Book of Me, Prompt 6 - Diaries and Journals

The prompt from week 6 can be found here.

Here in England the County where I went to school operated a three tier system. Primary aged four or five years until aged eight. Then a change of school from age eight years until twelve then to senior school from age twelve until sixteen. Sixteen is the earliest you can leave school.

As my birthday is in October I was always one of the oldest in my class, so I was nearly thirteen when I moved to senior school. The first day we were presented with a school diary. I still have mine, but it is boxed in the back of the attic so a picture is not possible, but the idea was, that you learnt to record your homework assignments and work due dates and learnt to prioritise.

Now, having been given this small journal I found that I naturally wrote and recorded lots of data. Eventually the diary became a mess of colour as I strove to colour code things because a mass of black or blue text was not conducive to finding out things. The issue was that I recorded lots and needed a bigger book. I eventually split the tasks. The school diary for homework, school assignments and hockey matches and another journal for a variety of information.

Image from Google Images

I still own every diary and journal that I have ever written. Over the years I tweaked the style of book and always have a diary for appointments and alike and a journals which is more reflective, ideas and notes.That continued all through my college years, my professional pharmacy training and university years. As I wandered into my professional life the diary became bigger - A5 style with a page for each day. In it recorded store visits, mileage, expenses, items that I needed to attend to for staff matters. My journal left at home because it was a similar size. Therefore it was either recorded in later in the day or notes popped onto post it notes which made their way from the diary to the journal later.

With a different working patten, I have tweaked this again in recent years. I now record my daily appointments in a slimline diary which lives in my over flowing handbag. I also have a journal which NEVER leaves my side. It records my thoughts, ideas, research and alike. I always leave the front few pages clear and this is for my index, which I create as I go along. I can easily tell that I worked on a new project for the book of me last week, a few ideas which appear on page 56 of journal 94. Each journal is numbered on a sticky small label and fixed to the spine and on the front cover.

Over the years I have bought a variety of journals. Starting with A4 page a day diary. It became a pain if I packed it to go away for work. I often found that one page was not enough and some pages had wasted space. I then switched to a smaller blank book so that I could add the date and record over as many pages as I like. I have been given journals as gifts over the years and have a lovely stack of them. Some are now used and retained while others are awaiting their turn. I discovered Moleskin which are lovely and have an inside pocket to capture snippets. Then a few years ago I spotted a cheaper alternative here in one of the UK supermarkets. They have the inside pocket at the back and have an elastic banding across the cover. I now have a rather nice collection of them both used and unused.

In the past I have recorded travel events in a separate journal, but in the last five or so years I have simply included it in my regular journal. I do stick bits in and save things such as tickets and paper napkins with advertising on etc, which is why I like the Moleskin type journals. Even in this digital age and I do use both Evernote and OneNote I still write a journal and I still capture one line thoughts on post it notes. Although I am trying to not use post it notes as they float around my desk and then become a complete menace!

A Fictional Account

On Sunday, I posted my fourth part of a series of posts about Filofaxes. A comment left by Jill who blogs at Geniaus prompted a response and as part of that response I have written a fictional account based upon some real facts that appear in my journals. If you didn't read the Filofax post, pop back now and read it, then the comments and all will become clear!

Fictional Account

"The Victorian building was set back from the main road. It was an oppressive building, but necessary and fully functioning once inside. She stood and looked at the building before walking across the small visitors car park towards the main entrance.

She reached the top of the small flight of steps and went in. Speaking to the man behind the strong perspex she gave her name and explained my reason for being there. She was then taken through a set of secure see through doors marked "Staff".

After the issuing of a rough and handwritten map, with the message of "dispose by shredding" and a set of keys, to be affixed to her person at all times she was escorted through the building to her new work domain.

The strong metal door closed with a sound of definiteness. Her escort and her walked through the building, chatting, on occasions stopping to say hello to fellow staff, to open another door or gate and for the escort to point out various places, such as the post room and the staff toilets. The escort gave a rundown of the working day, as this was relevant to how her cog in the large wheel of the building fitted in.

Later in her office, she looked out the window. Not a clear view there were bars, but the window could be opened a little and a gentle breeze came wafting in. For some strange reason, it was quiet and that bothered her a little. Usually there was no quietness. A thong of black and white uniformed staff were walking across the grassed area outside, ah it was lunchtime. Simply knowing that settled her and she prepared herself for a new working place.

