The problem with holidays is that they are so much nicer than work that works feels five times as bad when you return to it. Holidays sensitise you to how unpleasant it is to spend the best part of five days a week being somewhere and doing things that no sane being would do except for the money. It takes a fortnight or so for me to get into the mood of numb acceptance that makes work endurable.
Everyone acknowledges this with their facetious:- "Glad to be back at work?"
Holidays should end with a hideous ordeal - being kidnapped by Somalian pirates, say, or interrogation by the Syrian police, so that work will seem like a haven of normality, and you might kiss your desk and computer when you see them again. "Return to work easing" it could be called.
It's 8 years since I jacked in paid work and I still feel faintly guilty about dossing about, even though I give several days a week to voluntary work and self-improvement. The protestant work ethic has a lot to answer for.
Posted by: Allan | 15 September 2011 at 08:06 PM
Protestantism mostly took off in cold climates where you can't sit outside in the piazza chatting to your mates for what's left of your life. It's easier to doss by the Mediterranean.
Posted by: Rosie | 18 September 2011 at 10:44 AM