How to waste away – I mean “a day”

A day off. I have nothing to do. Nothing. To. Do.

I say ‘nothing’, but of course I have plenty to do. I have a tax bill to pay, music to arrange, practice to do, a car to wash. It’s just they don’t seem to have any necessity today. They’re just there because I can’t ride my bike because it’s being serviced, and the sun’s not shining.

I’m going to add to this post during the day to see how my day pans out and shed some light on whether I’m a procrastinator or a ‘dooer’…

12.36pm – Having listed and prioritised at 11am what I wanted to have achieved today, I have now spent 1 hour and 36 minutes reading blogs, the news and generally larking around on the internet. On the plus side, I have come up with apost on John Cleese and Iceland. Not much to show for the day so far, but I have high hopes for the future.

12.56pm – Give up on trying to get through to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. It always amazes me at the inability of organisations to take my money. I am afterall offering my money, there’s no salesmanship involved. The Inland Revenue’s motto of ‘Pay taxes or die” is cause enough to pay up on time.

13.03pm – Give up and go to Tescos.

13.45pm – The hunter-gatherer returns triumphant. I have have hunted and gathered some ReadyBrek, Cornflakes and a Yorkie bar (they’re not for girls!). I also manage to pay my Self-Assessment Tax bill, after calling one line “for all payment queries” then another, apparently more relevant, number to pay my bill. The hunter-gatherer’s triumphantness turns to poverty.

15.41pm – The car is washed. It’s waxed in green wax and has some supposedly miracle formula on the windows to ‘repel’ water. I daydream about rain jumping, lemming-like off the windscreen on motorway journies. I was momentarily taken off-task by a ginger cat that meowed and showed me its toothache. I then noticed a number of cats, realising that my constant bird-feeding is having a more sinister result higher up the foodchain…

17.33pm – i have collected my bike from the shop, and completed the jigsaw that is storing the 3 bikes without them being damaged. I’ve also tried to tighten the sump washer on my car, having called in to the garage on the way home to query the tiny oil leak my car has developed.

19.18pm – Starving, tired, and slowly getting demoralised by the amount of stuff that hasn’t been done today I admit defeat. After 60 minutes trying to write a flyer for a new string quartet venture, I have some nice pictures and layouts, but no words. Time for tea. I give up.

Things achieved today:
The car is clean. The bike is serviced and at home. The hunting and gathering is done. I’ve read lots of lovely blogs that weer very entertaining. I’ve paid my tax bill. I’ve done a nice layout for the Ardeton Ensemble. I’ve made a new friend in the form of ginger cat across the road.

Things still on the ‘to do’ list:
No music arranged. The house hasn’t been hoovered. The washing up isn’t done. I haven’t cooked tea yet. My registers aren’t yet all clean and tidy. I didn’t manage to design a new header graphic for this blog.

A good or bad result? Was I unrealistic in my goals? I can’t decide. If you’re reading this and I should have got something done for you today, I hope you take pity on me for either being a)too busy, or b)amazingly good at larking around and wasting time…