Fair enough, the astrophotography I’d intended from the top of the signal box steps was out of the question (thanks to the rain); but my sketch book was there so I could get some ideas together for a painting or two which would have been quite constructive, or, of course I had a couple of notebooks and a pen so I could rattle off another short story. With these creative thoughts in mind I sat down and picked up a book – it’s a good book, but that not really the point; I have time, I’m brimming with creative energy and I kick back with a book. Worst of all, I don’t read all that much, half the time I’m watching the rain hit the window and trying to hide from the multiple reflections you get from working inside a building with three glass sides. Of course I can find inspiration in different ways when reading, scenes from the book cry out to be illustrated, and stories that I could write jump forward to filed away somewhere in the back of my mind, but reading is not doing something and I feel idle.

Perhaps the trouble is, with so many things clamouring for my attention my mind shuts down and picks the easy route, or perhaps I need to train myself to focus from time to time It was annoying though to look back at the end of a twelve hour shift and think “I’ve achieve nothing”, that’s when the feeling creeps in that time is never anyone’s friend in instances like this. A night wasted is something you can’t really claim back at the end of the month, there’s no time bank where I can slip a card into the hole in the wall and withdraw ‘twelve hours for creative use only’. So if anyone has any tips for organizing not only time but what they should be doing with the time then those tips would be gratefully received.