This post was supposed to be about me jetting off to Boston for the weekend. There would have been a wedding and tuxedos and a glamorous party at the venerable Boston Public Library. But alas! Instead of boarding my flight on Friday morning, I was fielding frantic calls from my immigration lawyer telling me that the Home Office had screwed up my visa extension and that if I left the country before things were sorted my visa would be cancelled — resulting in deportation, loss of right to work, and several months and thousands of dollars to get everything put right again.

So…

I worked through the stages of grief for my weekend and missing a good friend’s wedding. I couldn’t bear to go in to work as if nothing happened so I decided to work from home and clear out as much of my backlog as possible — only to remember that my landlady has planned to take advantage of my travel to remodel the bathroom. Which meant I needed to evacuate or suffer the noise and dust of workmen all day.

So I went in to the office after all and just camped out downstairs and in nearby cafes until I could go home to dust and a non functioning shower.

I evacuated early the next morning before the workmen came again. I set up camp in my office and spent the day burning through emails and work projects. Not super fun but rewarding to get my inbox down from the hundreds to only two emails. Plus the views from the 15th floor were good and the emptiness was peaceful.

I had brought my things to shower at the gym but then missed getting there before they closed (dang weekend hours!) so I booked an early class for next morning and went home to bed.

I’m planning to take Sunday very mellow and try to take advantage of this inadvertent homestay weekend. I’ll be cancelling a work trip to Munich and will have all week to be more of a homebody than I expected. At least the weather is good.