S is for... seventeenth of October

Lots of British heritage organisations have got together to create One Day in History: a collection of blog entries for October 17th 2006. The entries will be archived at the British Library for future historians.

Here's my October 17th 2006:

I'm never quite sure what time I wake up, but I knew from the sounds outside it was still early. After a while I leaned over to turn on the radio and dozed through the first hour or so of the Today programme on Radio 4. The central heating clicked on at about 7am and I heard the breadmaker buzz at quarter past. The smell of fresh bread was all through the house.

And that was my last moment of quiet... up, dressed, daughter downstairs, breakfast, packed lunch, hair brushed, daughter's school uniform on, brush teeth, grab handbag, diary and school bookbag and out the door at 8.30am. Take daughter into school, hug goodbye for the day, then drive the 8 miles to work.

My day at work was not especially unusual for me, but perhaps a little different from many people's working days. There were the usual emails, conversations with colleagues, briefings about upcoming issues and complaints about things becoming problematic.

But I also spent a few hours returning about 50 pots from Turkey, Iran and Spain, some hundreds of years old, back into storage cabinets. These had just come off exhibition and needed returning to their precise home location. Later in the afternoon I gave 30 art students a tour of the museum, talking them through the background of 16 key objects around which they will form a project. They were particularly interested in a ceramic suitcase made by Richard Slee.

The rain started to fall as I drove home and the road was gridlocked with traffic about half the way. Pancakes for tea with extra eggs to try and get some protein into daughter. We all talked about our favourite parts of the day.

About half past 8, time again to sit down and relax. Husband and I sit side by side, both with our respective laptops catching up on email, news and blogs. Then just time to do a little hat knitting before heading up to bed and listening to the ten o'clock news on Radio 4.