First day back

Town centre is very quiet - many of the shops are closed, I think most people are taking a few more days off this week. Nobody seems to want to get back to life. It's very cold suddenly - this mornings dawn chorus was blotted out by the sound of angry neighbours scraping their car windscreens or running their engine while they had another cup of coffee. None of my neighbours want to take their Christmas decorations down. Because I set the alarm this morning, the dogs instantly realised I wasn't going to be at home today and became very badly behaved.

I'm back in the studio. Wondering where to start. Most of my clients are still away - some are abroad. I am supposed to find out this week if the work in Brighton is confirmed - I should have been told last year, however - I can't turn anything else down in case it doesn't - and the trains are now on strike for 3 days - so I can't actually get there anyway, which pretty much means it's not going to happen. I know two people (working in retail) who have lost their jobs because of the rail strikes - and it's looking like it will cost me dear as well.

According to their instagram feeds, a couple of people who haven't paid me since November are still enjoying a holiday abroad.

Over the weekend - as part of a bit of industry research, I worked out where everyone I went to college with is now. None of the girls work in design, most don't work at all and some have never worked - giving up their careers as soon as they married. One is divorced and has gone back to work but made a very good settlement and has a large house in Brighton, she does craft based design that she sells at fairs. Of the men, I was quite surprised to find that I am the only one who has remained self employed / freelance consulting all this time. Most were in full time design roles, and most are now in management or teaching. One has only ever taught. The only person I have a question mark over was the one guy who was 'favourite' in college - he was hidden away from us and supported by all the staff, he did very well for a time and still has a studio in North London but hasn't updated his website in several years. Freelance is very hard, much harder than people give us credit for.

I have to talk to someone shortly who owes me money - it's one of the worst parts of my job and I hate doing it - if you don't have to do that yourself - consider yourself lucky.