I woke with a start at 7:30am this morning - to the sound of a door being slammed downstairs. Cogs turned in my head, and a member conjured itself from somewhere that my middle daughter is doing the morning shift at Wetherspoons - which of course made me think about a cooked breakfast, and a bottomless coffee.
An hour later I left our slightly chaotic house in pursuit of my middle daughter, a cooked breakfast, and a bottomless coffee.
I managed to bag a booth - which always feels like a victory. I’ve never been here this early before - it’s remarkably quiet - although getting noisier by the minute. A small child is almost speaking somewhere behind me - garbling word-like sounds - it won’t be long before they’re asking their parents “why?” about anything and everything. In a strange sort of way I miss those days.
My coffee mug arrived within moments of ordering it - quickly followed by the “small American” breakfast. It’s the same as an “American” breakfast, except you get one of each thing, instead of enough to feed an entire family for several days. In case you’re wondering - potato hash, fried egg, pancakes, bacon, and a sausage. I’m sipping the “bottomless coffee” (a cappuccino) while writing this.
I’ve never forgotten something a co-worker once said - “you’re not full until you’re thoroughly disgusted with yourself”.
As mentioned, I left a slightly chaotic house behind - all of my daughters are (or were) home last night, along with two boyfriends.
I would normally wander between the shower and the kitchen in my underwear on a morning. Having house guests - regardless that they might look like they’ve been pulled through a hedge backwards - makes me pause. It always seems ridiculous though - getting half-dressed to walk to the bathroom, then undressing again. Thankfully I made it as far as being dressed before anybody else appeared this morning.
We have a three day weekend! - it’s a bank holiday here on Monday. I’ve been looking forward to it for some time. The weird thing? A work programming project has been borrowing time in my brain overnight - and continues to do so. I woke up thinking about it this morning, and still find my thoughts drifting off towards it while writing this.
I need to somehow shut my brain down - step away - divert myself.
I guess that’s often where the YouTube channel comes in - although that has its own pressures. When I first started, it was just me having fun in the simulator. I’m now judged by a higher bar than most; when I set foot in a simulated aircraft I’m expected to not only know how it works, but also how it should be operated, what the correct procedures are, how to communicate with air traffic controllers, how to deal with emergencies, and so on. It’s a lot.
I receive a steady stream of emails every day from people all over the world - looking for help with this aircraft, that aircraft, this GPS system, that guidance system, this joystick, that throttle, this computer, that computer, and so on. I try to reply to them all, but I don’t always manage it.
I also receive a steady stream of offers from marketers - trying to take advantage of the audience I have accrued - offering me money to advertise the most random things you can imagine. One company in particular has been offering me increasing sums of money to do the hard-sell on a dash-cam system for cars. A certain famous software development studio offered me an eye watering amount of money to live-stream myself playing their latest first-person-shooter game. I graciously turned them down.
Imagine if you’re sitting down to watch a TV show you like, and the presenters suddenly pull out paintball guns, and announce “instead of our normal show, we’re going to run around shooting each other today”. Actually - some people would probably love that.
Anyway.
It’s probably time for me to move. The pub is slowly filling with families arriving for breakfast. The booth I’m sitting in is becoming prized real estate. Maybe I should hang around for a moment or two - to see who makes a run for it.
Or maybe I’ll just go. I can almost feel the pull of the bookshop already.