16:32 on Friday 1st August

2008-08-01T17:34:00.001+01:00

I'm a writer – and an enterprising writer at that – but there comes a moment when writers' block gets the better of me. 16:32 on Friday 1^st August is just such a moment. Thoughts of packing up, switching off and repairing for a cool glass of something steal in to rob my tired brain of further words.

I guess I'm suffering the fatigue identified in recent research by Boots which describes how employers lose up to 151 minutes per worker each day due to tiredness. Apparently it can take up to 45 minutes to get going on arrival at the office and the post-lunch graveyard period loses a further hour of productivity.

The root causes, it would seem, are the long-hours culture combined with low levels of exercise and quick caffeine fixes. Sums-up my day nicely.

So I was delighted to read about 'Slow Sunday' – if you missed out it was last Sunday 27^th July - designed to challenge the very way we live. http://www.resurgence.org/trust/slow-sunday.html. Resurgence magazine, edited by Satish Kumar, is to nominate regular Slow Sundays when we will take part in simple actions that symbolise a rejection of commercialism, a passion for the planet and a desire for change.

Knowing that my mortgage depends on a nod in the direction of commercialism, I'm relieved we confine such laudable notions to Sundays. Mr. T, fellow Director, would not approve of 'Slow Mondays-to-Sundays' – and our clients might vote with their feet too.

So, with permission to Go-Slow in 48 hours' time, what will I do? Read the papers (busman's holiday)? Play tennis (certainly slower at my age)? Watch the Test Match (too slow – and depressing)?

Suddenly the cool glass of something looks very tempting.

Enterprising Public Relations

16:32 on Friday 1st August