Stephen Witherden’s Website :: Personal :: Best Monday so far

I awoke at around 7:30am, groggy. Ordinarily I would pull myself out of bed and face the day bravely, plenty things to do; the Ports of Lyttleton need saving, after all. Then I rolled over and went back to sleep. I have an excuse, I am sick with a cold and I need a little R&R. At 10:11am, my boss Irene called me to see how I was doing. “Oh, you sound really bad still” she exclaimed encouragingly.

I lounged languidly for a little then showered and started getting dressed. You see, I had student presentations to attend at 1pm and I needed to sign something at work.

Anyway, you don’t need to know about that stuff. What you do need to know is at around 2:30pm, I was driving home, back South over the harbour bridge, a little tired still, from my sickness, quite hungry since I hadn’t yet eaten. Perhaps I’d warm up some leftover pizza for lunch. I should go get my haircut and maybe do the banking for church while I was there. I still hadn’t completed last week’s podcast and, oh, I should post those letters soon…

I looked out at the boats in the harbour as I crossed the bridge. It was a beautiful spring day.

“Screw it”

I stopped off at the petrol station. The lady there kindly filled my tank for me and I got a copy of the newspaper. I almost never read the newspaper.

I drove down to Mission Bay. One of the prettiest spots on Auckland’s waterfront, and went to one of my favourite restaurant chains (Mecca) for lunch. I sat there, with my Vodka and lemonade, my newspaper and my Cajun chicken for over an hour, just watching passersby, at the beautiful scenery. At 4pm I went to see a movie (Eye in the Sky) then got a cup of ice cream (Chocolate & Tiramisu) and walked along the wet-sandy waterline my black work shoes and long pants.

Standing there, listening to the uneven rhythm of the waves rushing up against the shore, I began to realise that all this work I get up to is really in vain if it means I am cooped up inside for the best part of the day and am too tired / stressed out to make effective use of my weekends. All my social commitments are all very well and good, but not if they mean I am constantly shifting from one foot to another. I decided I need to have a real holiday, soon.

And you know? I am starting to feel better already.