I have two blogs and I'd better use both of them!
My Mother once remarked that if I am blogwriting I am probably procrastinating about something else. That is true in this case, at least. Yes, I should go out and buy groceries, stay in and vacuum all the carpets, call some friends (oops I forgot a birthday that I was thinking about all week), visit other friends I haven't seen in a long time, read a book about geology, listen to a lecture about biblical archaeology, and finish "The source", by James Michener. And I should finally write one of the blogposts I keep making up in my head and not writing.
The Source I started to read in preparation for my last group, I could nearly say my late group, because the poor people were supposed to come on the day the airports in Europe closed. For days we were in suspense whether they would arrive one or two or three days late, but then it turned out there was no chance of getting on any flight in the near future, so they cancelled. Or rather, they postponed their tour by a year. A year is a long time. Who knows what any of us will be doing in a year? This particular group, unlike most groups I guide, was already a full year in the planning. I was asked to guide them in April 2010 a year early, in April 2009. At that time I hesitated to commit myself to anything a year ahead, but I did. There was a lot of planning, and a lot of changes in the plans, and I wasn't happy with some of them. But I had already committed myself. A few times it looked like it wasn't going to work. But who could have anticipated a volcano in Iceland making trouble...
And I was left with a lot of free time. Since I worked hard in the previous week to be able to 'afford' the time with the group, the library doesn't want my time now. My new situation, working a third of a full librarian job, requires me to be skimpy with my time and only work the required hours, not more and not less. More hours worked won't get paid, and the hours not worked will be counted as holidays. And at the end of every month the counting is closed. No working in advance, or working in retrospect.
It is actually a good time to catch up with things. Things I have been procrastinating about. Things I am only too happy to say about, most of the time: I would do this, if I could only find the time... (meaning: luckily I can't possibly do this chore, visit that government office or attend to those obligations, because I'm sure I'd hate to do it). Anyway, instead of walking through the Hezekia tunnel and the Kidron Valley today, I'd better buy some groceries now.