The closing of the gates and doors, the sounds of keys, the sound of a stampede of running individuals became second nature, as much as birds tweeting"

There you have it, a fictional account based upon an entry or two of my journals from this period, which was the early 1990s - In fact, just after I came back from Australia.  In fact the first day, that has been described above took up 4 pages in my journal.

Filofax - Part Four

Back in January I wrote three posts about going back to my Filofax, You can read those posts  here -

1. Part 1, 
2. Part 2 
3. Part 3

Well, six months later and I am still not completely happy with my structure or the actual Filofax I am using.

This year has been a challenge. For the simple reason that I am living a completely different lifestyle to usual and as such I have been trying to do what I usually did when I left the house at 7.30 and came home about 12 hours later. Whilst I have changed my schedule I have not changed how I record, plan and note the various details of my existence.

The biggest issue I have is that I often am somewhere and I want to jot something down. If it is the name of a book or item in a shop I can take a quick photograph with my iPhone, but on occasions I have had an idea and want to capture it before I forget.  Therefore what I need is paper!

At the end of last week in my study I reacquainted myself with the following Filofax.

Now, I have had this particular design over 25 years and this has never been used. What is great is that it can be zipped and then becomes completely contained. 

On the left there is a popper section with a clear front (top picture), the ringed section. then a clear zipped section with ring loops (bottom photo) and a small wallet which is fixed in with velcro and can be attached to the rings. Behind that is a section for 3 cards and two dividers for paper or a cheque book or even a small A5 booklet.

So, On Friday afternoon I simply transferred all the material from my existing Filofax into the the one above. Including the memory stick, endless library cards and record office cards and a few professional membership details.

So over the course of the current week I am going to note down how many times I use the various sections. On Friday I shall re-evaluate the structure and I suspect have a bit of a cull.

The good thing with this particular file is that I can simply pop in things - shopping lists for example. I still handwrite those and I still often, no more than often leave them on the kitchen table or magneted to the fridge.

Filofax - Part Three

In two earlier posts (HERE & HERE)  I explored my Filofax and how it worked for me. One of the comments that was left was that it seemed complicated. I then thought, Was it?

I looked again at my structure and realised that perhaps, just ever so slightly it was and perhaps I should merge some of those sections together. Those sections could be merged because as long as I could find things then that was the most important; and no one else used my Filofax anyway.

I planned to live with my structure for another few weeks then to review. In the meantime, I read another Filofax post, where the writer commented that she was wrestling with her Filofax. I got a sense that like me the writer of that post simply had to have her Filofax just right. She used the wonderful expression of "her brain on paper" and I thought that is exactly what my Filofax is to me.

So, the final decisions for this Filofax is the following layout -

• Notes - including book titles,book reviews, websites etc.
• Expenses - keeping track of family history subscriptions and payments to professional bodies.
• Personal - birthday list etc
• Projects - here is where I record ideas for blog posts and keep a note of specific posts are to appear on various sites 
• Genealogy - here is where I keep details on various research lines, or ideas for research
• Work - a mixture of CPD opportunities, research clients, and other professional review work

The back card section holds my Jersey Heritage card and entry cards to The National Archives and Society of Genealogists. It also holds my membership number to the pharmacy professional body.

I am still keeping my diary separately as I prefer the page a day variety where I record appointments, hours worked, social engagements and notes such as that I paid the credit card bill.

My next task is to source some nicer dividers and to explore potential uses for the other Filofaxes that are in my study. As luck would have it I have a spare set of blank dividers from WHSmiths quite a few years ago and they come in a set of 6!

Filofax - Part Two

All fired up and inspired I toddled off to WHSmiths and purchased a Day to a Page 2013 diary at the end of August. When it came home the diary inserts remained in the bag on my desk in the study.

I reflected on the rest of the structure and overall I liked it. Being right handed I do find that when I write on the left hand side of the pages I knock into the rings, but I think I will do this with a larger size Filofax too, so buying a larger one will not make that any different.

I used the temporary Filofax up until the middle of December when I decided to clear out the odd post it notes that had started to congregate on the pages. I went to add the page a day diary into the binder and found that it did not completely fit. Something had to go, either I worked with less sections or added the diary in to the bind in monthly instalments.

