I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it here but as of next Monday I’m a stay at home dad for a while. I’m taking 5 months long service leave to look after Bert while Rae goes back to work. It’s going to be very odd waking up each morning and not having to put on a tie or hop in the car to start work. Only tree days more of peak hour traffic, meetings, urgent emails, lunch at the desk, walks up the street to get some fresh air and having to choose that damn tie each morning. It’s going to be different, and I have to say I’m really looking forward to it.
One thing I’m not looking forward to though is the money. I’m taking twice as long at half the pay so money is going to be incredibly tight. Still, I have done our budget and my personal ‘spending’ budget separately. I’m going to have to stick to it – there’s no alternative, but I have allowed myself one little luxury. I’m getting The Age home delivered. It’s been years since I’ve had the satisfaction of wandering out each morning to collect the paper and fighting with the plastic wrap for an hour before reading it. Hopefully I will get a few minutes each day to have a quick scan, if not I wonder if I can train Bert to start reading at this early age so he can sit with me. Wish me luck either way.