Here We Are, Sunday, A Day Of Rest - Supposedly

 Yesterday it started to feel a little more real as I was able to spend a little time out on the balcony just sitting, with a cold beer (I know I shouldn't) and enjoying the sun, a very little breeze and listen to the birds and other sounds around me.

It's good for you and as long as the phone isn't buzzing and bonging then everything is OK.  The birds were getting excited and there's nest building going on.  The Pheasants are making their (almost) Turkey like cries and I have no idea what the Jackdaws were up to, a huge flock were noisily making their way between the fields at the back here.

Living in the country is what we aspired to and I got to appreciate it more yesterday. Which brings us to today, Sunday and it's not quite so sunny and it sure is cold but everyday the morning and evening times are getting lighter, it seems to happen so quick that I was moaning about how dark it was in the mornings and how quickly it all closed in in the afternoon and here we are, in a week we will be turning the clocks forward!

I've been working on a new project to do with my family history which involves going through thousands of banking ledgers from around the time of the Great Fire of London.  They are an amazing record of the trade happening around the time of the Restoration.  My merchant ancestors appear fleetingly in these records as do their neighbours and wider family.  It is interesting but it is heavy work going through the many thousands of accounts and trying to work out who is who and how the wheels of the Merchant classes worked.  Gold and Silver bullion, metals, produce and the inter connections are all intertwined in a surprising dance together with the trivial there are glimpses of the rebuilding of London, the various Guilds, the Lord mayor, Aldermen and then there are Naval records and so on.  It's quite an undertaking but also quite enjoyable too.

I do feel like an enormous weight has been lifted from my shoulders and I don't have this tension and stress induced tightness around my chest anymore.  If I need to take a break, I can grab a coffee and just wander out into the garden or up to the balcony and let the world drift on around me.  The difficulty is that I have always been running at 90 miles an hour and this sudden deceleration and a need to be "Doing things" is challenging as we probably aren't meant to live that way.  

Making room to do other things is perhaps my next mission.  I have my Drones, cameras, family history to name but a few things to occupy my time and mind.  The struggle is changing 50 (or more) years of doing stuff or other people.  I need to be doing things for myself including taking it easy and leaving a gap for nature, peace and quiet, some real R&R.