That was not an option as I often have dates in the diary months ahead, and need to refer to them. So I then looked at the sections. There was going to be amendments and I have to say that having made the decision I am happy with it.

Here is what it looks like now

• Notes
• Expenses
• Personal
• Blogging
• Genealogy
• Books
• Work
• Research
• Regular Income Source 
• Regular Income Source (2)

I have removed these sections - 

1. To Do  - which I have placed in notes as I tend to go through these daily and if I need to do something urgently I can use a coloured post it note to flag it. 
2. Diary section - I opted to return the Filofax inserts and purchase a rather nice A5 day to a page diary 

This does mean that I have to carry two things with me on certain days, but not every day. This method fits with my lifestyle and the only thing I need to do now is to source some personal size dividers which I can write on.

Old Filofax paper has been separated into years and placed in envelopes and stored in my study along with the last 30 years of notebooks and diaries.

Filofax - Part One

In the back of my filofax was a post that I had written last August with the intention of sharing. I didn't get around to it, so I decided to type it up with a few tweaks and share with you now.

I was in my early 20s when I bought my first Filofax from Army and Navy stores in Guildford High Street. I sadly still have the receipt which shows the price of £45. I remember thinking it was a lot of money several times before handing over the cash to the sales assistant.

I used that Filofax daily until I moved into my current home. Over time it filled up with various post it notes and other snippets and remained pretty much unused for around 15 years.

I bought my second Filofax from WHSmiths in Guildford and I used this exclusively for my locum work with the A-Z listings and then individual sections for regular bookings. That Filofax remained in tact for over 20 years and I only dismantled it last summer as part of my study clear up.

It was part of that clear up that made me wonder now, which a change of work direction looming if I should replace my notebook and diary with the Filofax doing the job of both.

I sat down with a stack of dividers and paper and pulled apart my original old faithful and set about structuring the Filofax, which enabled me to test the structure before perhaps purchasing a brand spanking new one.

The Structure
I opted for the following structure

• Notes
• Expenses
• To Do
• Personal
• Blogging
• Genealogy
• Books
• Work
• Research
• Regular income source
• Regular income source (2)
• Diary

My Concerns

1. Should this be A5 or does that make it less portable?
2. Dividers - Perhaps buy a new snazzy personal size and new dividers
3. Storage of old Filofax papers

Stop by tomorrow to see how I got on and what I decided to do

Memorial Log

I recently commented on someones blog that writing helps us to grieve for our departed loved ones. In that post I mentioned a Memorial Log and I promised that I would explain a bit more about the log and what it did for me.

My Grandmother passed away suddenly on 21st April 1995 and had recently spent six weeks with us, starting just before the Christmas period of 1994. During that time my husband spent some time videoing and recording conversations with my Grandmother, now, 15 years on I still can not watch those video's, but I am deeply grateful that Stuart had the foresight to record those conversations. We still hold the original camcorder tapes and the VCR tape that the data was transferred to. Sometime this year Stuart will transfer the VCR tapes to DVD, a task he will do when I am out.

My Grandmother, and I were very close. I was overcome, not just with grief and the need to give her the send off she deserved, but I suddenly became aware of all the things and questions I had never asked and all the snippets of information that she had shared with me. Not just genealogical information, but the sayings she would suddenly come out with, things she would do, places and people that she held an association with.

The bottom line was that I missed her dreadfully, her passing had left a huge void in my world and even though the period of time between the death and funeral is fairly busy with the domestics of it all, I felt that I needed to keep my Grandmother with me. I did not want to forget a simple thing. Looking back now, many of the comments and notes I made were one liners, a simple remark that acts as a prompt for more thinking and adding to a journal at a future date, and occasionally I still add to the log. The 18th December 2012 would have been my Grandmother's 100th birthday. I shall commemorate that in some way, perhaps linked to the Memorial Log.

The Memorial log was for me a simple Filofax that I had and was not using. I used whatever paper I had to hand and my log contains a mix of lined and plain paper. Each entry dated. In the early days I would write and jot down notes for hours, later as time progressed I wrote less, and as I adapted to a world without my Grandmother the entries became fewer in number and less in content. That said, it does not mean that I miss her less. When someone we love passes away we find a way of coping and adapting without them, but they always retain a place in our heart.