Friday, Friday

Long, long ago - well actually starting in late 2011 - I had a career break and although there are those around who think I've been on one ever since,  that particular break was just six months.  During the six months I spent a lot of time travelling - Sri Lanka, Falkland Islands, South Georgia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and the Faroe Islands - and I got into the habit of writing a 'Saturday blog' to let folks know that I'd not disappeared, drowned or been savaged by an elephant seal.  That series of blog posts (still online if you're curious) ran until I was dragged screaming and shouting back to my desk at the Open University in April 2012 - where I stayed for another 12 months.

Over the years since then I've done mix of photography projects and IT/ed-tech consultancy - including time on the payroll at University of Warwick and more recently at Oxford Brookes University.  While at Warwick I only ever worked four days a week, but when I moved to Brookes I opted to do the job full time - until this month.   I've now dropped back down to 4 days a week - to give myself more time to take pictures and even more importantly to spend time outside away from a desk.

I thought it would be constructive for me, if nobody else, to log (and more specifically blog) how I use my Fridays over the next few months.  I won't run a separate blog this time round - but I will tag the posts as "FridayBlog"

Friday 1st November 2019, Shetland

How better to start my 'away from the desk Fridays' than with a 03:30 alarm?  The reason was, inevitably, the need to get an 06:55 flight from Heathrow - which meant I was on Shetland by about 10:30 - and on Quendale beach not long after that.  The first day back on Shetland always involves a number of 'routine' tasks - these including walking Quendale Beach, visiting Sumburgh Head and (in winter at least) getting the house warmed up - all of those successfully achieved by the time the sun set (about 4:00 pm on Shetland at this time of year).

Quendale Beach

West Voe from Sumburgh Head

Not only did it feel as if I was escaping the desk - it also felt like I was escaping the really rubbish weather down south too.  Heading north to Shetland for the good weather, who'd have thought it?