Carriage clock for Travellin' Bob!
When I were a lad, starting out on this working life, I had a couple of summer holiday factory jobs. They were easy enough, not too taxing for a strong and healthy 16 - 17 year old, but not without incident. In the first one, on my fourth day I had a serious accident and cut three finger tips off. They were re-attached and I've had no issues with them in the 50 years since, but it wasn't pleasant. The following year I took a job elsewhere, got through the whole summer safe and sound, but my best mate, who I had known since we were about 3, managed to drop some sheet aluminum on his leg and snapped it just below the knee joint - three months in hospital with a bolt through his knee and a network of cables keeping it in position while it slowly healed. He too made a complete recovery.
Both experiences convinced me that factory work was not for me. So when I left school later in 1970, a callow 17 year old country boy, I managed to get a job as a filing clerk at a stockbroker in London. Not just any old broker, but the third biggest on the Exchange with royalty amongst its client base (oh, and the Vatican Bank). My parents were as pleased as punch: me, a council house kid with only 4 O-levels, not a single A-level and never even considered for college, never mind Uni - not the done thing then - getting a job in the Square Mile.
They saw this as a brilliant career, a job I could stay in for life, earn shed loads of money and in due course walk away from the City with my head held high, a respected member of the community and my retirement gift, a gold watch or carriage clock, under my arm.
oooooooOooooooo
Of course, it never worked out like that.
The world and business ethics changed. Like the dodo or effective government in Britain, the "job for life" disappeared. I've been working since 1970, and in that time have in all honesty lost count of the number of jobs, permanent, temporary or as a self employed contractor, I've had. I stayed in my first job for nine and half years, and in another for a little over 13 - that makes nearly 23 years. I've been self employed for nearly 6 years now (though it seems less) - so close to 29 years easily accounted for. But for the rest - 21 or thereabouts - there are probably another 4 or 5 jobs lasting between 2 and 5 years and a host of short term, low paid and unpensioned jobs. Many of the companies no longer exist - taken over by other firms, bankrupt or simply interesting business ventures that never succeeded. And at least 5 years unemployed and drawing benefit or more recently (during my self employment, when contracts inevitably sometimes dry up) depleting savings.
Savings that were meant to look after me and mine in retirement.
Add to that legislative changes that have built up and subsequenty moved the goalposts, often confusingly, in the UK pensions industry, and I am resigned to having a hopefully long but not particularly affluent old age.
And not a carriage clock in sight.
oooooooOooooooo
So anyway.
Here I am, 66 years old, My last contract finished 6 months ago, somewhat earlier than expected, and I've been at home, sans income, ever since. It was never likely I would find anything new immediately, given that few projects actually start in Q4 of any year, so I was prepared for that and enjoyed the down time with my beloveds. I got my Warsaw City OAP Travel Card (incredible value) and have enjoyed having a look around, seeking out coffee shops and bookstores, re-visiting some of the old haunts (at least those still open), and catching up with old friends, other ex-pats in the same boat as me, for a Grumpy Old Men chinwag over coffee and pierogi at one of the city's many shopping malls.
Come January, I thought, new deals will be signed and those recently signed in Q4 will ramp up and start hiring. There will be contracts aplenty.
Well, no actually. In the event it hasn't worked out quite like that. Despite regular and frequent dialogue with my agencies, I have had not a single offer so far this year. Hardly even a sniff. It seems the market for my particular skillset is dormant right now - it happens and it's not been the first time. But it could easily change overnight, so something still could come in tomorrow.
But I have a sneaking suspicion it won't. I have no way of proving it, and my contacts assure me I'm wrong, but I strongly suspect ageism is having an effect. Even removing all birth dates etc from my CV can't entirely hide my advancing years, unless I also remove the Education section. Even then, a quick count back of the main senior level jobs I've held, just the last 4 permanent jobs, take my career way back to about 1990 - so nearly 30 years. Factor in the precis of earlier, more junior, positions and you can guess at another 10 years' work, and all of a sudden you can take an educated guess - this candidate is at least in his mid 50s.
That's not old by any stretch of the imagination. But here is the thing - these days, IT is very much a young man's game. So is banking - it always has been (I was turned down for a job as "too old" at 35!). Mix the two together and factor in what customers want in terms of convenience, security, ease of use, range of products and so on, and you have a world that is moving and developing at breakneck speed, with near-vertical learning curves. (And please accept my apologies for that smattering of the dreaded buzzwords!) So any bank, any software house, is going to think very very carefully about hiring someone much over 40 to do the work I do.
I don't blame them at all - I would be exactly the same in that position, especially if I'm committing or managing tens of millions of my employer's money for a project. Any IT project is a risk, and the bigger it is the greater the risk. And one of the biggest risks is in getting in people who aren't up to scratch, make mistakes, have problems assimilating new concepts, give the wrong information and advice......a load of things like that which happen on every project (there is no way you can really plan properly for a lot of it, there will always be the unforeseen circumstance biting you in the bum). And they all have the very real potential to delay the project at usually astronomical cost - in the worst cases kill it completely at even bigger loss. Been there, seen it happen and it ain't pretty.
oooooooOooooooo
I'm not sure I want to put myself into that situation, but fear going back onto that treadmill (that's assuming I get the opportunity to do so...) may do precisely that. On my last gig, I was very much the elder statesman on our team, by at least 15 years. There was one other guy, part of a partner organization's team, who was probably around my age, but still......as usual, I was the veteran. Usually that is fine and makes life a bit easier - respect for the elder statesman's knowledge and experience can count for a lot - but on this particular project the predominance of very bright and knowledgable younger individuals all out to make a name for themselves made things much trickier. There were also a lot of new (to me anyway) business processes, mostly unique to the location, to cope with, and a number of tricky technical changes that had been introduced that I had not come across. It didn't go particularly well, hence I think the early finish, although there were a number of other big political factors in play too that in the event didn't go my way.
