Moving on in Hello.

As you all know, I love the great outdoors. Living on the doorstep of the beautiful Lake District means I have lakes and mountains galore within a ten minute drive of my house. Since I graduated, I’ve had a hankering to do something in among it, never sure what, perhaps teaching or being a guide or whatever. I thought that when I passed my driving test the world would become my oyster. But no, the jobs still allude me. I don’t have enough experience or I haven’t had my driving licence for long enough or I can’t take enough time off work to do the necessary voluntary work to get me on the right track. I’m 43, and while I’m aware this isn’t particularly old, it also means I’ll be 20 years older than most graduates who are looking into going into the same field. I’ve looked at environmentjobs, National Trust, RSPB, LDNPA, FSC, Forestry Commission, Wildlife Trust etc. etc. at least once a fortnight since I graduated over 9 years ago. If I could live off an apprentice’s wage, I’d be fine. If I could live in somewhere, there’d be stuff within my sector. But this isn’t to be. Family, the need for money and stability and my lack of experience all count against me. So I’ve decided to give up looking. Now, I’m not maudlin about it, but I’m also not going to bust a gut thinking about it. If something comes up, I’ll grab it with both hands. It’s wearing me down…I’ve fired off so many CVs in the past 9 years, with hardly any response, or the offers of jobs in lesser roles that I’m sick of it.
I don’t know what I want to do ultimately. I love my job where I am, don’t get me wrong. It a great shop with a lovely customer base, my colleagues are all really nice (we regularly go out for social drinks or meals and we’re always laughing and joking whilst at work), it’s literally a stone’s throw from my house and my boss is super nice and flexible. I’d quite happily work there for many years. But it’s not what’s going to make me happy forever, if you catch my drift. I’d be quite happy living in a little crofter’s cottage somewhere, being self sufficient and making money from my crafting. Wouldn’t we all love to do that though? Of course it’s merely a pipe dream. I can see us, John with his little fishing boat, me doing craft fairs, living off our own produce....happy sigh! I’ve had many ideas going through my head…I’d like to run my own tipi glamping park, I’d love to do dog grooming (get my doggy fix without actually owning a dog!), I’d love to run a craft co-operative, I’d love to run my own wool shop, I’d love to help John set up his own second hand book business....all these things I’ve thought about, weighing up the pros and cons in my head, done the research into it, then realised I had neither the money nor the time to start the ball rolling. I’m sure it’s just human nature and I’m not alone in this!
As it happens, John and I are going to have a look at our finances after Christmas and do some number crunching and see about actually buying a house. This is the first time both of us are working full time and have enough money coming in that we can actually put some aside every month. The other day I found a sweet little ex-authority house that we could potentially afford. It looked clean and tidy, but need some cosmetic work doing to it. It looked liveable, but it obviously had an elderly lady living in it on her own and it hadn’t been decorated since about 1977. It’s good to know that there are actually properties in this town we could potentially afford.
As an aside, our local council, in their infinite wisdom, have decided to start building a new housing estate by the side of one of the little becks that flow through the cemetery and the town. People question why the town is flooding more and more frequently, saying we should be dredging the river (it has been), better flood defences should be put in (they’re already about 12 feet high in some places....any higher and no one will be able to see the rivers!) but they fail to see the bigger picture. Remove the soil, remove the trees, increase the concrete and the amount of waste water produced and add that to a river that’s already struggling, you’re just asking for trouble. I do wonder sometimes what clowns we have running our council and why the Environment Agency haven’t stepped in and told them what morons they are. Urgh.

Last updated September 25, 2016