Top ten things to do when you have a spare 5 minutes

If you're like me, you'll often come across these small gaps of time when you're waiting for something else to happen. You probably use it to look at pictures of cats on the internet or to ask your friends 'what r u doin' via a barrage of annoying text messages. Well, all those 5 minute gaps add up. If you use them to do useful things, you'll have less to do later on. So, here's my list of the top ten things to do when you have a spare 5 minutes.

1. Tidy up. It doesn't matter what you tidy up, but you'd be amazed at what you can do to the state of your room in 5 minutes. You can probably use that time to hang up all your clothes (always the most noticeable source of mess) and empty your bin. Also, you can put things in straight lines on your shelves and convince yourself that you'll never ever ever move anything out of line, which usually lasts about a day.


2. Polish your shoes/boots. 

You don't want to make them really shiny because that looks stupid and people will ask you 'why did you polish your shoes?' all day. Just wipe the mud off and rub a bit of polish over them so that you feel a bit happier when you next put them on.


3. Check the weather forecast for the next week. The temperatures these last few weeks have consistently hovered around the 0 degrees Celsius mark. Checking the forecast for this week shows that it's going to average at about 5-6 Celsius, with temperatures rising to a positively tropical 8 on Friday. That's enough to cheer anyone up a bit right? You might also want to check the wind speed if you hate wind as much as I do.


4. Write a 'to do' list. 

You can have a daily to do list, a weekly to do list, a monthly to do list. I suppose you could even make an hourly to do list of you had a lot of stuff to get done very quickly, but then I suppose you'd be better off using the time required to make the list to do one of your jobs. Once you've got a list of things you need to do, you don't have to spend time trying to remember what jobs you need to do, and you won't forget important tasks. You should always write 'write list' at the top of your to do list, and then cross it off when you've written your list. It makes you feel as if you're getting stuff done. 


5. Download some music that differs from what you normally listen to, and put it on your ipod. I'm not going to recommend anything because everyone hates people who recommend music to them. It's good for your mood to feel like you're broadening your tastes on the way to work.


6. Drink loads of water.

Drinking a glass of water is essentially a boring job that you should be doing 8 times a day. If you have 5 minutes, drink a litre of water. That's half of your quota fulfilled right there, and you'll probably feel better for it after you've pissed yourself.


6. Do something creative. Take out your notebook and write some words that appeal to you. Start drawing a big picture formed of lots of individual tiny pictures. Using the creative side of your brain once in a while is good for your mental state, especially if you work a monotonous job.


7. Do everything that's normally part of your morning 'before work' routine. I don't mean eat breakfast or put your suit on. If there's anything that you can do in advance, do it now. Spend an extra 5 minutes in bed, or have a slightly more relaxed morning. Have all of the stuff that you carry with you in your bag/pockets. Decide what you're going to wear. Find out if it's going to rain, get an umbrella ready. You get the idea.


8. Thoroughly vacuum your room. 

Attach all those nozzles that you never use, and vacuum stuff that has never been vacuumed before. Use the brushy one to do your tv and your computer screen. Use the long pointy one to do the edges of your carpet. Relax and breath in air that isn't full of dust.


9. Eat an apple.

Put 7 of them in the fridge at the start of the week. Eat one when you're not doing anything else. Makes you feel slightly less dirty.


10. Do some speed ironing. Open the board up, and get through a few t-shirts, then hang them up. If you're one of those people who never irons anything, you're missing out. No, the creases don't fall out as you wear it. I can still see them. You look like a mess. It takes about 2 minutes to iron a t-shirt, you've got no excuse for not doing it. If you don't know how to do it because your mum's always done it for you, feel ashamed, then watch a 'how to' video on youtube or something.

Top ten things to carry with you every day

For some reason, it makes me incredibly happy to have a load of things with me wherever I go. I like to feel that if I ever got stuck somewhere, I could keep myself entertained for a few days. It actually makes me quite sad when I realise that I've never actually been in such a situation - all that planning for nothing. But in all honesty, I use most of these ten things every day anyway. I'm going to omit stuff which I'd call 'essentials' - wallet, keys, phone, insulin etc. So, here are the ten best things to carry with you everyday.

1. AM/FM Analogue Radio

This is the one that I carry with me. It's a 'Sony ICF S22' and it cost me about £8. Headphone output, extendable aerial, and a speaker that's really loud for its size. I can take this thing out of my pocket and plonk it down anywhere, and voila, instant radio 4. Now that's worth a lot more than £8 to me. None of the complications of digital stuff, it just works as a radio should. Oh, and the batteries will last forever.


2. Moleskine Diary/Notebook

These little notebooks are so useful to have in your pockets. They feel well made, and can definitely take a beating, or a bit of rain water. The diary version contains useful stuff like a currency conversion chart and a list of different time zones. Yeah, maybe you can do that on your iphone, but where's the fun in that? The regular notebooks are perfect for anyone who never stops thinking. All my thoughts and ideas go down in these books.