It was a very stressful 12 months, and had adverse affects on my health - blood pressure issues, stress problems, sleeping difficulties...... I got through it, thankfully, and receiving the sms telling me I was no longer needed (and what an HR masterlass THAT was!) made it feel as though a weight had fallen from my shoulders. I stopped taking my BP tablets and checking my readings two or three times a day in favour of spot-checks. These have shown that there has been absolutely no significant change in my BP since day one, which seems to bear out the cardiologist's final view that I just naturally have higher readings than most people, and certainly higher than the EU recommended norm. My stress levels have dropped through the floor. I sleep much better. I feel fitter and happier than for a good while.
As nice as the extra money would be - and in all seriousness another 12 months' decent income would make a huge long-term difference! - I'm really not sure it would compensate for the grief that I have no doubt would be my lot.
oooooooOooooooo
Clearly, decision time is here - a year late but still. To jump back on the treadmill for as long as I can, or bow out gracefully and head off into my twilight years? No carriage clock. of course - the after work office party with canapes and sweet sherry of my first retirement do back in 1971, nor the three or four after work piss-ups in the local pub, all with allegedly humourous speeches from the boss, just ain't gonna happen. Which is fine by me. And anyway, I'm not that keen on carriage clocks.
In fact, it seems the decision has largely been made for me with the lack of interest from the recruiting profession in my particular skillset making it increasingly unlikely an offer is going to drop into my Inbox anytime soon. The enforced rest I've enjoyed the past six months shows me, very clearly, that my health is better when I'm not working. It's also shown that I really and truly don't miss the grind of early Monday morning starts and late Friday evening finishes book-ending uncomfortable hotel beds, long economy class flights and work that is less enjoyable by the project (each one of the last 5 has been less pleasant than the one before). It simply isn't what I want to do any more. I've always felt that once I stopped enjoying something, whether it was imbibing questionable substances at parties (as in my long ago mis-spent youth), the music of Boney M or Kylie Minogue (I used think they were both ok but grew out of that, thanks be to God), warm Real Ales (they make me feel sick) or indeed work, then if I'm true to myself I should really stop doing it.
In all honesty, this retirement is semi-official, I suppose - if someone came to me with a really really interesting piece of work at funny money and that I could largely do in the comfort of my own home, then I'd be a mug not to take it. But I don't see it, somehow.
So I move on to the next chapter of my life. No idea how long it's likely to last - both of my grandmothers and my mum lived well into their 80s, as did my Uncle Tom in Canada. My sisters are still fit and active as they approach 80. So I have high hopes that if I take care of myself, eat properly, don't get hammered too often, and exercise with long walks, bike rides and the odd floundering session in the local swimming pool or (for preference) a warm sea, there is no good reason why I shouldn't have another 25 years or so to enjoy. Anyway, I've promised to walk my only daughter down the aisle and already told her not even to consider marriage for at least another 15 years, so I simply have to stick around.
oooooooOooooooo
I've thought quite a bit about how to enjoy my retirement. I need to keep active, if only to keep out of my wife's hair so that we don't end up screaming at each other all the time. She may well get a job of her own - she is wrestling with what she wants to do herself, after getting on for 15 years as a full-time home maker (and a bloody good one, as well) - in which case that concern largely goes away.
So trips out and about on train and tram and Metro, and my bike in good weather, will be regular passtimes. Museum visits. Cinema. Grumpy Old Men lunches with my mates. Some of the trips I plan I intend to be farther afield, solo trips to the Polish seaside for a few days perhaps, or down south to the Tatras in summer when there is no snow. Other cities and parts of this country that I haven't seen, If funds allow, of course. All of these will provide substance for this Blog.
I had thought about enrolling for an Open University degree course, maybe English Literature, or History & Politics, but unless I come up on the Euromillions lottery that will probably be beyond my means. But we'll see. I also want to enroll in a language school here and try to learn Polish - after nearly 20 years living here it really is about time! Again, costs will need to be carefully assessed.
I will publish my book (as I wrote in my re-branding piece published yesterday). I will finish, eventually, my memoir - it's proving harder than I had thought and I've sadly neglected it since last summer. I will probably post extracts here soon to get (I HOPE!) some feedback. I will maybe extract a lot of the Archives here, expand the pieces and lump them together into a travel book of some kind. I want to write some new fiction - again, published here first. Ideally, I'd like to publish further afield, as I said in the re-brand, probably via Amazon/Kindle (or similar) in the absence of a mainstream deal.
I have a load of books to read and re-read, and will add to their list. I have my dzialka out near the airport to enjoy and care for (thankfully largely laid to lawn). I can write there, too. There is of course the telly, where these days a lot of programs are dubbed but allow you to watch in the original lanuage with a simple remote control command. I remain a bit of a news junkie and watch a lot of BBC World and CNN still (and I definately do NOT accept accusations that they are fake news purveyors.....), as well as a couple of BBC entertainment channels and a selection of movie channels that have good current stuff. So not short of entertainment for cold wet days, especially when I factor in a number of travel related YouTube channels I subscribe to, and of course my music catalogues on phone and laptop.
But most of all, I look forward to spending much more time with my wife and kids here, and as often as I can manage it trips back home (assuming ex-pats are allowed back in after Brexit....) to see my sisters, my kids and my adorable grandkids.
So happy days are ahead.
posted by Travellin' Bob @ March 28, 2019
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