So while the world of commerce falls over itself to encourage you to splurge, just a month before hoping you’ll splurge even more, I’ve decided this Friday is going to be just a Regular Friday.

No incentives. No sales promotions. No get-10%-off your next project fee. Nope. Nada. Not a thing. I’ll be carrying on as usual because I’ve a feeling we’re not convinced of the merits of a Black Friday here in the good old U of K. We tend towards a more skeptical view, that when it comes to things presented as somehow the bargain we’ve been looking for, or somehow overlooked for, what, the last 363-odd days - maybe they’re actually not going to fill us with joy. Remorse, probably. Delayed, but likely, regret.

And Friday’s are special enough, aren’t they?

Even when you know you’ve a weekend’s worth of work to put in, it still feels like a breather - especially as we’ve been conditioned to the five-day week in the Northern half of the world for what, over a century? Was always rather disorientating working on Middle-East projects, even cueing the jokes about Thursday’s being the new, etc.

When we were all working remotely (and I guess too many who still are) the power of Friday’s rejuvenating power felt faded. So easy to see the ‘work’ days fade into weekends. 

Remember Friday’s named after a goddess who rode a chariot pulled by two cats (reason enough to celebrate a day!), not the lovely people who rock up in vans with your parcels. So why not celebrate your Friday’s by taking stock rather than selling (or buying) stuff?

Tuck the mouse up, put the monitor to sleep an hour earlier and spend a bit of time looking after yourself instead.