I'm back at work!

Yesterday I went back to work...

I wouldn't say I'd been dreading it all week - but I couldn't quite see beyond Friday, and could definately not imagine what the day was going to be like. I felt sad that it was the 'end of an era', our special time together has ended, even though it is only going to be for one day a week that we will be apart! Somehow Elizabeth's babyhood seems even more distant, and as I got ready for work busily yesterday morning I couldn't quite believe I was about to leave her for a whole day. For fourteen whole months I haven't left her for longer than a couple of hours, and as she was with me for nine months prior to that, its been a long time since I've been alone!

Driving to work the old commute on the M6 seemed horrendous, and it was like stepping back in time. It was foggy and wet, and traffic wasn't at a standstill, but pretty close to. I arrived, and a new member of staff (Karen) introduced herself as soon as I walked into the staffroom which was nice. I set my bag down, waiting for the 9am meeting, but nobody else arrived so instead I set off down to Tim's office, and was given my timetable then shown down to Jenny to talk me through the rest of the day. I felt odd all day long. People kept realising it was me, doing a double take, then saying "You're back?" in desbelief. It has been a long time. I had to reset my password with IT so that I could check my emails - all 726 of them! I felt more than strange standing in front of a class of students (albeit a small class, and albeit only to say hello!). The mental stress of worrying about how Elizabeth was doing, and how I was going to prepare to teach in the afternoon wore me out, and I was quite glad to leave the office at 1.30pm, and head down to Aston. The VT who was supposed to be leading the class didn't show up, so I had a very stressful afternoon, standing in the 'tuck' cupboard trying to ring Tim, and being put through to my favourite person in personnel instead... eventually I just had to 'wing it' and hope for the best, but after 14 months away trying to deal with statistics with a group of A2 students is far from ideal. Finishing at 5pm on a Friday is also far from ideal. It was cold and dark, and teeming down with rain. I stop-started all the way along to the M6, then chugged along there until I finally got home shattered at 6.10pm. I didn't get quite the excited response I thought I might get when I did arrive home - Elizabeth looked fairly non-plussed. It was very strange having to just get her ready for bath and bed, having spent less than an hour with her. That's it for the week now though - so I'm official BACK AT WORK!!!