It's Monday...But It's Also Thursday. A Brief History Of The Shift Worker's Sense Of Time

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It's a Monday. A Grey Monday and as it happens a cold Monday. Didn't go out wearing a jacket yesterday. Will definitely do so today.

But for me it's also Thursday. One more day and the weekend starts here. Not restful though. Unfortunately.

And that's what shift work does. The pattern of your days alters. Nine to five is just a memory and that Jane Fonda film.

The concept of a weekend is of course different. You don't really consider the times when you take Saturday/Sunday off as a "weekend" as such. Just rest days...hopefully.

I've chatted before about working the early morning shift which like it's nightime equivalent (which I've never done) is like jet lag without the glamour. Your connection with the outside world is really just a few hours outside of work. Your body and especially your head has difficulty connecting. Rather like a bad wi-fi signal. It's not actually the worst shift though. I'll chat about that later.

So having dropped daughter off school this morning period actually becomes a sort of resting/preparation for work time. I say resting, I mean catching up on the personal related matters that happened yesterday but you couldn't respond to (such as the onward saga of the house buying). It is, (house buying aside) the calmest part of the day...when daughter is in school.

But at 11:30, an hour before I leave for work I have lunch. Almost always a sandwich, a cup of tea and a packet of crisps. It is really work time in a way, because you're conscious that the clock really is counting down for you to leave now.

And it's when I make that forty minute journey mainly down the A48 to Bridgend I'm conscious that the world has continued without me thankyou very much. I know I'm not but it feels at that moment I'm the only one on the way to work whilst everyone else is looking at the clock to get out.

When I return to the apartment at night it's a short chat with wife/daughter about "events", a short phone call with my mother. I'm not really comfortable with speaking to the women in my life at this time. Being as I am half asleep (though not whilst driving of course....he says quickly) and totally hungry. I have my dinner whereupon I have to wait about 45 minutes to let my stomach, wide as it is,  rest until midnight when I go to sleep.

The worst shift is not the night/early morning ones as you're cut from the family events of that day. The worst is actually the mid morning - mid evening shift. Because when you get back at say nine, things might be still going on. You might have literally and metaphorically gatecrashed a party. You might want food but the wife wants you to meet [insert visitor here]. Given you're not completely with it you're not in social mode.

Perhaps I need time to work on that.

Until the next time.