I’ve been hit twice today by the majesty of numbers, by their capacity to throw up surprising results that fly in the face of all expectations.

The first time was when I was working through some simultaneous equations earlier. Nothing special there, until something happened that made me very nervous about pursuing any future career in economics, illustrating to me what a disaster could ensue by the very smallest slip-up in my modelling.

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Today’s been two days in one.

It’s not that I’m particularly busy, since I couldn’t honestly claim that this is the case. It’s just that my day in the office started at 06:30 and is scheduled to finish at 22:15.

This was totally the norm three years ago, when I was covering three positions. My timesheet once showed 92.25 hours once.

Somebody once asked me how it’s possible to work 92.25 hours in a single week, so here’s a quick explanation:

• Saturday, Sunday, Monday = 15 hours
• Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday = 13 hours
• Friday = 8.25 hours

I’m not slipping into bad habits though: I’ve had a few hours off around lunchtime.

So how does this pertain to now?

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I tend to tut-tut when do-gooders determine that conventional language use must be changed to avoid upsetting people. I should no longer allowed to select from black or white coffee, for example, in some people’s eyes.

Well, I now need to apply these people’s approach to my own work.

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