I’m generally not a great fan of working from home. For many reasons I guess. My flat is very small and at times, the walls seem to be close in on me. I also love the cycle commute into work (when my client has shower/locker facilities) and probably the most persuasive reason is that I like working amongst other creative people.
But I’m quite enjoying working from home at the moment. My working day routine has meant an start early and a late end, with some fantastic sport to watch in between. The football season has come to a close and to be honest, it’s a welcome break from the agony of watching Arsenal toil in the league. The British Lions tour of New Zealand and the one-day Championship Trophy has been brilliant to watch. It’s top class sport and my passion for rugby union and cricket come a close joint second behind my love for football.
Waking up to a midweek game Lions tour game is wonderful. The Lions are up against it and I fully expect them to lose all three test matches against the All Blacks. They will probably lose a few of the warm-up games too, but they will be competitive and it will provide wonderful drama nonetheless. It’s going to be brutal and they’ll really put their bodies on the line. It’s a great shame Gatland and his coaching staff has such little time to prepare the squad for such a formidable tour. It really is asking too much for such an untried team to take on such a dominant, cohesive All Blacks team. We can beat the Aussies, go close against South Africa, but really I can’t see how we can ever witness a successful Lions tour of New Zealand. I noticed that the odds were 8/11 for us to lose 3-0. It’s a steal, as I really can’t see us challenging in the test matches.
Thankfully, the English cricket team are on top of their game. Joyfully, we may even knock out the Aussies on Saturday before the knock-out games have even begun. Our one-day team is thrilling. Dashing batsmen, brilliant all-rounders and effective strike bowlers has helped us win our two opening games. We have even developed a class limited-over spin bowler and our fielding is comparable with any other team in the competition. After such a torrid World Cup, our players have done magnificently to turn things around.
The format of the competition is helping too. Every game matters, there are no weak teams participating and there has been some fantastic individual performances. The run chase by Sri Lanka in their shock defeat of India was wonderful to watch today and the performance of Pakistan in defeating South Africa has given the competition a great boost.
It all makes for wonderful viewing. And I’ve not even started about the French Open tennis either…….
So if my clients are reading this, rest assured, deadlines will be met. Quality of work will be maintained. But I just may not be able to make the conference call at the time of your choosing…..>/p>