Back to the grindstone

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Back to Work

It's that time of year again. The turkey is all eaten (or thrown out, or frozen), New Years is done and dusted and everyone is starting to feel the dread... the return to work! I'm my own boss so I have the balancing act of choosing when to start working again. On the one hand, no matter how much fun my job may be I prefer not working, there are video games and movies and all manner of other more fun things. On the other, I have this itch... this desire to get back at the helm of Stormrider and start banging out some top quality work for my lovely clients. The money helps too!

I've decided that today is going to be a half day, throughout the day. The kids are still off school and I work from home, so actual concentration is a pipe dream. CBeebies has been on full volume all morning and my daughter is running around covering anything that moves in Batman stickers (at least she has good taste!). I'll be clearing my desk, making some lists and catching up on a little paperwork (like sending out invoices for all those Direct Debits that went out last night - who thought the 1st was a good day for that? Oh me...).

2 more days and the kids are back at school, then it's officially "Back to the Grindstone". But what does that even mean?

What is a Grindstone?

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In short, it's one of those! It's a big stone wheel which spins and is primarily used for sharpening tools. You might see one in a modern workshop, though looking much smaller and spinning much faster.

Grindstones also found use in windmills for grinding wheat/corn into flour. Interestingly these grindstones would have special grooves worn into them to channel the kernels and flour in different directions. We have a local windmill which still works in this way and maybe this year I'll go take a visit and do a write up for you all.

But you don't work on a grindstone, you have a PC!

Yes, yes. Well it's a turn of phrase. It means to get back to work, to return to your chores.

It's also closely associated with having your "nose to the grindstone" which means to pay close attention to your work. To literally be so focused on the task at hand, and looking so closely, that your nose could catch the grindstone as it's spinning. I guess my equivalent would be going blurry eyed from staring at a monitor for too many hours straight!

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How about you?

Are you back at work yet?
More importantly, what is your grindstone?
Are you looking forwards to getting back to work or dreading it?