Dear reader, take some time off to read a book take a nap, watch sports, a movie or just relax

You never realise how vital those little luxuries are until you have to do without them for a few weeks.


You do get those weeks in any job – a string of days where you spend all your waking hours dedicated to a challenging project.

You sleep only a few hours every night, eat irregularly, and don’t see people outside of that project. Today I am spent.

All work and no play makes Dirk not only a dull boy, but also an exhausted one. This weekend I’m going to sleep, spend time with the five-year-old Egg and the lovely Snapdragon and try to rest as much as possible.

Which sounds wonderful, but “possible” is a loaded word.

This morning, I have received a letter from our complex’s body corporate that our levies are set to increase by almost 10%.

Apparently the increase was approved at the annual general meeting (AGM) somewhere this week. I know nothing about the resolution.

As a matter of fact, I didn’t even know about the AGM this week. I’m sure the managing agent has sent us an e-mail to inform us about the meeting, but work…

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Not that the AGM and the levy increase is an isolated matter. This morning I took Egg to the occupational therapist.

“How did the homework go?” she asked.

“Homework… Uhmmm…” And on Thursday her teacher asked me about her donations list for some golf day.

“It’s somewhere in my car. I don’t know exactly where, but it’s definitely in there somewhere. I’ll make a donation, but to be perfectly frank, I’m not surprised that I forgot about the form. I can’t imagine anyone having the time to play golf, let alone taking a sponsorship form to friends and family.”

The teacher looked at me sympathetically.

“You’re not the first one to say that.”

I appreciate the fact that I have a job. Those are quite rare these days and I love mine. But I long for a weekend to catch my breath.

Even a day will do. Or just make that an hour or two. Hopefully, I’ll be blessed with such a rarity tomorrow or on Sunday.

Dear reader, take the time to read a book this weekend. Take a nap or watch sport. Go and see a movie or just relax.

You never realise how vital those little luxuries are until you have to do without them for a few weeks.

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