ah TFC, that takes me back! Are they still going?Originally Posted by Derby Tup
ah TFC, that takes me back! Are they still going?
I've recently been diagnosed with having a DVT ( blood clot ) in my leg and have had to take a few half days off for hospital appointments as well as a couple of days off sick.
My caring employers response ' oh you have breached the sick trigger,number of days off in a year'
My response ' I'll get a sick note for three months and to hell with the consequences.
Live to work not work to live for me every time. My health is more important than any job
What an interesting thread...I qualified 14 years ago (round about this time of year funnily enough) as a Chartered Surveyor in rural practice (fields and trees rather than bricks and mortar) and was in private practice for a while. I married again in 2005 and made the move to Ireland where job opportunities were very poor for my profession, but my new wife wnated to be nearer to the bloodstock industry in which she was working, so I freelanced and we sort of got by...
So as I approach 40 with two marriages behind me, sitting now in an office doing a lowly paid admin job that a 20 year old would find easy, I do wonder about routes/paths that I can take (not should have taken...no point casting backwards).
I'm in the process of selling our house in Ireland (2nd ex is getting 60%), having dropped c. £90000 since we bought at the height of the market five years ago, so the chances of me buying will be next to zero. So renting is the only option. Having come back from Co Cork nearly two years ago, I've been living with family which has been cheap but I cna find it frustrating and quite solitary (5000+ acres of pine forest out the back door does have pros and cons). But I should have a small pot of cash when all is said and done, so post-grad training appeals...conservation management or the like, and then look at finding myself an interesting niche.
Still on the plus side, I think that I feel younger than ten years ago thanks to my running and love of the outdoors and rural sports, as well having the company of people younger than myself; one is off to teach climbing in an American summer camp, then is off to Norway to read for a Masters'...I'm not considering going to such lengths, but as someone says on here "the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step"...
So many thanks to all those who have posted and let's see if we can use this thread as a means of both supporting and inspiring for those of us who have running and the outdoors at the core of their being, and are wondering just how they can make a move that will not put them at [too much] of a disadvantage..."glass half full, not half empty"
Regards
Barty
indeed squire, well said
I've recently been diagnosed with having a DVT ( blood clot ) in my leg and have had to take a few half days off for hospital appointments as well as a couple of days off sick.
My caring employers response ' oh you have breached the sick trigger,number of days off in a year'
My response ' I'll get a sick note for three months and to hell with the consequences.
Live to work not work to live for me every time. My health is more important than any job
oops, I meant work to live and not live to worksee,I'm getting all stressed now !
Things are more in balance than they used to be.
For 20 years, I was a lawyer in Leeds. For the last 4 years, after 1 of my partners went down the slot with a brain tumour, on of my roles was sorting out the messes that my firm's lawyers got the firm into. Grim stuff. Listening to allegedly intelligent people (my own people) defending the indefensible got to me. Other stuff did too. And although the money was good by most standards, it wasn't great by industry standards. Stress levels were pretty high, most of the time. If I wasn't arguing with another lawyer, I was arguing with my own partners and staff.
I quit at the end of 2008. I now work 3 days a week for the largest regional medical research charity in the country. My work is taxing and stimulating. My income fell by two thirds, but we worked out we could manage, and we do. Only the ex-wife is unhappy.
I get time to train, not that performance is improving! But it means I can think about undertaking challenges that wouldn't have got a look in otherwise.
Having been a slave to clients and the clock for years, I'd saved a few bob, which suddenly was earning 'nowt. We've invested it in a campervan. VW Type 2s are good for lowering stress levels.
Change is invigorating, mentally and physically.
The results of to much work and not enough play can be quite severe for some, i feel lucky that my employer has an understanding of these things and as such does not place unreasonable demands on my time. It has not always been like this, so i now never work overtime, i don't talk about work and manage not to allow it into my thoughts when not working.
Fell running is number 2 in my life, it comes after my family.
Life is just a bowl of all bran.
No... I read it somewhere else but it's definately true in my case. Just look at what I've bought this month! (bear in mind all paid for with cash, not credit).
Some Kiwi friends of mine bought a campervan, went round Europe for 6 months and then sold the van on for a profit.... Go figure...
Wow, some awesome comments on this thread, thanks guys and girls for your top input.
My motto has been:
it's better to have tried and learned
than not to have tried at all.
Similar to previous but maybe different and +ve
My story (please don't b bored 5hitless!) - well I guess I was (un)lucky as my dad died when I was 16 before he'd retired and that really taught me to CHOOSE to value life and not watch it go by at 100 mph. To choose quality time.
So, I worked for the public sector for 15 years, took the money and ran. Worked in different public sector for a few years, went p/t, and after about 7 years took the money and ran again and moved up to the Pennines, a dream come true. I guess I got to aged 40 tho before I realsied about positivity, destiny and choices, and I mean, CHOICES. There's far too many victims in this world that want my simpathy for them choosing to be pathetic victim/martyr, and d'you know what, they're not going to get it 'cos we all have choice, a wonderful aspect of life.
So I moved to Hebden after learning lots and lots about my particular area about the public sector sphere I'd worked in for quite a while. My specialism and good people and communication skills made me realise that I needed to be a consultant and offer services, flexibilities that big companies cannot offer. Result, I earn silly money daily rate, work what days I choose, at the mo from home and I'm not worried at all 'cos I know I have to be good at what I do. What's the worst that can happen, I'll have to get a job cleaning out shithouses like I started on the railway before ending up as Virgin Pricing Manager.
So I guess, I did go from negatve miserable envious jealous git to +ve thinking the world is my oyster git!
Live the dream, go go go for it, you only get one chance..............
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