Blether
I am really tired - not sure why. I went to bed at 10.30 last night and got up at seven this morning so I shouldn’t be feeling this tired. Eight and a half hours’ sleep should be enough, shouldn’t it? Maybe I’m ill. Maybe I’m just tired of London and working like a lunatic with no real plan and no goals in sight. Maybe the glass of wine I’ve just consumed is contributing.
I really can’t drink anymore … Not like when I was an 18 year old undergraduate and had just ‘discovered’ alcohol. I drank ridiculous amounts of cheap booze in my first year at uni. On Friday evenings, my housemates and I would each go and buy a a cheap bottle of Lambrusco from the Happy Shopper on the corner, which we would then drink BEFORE heading out to the pub for several pints of beer or cider.
I have a vivid memory (a feely type of memory rather than a visual one) of running home from the pub feeling totally free and uninhibited and thinking how wonderful it felt to be intoxicated. And I hardly ever got a hangover - God knows what damage I did to my liver …
Now I’m the total opposite and I rarely drink. My glass of wine at home this evening is a real rarity; and I can’t remember the last time I had a beer. On average I probably drink about one glass of wine every two weeks now. No more binge-drinking for me.
What am I gassing on about?
Tomorrow I have an early start so I’m going to be heading off to bed shortly. I’ve got two children booked in for initial assessments tomorrow morning, followed by an afternoon of report-writing. Heaven. Not.
But seriously… you must all be sick of me moaning about my job … and wondering why I’m not doing anything about it.
Well, actually I am … or rather I have done. You’ll be pleased to hear that I now only prostitute myself work three days a week as a speech and language therapist, and the other two days I work as an ESOL teacher! I alluded to this job in the past, but never actually got round to writing about it. It’s much more fun than SLT … but unfortunately while the pay as a sessional tutor (my current role) is reasonable, the pay for a full-timer is not brilliant. I was offered a full-time teaching post in the organisation that I work in, but it would have meant taking a £10,000 a year pay cut. And my salary as an SLT is not that huge, so you can understand why I had to turn it down.
Of course, what I would really like to do is give up work altogether. I wouldn’t get bored at all. (I can’t understand people who say they would carry on working if they won the lottery). I wouldn’t sit around on my arse, of course. I’d travel and read and cook and build a house and learn more languages and grow my own vegetables and spend more time with my family and friends … and many more things besides.
*Sigh*. It’s not going to happen, is it? I don’t even do the lottery.
Gonna stopping blethering now and quickly check my Facebook page before I log off. I’m currently being thrashed by Mathschick at Scrabulous, but have just managed to beat another one of my friends (a right cocky little so-and-so who deserves all he gets) by a decent margin. Good stuff.
Goodnight everyone!
Uncle Norman replied:
SG
Cheer up chicken, life is never that bad, although you seem to have had a steady drip of grief and aggravation which is enough to wear anyone down.
Its is hard to remember that the objective was to drain the swamp when you are up to your neck in crocodiles.
You are not blethering. This is your blog about you and what is going on with you. If we weren’t interested we wouldn’t read it. I cant do sod all to help but that doesn’t mean to say we don’t care.
Second thing. I think you are saying what lots of people feel but don’t always say. There are times when we all feel as if we are in a rut or boxed in. Every job has its good and bad points. There ain’t no such thin as a free lunch.
Third thing. Why dont you think about abig change. You are here for a good time not a long time. Jeez, I wish I had a quid for every bloke I knew who had bust his brains worrying about his pension, savings and peps and all that crap who is now pushing up daisys.
I have done a load of jobs in France and Spain and more recently Bulgaria where people have gone in search of the good life. Sadly for a lot of them it does not work out because they are not going to something but running away from their problems, but by the same token there are lots of people who make a real go of it. Why not look at the possibility of making a break. I have real good friend who has lived in the Pyrenees with his wife and kids for about 12 years. I am sure would be would be happy to advise you if you wanted to look at making a change. If you are interested drop me an email and I will send you his details.
Anyway even if you stay in Blighty, the summer will soon be here and the sky will be blue and the sun will shine from April to September.
Always the optimist.
Dont let the bastard grind you down.
UN
xx
March 6, 2008 at 5:29 pm. Permalink.
Masher replied:
Yeah, what Uncle Norman said.
March 6, 2008 at 8:52 pm. Permalink.
Mya replied:
Yeah, what Uncle Norman said too. What a lovely comment. What does ESOL stand for?
Chin up sweetie.
Mya x
March 6, 2008 at 10:20 pm. Permalink.
Lis of the North replied:
I’m not sick of you moaning about your job. That’s part of the point of having a blog, isn’t it, so you can give forth from time to time? I hope something more fulfilling turns up for you soon. Fulfilling and sufficiently remunerated to keep paying the bills!
I did enjoy a smile at your uni boozing memories. Gah! Fizzy, cheap Lambrusco. In 1 litre bottles. It was like lemonade that stuff. Complete with screw cap and all. xx
March 9, 2008 at 3:00 pm. Permalink.
Brennig replied:
I’ve done the living abroad thing - both types: living abroad/working abroad for a foreign (local) employer and living abroad/not working while I sat on top of a mountain in Spain and wrote for a living.
Both are fun and should be considered. Neither is easy (the latter is the harder of the pair).
The TEFL qualification is highly regarded, even overseas, though my ex manages a decent income teaching English and Spanish in a qualificationless kind of way.
Happy to discuss experiences and advise - but I get the sense that your discontent is as widespread now as it was a year ago?
March 9, 2008 at 6:20 pm. Permalink.
stratfordgirl replied:
Dear all,
Thanks for all your lovely comments. I hope you didn’t think that I was about to slit my wrists (I wasn’t). I’m just a moany cow sometimes, but generally only for a short time and then I feel a lot better once I’ve got it all out of my system. Although it might not seem like it (as I frequently use the blog to rant), I am actually quite optimistic and happy generally!
SG
xx
Uncle/ Brennig/ Masher:
Thank you for your lovely comments/ offers of help and advice! Going abroad is indeed an option. The world is my oyster, in fact.
Lis: So it wasn’t just me and my mates then! Long live Lambrusco! Do you know what percentage alcohol it is? I’m sure I’d hate it if I had some now!
Mya: ESOL is English for speakers of other languages. Similar to TEFL, but generally ESOL is for people who have settled in an English speaking country, whereas TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) is for people who are learning it in their own country or who are in the English speaking country for a short course. (There is much overlap, however). I have done both. Currently I’m teaching ESOL, and in the past taught EFL abroad.
March 11, 2008 at 5:48 pm. Permalink.
Despina replied:
I am doing EFL this summer in Torino. Unofficially. Wonder if you have any tips? The details are all on my blog.
March 14, 2008 at 2:45 pm. Permalink.
stratfordgirl replied:
Does this mean you’re blogging again? Hooray! I’ll pop over to your place now.
Spending the summer in Italy sounds very exciting … you’ll be fluent in Italian by the time you come back!
March 14, 2008 at 5:21 pm. Permalink.