My attempted 'day off'.

Work has been unbelievably busy recently. In fact, this is certainly the busiest we have ever been, or would want to be again!

Part of the reason for this is the pessimistic news reports on the failing economy, the endless job losses and house repossessions, which have made us frightened to turn down work. Another reason for this is that this viral, word of mouth type marketing continues to slowly build up, and more and more clients are appearing on the horizon.

This month we have 2 brand new corporate clients in the United Arab Emerites, and another book commissioned to begin immediately after the current book is finished - and that's in addition to the work we already had going on. New clients and projects can take a lot of negotiating, and in some parts of the world it is far more difficult than in others. When I read the phrase 'let your legal dept negotiate with our legal dept', I know we are in for a long haul - and I wish I had a legal department to do the negotiating for us ;-)

Anyway, last Friday I had a lunch booked in my diary which wasn't work related. That is extremely unusual as I have only had one 'non-work' meeting this year. I was very tempted to cancel it; I was busy and felt really ill, and didn't fancy the 1.5 hour train journey to Manchester. BUT it was to have lunch with Jo, an old friend from uni, and it was the only date we could agree in our diaries since arranging it in the New Year. Typically I missed the train I was supposed to get as I was booking flights to Bulgaria for Camilla and I, so I ended up having to change trains and arrived stressed and frozen.

We had a great long lunch, and chatted about work and families - you know, general stuff. I couldn't believe how much better I felt at the end of it - far more energized than I had been for weeks :-) Somewhere amongst it all Jo pointed out what is obvious once voiced. "You're exhausted. You work 7 days a week, have 7 kids, and are still doing the 'nappy changes and up in the night bit'. Take some time off!" Doh - yep.

So, on Monday when I took Amirah to her hair appointment at Nicky Oliver's in Manchester I decided to leave my MacBook at home, and have a chatty mum/daughter day.

It didn't quite work out like that, as I had 11 work phone calls, inc 3 from PR agencies, 3 from Enterprise Agencies, a couple from Dave over contract issues with a new client, and a friend who unexpectedly ended up in Blackpool and wanted to meet up. I also dealt with a Paypal problem, rang UKTI for urgent advice re said contracts, agreed to speak at the regional Womans Ambassador lunch this friday, and provisionally agreed to take part in a teatime spot on BBC radio.

However, Amirah enjoyed her day out. Her new hairdresser Leanne (who has twice won a major regional award) was great, and spent lots of time talking to Amirah and finding out what she wanted to do with her hair. She also asked Amirah to be one of her models in this years awards. This will involve a full photoshoot in Manchester, a make up artist, an amazing hairstyle, wearing specially designed clothes and having snakes draped over and around her! If Leanne wins the award Amirahs photograph will be featured in hair magazines etc. Four hours later Amirah left the salon with great hair an expensive bag of hair products, and a huge boost to her self esteem!

We just had time to spend half an hour in the shops before they shut, before grabbing some food to eat on the train home.

Not quite the 'day off' I hoped for, but one that pleased my daughter :-)

I hope to go to Manchester with all the girls for a shopping trip - maybe I'll leave my phone at home too? :-0