November 2009
10 posts
Day 24.
No one calls in sick to redundancy. If you’re in bed, you’re in trouble. Recently my flat mates, both girls, have been pulling ‘sickies’ on pretty much alternate days. It’s getting to the point where now it just seems like showing off. In fact I’m starting to feel a bit sorry for their employers.
I was a bit under the weather on the weekend. So what do you do...
AFX - I’m Self Employed
The optimism of...
Day 21.
First, a trip to the Barbican with AH to see Kusmirowski’s Bunker. It’s okay but they forgot to paint the ceiling = feet of clay. Then a walk to ICCO’s where we bumped into LM, an artist.
Artists make good company for the redundant: entrepreneurial types who have jobs they keep solely to fund whatever materials they need to buy. They won’t be judging your new job as a tea packer and...
Day 20.
Those of you who have been paying attention will already know what happened on day 19. After the final consultation meeting I spent a contemplative half-hour at the Serpentine before deciding it was time to cash some cheques.
Everything in my bank has it’s own infuriating little sign. “Take the wait off your feet” a chair suggests, “Your place or my pen box!” the...
Day 18.
On day 18 it rained pretty much continuously, so I had to Skype for human contact. Skype basically allows potentially redundant people to contact others (redundant or otherwise) without having to use money: a powerful weapon in any job-seeker’s arsenal.
I had a look at my contacts and saw my mum was online. My mother has an interesting relationship with technology: drawn to it as a moth to...
Day 17.
For today’s ECA I watched Jarvis Cocker and some other musicians perform a ‘jam’. As you’ll notice, I arrived just as they were finishing the sign. The idea is somewhere between Rankin Live and that hobbit of a musican from the T Mobile ads. The result was surprisingly musical: a directionless kraut-rock mercifully free of the ubiquitous bongos that usually scourge such...
Day 16.
When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells.
On Friday I received a curse from hell in email form asking me to review a recently purchased innertube and pump. I deleted the message and smiled wryly: for over a year I’ve averaged twenty miles a day with no punctures. Later that day at Hatton Garden, the inevitable happened. I got the bike...
Day 14.
John has won five league titles, with five different teams. He explains his success in the league is a direct result of having all day to think of nothing but the game ahead.
“Painters and decorators are some of the greatest thinkers in the world.”
He grins and we laugh together, but I think he may have a point. I have been troubled for some time by the fact that I currently...
Day 13.
Some retailers are making it really easy to see how you can save money right now. I appreciate it when they draw my eye to these bargains with fluorescent tabs because it means that I can go on autopilot in the supermarket and just buy what they suggest.
NoNoNo my friend. If you agreed with the above you are not ready for potential redundancy. Get back to work. When your source of income is...
Day 12.
I noticed this on the floor of the entrance to our studios for the first time today and it cleared up any doubts I’d had about the former purpose of the building. When exactly did people stop doing awesome mosaics and start gutting pubs? This is not progress.
The former pub I’ve been working in the past days shared a name with my local back east. The Albion I know is a strange affair...
October 2009
15 posts
Day 9.
It’s been strange these past days to be back in Westbourne Park: I spent my teenage years here, riding under the motorway at Playstation, and it’s been around seven years since last I set foot here. The only days I wouldn’t skate either the wind would be blowing rain onto the ramps, or I’d have one of my arms freshly in plaster. Even then I’d be sitting atop a ramp...
Day 8.
So today I nailed the last page of my first document as a copywriter. A good feeling. I honestly think it’s a nice piece of work so I hope it’s well received. Today’s ECA was to attend a performance by the award winners of the Philharmonia Orchestra Martin Musical Scholarship Fund at the Royal Festival Hall. Sounds pretty fancy right? Well it was free. For those in the throes of...
Day 7.
Extra-mural activity of today was freelance copywriting for my friend’s start-up travel company. There’s a bunch of us entrepreneurial types in what looks like a converted pub by Meanwhile Gardens. It’s a supernice atmosphere, everyone on their separate hustle. No politics, just people focused on growing their particular dream. There’s also nice selection of Twinings...
Day 6.
This morning it rained, which meant I could sleep in. “What!” I hear you cry from your offices. Yes my friends. The weather matters. When your daily routine is to migrate from home, via an underground tunnel to office, it is possible to become entirely disconnected from the seasons. What falls from the sky that can possibly affect your daily progress? A maladjusted air conditioning...
Day 5.
Yep we missed a day. Don’t worry about it too much.
An unusually early start. 6:45. Oats. Water on the face and out the door for a 10 mile cycle to work. Today’s extra-curricular activity was filling and undercoating (we were rained-off on Saturday). John is one of the most pleasant individuals I have ever had the good fortune to work with. He is a master craftsman, one of painting...
Day 3.
The weekend. More difficult than expected. For these two days, the employed enjoy freedom - the trump card of the potentially redundant - on equal terms. The nail in the psychological coffin being that those with jobs can drop more cash.
It was nice to be bought a few pints though, and see that your mates are good lads. It was nice to be taken out for lunch by my dad, and discuss excellent ideas...
Day 2.
Today’s extra-curricular activity was painting. At work in the sun, listening to radio four, I stripped and primed a garden fence. A most wonderful day’s work, highly recommended to anyone potentially redundant. Not only will you earn money, but the physical energy will cleanse your soul and you will learn how to do actual real things that don’t just happen on computers. Tomorrow...
Day 1.
This is the first day of potential redundancy, so let’s lay out some ground rules for our new theatre of operation. This is designed to be a live WIP for reference purposes.
1 - Set your alarm.
2 - Have breakfast.
These first two are basic but important to ‘remain actively human’.
3 - Lists. We’ll come back to this, but I have a feeling these suckers are going to be...