To work, or not to work?

When not being a pain in the arse, reading, pinching quinoa salad or pretending he hasn’t heard what you have said, Ottawacker Jr. can be good fun.

A poignant day, the fifth anniversary of my dad’s death. Despite not being one to dwell too much on events, I found myself thinking of him a lot. As it should be, of course.

In between, had a quick birthday Skype with Gienek in Victoria, a long conversation with the new director of my former department, in which I was actually quite positive about the prospect of going back. That changed quickly though over my proposed 5-week writing retreat to Spain. Initially, it was accepted out of hand, which left me feeling quite positive about returning. Then five minutes later, I got a phone back telling me it was a no-go (were I to return). All of a sudden, the old frustrations reared their heads again. Getting an answer, being able to plan ahead, having a decent work-life balance… all of these things reminded me of why I don’t work there any more.

So then the question is, do I want to be decently off and have no time or poor and be able to do what I want? As I reach the age when people are mentioning pensions, time seems to out-trump money. Were it just me, it would be a no-brainer. However, I also need to make a reasonable contribution to the household and there is, of course, Ottawacker Jr.’s education to take into account.

Not really in the best frame of mind to deal with this, to be honest.

Extra is a rare moment of Charlie, our lesser-photographed cat, jumping up onto Ottawacker Jr. for the first time.