Today has been my first real day where I have felt well enough to have a ‘normal’ day. I am now preparing myself to get back to work. I was off all last week, and 2 weeks on holiday before that and have been sleeping 10-12 hours per day for the last week, so I expect tomorrow to be quite exhausting as a result. I go straight into delivering a 6-hour training course, which I think might be a tough first day back. None of this “easing back into work” mallarky!

… and so it is time to talk Economics:
So we’re in the thick of the credit crunch. What exactly does that mean? The problem is that for the normal man in the street, there is no immediate impact. Life will go on. I just found out this evening that my friend Leanne is moving in with her boyfriend, Mick. We are talking about next year’s holidays, but will they happen? None of my friends have been made redundant nor are they in the current firing line. But how long will that last? What will I report 3 months hence? My contract has been extended to at least the end of January 2009. And there is talk about a further extension, but nothing firmed up. Tim has concerns that his job might not be recession proof. We have been planning a 3-month holiday in South Africa in 2010 to coincide with the World Cup. Will we need to postpone that? Or cancel it? Only time will tell.

What I do know is: less eating out, less retail therapy, less unnecessary expenditure, more bulk buying, more advanced planning for food, more jumpers and less heating being on, more home entertainment, less weekends away, more swap parties, more re-using, more groceries from markets, car boot sales and pound-shops.

All in all, much of the above sounds like a good thing!

Talking about re-using: we have 3 tickets to Frankie Boyle (one of the comedians on Mock the Week) on Saturday 25th – we unfortunately double booked. I am so upset we can’t make it as we will be in France that weekend. Let me know if you’re interested!