3. Tailor's tape measure.

Good for people who need to take measurements on clothing. Even if you're not one of those people, sometimes you just need to measure something, and it's not like one of these takes up much space. Also useful for tying two things together as a quick fix/making a limbo line between two poles. No batteries required.


4. Nintendo DS lite

There's a reason that this is the biggest selling games console ever. Charge it up and put it in your pocket, and you can probably amuse yourself for about 16 hours with one of these. Also useful to lend to hyperactive children/adults to shut them up for half an hour.


5. Mini EDT Atomiser

Holds 4.0 ml of whatever you put in it. That's about 50 sprays. I'll never understand why things like 'lynx bullet' are on the market, when you can have one of these. Who wants to smell of lynx anyway? Take one of these wherever you go, and smell really good from when you leave the house until when you get back. Take 5 of them on holiday and avoid taking bottles of stuff. 


5. A small can of dry shampoo

This is one of those things where you'll maybe only use it something like once every month, but it's good to know it's there. It's basically fact that any time that you end up sleeping somewhere that you can't have a shower (in New Street station, anyone?) it's going to be at a time when you look, and feel, like a complete mess. If you were doing anything responsible, you would have gone home, or stayed at a friend's house or something. So, when you have to trudge back home feeling terrible, this is the nearest that you're going to get to sharpening up your appearance a bit. Less funny looks on the bus home, if you're one of those people who gets bothered by those sorts of things (I am).


6. A good quality pen that won't leak, or stab you through your coat pocket.

I use a Uniball Jetstream Premier. I think it's almost the same as the non-premier version, except this one apparently features 'retractable soft touch air click mechanism'. Yeah, I don't know either, but it clicks real nice. If you spend £7 on a biro, you're less likely to put it down and then lose it, because it's not quite as expendable as a 20p biro. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone else, my mind just works that way.


7. Ipod Nano 3rd Generation, 8gb

Yeah yeah, I know, there are loads of newer ipods out now. There's the touch, and the newer ipod nanos, even the iphone. But for audio, there's nothing wrong with a modest 3rd generation ipod. It's short and fat, which lends itself to pockets better than tall and thin. I suppose that's a minor consideration, but it's the only one that fits in my coat's top pocket without poking out. Loading it with music is great, but if you've got a few hours of different podcasts on there too, you can probably survive a lot of long waits and commutes. Lasts 24 of audio playback hours on a full charge.


8. Bic lighter. 

Even if you don't smoke, there's always going to be a time when you need to set fire to something or someone. Also, whilst seemingly simple and ordinary looking, Bic lighters are incredibly reliable. The alternative would be a zippo, but 9 out of 10 people who use zippo lighters look like they're trying far too hard.


9. A really good pair of gloves.

Of course, this is only really an Autumn/Winter thing. But for those 6 months, you'll be happy that you have a pair of gloves with you if you get stuck outside on a cold day. I wear the ones pictured - £30 from Norweigan menswear designer Siv Stoldal. 100% wool. The shiny bits are made of reflective wool - good for hitch hiking, or just not getting run over. Very warm.


10. A picture of the Queen

Just to remind you who runs this place. Also useful if you need to show someone who doesn't speak English that you are, indeed, a British citizen. Again, useful if you get into trouble with the police - 'look, I know the Queen, she's me Gran, so I'll just be going about my business now if you don't mind'.


Come back tomorrow for 'top ten useful things to do when you have a spare 5 minutes'

Welcome!

Hi, this is the first time I've ever written a blog!


Ok, so that's not true at all. I've started loads of blogs, but I always get bored of them pretty quickly. There's only so much to tell the world when you live in your mum's spare room in Walsall.


So, because of this, I thought I'd try writing a series of 'top ten' lists, a format that shouldn't be so easy to get bored with. I've always loved making lists of things - it brings a nice sense of neatness and order to an otherwise random array of stuff.


I'm going to endeavor to make lists of everyday sorts of things. Things that we can all nod and say 'ah' and 'aha' and other similar expressions of mild amusement to. Then again, maybe one day I'll decide I really need to make a list of the ten best specks of dust in my room, or my favourite door handles. Who knows, let's keep it open eh?


So, to start off, here are ten facts about the author:


1. I am 21 years old.

2. I currently live in Walsall, which is a horrible little town on the edge of Birmingham.  

3. I hold a degree in music and music technology from Keele University.  

4. I work in a small jazz bar, and a really good independent clothes shop (www.atoo.co.uk). Both in Birmingham city centre.  

5. If I'm not in Birmingham, I'll probably be in Leeds or Stoke-On-Trent, seeing my girlfriend Hannah.  

6. I like buying expensive clothes. I think I have about 25 pairs of jeans now.  

7. I'm terrible with money. 

8. I don't like sending text messages, unless it's to ask a question with a simple answer, or to tell you something that you don't need to respond to. I use voicemails instead of text messages and it really annoys people.  

9. It takes me exactly 50 minutes to go from getting out of my bed to leaving the house. This routine only really comprises having a shower, sorting my hair out, and getting dressed.  

10. I listen to BBC radio 4 more than is probably healthy.