Mass Observation Day

Yesterday, I noticed a tweet pointing people to the Mass Observation site: http://www.massobs.org.uk/12may2011.html

In 1937, Mass Observation called for people from all parts of the UK to record everything they did from when they woke up in the morning to when they went to sleep at night on 12th May. This was the day of George VI’s Coronation. The resulting diaries provide a wonderful glimpse into the everyday lives of all sorts of people on this day.

The Mass Observation Archive repeated this call in 2010 by asking for electronic diaries written on 12th May. This day, coincidently, was the first day of the new coalition government. These diaries are stored in the Archive alongside the 1937 documents. May 12th 2011 is likely to be quite an ordinary day but we would still like to have your diary.

Write as much as you can about what you do, who you meet, what you talk about, what you eat and drink, what you buy or sell, what you are working on, the places you visit, the people you meet, the things you read, see and hear around you and of course what you yourself think.

I thought it looked like a lark, so I captured my day. It wasn't the most exciting day, in fact pretty ordinary. But it was the day that I lived.

Hope you had a good day too.
01:30. awake to give the weeWeir a drink of water and a little milk.
01:35. back to sleep.
05:30: aware of Mrs theWeir being up to the weeWeir. Failure to move as sleep over came. Not the most helpful husband.
06:35: awake to check the time, a little bemused that my alarm had gone off at 6:17 and I didn't recall hearing it, never mind turning it off.
06:55: trying to wake up, but not having much joy
07:15: awake, turning over and committing the
07:20: check the weather forecast on the Met Office iPhone app to confirm method of transport to work. Cycling all the way it shall be. Resist the temptation to check Facebook app and quickly delete the day%27s Groupon offer email.
07:22: commit the day to God in prayer. Quite enjoying not rushing up and about.
07:30: realising I need to shave before cycling, get up and shave
07:40: changed, bag packed and water consumed, empty the kitchen bin on the way out to the garage - and the bike
07:45: Set off for work on cycle path alongside the A89, posting a couple of things on the way.
07:55: wave at a neighbour driving works van
08:12: join the Union Canal at Hermiston
08:30: opt to not take a photo for my eight-thirty blipfoto blog
08:38: arrive at EH1 2DH after 15 miles.
08:43: getting clean and changed
09:00: bump into a colleague and former school mate on the way to get breakfast from the staff shop, deleting email on the Blackberry on the way.
09:05: at my desk, starting up the Mac and looking at my to-do list on Wunderlist.
09:20: start working up updates to a PDF document being created to demonstrate an online tool. Photoshop crashes.
10:05: reading some stories on Google Reader while InDesign exports latest version of the document.
10:15: phone call from a hotel after a conversation last night, send a couple of text messages to friends and realise I forgot to reply to my Dad last night too. My bad.
10:35: martin appears and asks if I'm intentionally late for meeting him. Nope. Just forgot. My bad (again).
11:05: finish chatting with Martin, update Wunderlist with new tasks and edit priority of others accordingly.
11:25: another read of Google Reader while InDesign exports another version of the document. Conversations with IT guys about streaming audio and video internally nudge my understanding forward, but not enough to give us a solution we're able to use right now. The conversations will continue once the key-person returns from holiday.
11:40: must be lunchtime soon. Phone a former McColleague to converse about stopping automated page-turning in PDFs.
12:30: I had been thinking about lunch earlier, but got sucked into finished another couple of jobs on the list.
12:45: send email to new MD responding to his email from 06:37 today.
12:50: really getting hungry now. Off to get some food and back to finish typing up notes from a meeting yesterday.
13:20: lunch inhaled and time to help out McColleague for a few moments.
13:55: phone call to Roller Blind supplier to clarify some things on a quote we got last night.
14:15: back to fixing the PDF, more crashing of Photoshop and InDesign resulting in a call to IT Service desk to ask for a new Mac. Or at least some way to get these applications to work properly.
15:00: Mac support people call and walk me though a remote fix for the issue. I follow the process and the guy will phone back in an hour and see how I get on. First image I try to save as an EPS causes Photoshop to crash. Grrrrr.
15:15: eventually get the PDF updated, navigation all working and passed over to the *customer* for comment.
15:30: check weather conditions on the Met Office website then train times for journey home. Wind in face for 15 miles won't be happening tonight.
16:00: get changed and head for the train station.
16:14: on the train with the bike.
16:25: laugh at ridiculous rendering of East Coast Trains website on iPad.
16:34: off the train and cycling home
16:38: home and putting the bike in the garage
16:40: family time. Yay!
17:00: oven on for dinner.
17:08: realise oven was put on wrong setting and adjust accordingly.
17:15: dinner in the oven.
17:30: Mrs theWeir away out for the evening with a friend. WeeWeir and I getting ready for eating.
17:40: weeWeir starts eating dinner
18:25: weeWeir is finished dinner
18:40: supper for the weeWeir
19:00: dancing around the living room with the weeWeir to "Get up" by James Brown.
19:15: weeWeir in bed and sleeping after teeth, book, prayer and thank you's
19:30: get things ready for going to work in the morning
19:49: Salesman from Blind Studio phones back to confirm details and we agree a price.
19:50: GCarter arrives for chat.
20:30: alarm goes off for blipfoto blog, GCarter retrieves remote control car. Photo is taken. Posted online here: eight-thirty
20:45: remote control car goes back in the box. Unbroken. Phew.
21:40: Mrs theWeir returns home. Cake is consumed.
22:30: GCarter goes home after good chat and a little prayer
22:55: book train journey on the iMac after earlier hilarity at website rendering
23:25: conclude notes on the day for archives
23:40: sleeping.