I think summer is here.
On my way to work this week I passed the guy who lives just around the corner from me. I realised that this was the first time I'd seen him since last summer. I had remembered thinking at the end of summer last year that maybe he had moved permanently and so I was surprised to see him during the week.
I've been meaning to ask him if he has a winter place and if he only lives in my area of London during the summer, but this is me and I'm just not up for those types of questions in the morning. Thoughts often drift to other "more important" things in the morning.
So I've been wondering where he'd move to for winter. I've been thinking sunny places like Spain (I love Spain), or (since I was just there a few months ago) South Africa, or Morocco (always wanted to go there), Croatia, South of France... the list goes on.
I did snap out of it on Friday as I realised that that was just me thinking of places I'd like to live in for winter. Chances are he moved somewhere closer.
The guy I see is the homeless guy who lives under the A40 overpass. I guess that's why I feel uncomfortable talking to him - what do you say? On one level I feel sorry for him, on the other level I don't want to get involved. While I might ignore all those beggars out there who pester you for money my guy just lies under the bridge all day. At least he's there in the morning (and I get up early) and he's there when I stumble home from a drunken night out. He is the ONLY truly homeless person I "know" in London.
Its a dilemma and I want to solve it. Maybe he's just meant to be the visible part of my conscience that reminds me every day that I really am fortunate and that I need to do more to help others in that impersonal create a direct debit to your favourite charity sort of way.
Meanwhile I'm about to head off to the first BBQ of the season - it looks like it's going to be a scorcher today, and its about time I made a move to enjoy it. Moral dilemmas, as well as work, can wait until Monday.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Sunday, April 22, 2007
New Records
I've been unemployed since my return from Southern Africa.
Its been relatively unexciting being unemployed.
No money, limited social life, short term focus, limited ability to travel etc etc, the list goes on.
I don't recommend it.
It was with some excitement that I started a new contract last week. However by the end of the week that excitement had faded, and I ended up setting myself a few records on Friday.
So I started a new job at 4:20 Friday afternoon, an odd time to start to be sure but as it happens "normal" really didn't apply to all of my last week. This week will be better.
On another note, I heard on the TV that blogs are celebrating their 10th year of existence. I also hear that a lot of employers search the web for peoples names as a form of reference check to see what has been posted about them or by them.
To me this seems like a huge invasion of privacy.
I agree that if I'm dumb enough to write something incriminating on a website then I deserve to be caught. But what if its taken out of context? If someone doesn't like me and writes something bad about me then do I deserve to be incriminated?
Who determines the truth?
Truth be told, although I just finished my shortest ever job, it was still a job I could have liked. Problem was I got offered a better job that could well turn permanent. I'd be stupid to turn down an opportunity like that especially since I've stopped deluding myself that I'm going to leave London in the near future.
Truth be told, if I stay in the same industry then my name will be known by potential employers anyway, as over half the people I interviewed with in the industry seemed to know my old boss, and I have no doubt that soon that will apply to me too. Blogs are another way of people finding out about you, but a better way of destroying yourself is by being incompetent or stupid anywhere you have human interaction. I don't plan on being either.
So, the future looks bright, the summer is looking like a scorcher, I have a job, a roof over my head, cash in my pocket, a beautiful woman at my side and a world of opportunity on my door step. What can go wrong?
Its been relatively unexciting being unemployed.
No money, limited social life, short term focus, limited ability to travel etc etc, the list goes on.
I don't recommend it.
It was with some excitement that I started a new contract last week. However by the end of the week that excitement had faded, and I ended up setting myself a few records on Friday.
- Shortest ever job (aside from the DDS job which only one person really knows about) - five days
- First time to be escorted off the premises of a company
- Shortest time between finishing and starting a new job - one hour
So I started a new job at 4:20 Friday afternoon, an odd time to start to be sure but as it happens "normal" really didn't apply to all of my last week. This week will be better.
On another note, I heard on the TV that blogs are celebrating their 10th year of existence. I also hear that a lot of employers search the web for peoples names as a form of reference check to see what has been posted about them or by them.
To me this seems like a huge invasion of privacy.
I agree that if I'm dumb enough to write something incriminating on a website then I deserve to be caught. But what if its taken out of context? If someone doesn't like me and writes something bad about me then do I deserve to be incriminated?
Who determines the truth?
Truth be told, although I just finished my shortest ever job, it was still a job I could have liked. Problem was I got offered a better job that could well turn permanent. I'd be stupid to turn down an opportunity like that especially since I've stopped deluding myself that I'm going to leave London in the near future.
Truth be told, if I stay in the same industry then my name will be known by potential employers anyway, as over half the people I interviewed with in the industry seemed to know my old boss, and I have no doubt that soon that will apply to me too. Blogs are another way of people finding out about you, but a better way of destroying yourself is by being incompetent or stupid anywhere you have human interaction. I don't plan on being either.
So, the future looks bright, the summer is looking like a scorcher, I have a job, a roof over my head, cash in my pocket, a beautiful woman at my side and a world of opportunity on my door step. What can go wrong?
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