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Old Habits
May. 20th, 2020 11:23 amWhen I was working on the West Coast and listening to Radio 4, my day was shaped by the rhythm of the schedule. Start with PM, some decent news and Eddie Mair's voice part of the daily ritual. Get emails etc done so I could start drawing in time for the 6:30 comedy, which was at 10:30 my time (or be annoyed that a meeting, scheduled or otherwise, intruded, which especially seemed to happen on Fridays). Then at 11:00 The Archers would come on, which was my cue to go for a second coffee and find something to do away from my desk for the longest 15 minutes of the day. Back to work for Front Row, then lunch to the accompaniment of whatever the 8:00 documentary was, and so on. Not only did this give me structure, but it made me really good at doing the time conversion between PST and GMT.
Moving to the UK, I was surprised to discover how well Radio 4 in its home time zone is tailored to the rhythms of the day, almost like it was done so deliberately by people who knew what they were doing. As I work with words a lot more now than I used to, and even when not wording am often doing drawings that take more concentration than I can share with a radio programme, I don't listen as faithfully as I used to. But it's frequently on in the kitchen, and they almost always have good kitcheny listening on when I need it. Clever old things.
As I'm trying to establish a new routine in the new place, I have noticed a funny thing: no matter when I start work in the morning, I get antsy around 11:00. It's too early for lunch but too late for a snack that won't ruin lunch; sometimes I'll get up for a drink but usually I have a teapot on the go next to my desk so it's not much of a trip. Yesterday I realised it's the old Archers Avoidance, which has somehow stuck in my work rhythm despite no longer aligning to The Archers at all. It's like a small personal version of those nonsensical family traditions that are perpetuated simply because 'we've always done it this way.' Today I moved a geranium outside and fertilised it, checked the mildew situation on the acanthus, and came back before I realised I'd got up at 11 again. I suppose I'll just have to work around it ...
Moving to the UK, I was surprised to discover how well Radio 4 in its home time zone is tailored to the rhythms of the day, almost like it was done so deliberately by people who knew what they were doing. As I work with words a lot more now than I used to, and even when not wording am often doing drawings that take more concentration than I can share with a radio programme, I don't listen as faithfully as I used to. But it's frequently on in the kitchen, and they almost always have good kitcheny listening on when I need it. Clever old things.
As I'm trying to establish a new routine in the new place, I have noticed a funny thing: no matter when I start work in the morning, I get antsy around 11:00. It's too early for lunch but too late for a snack that won't ruin lunch; sometimes I'll get up for a drink but usually I have a teapot on the go next to my desk so it's not much of a trip. Yesterday I realised it's the old Archers Avoidance, which has somehow stuck in my work rhythm despite no longer aligning to The Archers at all. It's like a small personal version of those nonsensical family traditions that are perpetuated simply because 'we've always done it this way.' Today I moved a geranium outside and fertilised it, checked the mildew situation on the acanthus, and came back before I realised I'd got up at 11 again. I suppose I'll just have to work around it ...
