A trip away

Two weeks ago, I took a trip to Edgbaston to watch the first day of the test match between England and the West Indies. It was the first day-night test match to be played in this country with a pink ball, the cause of much speculation.

I went with an old university friend, one of my closest, and we stayed over in Birmingham for the evening. We’ve done a number of these sorts of trips over the years, usually watching cricket somewhere other than London and having a night out before/after.

This sort of trip provides a lot of time for wide, varied and, frequently, inane conversation.

This time round, there was something else to discuss, as I ‘fessed up to having started this blog. I broke the news as we were finishing our dinner at the brasserie attached to the hotel that we were staying in. We’d enjoyed a decent if unremarkable Chateaubriand but the recommended Malbec went down well after an afternoon drinking at the cricket. Speaking of which, we’d had a good day – England had recovered well from a shaky start to take control of the match.

My friend read a few of the posts which prompted a lengthy discussion.

Motivation

I explained the basic aim, the need to be a little more productive with my free time. It’s all too easy to fall into a routine of finishing dinner, and sitting in front of the TV doing nothing until it’s time to turn in.

We are both in the same profession and it was acknowledged that this desire to be productive is probably to compensate for our jobs not having any meaningful/tangible end product to them.

That comes into focus when you have children and they start asking about what you do at work. My stock answers of “talking, typing, reading and writing” are not exactly inspiring. My wife is an editor and the glossy, colourful, intriguing books that she produces and brings home starkly contrast with my empty-handed offerings. She is involved in the publishing process throughout and can genuinely lay claim to having been the driving force behind a publication from start to finish. She meets interesting people, learns about new subjects and the end products are seriously impressive.

Not that this blog is in any way shaped to be compensate for the shortcomings in my job, but it adds to the personal motivation.

Cooking and Writing

But what about my chosen subject matter? Well, that was easier to explain, it was simply a matter of routine. For the last year, my wife has been going to exercise classes 3 or 4 times a week. The timings are such that on those evenings, I have anything from 30 minute to 1 hour (dependent on how quickly the kids go to sleep) to prepare dinner. Without those exercise classes, we would share the cooking duties.

It has allowed me time to experiment, to try out new recipes and the change to our routine has been very welcome. I now have a decent chunk of time to prepare a meal at leisure instead of rushing to get something on the table.

The cooking process and satisfaction derived from it is a personal thing. The time spent preparing and compiling – glass of wine poured, radio on in the background – is relaxing, a chance to unwind. But, of course, cooking is all about the end product and sharing that end product with others.

In that respect, there are some obvious similarities with writing posts for this blog. The personal satisfaction from the creative process, the enjoyment by others of the fruits of the labour. The first is required for motivation, the second a real bonus.

I’ve had some interesting comments from the people who have read this blog, and it is nice to see posts being liked and retweeted. So while, I derive pleasure from it, and people seem to enjoy it, I’ll stick at it a little while longer.

Tune in next week, for something a little less self-indulgent!