On Wednesday evening I drove the twenty five mile journey home from Cardiff through blustery snow and sneezes. BBC Weather forecast snow for the whole of the UK as The Beast from the East raged its way from Siberia, inflicting mayhem across most of the UK.
Whilst colleagues were stranded in Glasgow for days as flights and trains got cancelled, I nursed my flu, caught up on emails and presentations, yawned and coughed a lot, and when the clock clicked past five I worked on my side hustle.
For the past few weeks I'd been listening to audible books on my commute to and from the office, all of them enthusiastically preaching how easy it was to set-up an online business and 'live the life you've always dreamed of'. In the depths of Winter, I just wanted to feel the sun on my face. Spring will inevitably arrive, later rather than sooner, bringing with her my annual dose of wanderlust and general dissatisfaction.
Author of The Four Hour Work Week, Timothy Ferris's words rang in my ears, 'Someday is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. So, I'm giving it my best shot. What do I have to lose? Dignity is for fools and those with inflated egos, right?
My attic studio has been vacant since I took a full-time job as an Innovation Designer, three years ago. I counted the abandoned oil paintings stacked up against the eves. Fifty eight. I'll finish a few of them. Put them on a website. Just to see.
Fuelled by good coffee and flu medication, I sat at the kitchen table and set to work on finding a hosting service and building a site.
By midnight I had an (albeit empty) online gallery and shop. And you've just strolled into it. Welcome!