Chitchat
A Meldrew moment
Feb 11th
We’re currently looking for another house to rent in Frome, as our landlords have decided to sell up. It’s not nice having to face the prospect of packing up when you’re happily settled somewhere, but the situation isn’t exactly helped by the attitude of many letting agencies when they ask about your personal circumstances. It goes like this:
‘Are you in full-time employment?’
‘No, we’re both self-employed.’
Pause…‘Self-employed?’
‘Yes.’
Pause…‘Ah…have you been self-employed for more than three years?’
‘My partner has, but I haven’t.’
Pause…’Ah…because you see you’re supposed to… blah blah’
Now I’m fully aware they have a duty to protect their clients’ interests by making sure we aren’t a couple of swindlers who would move in and then never pay a penny of rent, but what difference does it make if you can prove you’re in full-time employment when you apply? You could give up work or get the sack the day after being given the go-ahead, and have no money at all.
We have the capital from our last house sale and are working hard on building what we fully intend will be very profitable businesses, but we are treated as undesirable because we don’t work for someone else or have three years books.
Just another symptom of how the system is still set up for a disappeared way of life. Governments have paid lip service for years to the idea of enterprise, self-employment and small business, but I’ll take them seriously when a self-employed person isn’t automatically treated as a bad risk when applying for a mortgage or to rent a property. You could argue quite the opposite case to my mind.
OK, thanks for reading, I feel a bit better now.
Decisions, decisions
Jan 20th
Today I need to take some of my own advice, as outlined in my book about working from home in the chapter on productivity, to decide what to work on first. There are so many things I’d like to get done, preferably now, straightaway, this minute, that it’s hard to plump for one and just concentrate on it.
Sometimes it’s very clear what needs to be my priority, other times I pick one thing and as I do it, in the back of my mind I’m thinking I should be doing something else! For example, I’ve been leaving the dreaded search engine optimisation (SEO) to the bottom of the list for ages, because I couldn’t get a grip on where to start.
I’ve wondered about paying someone else to do it, then changed my mind, and finally bought a copy of Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day
I think it’s easier to decide on priorities when you work with other people, as there’s often a common goal or deadline to work to. When you’re on your own it’s harder to make a decision. So when I’ve finished this post I’m going to prioritise the jobs, start with the most urgent and put the rest firmly out of my mind.
Closed for Christmas
Dec 24th
Last night we arrived home after a short visit to my parents in Lincolnshire. We managed to avoid the traffic hold-ups so many people have experienced due to the cold weather, accidents and number of cars on the road, but it was still an eventful trip.
We left at 7.30 on Monday morning after overnight snow, and the windscreen washer remained obstinately frozen for the first 80 miles, which meant several stops to wash away the mud and salt spray. I’d never have believed how happy I could be to see the first feeble drops of water spray up onto the windscreen! On the way back we drove through just about every kind of weather possible, from bright sunshine to freezing fog, rain and snow. To think we originally decided to make the trip then as the chances of bad weather are so much higher after Christmas!
I am about to close my laptop for the break, so it just remains to wish all home workers a peaceful and relaxing Christmas, followed by a happy and profitable New Year. Whole new decade in fact! We can take comfort in the knowledge we are well-placed to ride all the changes the coming years will bring.
Pet hates
May 29th
Yet another advantage of working from home is that it’s easier to have people to stay – as long as they understand you do actually work, that is, and aren’t there purely to act as their host and guide.
This week we have had a very easy guest for a couple of nights. My cousin has been judging cheese at the Bath and West Show and over supper one night our conversation somehow turned to the subject of pet hates, a very satisfying way to spend time. In fact I’d recommend it as a great way to get conversation and hilarity flowing, as long as everybody present understands that pet hates are so violently irrational and personal that something you loathe may be passionately loved, or never even noticed, by other people.
I’ve collected a few to give you the idea -
Boys’ jeans worn with the waistband below non-existent buttocks
Wallpaper
Builder’s tea
DIY stores
Marzipan and icing
Talk radio DJs
Honda Goldwing motorbikes
White walls
‘Going forward’
Weak tea
Moulded plastic garden furniture
Fruit cake
Once you get started, you might find it hard to stop!
