The Covid diaries: Day 22 - Well, they say a picture paints a thousand words

The Covid diaries: Day 22 - Well, they say a picture paints a thousand words


A daily fly-on-the-wall blog about running a legal business during the Covid-19 crisis.

By Darren Isaacs - 16 April

Well, they say a picture paints a thousand words.

So, after a month of home-working, I though it was time to share my office setup with you. Much easier to do visually than by text, though I have annotated appropriately (under the picture). 

Darren's home office

Scene Setting (Darren's Home Office)

My office is very small and basically a desk that has been mounted across a wall and under a set of windows that open pretty much directly onto a cobbled laneway in front of my cottage (for more chat about my house, see Day 14).
 
Details (anti-clockwise from left):
[1]   Pens, electrical outlet (laptop cable plugged in here).
[2]   Sansevieria (Mother-in-Law's-Tongue) plant. Was in the bathroom, but not doing so well. Relocated to the study for some rest & recuperation.
[3]   The little metal stand to the top left (hard to see) is an iphone holder, so I can position the phone for video calls without using my hands. Most video calls are on my laptop, so this is just in case I need to use the phone, instead. 
[4]   Laptop. Goes without saying. Basically, my entire office now. Currently displaying a nice picture of some penguins.
[5]   Edie, my trusty paralegal. She is up/down the study desk all day, and in/out the window. Also chief security officer. Here she is keeping an eye on the street, just in case there is any trouble brewing (mostly in the form of other cats daring to walk in front of the house). It's quite tiring, though, so she needs plenty of naps in-between shifts. The window has to be shut and locked for safety every time I get up from my desk, and when I am on a client-related call (for confidentiality reasons, though frankly I am not sure how many of my neighbours would be interested in my furlough chat right now). Some days I feel like all I do is open and shut the window for the cat, all day long.
[6]   Portable speaker. So much better than relying on my laptop audio.
[7]   Coffee. Sometimes mint tea. I normally have a hot drink on the go all day long. Mostly decaff, so don't worry.
[8]   The latest government furlough scheme rules. As soon as I print them out and process them into FAQs, the government publishes an update and I have to do it all over again. It is giving me nightmares. So, for now, these rules are a permanent fixture in my study.
[9]  Also hard to see, but these are headphones - just in case I need them (rarely). Out of shot, on the left-hand side of the photo is some shelving with books and a radio. I listen to Classic FM (the local classical music station) when I'm not on calls.
[10]  Apparently this is some internet thingy that my husband says we need. I have no idea. 
[11]  A home phone (why??). Nice throw-back to decades gone by. I haven't used it in literally years.
[12]  Lamp, pointing upwards for subtle mood lighting. Also because it was apparently blinding my colleagues on our team video calls.
[13]  You can't see it, but if I angle the venetian blinds upwards I can see the sky above my opposite neighbour's house. The study is north-facing so is in a shadow during the morning, but from lunchtime onwards it gets really lovely afternoon light.
 
It's not quite "Home Beautiful" but it will do for now!

If you would like to read our Covid diaries starting from day 1 please click here.