Thing to slow down time needed

Do these exist? Didn't Hermione whatsherface have one in Harry Potter that allowed her to be in two places at once, doing two separate things. That's what I need, there is simply not enough time. I won't blather on about how much work I do etc, a lot of people have the same problem, perhaps even worse, but where does time go, as I seem not to be able to stop at the moment - there is just too much that I want to get done. Patch birding has taken a back seat, my camera gets little time, I haven't played lego with my kids for ages, and as for sitting around on a sofa chilling out - forget it!

I operate with to-do lists. They keep me going, and I am worried if I do not have one. These are typically two post-it notes stuck back to back, with tiny tiny writing on. During the working day, many things occur to me that I have failed to do, and they are feverishly scribbled down. You could argue that my mind isn't fully on the job, and that would be 100% true. Whilst I am always focussed, part of my brain is always reserved for me and things I want or need to get done. Hang on, sorry. That's better. I needed to look up hand-luggage information for an airline I haven't been on for a while. Typically, it is awful, which probably explains why I haven't been on them for ages. 10kg?! How am I supposed to manage with that paltry amount? Anyway, back to business, too much to do, and not enough time. I cut out TV a long time ago, how people in this country manage to watch an average of 4 HOURS PER DAY I simply have no idea. What a vacuous, innocuous, completely absurd waste of time. When instead you could spend it:

Yes, this is my life synthesized onto two sides of a 6cm square piece of paper. Tragic isn't it. A bit of packing, and a reminder to sweep the terrace and buy a wheelbarrow. Neither of which I have yet done. Hang on a sec'......Right, I feel much better now. Except that whilst I was sweeping, a mildly cathartic activity, I thought of several new things to add, which won't fit on the current list, so I've had to start a new one. Just so you know, before I scrumpled up the old one I made sure to cross off the sweeping - that's a very important part of the whole "feeling good about oneself" process. I have been known to realise that I've just done something which I forgot to write on the list in the first place, and so what would the normal reaction be? Get on with the next job? No, completely wrong. Write the already-completed task down on the list and cross if off with the same pen stroke. Perfect.

Anyway, you can see how productive I am simply by looking at the above photo. You can also see how boring it is, and how there is nothing fun on there at all. These are all chores, diversions I would rather not be bothered with. "Photograph nice birds at point blank range" is not on there. "Sort out entire cask of Whisky getting shipped to me" is not on there. "Have lovely long relaxing bath whilst drinking wine" is similarly not on there. There is a veritable list of nice things I would like to do that simply don't figure anywhere, as until there are 36 hours in every day, there is no time to do any of them. Do however watch this space next week....