DISSONANT SYMPHONY

I was well enough to go back to work today. And by ‘back to work’ I of course mean the short hop to the spare room, where my laptop flipped up, ready to transport me to that weird space in my brain I keep for visual studio, markdown, and GitHub repositories.

Honestly, work is weird isn’t it? It’s like a G minor chord in a C# major symphony - beautiful, but carrying the feeling that it belongs somewhere else and should definitely be played by someone else’s instrument.

I’m supposed to be going to London on Thursday. It’s a work thing - actually a chance to get to meet some colleagues for the first time; it would be a shame to miss it. Nevertheless, I had to email HR to let them know my isolation ends the day before and I might still be infectious.

“If I’ve still got symptoms,” I typed, “I’ll stay home.”

To be honest though, I don’t even know if I’ll have the energy in my bones. I feel drained tonight, like a gravity well of dryness. I couldn’t get up to draw the curtains, and about half an hour later when I’d made a point of actually looking for pen and paper, I actually did pull the curtains together before sitting down and sketching them - sort of sabotaging my own joke.

I can be funny, I promise.

Everyone at work was sympathetic. There was a lot of ‘Oh! Sorry to hear that’ and ‘Pants!’ (a now universal substitute for something stronger) and ‘Fingers crossed for Thursday!’

I actually think I was a little more focused than usual today. I’m not sure why; just got a lot done, and had a lot less bluffing to do. It’s a nice feeling being productive. Perhaps I should aim for it more often.

Anyway, the test still showed positive today so I guess I am still infectious. Pesky old covid, coming over here making me better at my job. Tsk.

You know I bet there is a symphony out there which starts off in C# and then slots a cheeky G minor in there. There’ll be one; a couple of signature changes, a bank of clustered naturals in one bar, then the phrase modulates into flats and pow! G minor and nobody blinks an eyelid. If not those particular keys some weird foray from a tonic to a minor augmented fourth or something. These composers are clever enough to make it look seamless.

Me, I’m plodding on with my G minor work in one movement and my C# major life in the main theme and I’m hoping all the difficult bits of the piece, like being grumpy with a virus, don’t last that long.