Load balancing is a technical term. It's a mechanism used to spread work out over a range of machines so that no single one has to take the strain.
My life's always been like that with quiet times and then busy times, peaks and troughs. Problem is that I've never been very good at smoothing the curves out. During the quiet times, I do less and let things pile up so that the busy times are even busier.
I've had some time off over the past few days. Maybe I beginning to learn how to lighten my own load and not take on more than I can handle. After all, I did struggle into work feeling less that well before Easter when there was no cover. Now that my diary is empty, I'm taking advantage of the space for some rest and recuperation. And I have to say that clearing the decks of all the bits and pieces that have been piling up as I mentioned in the previous posting has certainly helped settle me.
There's more balancing out in the real world too.
Reports tells us that Myra Hindley is dying of cancer. However, she will not be allowed to leave prison on compassionate grounds. I think it's more compassionate to keep her incarcerated. Death is difficult enough to handle without having to face a rabid press trying to photograph your last breath.
We're also told that one of the two boys responsible for the murder of James Bulger was taken to Old Trafford as part of his rehabilitation programme. James's mother, Denise, was ready with a quote saying that she felt that the two boys had received nothing but treats as rewards for killing her son.
The families of Brady and Hindley's victims were never allowed by the press to let go of their grief. Every time there was any story connected with the Moors murders, those poor people were dragged back into the limelight.
So it is with Denise. She'll never be allowed to let go. She's invested too much of herself in her moments of fame. Without her hagiography as the mother of a murdered child, she is no-one.
And how many murderers, arsonists, rapists, hard men grace the terraces and stands of our football stadia every week of the year? For that matter, how many sit in the stalls of the Royal Opera House on a nightly basis? The queen has taken tea with terrorists on many an occasion. It's just that they won and so became heads of state.
Losing ten years of your life, losing your identity. I don't count those as treats. But our media is little able to cope with such realities. Revenge is a much easier emotion to stir than the belief in atonement and redemption.
Ross and I heard a new wrinkle on the Stephen Lawrence murder from a London taxi driver. Most of the people in the South London locality where it all took place don't buy the Saint Stephen story at all. They readily acknowledge that the guys that the police have been after probably did the murder and are, in any case, not particularly nice people. They simply question the motives. Stephen it seems was a known drug dealer in the area. He was selling on someone else's patch. That's why he was killed. Economics. The colour of his skin was irrelevant.
To say that, of course, brands you as racist because the current climate of opinion will only treat racial matters as a bi-polar switch. You are either pro black or racist. I don't really count myself as either. Most financial fraud is committed by white people. Fact. But not a dangerous fact. And I don't consider myself to be labeled as a fraudster as a consequence. In certain parts of the country, a large percentage of street crime is committed by black youths. Fact. Dangerous fact. I'm now in a position where I can be accused of labelling all black youths as criminals.
It's time for a little more realism and load balancing.