Unemployed, but not homeless

I'm unemployed, for the first time since 1981.  Technically, I'm 'retired', but I've just given up the day job to concentrate on - oh, that's right, having a life.  I joined the public service first in 1978, it was my third full time job after being rejected for a job as a data processor (those were the days) in 1976 because I was only young, had a boyfriend and "was likely to get married and have children". I kid you not. 

My Dad was beside himself with joy when I said I had a permanent public service job.  He impressed upon me that the superannuation was wonderful and that I would retire on a good income.  As a 20 year old, I could really grasp the concept of being retirement age.  Damn it, he was right. 

The workplace was a different world back then.  People smoked at their desks and anywhere else they liked.  The cleaner used to regularly vacuum around another staff member who would crash on the floor behind his desk after a big night at the pub, he would emerge from his sleeping bag about 9ish and get on with the day. It had only been 12 years since married women were not allowed to work in the public service, up until 1966 you had to resign when you got married. ( I guess that made the whole maternity leave thing moot.)  We worked without a calculator, let alone a computer, and data went off to be 'input' into the computer.  There was no freedom of information, no equal opportunity, occupational health and safety was casual at best. Statistics happened somewhere else.

But there was a transparent selection process, a career structure, promotion prospects.  Training was

a new work in progress

delivered professionally in person BEFORE you were let loose on the public.  You had to know what you were doing, because there was no computer to say 'no'. I made friends who have been my friends for the rest of my life.  Loyalty and hard work were valued and rewarded.

There are some people who say that if they won Lotto they would keep working, because they wouldn't know what to do.  In my view those people should not be allowed to play, because wealth would be wasted on them.  I barely had time to go to work, so many things to do, places to go, people to see.  Work was seriously inhibiting my social life.  I didn't win Lotto, but I have a lot to do and enough to do it with.

And suddenly Mondays have been reinvented as a day worth getting up for.

How many shopping days to Xmas?

February. So soon.

The reviews for January are in. Pretty good, all things considered. Number of cyclones in Albany - 0. Sunny days - check. Some refreshing rain - check. Holidays - love 'em. Public holidays - need more of them! The start of the working year - overrated as a concept. The people who say they would keep working if they won Lotto? Shouldn't be allowed to buy a ticket. They are getting in my way.

The big questions of the month - Why can't we have a long weekend for Australia Day? And when did Australia Day become the national drinking holiday? St Patrick's Day, now that's a drinking holiday. The Australia Day long weekend used to be the last family long weekend of the Summer - last chance to get to the beach, before school starts. From there to newspapers full of full page ads for booze - yep, that's a step forward in nation-building.

This was the week when the cyclone didn't here but did over there. I got the distinct impression that the commercial media were actually disappointed that it went as well as it did - not quite enough mayhem, all too well organised, no-one to point a finger at. My boycott of the commercial media rolls on - thank you, thank you ABC and SBS. The disappearance of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert is, however, deeply troubling. I miss you, boys.


The op-shop and general scavenging scene has been a bit average so far this year, but things seem to be on the up and up.

Friday, a good haul including a small Gocco printer - a type of screen printer, very hard to come by indeed, quite expensive and hard to get. This one virtually brand spanking new - OK, so some of the instructions are in Japanese, but I am fairly sure the internet will provide the equivalent of Gocco 1.1. A globe of the world, an interesting book on using markers in art, a haul of Raymond E Feist books for the son and heir. Half a bootload, a yummy lunch. A good end to a tiring week.

Saturday, hardly any garage sales, but what there were, were choice. I was sad to leave the slabs of 1930's jarrah, but seriously, even I couldn't manage them. There were a few other classics though-I am formulating a cunning plan.