Sunsets of all kinds

I had to snap this picture as soon as I caught sight of this sunset. Now the nights are drawing in, the sun is moving in a much shallower arc across the sky, and consequently sets very conveniently around this location for the next couple of weeks. This effect lasted only a couple of minutes, thanks to an incoming shower which quickly became a downpour. There's now no sign of the sun apart from a pinkish tinge to the grey clouds right at the horizon. Not even 6pm as I write, and it's about to get dark...

Didn't get up to much today, thanks to being very tired after an incredibly busy week. It shouldn't have been as bad as it was, but with all the veteran Copy Controllers off either on holiday or sick, our best Copy Controller in the office has only been working there for two weeks. That's not quite long enough to prepare for the 300-odd page behemoth we had to get to Press on Thursday.

Thankfully, even though my boss was out of the office that afternoon due to family matters, she was able to make the call I was too pig-headed to make: She contacted the Printers, and asked for an extension into Friday. I was convinced, right up till the last minute, that we'd be able to finish... but I was wrong. We were in a good state, but not good enough... and, for reasons beyond my control ('upgrades' to the Printers' file delivery system), we wouldn't have been able to finish uploading the magazine even if we had everything ready to send.

Friday, therefore, should have been a quick tidyup, having got ourselves into such a good position... but this was not to be. The 'upgrades' and their bizarre effects continued throughout the day to such an extent that, while the magazine was effectively finished around lunchtime, it was not all loaded and signed off till closer to 5pm. At the point of completion, I announced "Ladies and Gentleman... Leviathan has fallen. [The magazine] is done."

This should, in theory, be the last crazy month of the year, as next week was the schedule's October dead week. Following this, we are back to the normal schedule for November and December. Considering this month was supposed to be far busier than it was, I think we got off lightly - it was hardly the time to be bedding in new staff. On the other hand, if this month was supposed to be busier... I dread to think how slow and small my last couple of each magazine will be. Certainly, in one case, we lost money publishing a magazine this month... It may well be that we'll be saying goodbye to at least one title before we're made redundant.

I got up quite early today but, mid-afternoon, having restocked my freezer and had some lunch, I sat down to watch Confucius on DVD, and started feeling drowsy half way through. It's a slow movie, but really not that slow. Figuring that it was a sign that I should probably get a bit more sleep, I went back to bed for an hour or so.

Tomorrow, I shall be off to see RED with my old mate Paul... Looks like it'll be a lot of fun.