The good morning, good night thread

[Geoff_N]

Yeah, and you don't need to crit my Auditory Crescendo story, Delph - as you already have

It's funny meeting folk on different forums - you, ~bint, del, and others. It's like catching different buses but seeing the same passengers. ummmm, a story idea simmers...

Geoff

[Ed]

Beautiful day today - warm, sunny, not a cloud in the sky. Makes it all the harder to go back to work tomorrow, doesn't it?

[Ed]

What to do. Work has officially dried up - I've got about three day's worth left with my regular clients, and I've had to lay off my employees, because there's nothing left for them to do.

We've known this was coming for a few weeks now, and I was actually looking forward to having a few weeks, or maybe even months, off to concentrate on finishing my house, and on writing a novel. I'm in the fortunate position of being able to afford it, because I've managed to save a bit, plus I did better than expected on the last contract.

Now comes the dilemma. A friend of mine works for a different company that does more up market work. He's soon going to be moving to Spain. Their other main man is moving to Canada. And they want me to take their place. And because it's up market work, it isn't affected by the current credit crunch and slump in property prices, so there's lots to do.

Trouble is, I'd have to start right away, otherwise somebody else will step in and the opportunity won't arise again. So instead of the nice break I was looking forward to, I'm going to be chasing my tail until Chirstmas, and probably beyond

Mustn't grumble....

[SamLeeFreak]

The new tree came today! Now, in three to five years, we'll have delicious cherries.  We have another cherry tree, but that one isn't edible for humans. Next we're getting a peach tree!

[Ed]

We've got an ornamental cherry tree out front. It's beautiful for about a week every year, and if we leave our bedroom window open the fragrance from the blossom fills the room and delicate pink petals litter the floor like confetti. The rest of the year it's just an ugly tree, and it doesn't even have cherries on it. Seems fairly pointless when you can get cherry trees that produce cherries.

In the back garden we've got a bramley apple tree, two purple plum trees and one golden plum tree, two pear trees and two eating apple trees (not sure what variety they are). This in addition to  a couple of buddleas (sp?) a weeping willow (my favourite useless tree) and a eucalyptus. Heh - nearly forgot the two hazel trees.

I love home grown fruit. I like trees a lot, too

I'd love to be able to grow peaches - that'd be great. We don't have the climate for it, though.

[RichardP]

So Ed, what did you decide? Take the contract?

[Ed]

I don't know, TBH. I think I'm going to have to take it. Opportunities like this don't come along very often, so to turn it down would be verging on foolhardy, especially considering the current climate and the shape of things to come. It's not just this year I've got to think about, but the next five or ten. It's really annoying though - financially speaking I'd be ok without working until at least next february. And to add insult to injury this new work is going to take up even more of my time than the old one, pay slightly less for more hours, plus the client isn't a regular payer - blood and stones spring to mind.

[canadian]

That's a real tough call you're gonna have to make, Ed. My first reaction when I read about the offer from your peer was 'suck it up'! I mean, work's work and when you don't have it, it's scary. But after reading about the client ... sheesh. Take the work until it ends, hope it's all paid for and THEN take the break???

[delboy]

My advice would be to take it. As already said, work is work, and however grim life is with it, it gets even grimmer without it. I'm finding out right now how annoying it is to be so busy (without extra pay) that many other things in life have to be put on hold. One starts to look at one's priorities and say things like "This isn't right..." but then another bill comes through the letter box (and those things - bills, not letter boxes - ain't getting any smaller) and one realises that it's the nature of the beast.

And you're not losing the option of any time off. It it turns out to be the wrong choice there'll no doubt be a get-out position somewhere along the line and then you can take your time off!

Del

[Geoff_N]

My advice is the opposite of Del's  But to be serious unless you are desperate for the cash, and you aren't because if you were you couldn't have been looking forward to a few weeks writing and relaxing. My advice is to take the time off from work for a short while. Forget the house decorating stuff too. Chill out, take time while you can and are fit and able enough to enjoy it. I wish I'd did more - take the odd day week month. Especially to do the stuff like I did yesterday. Piqued? Have a quick look at my blog and the link within in http://geoffnelder.wordpress.com/ for today.

I'm getting a bit rickety for that kind of walk now although I feel quite good today apart from blister and thigh muscles screamng for a lie down.

Geoff

[delph_ambi]

Geoff, you are SO LUCKY to be able to go walking there. *sigh*

Drum is one of my favourite mountains. The views... just magnificent. Haven't been there since I was seventeen, but it's still vivid. I've 'borrowed' one of your photos (yet again) for my wallpaper. 

[delboy]

My advice is to take the time off from work for a short while. Forget the house decorating stuff too. Chill out, take time while you can and are fit and able enough to enjoy it. I wish I'd did more - take the odd day week month.

Geoff is, of course, quite right. The only reason I've posted anything here today is because I got angry at the work commitments that are encroaching on my personal passions and have been determined to take five today. Alas, I'll now be working late to make up for all these fives .

And in the end that's the key. We all see things from our own perspective, and mine may be very different to Ed's. Hopefully in years to come it'll change...

Depressed Del

[Ed]

Yeah, it's difficult to know where to draw the life/work line sometimes. Thing is, as I get older, I realise that there are whole years that I can't remember anything about, other than perhaps a holiday, or a job I worked on. It's not just one or two years, either - I'm talking the best part of a decade.

Back in the early nineties, Britain was still in the throes of a bad recession, and I suddenly got a big payout from a job that I had done a couple years prior that the clients refused to pay for. I cleared 3.5k from it at a time when I was scratching around for work and had been for quite a while - at least a year to 18 mths. We hummed and hawed about it for a while, but in the end we threw caution to the wind and took a three week fly drive around California, Arizona, New Mexico, etc. Had a blast. It's something we both remember vividly and still talk about. It was money well spent.

The way that I see it is life, in the end, when all's said and done, is a collection of experiences and memories. What we should be doing, if we're smart, is working just enough to afford a little adventure from time to time, have some of the things we want, go to some of the places we've never been to. There's no point in saving all your pennies for tomorrow, because today is just as important, if not more so - today you have your health, your friends, your family - there's no guarantee you'll have any of it tomorrow.

[canadian]

So, you're not taking on the new work then, Ed?

[Geoff_N]

Morning all.
My upper thigh muscles conspired against me yesterday in protest at making them hike so much in the mountains on Monday. I've talked them into cooperating a bit today but it is apparent that muscles used in hiking are not the same as in biking.

Geoff