Wednesday 24 December 2008

It's Christ-massssssssssss!

Praise the lord it’s Christmas – well, that’s what you’re supposed to do at this time of year, isn’t it?!
I need a break before I simply wither away like a rotten courgette slung on the compost heap or, worse still, my head explodes.
The autumn/early winter is one of my busiest times of the year. Apart from trying to hold together all the threads that make up my normal working days, I also put together the Garden Media Guild Yearbook and produce the trade catalogue for Greenacres Horticultural Supplies. A bit of extra work and a lot of extra strain making sure they’re sent to the printers on time during the normal Christmas rush and festive shutdown.
This year it has been compounded by the ‘day job’ – editing the RHS website, RHS Online. We’re having a complete overhaul of the site – redesigning, restructuring, re-editing and any other re- word you can think of. This has meant talking to all the various RHS departments about their needs for the new look, having redesign team meetings and visiting Vincent Square and the four RHS gardens to tell them what we’re up to. All in all, a lot of zooming around the country and a lot of time taken up with meetings – time when I should be trying to put into operation the action points that arise from all the meetings. So, basically, I’m knackered!
Anyhoo, the Yearbook and catalogue stuff is mostly finished, the RHS Online redesign is simmering away nicely in the background and so I’m off to enjoy at least several days of eating, drinking and general merry making. With a bit of luck I may even be able to stagger to the allotment.
Wishing everyone as merry a Christmas as you can possibly have, a fantastically prosperous (credit crunch, what credit crunch!) and happy New Year and I hope you don’t get too many rubbish Christmas presents; or if you do, remember that’s why they invented ebay.