Anyone who has ever had a report or piece of written work reviewed by me will know what I'm like with red pen. Some people would consider me pedantic: one once asked whether I'd ever read Eats Shoots and Leaves (which I hadn't at the time. I have now and spent most of the time laughing as it is so me).
It is not surprising perhaps then that my latest idea for earning some money on a self-employed basis and working from home, is to become a proof-reader. The problem is the number of courses on the internet. Type in 'proof reading courses' and hundreds of options come up. How on earth does one decide which are the worthwhile ones, and which result in qualifications at which any decent publisher would turn up his or her nose? Fortunately I remembered that a Dutch friend is a proof-reader, so I asked her, and she had the good idea of approaching publishers to see whether they would just try me out anyway, and also to ask what courses they would recommend.
It's been a week and a half since I last wrote here and not only has the proof-reading idea bubbled up. I had the idea of writing a book jointly with Running Friend C (I need to write up a run so we can compare notes); and I've finished my gardening article, which is now ready to be sent out into the wide world to see how it fares. I need to find a gardening magazine for idiots though as the one I currently have in my possession - a BBC publication I believe - only contains articles about huge gardens which are all obviously managed by people who know exactly what they are doing. Unlike me: our pond looks very strange at the moment, following my having dropped some algae-killer-stuff into it. It's very clear but also all the remaining algae round the edges is obvious. I've now ordered some organic barley bales as they are meant to be the answer: apparently snails aren't as they can end up being more of a pest than an advantage.
The compost heap is however now, I think, finally sorted. I can't remember whether I wrote about the smelly job of moving it out of a plastic 'bin' into an open wooden one, and off the concrete slabs. It was disgusting and made me retch: fortunately Wonderful Husband did it second time round. I am hoping that finally, in a few months' time, we will have our own compost rather than a smelly decaying wet mess. Yuck.
Besides the garden we've also had the entire In-Laws family to stay as we had a big party at the weekend, and for some moments Wonderful Husband became Very Annoying Husband Who Arranges Things Without Consulting Me. I love them to bits and I enjoy having them: for a time. I have to say it was nice to get the house back. They're all very messy which upsets my feng shui anti-clutter (some would say retentive) nature and I did get a little fed up of 3 excited small boys throwing the dolls' house furniture down the (dolls' house) stairs and asking to play on the X-box at 7 a.m. But Son (one of the 3 excited small boys) in particular loves having them here. Daughter's a little less sure though goodness knows why as she can be more boisterous and aggressive than the lot of them.
What I am meant to be doing, of course, is looking for a new job. I find myself in a bit of a dilemma though. The more I think about it the more I want to be self-employed and work at least some of the time from home: to be my own boss. However it is incumbent upon me as a 'JobSeeker' to look for work: which is fair enough and exactly the criterion I would apply if I ruled the world. I think training for new careers counts but I'm not sure whether writing books and articles does... I'm meant to make at least 3 speculative approaches per week (I've exceeded that) and check various websites (easy enough except am I meant to apply for jobs which might just vaguely be suitable? For example should I be applying for jobs paying a lot less and doing something - goodness me! - like Residential Estate Management?). Also I really don't want to work more than 2 or 3 days per week as once both children are at school that then gives me 3 or 2 days to build up my writing, proof-reading, teaching English.... Hey ho. I'm sure they'll tell me if they think I shouldn't get the dosh any longer.
I find the whole signing-on process somewhat demoralising as well, and not a little surreal. I have to say the staff and the buildings nowadays are very pleasant, and it's particularly good that one doesn't have to sit around waiting for hours in some dingy and bare pre-war building: when you have an appointment you are seen more-or-less on time (Sensible Husband did point out that that may no longer be the case after the Election when a whole load of public sector cuts have been made and JobCentres become short-staffed) and there is even carpet on the floor.
The other surreal place is near Forest Head. Fit Husband decided to go for a run up there, the morning I was annoyed with him, and I went too. There's a wide area of disused small quarries with workings which have more-or-less returned to nature and bits and pieces of ruined buildings. It wasn't difficult to imagine the echoes of people who lived and worked up there: there was a cottage where the remains of an old iron stove could still be seen, but the roof was open to the sky and the floors had long gone. Who lived there? What did they feel; what drove them? Where did they go and why did the house get left? And what happened on the day the quarries closed: did they all close at once? Was there a stream of people who left, never to return? The entire area was sad and lonely and echoed silently with the noises which once would have been so loud and busy: a ghost town.
The quarries probably became uneconomic, which brings me on to tomorrow's General Election. Who will get in? Who is going to do what to the economy of this island over the next few years? We'll wait and see.
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