Working from home can be pleasurable and relaxing. There’s no boss breathing down your neck (at least literally anyway). No office politics. No drama kings or queens chucking tantrums every time you don’t follow company policy to the letter.

You do need to be motivated and organised though. “To-do” lists need to be set and strictly adhered to. For me this ensures everything that needs to be done gets done. In most cases anyway.

The main drawback I find is the feeling of “cabin fever”. Being at home alone can become uninspiring and even counter productive. One solution is to maximize social contact whenever I can. I go for face to face meetings over email if I can.

Or failing that meetings by phone. Then there’s other things like getting out to a cafe for coffee and engaging with the people who are around. There’s also online options like discussion forums. A great place to find “substitute colleagues”!

Another thing that helps, from time-to-time, is to find find some “on site work” now and then. This provides the occasional change in scenery that we all need, and also rejuvenates your appreciation of working at home again.

A couple of weeks, or months, in the presence of those aforementioned drama kings or queens will make you very thankful once you go “home” again. I mean who needs to know about the coffee cup cleaning roster, let alone grief over it?

Well today it was race day at Royal Randwick. The race track just happpens to be across the road from my “office”. A couple of races started right in front of me. Needless to say the work flow was a little disrupted today.

So, the photos from top to bottom. First the starting gates are wheeled up. Their position on the track depends on the length of the race. Then (photo 3) the horses arrive. And then finally (photo 4 slight obscured by tree) they’re away!