Wouldn’t you think that a project manager would find it easy to prepare for Christmas? Sorting out all the presents, making sure she doesn’t miss the last posting date for cards, using trips to various relatives in the preceding months to drop off parcels in advance.
Unfortunately, it seems that the better I am at organising my work life, the worse I am at organising myself at home.
Everyone else in Paris appears to be going through the same level of Christmas stress. Boulevard Haussmann was absolutely packed yesterday. It must be a Christmas pre-requisite for those with children to take them for a look at the windows in Printemps and the Galeries, although inside was just as busy.
This weekend signals the end of Phase 1. This phase includes all pre-Christmas activity like shopping and writing cards. There are a few things not yet completed (gifts bought today for example aren’t yet wrapped). But closing down Phase 1 is imminent and there are always those few little bits left over at the end of a stage.
Friday sees the start of Phase 2: logistics. Travel plans over the Christmas period seem to take on a additional layer of complexity as I try to work out the constraints like: is my suitcase going to be too big to fit through the baggage rails at Gare du Nord? If so, should I rely on an RATP employee letting me through the barrier or am I going to have to lift it over myself? So how much should I pack?
In the little lull between the ‘official’ end of Phase 1 of my Christmas experience 2006, where I’d promised myself everything would be out the way, and the start of Phase 2, I seem to have a lot of things still to get through. One of those things is checking the last posting date, so at least when my cards don’t arrive on time I’ll have an idea of when they should be hitting the mats.
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