Fri, 7 November

RECIPE FOR A FRIDAY IN OVERCAST CHRISTCHURCH Ingredients: 1 school-age child, shoes on wrong feet 4 hours uninterrupted G-Suite migration (ha) 1 overcast sky, 100% coverage, no substitutions 600+ files, personal to shared, like herding translucent cats 1 afternoon pickup, engine idling 1 dinner assembled from whatever's left 1 pub quiz team, optimism unearned Method: Combine child and morning in a rush. Fold gently into car. Return to screen. Begin the migration. Do not think about how many files remain. Think about how many files remain. At 14:30, save your place in the copper maze of someone else's filing system. Collect child. The sky will not have changed. Assemble dinner in the order things defrost. Dress for quiz night as if dressing for joy. Arrive. Drink one pint before the first question. Get the music round wrong. Get the geography right. Walk home under a sky that has been the same grey for every hour you were alive today and find that you are smiling anyway. Serves 1. Keeps overnight. Does not reheat.