In my professional world there exist two distinct time zones. One, lasting from approximately mid March through to end of October, is called season. Hours are long and days are full with buzz and chores and there’s always a tad more on the to do list than can be handeled in time. It is the same for everybody working there.

And then there is off season, for the rest of the year, with daylight short, just the hard headed occasional players out on the course, no tournaments on to organize. Working days start no earlier than 10 o’clock and for the reception staff ends at 15:00, for me around 17:00, depending on what’s on the agenda for the day.

Thus, I have so much more spare time at hand. Given, the weather is usually not so good around this time of year and you stay in most of the time. But still, free time is available. All during season you have formed ideas of what to do in “winter”. All these projects and minute plans, like organizing the mail stacked in its drawer unopened for months, deal with the tax return in time, maybe correspond a little, read the new books stacked in the living room unopened since springtime, call friends and catch up, visit family, sort your wardrobe, get back on the sewing machine, knit wollen socks to replace all the pairs falling to pieces, go to the movies or a bar or some live music, invite people over for dinner, go to the bridge club more often to play cards and what not.

But all I did so far this year was idle away the hours. It always amazes me, how quickly one adapts to sleeping more and doing less. It seems as if I have been born to this: just couch potatoing or browsing the internet. Not a care on my mind and no pressure to do anything, it’s just great. If there weren’t this little guilty voice, hidden somewhere far, far back in my mind, reminding me always to do something useful. So far, I have managed pretty well to silence it. We’ll see how much longer this outright laziness will last.