At any other stage Graham Potter might have been twiddling his thumbs. If he was still sat in a presumably nice sofa in his Hove house over the international break as Brighton boss then he could be tucking into a box of Celebrations and catching up on old episodes of Luther.
The chances are that over this international break there was no time to even sit, let alone look at the sofa or unwrap Luther. Potter's 23-day blitz at Chelsea has had a grand total of one match, his next 23 will watch his new team play eight times. Former club Brighton have just nine matches until the winter World Cup takes over.
If Potter had been in charge for a while then maybe he could have planned some time with his family over the break, time to regroup ahead of the most manic period of football that football has seen since, probably only last year, but still.
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The circumstances around his appointment, a shock at the time, have so far been the most normal thing about all of this. Taking over from a Champions League winning fan favourite who just got handed a £250m cheque for summer transfer business despite having a resume that still has Leeds Beckett University on it, that's more normal than the rest of the month.
Potter has had two matches cancelled - two more than Chelsea had postponed for Covid-19 cases last winter - and is now preparing for his first in charge against Crystal Palace. A pre-season but not quite, preparations but not really and a break but busier than a standard week. That's Chelsea, Mr Potter. Get used to it.
Speaking ahead of the trip to Selhurst Park Potter finally seemed to give himself some room to breath: "It's been really unique, I'd say, quite surreal." That's an understatement, but we get the point. "Twenty-something days [23] and this is the first game so it's probably a little bit of a record but we always say you can't do anything about what's happened, cancellations were what they were and we understand the reasons why."
Potter was sat down - finally - on a bench at Chelsea's Cobham training base to speak to the club's media team ahead of an anticipated first league game in charge, and the 47-year-old felt like everyone after two weeks of international purgatory: "Now it's a case of being really excited for start of the season, it feels like that even though it isn't! It feels like a new start because of the weeks without games, it gives you that little pre-season feel but it isn't, it's just been an international break and so many different things that we are looking forward to the game.
"International breaks are always a challenge because you don't get to work with the players, that's the main bit but at the same time we know that it's the case, it's part of the schedule and there's nothing for us to complain about, it is what it is and you have to use it as well as you can by working with the guys that are here, take the time for some planning, take the time for some analysis, take the time for some thinking and get ready for the next six weeks which is going to be very intense."
Chelsea's task, if they chose to accept it - and they really should, considering their poor start to the season - is to get a first win under Potter and to start a run that will surely define their season. Be it progression from their Champions League group or mounting up the league table, the Blues need to start somewhere, yet, if they do beat Palace it would be back-to-back wins in the league, somehow.
In these starkly strange times, Potter has had to bed into a new club that doesn't yet know itself with new owners stripping everything down to the carpets and wallpapers such is the overhaul at the club this summer. The ex-Seagulls manager needs friends in the building and to feel at home, and at least that has gone to plan: "It's a fantastic place, my first impressions are really positive.
"You can see the history and what's been achieved here it's amazing. People have been very friendly, trying to get to know everybody, there's loads of people, we've had a bit of social activity to break some ice and get to know people in a different way, that's been good, we've used the time well there."
Having never managed in a London derby, I don't know how I'd prepare for it, but Potter's way sounds fun. The manager revealed that in order to meet the staff and get comfortable with his new colleagues, he channelled his inner Lewis Hamilton, or Max Verstappen if you prefer.
"In order for us to get to know people and in order for us to understand people better we went to a local go-karting place and had a staff meeting and then went go-karting. That was nice, you can see the competitive ones, the ones that can't drive and the ones that can, especially when it started to rain and it got a bit wet.
"We went out for some food afterwards just to meet people and speak to people outside of this work context because environment is really important here for how we want to go forward and the type of place we want to create here."
From the track to Selhurst Park, Chelsea can't afford a false start once the Premier League restarts, and Potter is already revving the engine to his new blue car. "Selhurst Park has always been a challenge, it's always a challenge to go there. Patrick's done a fantastic job, the team is a strong team, an organised collective with lots of really strong individuals.
"We know that, we're looking forward to it, the boys are ready, the boys are looking forward to playing, we have a huge respect for the challenge that awaits us."
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