Sit-Down Money

This is how my mornings go, Monday to Friday, all through winter:

The alarm goes off and it's too dark and cold to get up. I feel miserable and in need of some more sleep - say another 50 hours. Then I think about chucking a sickie. Yes, that's what I'll do; I'll chuck a sickie, and I can loll here for hours. But then I remember some hideous bit of work sitting on my desk that, if I'm not there to prevaricate and lie about, may expose the carefully built facade I have of being a capable and reliable person. So I get up and go to work.

Or, I can't think of any nasty work surprises or meetings and I rejoice in the thought that today is free & clear for sickie-chucking. Then I think to self, "Well, there's so much stuff you can get done today if you're not going to work. Let's get up and get going." So I get up and go to work.

I have lamented this sad fact on many an occasion and I will repeat it now: it seems these days the spontaneous sickie is impossible; it needs to be carefully planned weeks in advance.