Gossip

I found out today that a former colleague has divorced and remarried.

It's none of my business to know why, but one is curious, nosey. The new wife is another colleague. Did he split with his first wife just so that he could have her?

So I guiltily ask someone what happened.

It turns out that it was his first wife that had been seeing someone else - the butch female security guard (who was supposed to have been 'doing it' with the female CEO for some time). So my colleague had been patiently and silently suffering for many years. I still don't know the order f events, but knowing a bit more of the circumstances I am less inclined to jump to conclusions than I was to start with.

Gossip is bad, but in this instance stopped me from misjudging someone.

(Plus it's another case of a homosexual trying to get along in a heterosexual marriage and surprise surprise, it doesn't work)

Need a new client VIII

I am now well into my period with my current (short term) client. It's nice work - a steady plod that doesn't take too much thought, with some local site visits to check on the stuff I am putting on the plan.

But it's only for two weeks.

There is a possible one week extension if the client gets the funding.

But then after that I will be out on my ear again.

The good news is that the work I am currently doing will still earn me more in the month than had I stayed as an employee rather than becoming freelance. But it's not enough to meet my bills (which is why I went freelance in the first place.)

I know that I am surrounded by people being made redundant, but I can't help thinking that they are better off than me since they qualify for all kinds of state aid, which I don't. Plus I have no savings to fall back on (my fault). Plus I have seven kids to feed.

So I still need prayer for the situation to be resolved.

Colossians 4

My talk to the church's Bible study group on Colossians 4 seems to have gone down OK. At least being off work gave me the chance to get the job done.

Better news

Tomorrow I start work again! Five days of unemployment is enough. Financially it has been OK since my parents are bailing me out, but this obviously can't go on for ever. So it was great to phone them and tell them the news. But its also good to be going back to work anyway. I have tried to make my days useful, job hunting in the morning and doing housework or company paperwork in the afternoon. But it really is impossible to stick to that when you have a wife and baby. The baby obviously has to take priority some of the time, but it is exceedingly frustrating when the wife delegates her own jobs to you just because you are around. And you can tell her to take a running jump, but then she doesn't believe you when you say you love her. So it will be great to go back to work and actually work! I suppose these tensions are natural.

The work I will be doing is unfortunately only for two weeks, so I still need a new client. It is an extension of work that I was doing last summer and autumn for the local council. They had previously told me that for political and contractual reasons they couldn't give me the work, but they seem to have got over that.

I applied for one particularly good job, which I got all excited about and thought this must be the Lord's will, but unfortunately I missed out on that one too.

The good thing is that these circumstances have forced me to register my CV with just about every agency in the UK, so hopefully the future will be full of people offering me jobs, once the market picks up again. For now, although I am back with an old client on an old job, they have been required a negotiate a re-rate with me, and of course this was downwards, not up!

Any way, I have two weeks work before I start panicking again.