Clock watching

(The view of central Sydney from the bottom of my road)

Never mind blogs, youtube, myspace and all the other wonders of the World Wide Web - the greatest gift of the internet is its ability to break up the boredom of a day in the office through e-mailing friends and reading various sites.

It is a way we have grown accustomed to keeping sane and, in my view, productive as well. A short five minutes out from the daily grind to chat to a friend, read about your team's latest transfer target, or check out when a band you like is next playing locally locally, helps no end. It stops you from constantly looking at the clock and willing it to reach 5pm. It stops you spending so much time reading the paper on the bog your colleagues say they were worried where you'd got to when you finally return to your desk.

I do have the internet at work, obviously, but I can't really sit there updating this thing. And, most importantly of all, for the vast majority of my time at work, the vast majority of people in the UK are asleep. This means that all the sites I normally visit during the day at home for a break from the tedium are not updated at all during my time at work in Australia.

I start the day with the latest news from home and how many injuries Norwich City have got going into the next fixture, and I end the day with pretty much the same. There is nobody to talk nonsense to on e-mail either.

This afternoon (Friday) was when I missed it most. I had done everything that had to be done at work for the week, and consigned the non essential stuff to the mental 'it can wait until Monday' tray. Now was the time when I wanted to be hearing about people's plans for the weekend and exchanging electronic banter with friends who are united in the sense of special happiness that comes with it being the end of the week. Instead I was reduced to reading up on what had happened in Eastenders while I've been away...

Does this perhaps indicate some kind of homesickness? I don't think it does because I don't feel the slightest bit of unhappiness being here, I have no desire to be back in the UK at the moment and all is good. It's probably more a case of me not having fully developed a lifestyle to replace my 'real' one back home yet and a desire to fill in the gaps with what is familiar.

And of course an inability to maintain concentration during a day in the office - any office anywhere.