"I Don't Like Mondays" - Boomtown Rats, 1979

I'm not fond of Mondays at the best of times. This particular Monday morning, however, was much worse than usual. I'm sure I'm not the only person returning to work today for the first time since Christmas Eve.

Now, I should not have been such a big baby this morning for several reasons. Given the precarious state of the world economy, having a job right now is a great thing. Also, I had a really enjoyable Christmas/New Year break and should not be so whiny today. And last, but certainly not least, effective this year, I'm no longer going to be travelling all over the place to teach and I'm also no longer going to be working at all on Thursdays and Fridays! What a change that's going to make in my life.

So what's the problem? Well, I guess I'm just not quite ready to leave the fantasy world of what we Americans call "The Holidays" and get back to real life.

Things could certainly be worse. Although very cold here (we even had a very generous dusting of snow on the ground at home this morning), the sun is shining. It's nice to catch up with colleagues about their Christmas and New Year's exploits. The web-based training course that I'm currently updating is interesting work. It was also nice to commute into the Oxford park and ride with John this morning - something I think we can do most of the time now, which will help with our household's petrol bill as well as making the trips more fun.

But my biggest source of pleasure so far today was when I glanced up to the wall beside my desk for the first time this morning. You see, my office-mate Gavin was my Secret Santa a few weeks ago, and he found me the perfect gift. Have any of you ever seen the "Water Skiing Westies" calendar? Well, here's my copy, up on the wall next to my desk...


(Click on the image for a full-sized version.)

Who could be too down with that on the wall next to them? Thanks, Gavin, for one of those gifts that will "keep on giving" during all of 2009!

Janet