h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I think I'll have a beer

Is this by accident or design?


Geggs

By design. The place I work for is closing in January for eight months because the small shopping centre it's in is being redeveloped and everyone's going to be laid off. I'm getting out early for... political reasons, shall we say, and because I want to devote some time to looking for a new job with one of the local breweries , of which there are many, and I know most of them because I've been ordering beer from them for the past five years, or since they've been open.

and

Two benefits of my current lack of a job: I'm sleeping so much better (hardly ever wake up at 5am these days) and I'm drinking much, much more

Oh, and one more: I've cut my laundry by more than half. No work clothes and nowhere near as many day to day non-work clothes either, plus the extra time I have to do a little hand washing during the week

I was 'retired' 5 weeks ago and couldn't be enjoying life more. I freelance now with jobs that are very specific to my skill set and I do enough that I can support a slightly lesser lifestyle. Good enough that I can turn down the odd job that doesn't appeal to me.

Good luck and good brewing!

Even before I left school I knew that going to work for a business five days a week, eight or more hours a day, wasn't how humans are meant to live. I've had a few jobs that I enjoyed, and the 17 or so years I spent self-employed were much more to my liking, but those happened in a country with a national health service. That's not the case here and individual health insurance is prohibitively expensive, so you really need a job with health insurance if you don't have a skill that can earn you far more than I can.

I'm looking into joining the AARP though.

They normally find you on your 55th birthday. Expect the letter.

Or, if you share a first and middle name with a parent, but not the middle, so that there is no Sr./Jr. divide, you can expect those letters in your 20s

Oh, for a while I was getting letters from them every week