For a change, I was up before Helen today, with more than a little help from a mosquito and a head full of tasks. The first time the mosquito tried for my ear canal it was 2:22am and on went the lights - metaphorically speaking of course, I was considerate enough to leave the bedroom in darkness. The moment I woke, my brain to took the opportunity to start processing my to-do list, and just in case I ran out of things to think about, I was subjected to another two or three dive bombs. Thanks to one little insect, I lay awake for an hour and a half before giving up and heading downstairs at 4am. I'd had 3.5 hours of sleep, and to say I was feeling ropey was an understatement, but lying in bed was turning into nothing but a frustrating clock-watching session.
All I was able to do was stare at my tablet PC for a couple of hours until the cup of tea I drank had made an small impact, and then it was time to brew a mug full of coffee strong enough to stand a teaspoon up in. I could feel the palpitations just pouring it out into the mug, but it did the trick. I was able to switch my PC on and start work around 6.30am, so I got a good few hours of conference work done (every cloud...). I had to leave it at around 10.30am though, as I needed to go out and meet Sergio in Pescia.
Helen was still too busy with her work to come out with me today so off I went.
I met Sergio in Esselunga car park, left the car there and hopped in with Sergio. He wanted to show me a couple of houses with different types of solar hot water heating panels so that we could decide what exactly we would like him to give us a price for.
Sergio's English is very good, although with a heavy accent, but he was mindful that both of us were trying to learn the other's language, so he spoke in English and I helped with the words he struggled for, while he let me speak in Italian and did the same for me! So I had a fun hour and a half driving around with Sergio, with a couple of stops to play with pumps and control panels.
By the time I got home with some fresh bread it was drawing close to 13:00 so we dived straight into lunch - indoors today though, as it was a bit cool and was attempting to rain.
After lunch it was back into the office for more conference work AND more thick coffee.
The coffee got me through until about 16:00 before my brain shut down and eyes made an attempt at double vision.
Midway through the afternoon I took a drive a mile down the hill so that I could receive a text message with a code to enable Helen to share some work files with the UK office. Except the text didn't arrive (thanks Microsoft). I tried to prompt its arrival by making a call and decided to try Lycamobile to see if I can sort our SIM registration process out once and for all. I got through to an English speaker by selecting option 2 - another gold star for Lycamobile, but one that was quickly rescinded when the chap on the other started telling me how to suck eggs, at which point I hung up on him and drove home.
When I got back, emails went back and forth between me and the Virus Bulletin team trying to make a decision on a music track for the opening video I'm putting together. 'Louie Louie' by the Kingsmen it is (apparently it's the unofficial song of Washington State). Decision made, I could now make a proper start at putting pictures and graphics to the music once I had purchased and downloaded it. It all sounds so easy doesn't it? I went round and round in circles courtesy of Play.com, and then Amazon - the former didn't seem to have an option to purchase the track, and the latter was refusing my payment details but I couldn't work out why. The whole scenario was not helped by the fact that I was now trying to do this through one eye and I could feel my jaw clenching and my blood boiling, so it was time to punch my time card and call it a day.
So a solitary mosquito ruined the day.
As far as I could tell, Helen's day wasn't much better. It seems my poor attempts at getting back to sleep this morning didn't go unnoticed and she too was tired from a disturbed night's sleep when she got up.
I think an early dinner and a new episode of Grand Designs to watch people having a harder time than us is in order this evening, don't want to be tired for the weekend after all!
No comments:
Post a Comment