Unemployment Update

The job-hunting continues to go well; so far I have avoided any form of gainful employment, and this looks set to continue well into the summer. The strategy I use is this: the Jobfinder comes out on Tuesdays and Fridays; I have elected to only buy it once every few weeks, so as not to stress myself too much. On buying the Belfast Telegraph containing the Jobfinder, I separate out the main bit of the paper and do the crossword. The Jobfinder then stays on the dining room table, so that I can browse it while I have dinner; in the event, of course, it gets used as a placemat. Once it has accumulated enough bits of food to be hazardous, I throw it out.

By this method, I have so far been able to avoid applying for a single job, or, indeed, even reading an advert, thinking, 'oh, that looks interesting', and circling it.

So I remain gainfully unemployed. Of course, when you are unemployed, word gets around, and you soon find yourself as busy as when you had a job, except that you don't get paid (or if you do, it's in promises of a cup of coffee next time you feel up to it). Everyone thinks 'oh, I wish I had someone to help with that' and then instead of shrugging the thought off and doing it themselves, they think 'oh, maybe WhyNotSmile would like to help', and hence you end up doing all sorts of exciting things and being naive enough to feel pleasure at being asked.

I continue to help with the Parent and Toddlers group in church; we have renamed it 'Tots & Co.' (on account of 'Parents' not featuring heavily in the array of adults who bring children along) and I have helped to develop a logo, so I really am earning my cup of tea and half a pancake every week. I also help with a creche; owing to this, I am now well-informed on Dora, the Tombliboos and even Ben 10, which is getting into die-hard kids' TV territory; thus we see that it can hardly be said that time off is time wasted, and I shall treat myself to another Jobfinder-free week.