Emma Cragg

Better late than never, here are a few things from the week that was:

• I took Wednesday off to spend with Izzy after she returned from a week away
• at work I moved desks - I’m now on my third desk in 9 months
• I caught up on a few smaller projects that took a back seat while I worked on a tender document
• in my freelance time this week, I worked on tasks associated with relaunching my coaching practice and had a very fruitful supervision session
• I recovered from an annoying hip injury to play two hockey matches over the weekend, including the O35 Plate competition quarter-final which we lost on penalty shuffles
• Izzy went away again over the weekend and I subsisted on supermarket pizza and beer for three days
• I went back to try again with Picard - so far I’m enjoying the second season way more than season one
• on Sunday Aggie arrived for a few days stay

I still don’t feel that I’ve fully got into a rhythm for my freelance days. At the moment I’d say I’m only spending 1 day at most on this work. As a result I made the decision this week to bump a couple of workshops I had originally scheduled to happen in March. They’ll now take place in May.

I’m spending much of my freelance time at the moment focused on repositioning my coaching practice and working towards re-accreditation with the International Coaching Federation. This week I outlined exactly what I need to do to achieve that.

It was a subdued week in the office at my part-time job, after we got the news on Monday that a colleague had died. He had been ill for some time and recently left work. Although you could say his death was not unexpected, I think we all hoped he had more time remaining with his family.

On Wednesday, I took the afternoon off to have my induction at Northern Print. I’ve joined as a member to make use of the studio facilities. After the health and safety tour, plus a refresher on using the Albion press, I was left to do my own thing. I focused on printing a new lighthouse design I’d made for the day and with a few tweaks to the pressure of the press I was pretty happy with the results.

This week’s Monday night movie was Official Competition (before it disappeared off Netflix). I followed this up with a trip to the cinema on Tuesday after work to see All of Us Strangers.

I decided I needed a brief pause after reading The Parable of the Sower. When a book leaves such a lasting impression whatever follows it always gets a raw deal. And yet, there was still time for reading, so I picked up a crime novel to be my stop-gap. These types of book are perfect for this situation; they’re formulaic and therefore easy to read and there’s no pressure on them to live up to what came before them.

Both Izzy and I had more free time than usual over the weekend, so we went on a Saturday morning date. First pancakes for breakfast (as we were both busy on Shrove Tuesday), then on to the touring Yevonde: Life and Colour exhibition at the Laing Art Gallery.

Week 5

After a busy weekend, I mostly took Monday off to catch up with myself I did some digital spring cleaning, got some household chores done and made a plan for the lino project I want to take to my upcoming induction at the print studio.

I watched Bottoms for Monday movie night. I really wanted to like it more than I did.

We had a dog sitting duty Tuesday to Friday which meant I worked from home for an extra day.

On Saturday, I went to Wakefield to play hockey. It was a close match, in which we spent the majority camped in our defensive half. However, we held strong, defended a slender lead and finally came away with three points.

I rounded the week off by giving blood (on a Sunday!) It was my 37th donation and keeps me on track to reach 40 within the year of my 40th birthday. It was a good donation day as there were mint Clubs on offer in the refreshment area.

Week 6

This was a week of ups and downs.

The ups

• I had my belated 6-month review at my part-time job and without fanfare passed probation
• I moved my newsletter to Buttondown and sent out an update to tell subscribers about my intended changes to the format and frequency
• I made progress on the repositioning work I’ve been doing for my coaching practice

The downs

• I caught a bug towards the end of the week and ended up having a sick day on Friday
• I recovered enough to play hockey but made a mistake that gifted the opposition a goal and, as it turned out, the victory
• I spend Sunday full of rage for no apparent reason

Monday saw the first monthly planning session of the year. We had a great turnout of 20 participants which is largely due to teaming up with Freelancer Magazine this year for some cross-promotion. Later the same day I had my first 1-1 coaching supervision. Previously I’ve done group supervision but it was great to be able to focus on my own practice for the hour. I came away with lots to think about!

Work ticked along nicely this week both from an employed and a freelance perspective. In the office we had the return of our monthly book chat where this month we talked about the brilliance of Claire Keegan - I started and finished reading Foster on Tuesday. For the Janury distance challenge I’m on course to pass 150km before the 31st, and my team is in with a shout of winning the team challenge.

Izzy and I went out for a fancy meal on Thursday at a local restaurant. I’ve been wanting to go for a while but their signature 10-course tasting menu felt a little outside our budget. For January they were offering a 5-course menu as a mid-week special so I snapped up a table. It was delicious and I’ll be saving up to go back.

After last Saturday’s hockey match was cancelled due to snow, training this week was cancelled due to high winds. All of this meant that I headed into a double-header weekend feeling like I couldn’t remember the last time I picked up a hockey stick! It was a tough weekend on and off the pitch with two 3-0 losses (despite relatively strong performances) and some rather childish behaviour from notable members of the team.

This week’s films for me were a rewatch of Caramel, an old favourite, and Wingwomen which was surprisingly entertaining. Izzy and I also finished Mare of Easttown.