! Can’t wait for the courgette muffins!